The story of My Life-Helen Keller-Chapter 8

 

                   The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

                                           Chapter 8

   Helen writes that the first Christmas that came after Miss Sullivan’s arrival in her house was a great event and every member of the family wished to surprise her.

   What surprised her most was the fact that Miss Sullivan and she herself had prepared surprises for everyone. There was a mystery about the gifts and it amused and delighted her most.

    Her friends did all to increase her curiosity to give hints by writing half spelled words on her hand. Miss Sullivan and she played a game of guessing and that proved to be very good to teach the use of language. After that, they practiced it every evening while sitting by a glowing wood fire.

  The school children at Tuscumbia had made a tree on Christmas Eve and they also invited her. The beautiful tree, “ablaze and shimmering, stood in the center of the schoolroom. Its branches were loaded with strange wonderful fruits in soft light. Helen felt extremely happy while dancing and capering around the tree.

   Her happiness doubled up when she came to know that she would distribute gifts to the children present there with her own hands. Her excitement and impatience were out of control. The gifts were not those for which her friends had given her hints. Her teacher told her that the gifts were nicer than those she was expecting.

   At the same time, she was to remain contented with the gifts she had got from the tree and others until the next morning.

  That night, she hung her stockings and lay awake for a long time, pretending that she was asleep to know what gifts Santa Claus would give to her. But she could not continue this for long and at last, she fell asleep keeping a new doll and a white bear in her arms.

   At the same time, she was to remain contented with the gifts she had got from the tree and others until the next morning.

   Next morning, when she woke up, it was she, who woke up the whole family by saying “Merry Christmas”. She found surprises from everywhere, not only from the stockings, but also on the table, on the chairs, at the door, on the very window-sill.”

   But when her teacher presented to her a canary, her joy knew no bounds.

A Canary Bird

    Her new pet ‘Little Tim” (the singing bird canary) was so tame that he would ho on her fingers and eat sweet cherries out of her hand. She was taught to take all care of the new pet.

   She carefully “prepared his bath, made his cage clean and sweet, filled his cups with fresh seeds and water” and then hung a spray of chickweed in his swing.”

   One morning, she left the cage on the window-seat and went to fetch water for his bath. As she came back and opened the door, she felt a big cat went out from there.

     She didn’t guess at that time as to what a cat could do, but when she put her hand into the cage, she did not feel Tim’s pretty wings and his pointed claws take hold of her fingers. She understood that the cat had killed her pet canary.