The Story of My Life-Helen Keller-Summary Chapter 18
Helen Keller begins this
chapter by saying that she entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies in
Oct. 1896 to prepare herself for Radcliffe.
Once she visited Wellesley
when she was a little girl and then her friend by announcing, “Someday, I shall
go to college—but I shall go to Harvard.”
She also gave reasons for
preferring Harvard to Wellesley that there were only girls there at Wellesley.
So going to college became her earnest desire. It persuaded her to enter into
competition for a degree, while facing a strong opposition from many of her
true and wise friends.
While leaving New York, it
was decided that she should go to Cambridge. She considered it the nearest
approach to get to Harvard so that she could fulfill her childhood declaration.
She had a plan that at the
Cambridge School, Miss Sullivan would attend classes along with her and
interpret to her the instructions given.
Her instructors had
experience to teach the normal pupils and Helen’s only way of conversing with
them was only by reading their lips. Her subjects for the first year were:
English History, English Literature, German, Latin, Arithmetic, Latin
Composition and occasional themes. She was already well-drilled in English by
her teacher, Miss Sullivan. Her teachers came to know very soon that she did
not need any special instructions in the subject except a critical study of the
books which were prescribed by the college.
She had a good start in
French and received six months’ instruction in Latin but she was most familiar
with German as a subject.
Then Helen Keller tells us
about the drawbacks to her progress. Miss Sullivan could not spelled in her
hand everything the books required. It was also difficult to have textbooks
embossed (marked) in time for her.
So, she had to copy Latin
in Braille, so that she could recite with other girls. In the meantime, her
teachers also became familiar with her imperfect speech. She could not make
notes in class or write exercises, but she wrote all her compositions and
translations at home on her type-writer.
Miss Sullivan accompanied
her to the classes each day and spelled in her hand with unlimited patience.
She had to look up for new words for *Helen in study hours and read and reread
notes and books which were not in raised print. The work was very boring and
difficult. The German teacher Frau Grote and Mr. Arthur Gilman (one of the
founders of Radcliffe College and founder and director of Cambridge School for
Young Ladies. He was pioneer in women’s education.), the principal, were the
only teachers in the school, who learned the finger alphabet to give her
instructions.
Fau Grote knew Helle’s
spellings were hopelessly slow, but she was kind enough to her that she spelled
out her instructions to her in special lessons twice a week. She finished
Arithmetic that year, reviewed her Latin grammar and three chapters of Caesar’s
“Gallic War”. In German, she read partly with her fingers and partly with Miss
Sullivan’s assistance. She took greatest delight in German books like:
Schiller’s “Lied von het Glocke” and “Taucher”, Heine’s “Harzreise” and so on.
Mr. Gilman helped her read
English Literature. They read together “As You Like It”, Burke’s “Speech on
Conciliation with America” and Macaulay’s “Life of Samuel Johnson”. Her work
was made easier by Mr. Gilman’s broad views on history, literature and also by
clearer explanations. She found Burke’s speech more instructive than any other
book on a political subject.
“Life of Samuel Johnson”
was also very interesting for her. She had sympathetic feelings for the lonely
man, who lived in poverty in Grub Street in London. In spite of his sufferings,
Samuel Johnson had a kind word and always helped the poor and despised (hated).
She rejoiced in his success, ignored his faults and wondered as to how they had
not crushed or dwarfed her soul. At times, Macualey’s Brilliancy, positivity
and his great faculty of making the commonplace (ordinary) event/thing seem
fresh and beautiful would make Helen tired also.
She had for the first time
in her life the experience of enjoying the companionship of seeing and hearing
girls of her own age. She lived with several girls in the house where a famous
writer, Mr. Howells used to live. She had all advantages of home life there.
She joined them in many of their games. She also took long walks with them. Video 1 ends
They also discussed their
studies and read aloud the things. Some of the girls learned to speak to her.
Her mother and little
sister spent the holidays with her. Mr. Gilman also allowed her sister Mildred
to study with her in Cambridge and they remained together for six months.
She appeared in preliminary exams for Radcliff
from the 29th of June to the third of July in 1897. Her subjects
were: Elementary and Advanced German, French, Latin, English, Greek and Roman
History. She had to devote nine hours and she passed in them and received
‘honours’ in German and English.
Then she proceeds to
explain to us the method that was in practice when she took her examinations.
The students had to pass sixteen hours. Out of these, twelve hours were meant
for the elementary while the remaining four hours for the advanced. At Harvard,
the answer sheets were given at nine o’clock and then were brought to Radcliffe
by a special messenger. A particular identity was allotted to each student and
Helen’s Id. No was 233. As she had to use a type-writer, her Id. No. could not
be concealed (hidden).
Since the noise of the
type-writer could disturb the rest of the students, she was made to sit in a
separate room. All the papers were read to her by Mr. Gilman through manual
alphabet. A man was also deputed at the gate to stop any interruption.
Her first paper was of
German. Mr. Gilman was to read the paper first thoroughly, then sentences by
sentence and she repeated the words after him to make him sure that she
understood the word perfectly. The difficulty level of the paper was high. Mr.
Gilman spelled to her what she had written and she made necessary changes. At
Radcliffe, no one read the papers to her after they were written and she had no
opportunity to make any correction in them. She could only make such
corrections that she recalled within a few minutes and then she made notes of
the corrections at the end of the paper.
After that she mentions
two reasons for her ‘no-so-good’ performance in the final examinations as
compared to that of her in preliminaries.
The one is that in the
finals, no one read the paper to her, and the second was that in the
preliminaries she offered subjects in which she was already familiar up to some
extent. She had passed several examinations like English, History, French and
German in the Cambridge School and those were given to her by Mr. Gilman from
the previous Harvard papers.
Then Mr. Gilman sent her
written work to the examiners with a certificate that the candidate No. 233 had
written the papers.
All the preliminaries were
conducted in the same manner. Only one paper was difficult and that was the
first one. She remembers that on the day when the Latin paper was brought to
them, Professor Schilling came in and informed her that she had passed satisfactorily
in German. This encouraged her very much and that made her continue the ordeal
with a light heart.
Chapter Over
Points:
Q. How did Helen do in her preliminary examinations?
Ans. She fared well in all of her preliminary examinations except
the first one. She was made to sit in a separate room as she had to use the
type-writer. Mr. Gilman read the papers, first thoroughly and then sentence by
sentence by manual alphabet. She also repeated the sentences after him to
ensure him that she had understood each word perfectly. A man was also made to
stand at the door to stop any interruption.
Mr. Gilman spelled to her
what she had written and she made necessary changes. In this way, she could
make corrections. At Radcliffe, no one read the papers to her after they were
written and she had no opportunity to make any correction in them. But she
passed them satisfactorily.
