The Story of My Life
Chapter 2 (Detailed Summary)
During the first months of illness,
Helen had grown very possessive of her mother and she sat in her lap for most
of the time. She did not want to leave her and always clung to her dress when she
had to do some household activity. As time passed, in the beginning, she
started learning things by touching them. She also felt the need to
communicate with others and, very soon, she started making crude signs. She was
able to understand that shaking of the head meant ‘no’ and the nod (to move the
head down and up)meant ‘yes’; a pull meant ‘come’ and a push meant ‘go’. If she
ever wanted bread, she used to imitate the act of cutting slices and putting
butter on them. If she desired to eat ice-cream, she would make the sign for
working the freezer and shiver. It indicated cold. Her mother made her
understand many things. Helen felt greatly obliged to her for the service she
did to her in that difficult time.
When she was five, she came to know,
how to fold clean clothes and put them away when they were brought in from
the laundry. She could rercognise her own clothes from the rest also. She could
also understand that her mother and aunt were going out by the way she used to
dress up them. Once she heard the shutting of the front door and some other
sounds. She, at once, understood that some guests were coming and she ran
upstairs to put on a company dress. She stood in front of the mirror, anointed
(covered) her head with oil and face with powder. Then she came down after
covering her face with a veil and did some other antics to entertain the
guests. Gradually she came to know that she was different from others. She
noticed that her mother and her friends did not use signs as she did when she
wanted to get anything done and they talked with the mouth. Sometimes, she used to
stand up between two persons, who were conversing and touched their lips. She
was unable to understand that and it made her vexed (confused) at times. She
also moved her lips and made gestures frantically but all in vain. That made
her so angry that she kicked at things and cried until she was exhausted
(tired).
Helen also narrates as to when she came to
know that she was a naughty girl. Once she kicked Ella, her nurse, who was hurt
at it. Then she had a feeling like that of regret. She further tells us that
she continued her naughtiness till her wish was not fulfilled.
After that she tells us about her
friend. There was a little coloured girl, named Martha Washington, who was the
child of their cook and Belle, an old setter (a large long-haired breed of
dog). Both of them were her constant companions. She also tells us that she
took pleasure in dominating her and she would submit easily to her tyranny
(dictatorship) to avoid any hand-to-hand encounter (fight). Helen was strong
and active and did not care for any consequences (results often bad). (11:42)
She passed most of her time with
Martha in kitchen, kneading dough balls, helping in making ice cream, grinding
coffee, quarrelling over the cake bowl, feeding the hens, the turkeys (large
birds like cock) that came near the kitchen steps and so on She says that many
of the birds were so tame that they preferred eating with her hands only.
One of her greatest delights was to
hunt for eggs in the long grass. She would not tell Martha about her going hunting, but Martha always understood it and she always followed Helen. She
would double up the hands if they could find a nest. She never allowed Martha
to take the eggs home, making her understand with some forceful signs. She
feared that Martha would fall down and break the eggs. There were some other
places like sheds where the corn was placed, the stable where horses were kept,
the yard where the cows were kept and these were the sources of interest. She
also enjoyed playing with Martha in the evening also. The milkers often allowed
her to keep her hands on cows when they milked them.
In the next paragraph, Helen makes us
acquainted with the activities she liked during the Charismas day in the house.
She liked the odour that filled the house and the tidbits (pieces of special
food) that were given to Martha and her to make them quiet. They were also
given other tasks like grinding the spices, picking over the raisins, and
licking the stirring spoons. Both the girls, Martha and Helen, had a great
interest in doing mischief. One hot July afternoon, both of them were sitting
on the verandah steps.
Martha’s colour was black as ebony
(used for black colour, but it also means the black hardwood of the tropical
trees.), with little bunches of fuzzy (tangled) hair tied with shoestrings
that were sticking all over her head like corkscrews. The other was white with
her long golden curls. One child was aged six years and the other was two or
three years older. The younger child was Helen and the older one is Martha
Washington. They were busy cutting out paper rolls, but very soon they felt
bored of that type of amusement. After cutting their shoestrings and clipping
all the leaves from the honeysuckle, that they could reach easily, she changed
her attention to Martha’s corkscrews. In the beginning, Martha objected, but finally
she did not say anything. Thinking it an interesting game, she picked up the
scissors and cut off Martha’s curls of hair. She would have cut all if her
mother had not stopped her on time.
