AND IS AN INVALUABLE STIMULUS TO THE ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE. I
ASK ALL HER FRIENDS TO ENCOURAGE HER TO TELL THEM OF HER DOINGS,
AND TO MANIFEST AS MUCH CURIOSITY AND PLEASURE IN HER LITTLE
ADVENTURES AS THEY POSSIBLY CAN. This gratifies the child's love
of approbation and keeps up her interest in things. This is the
basis of real intercourse. She makes many mistakes, of course,
twists words and phrases, puts the cart before the horse, and
gets herself into hopeless tangles of nouns and verbs; but so
does the hearing child. I am sure these difficulties will take
care of themselves. The impulse to tell is the important thing. I
supply a word here and there, sometimes a sentence, and suggest
something which she has omitted or forgotten. Thus her vocabulary
grows apace, and the new words germinate and bring forth new
ideas; and they are the stuff out of which heaven and earth are
made.


May 22, 1887.

My work grows more absorbing and interesting every day. Helen is
a wonderful child, so spontaneous and eager to learn. She knows
about 300 words now and A GREAT MANY COMMON IDIOMS, and it is not
three months yet since she learned her first word. It is a rare
privilege to watch the birth, growth, and first feeble struggles
of a living mind; this privilege is mine; and moreover, it is
given me to rouse and guide this bright intelligence.

If only I were better fitted for the great task! I feel every day
more and more inadequate. My mind is full of ideas; but I cannot
get them into working shape. You see, my mind is undisciplined,