USED IN DESCRIBING IT TO HER. In conclusion she asked her mother
if she should like to see "very high mountain and beautiful
cloudcaps." I hadn't used this expression. I said, "The clouds
touch the mountain softly, like beautiful flowers." You see, I
had to use words and images with which she was familiar through
the sense of touch. But it hardly seems possible that any mere
words should convey to one who has never seen a mountain the
faintest idea of its grandeur; and I don't see how any one is
ever to know what impression she did receive, or the cause of her
pleasure in what was told her about it. All that we do know
certainly is that she has a good memory and imagination and the
faculty of association.


August 28, 1887.

I do wish things would stop being born! "New puppies," "new
calves" and "new babies" keep Helen's interest in the why and
wherefore of things at white heat. The arrival of a new baby at
Ivy Green the other day was the occasion of a fresh outburst of
questions about the origin of babies and live things in general.
"Where did Leila get new baby? How did doctor know where to find
baby? Did Leila tell doctor to get very small new baby? Where did
doctor find Guy and Prince?" (puppies) "Why is Elizabeth Evelyn's
sister?" etc., etc. These questions were sometimes asked under
circumstances which rendered them embarrassing, and I made up my
mind that something must be done. If it was natural for Helen to
ask such questions, it was my duty to answer them. It's a great
mistake, I think, to put children off with falsehoods and
nonsense, when their growing powers of observation and