Helen’s other friend was Belle the dog that was always lazy and liked to
sleep by the fire. It did not like to romp (play energetically). She tried hard
to teach the dog her sign language, but the dog was inattentive and lazy. Belle
would get up, stretch herself lazily, give one or two sniffs, go to the
opposite side of the hearth and again lie down there. In disappointment, Helen
would go in search of Martha.
One day she happened
to spill water on her apron and she tried to dry it up in front of the fire
that was flickering on the sitting-room
hearth. As it was taking time to dry up, she drew nearer and nearer and just put it right over the hot ashes. Her apron caught fire at
once and she made a terrifying noise. Her old nurse Vinnie heard the cries and
she reached there to rescue Helen at once. She wrapped a blanket around her and
also put out the fire.
In her next
paragraph, Helen narrates her serious mischief when she learned to use the key.
One morning she locked her mother in the pantry for three hours. At that time,
the servants were in other parts of the house. Helen remained sitting outside on
the porch laughing at the fun she had created at the moment while her mother
kept ponding at the door. That naughtiest prank of hers convinced her parents
that their daughter needed education urgently. A teacher, named, Miss Sullivan
was appointed to educate her. She also became Helen’s victim once. She got the
opportunity to lock Miss Sullivan in her room when she went upstairs to bring
something as directed by her mother to be given to Miss Sullivan.
After that, she went
into Miss Sullivan’s room to deliver the thing. As soon as she gave the thing
to her, she slammed the door too, locked it, and hid the key under the wardrobe
() in the hall. After that, a stair was used to lift Miss Sullivan out of the
room through a window. Helen produced the key to her parents months after the
incident.
When Helen was of
five years, the family shifted to a large house. The family consisted of her
father, mother, two older half brothers
(a brother with whom you share one parent only), a sister (born later) Mildred.
She narrates one incident more here and that puzzled her most of the time.
Her father used to read a paper by holding it to a height that made it
comfortable for her to read. He wore spectacles also. Helen was at a loss to
make a point out of it. She also tried to imitate all that to solve the mystery
. But she could understand it later on as to what those papers were.
Helen describes her
father as very loving and caring, who loved to remain at home for maximum time
except when he went hunting. He was a great hunter and excellent shooter.
He loved his dog and guns. He was hospitable almost to a fault because he
always brought a guest.
It was said that he
loved his garden where he raised watermelons and strawberries which were said
to be the finest in the county (region). He brought the first ripe grapes and
berries of her choice. Helen also remembers it very fondly that her father led
her from tree to tree and from vine to vine. He also took delight in pleasing
her. He was also a very good storyteller. When she acquired the skill of
language, he used to spell clumsily (in an awkward way) on her handsome
interesting stories. He also wished that those stories should be repeated by
Helen at some opportune (appropriate) time.
The news of her
father’s death reached her when she was in the North, enjoying the last
beautiful days of the summer season. Her father died after a brief illness and
acute suffering for a short time. After that, all was over. That was her first
great sorrow. She says that her mother was very neat to her. She finds no words
to write about her.
After that, we come
to know what she thought about her little sister. She regarded her as an
intruder. She did not want that anybody could share her mother’s attention,
affection, and care. She was full of jealousy for her because she sat in her
mother’s lap all the time.
At one time, she had
a doll, which she named Nancy afterward. Unfortunately, it became a victim of
her outbursts and affection. She had several other dolls also, which could talk,
cry and open and shut their eyes. But she loved Nancy, the doll above them all.
She had a cradle and she spent her maximum time rocking her (moving it
backward and forward). She guarded both of them, the cradle and the doll with
utmost care.
One day, she found
her sister sleeping peacefully in that cradle. She grew angry at this because
she had no emotional bonding with the child at that time. She rushed upon the
cradle and overturned it. The child must have been killed if her mother had not
reached there to save it on time. Afterward, when she grew up and came to
know about human values; she became very affectionate to her sister. Wherever
she went, she went with her. Her sister could not understand her finger
language, nor did she understand her childish prattle (nonsense, chatter)
