three men in a boat q.ans

CLASS-9
NOVEL-THREE MEN IN A BOAT
SUMMARY-Lesson-1to10

THREE MEN IN A BOAT

Chapter 1

The narrator, J., is smoking in his room with his friends, George and William SamuelHarris, and his dog Montmorency. The men, all hypochondriacs, are chatting about their latest illnesses, each man certain that he is in danger of death or serious disease.

In a flashback, J. recollects how he once went to the British Museum to research a treatment for his hay fever, and after reading about diseases, convinced himself that he was suffering from every illness known to man except for housemaid’s knee. J.’s doctor, clearly recognizing the man's paranoia, prescribed him beefsteak, beer, walking, and good sleep habits, and urged him not to “stuff up your head with things you don’t understand” (10).

J. still believes that he suffers from every disease, but he is especially concerned about his ‘liver condition’ – the main symptom of which is “a general disinclination to work of any kind” (10).

The friends decide that taking a vacation together would restore their health, and debate locations for a week-long excursion. J. suggests a rural, old-world spot, but Harris wishes to avoid remote locations and counters with the suggestion of a sea cruise. J. vetoes that idea because one week is not enough time to overcome seasickness and actually enjoy the trip. He notes to the reader that no one admits to being seasick on land, but that many people have trouble with it when actually on a ship. George suggests taking a boat trip down the Thames, an idea that everyone approves. Though J. worries that Montmorency will get bored in the boat, they decide to bring him along anyway.

Chapter 2

The men begin to make plans for their boat trip. George and J. want to camp along the river, believing that sleeping outside will offer a true escape from the city. J. writes sentimentally and poetically about the beauty and power of nature.

However, Harris points out that camping would be unpleasant if it rains, so they decide to camp on nights with good weather and sleep in inns when the weather is poor. J. believes Montmorency will prefer hotels because they offer more excitement and stables that the dog can run around in. J. explains to the reader that Montmorency’s adorable appearance endears him to everyone who meets him, but he is actually a hyperactive troublemaker.

The men leave for a pub, to further discuss arrangements for the trip.

Chapter 3

At the pub, they compile a list of what they need to pack. Harris volunteers to write out the list, and J. compares him for the reader to his Uncle Podger, who always volunteers to help others but bungles the job because he is so accident-prone. Further, Uncle Podger ends up causing more work for everyone else because of his general incompetence. To illustrate his point, J. tells a lengthy story about how Uncle Podger once caused chaos for his entire household when trying to complete the simple task of hammering a nail into the wall.

Because the men do not want to leave anything behind, the list soon becomes ridiculously long. George suggests that they bring only the things they cannot do without, and they agree to travel light, even deciding to bring a cover a sleep in the boat so that they do not need to pack a tent. George promises that it will be easy to wash their clothes in the river with a bit of soap, and J. and Harris trust him (although J. notes that they will later regret this).

Chapter 4

Continuing to plan, the friends discuss what they will need for cooking. Although paraffin oil stoves are more common, they decide to bring a methylated spirit stove, remembering how the paraffin oil had oozed everywhere on a previous boat trip.

For breakfast and lunch, they choose food that is easy to cook - but not cheese, because of its strong smell. J. launches into a long digression about when his friend Tom once asked him to transport some cheese on a train journey. Everyone sitting in J.’s car left because the smell was too strong. When J. delivered the cheese to Tom and his wife, Tom’s wife refused to stay in the house until the cheese was eaten. They could not escape the cheese's stench until they buried it miles away at the seaside.

Back at his house, J. volunteers to pack the clothes, believing himself an exceptionally efficient packer. However, he keeps forgetting items, and then has to unpack in order to fit them in. To the reader, he expounds briefly on his habit of losing his toothbrush when traveling.

Harris and George watch J. pack with great amusement, and volunteer to pack the food when J. finally finishes. They are no better at it – they constantly forget items, and Harris steps in the butter. Throughout it all, they keep tripping over Montmorency. After some bickering, they finish, and assign George to wake them up at 6:30 the next morning.

Chapter 5

However, they oversleep, only waking when Mrs. Poppets comes in at nine. Harris and J. are greatly irritated with George, and their mood grows worse when they learn that the day’s weather forecast is poor. J. digresses to complain about how often weather forecasts are inaccurate. He also concocts a hypothetical story about staying inside when the forecasts predict rain and missing a beautiful day, and then believing the forecast of sun the next day, but ending up wet.

When they finally depart, the greengrocer’s errand-boy mocks them for their immense amount of luggage. As the men wait for a taxi, passers-by speculate about where they are going. Eventually, they hail a taxi to the train station, but none of the conductors there know which train they should take. When one conductor tells them that nobody knows where the trains are supposed to go, they give him a half-crown bribe and luckily end up heading towards Kingston, disembarking when they reach the river.

Chapter 6

As the men row through Kingston, J. provides some background on the area. (Although Kingston is now a suburb and part of Greater London, it would have been an independent town when Jerome wrote Three Men in a Boat in 1889.) J. describes how many of the pubs in this area claim that Queen Elizabeth dined there. He also tells about a shop that boasts a beautiful carved oak staircase, which the present owner has covered in blue wallpaper.

J. uses this as an occasion to meditate on how people always want what they cannot have, and do not want the things they do have. He recalls a former classmate namedStivvings, who was dedicated to his studies but was often too sick to complete his work. Meanwhile, the other boys hoped to get sick to avoid schoolwork, and became sick only when vacation came around. Returning to the subject of the oak staircase, J. writes at length about how people in the future will consider quotidian objects like dinner-plates and cheap figurines as priceless works of art, much as his contemporaries consider the day-to-day objects of prior civilizations to be priceless.

In the boat, Harris and Montmorency accidentally spill the contents of the food hamper. As they row past Hampton Court, J. initially marvels at the building’s beauty, but then decides that it would be too dark and depressing to live in all the time.

Harris tells his friends about the time he attempted the hedge maze at Hampton Court. The map, given out in advance, seemed quite simple, so that Harris was confident he could easily best the maze. His confidence attracted a mob of 20 people who were lost in the maze, and they turned on him when he realized the maze was more complicated than he thought it was. They wandered for a long time, until a young groundskeeper came to fetch them, and got lost himself. An older groundskeeper eventually guided them out.

The men agree to send George through the maze on their return trip.

Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

After passing Hampton Court, the men row through a lock — that is, a section of the river where the levels are lowered or raised between gates, to regulate traffic and water flow. This particular lock attracts many picnickers and pleasure-boaters, and J. remarks how nice it is to see people dressed up in their summer clothes. However, he criticizes his friends’ outfits – Harris has chosen to wear yellow, which does not suit him, and Georgehas bought an ugly new blazer for the trip.

J. digresses to consider how women’s boating clothes tend to be pretty but impractical. He recounts a time he and a friend took several women rowing. The women wore such delicate clothes that even a drop of water would stain them, and they were unable to have fun on the trip because they were concerned about ruining their outfits.

The boat nears Hampton Church, and Harris proposes stopping to visit the graveyard, where someone named Mrs. Thomas is rumored to have a funny tombstone. J. protests, as he finds cemeteries depressing. For the reader, he recounts a time that he visited one with his friends. He refused to enter, and insulted the groundskeeper rudely when the man offered to show him the graveyard’s points of interest.

However, Harris insists on visiting the tombstone. George has gone into town to run some errands for the bank where he works. J. and Harris bicker about whether to visit the cemetery, and Harris decides he needs a drink. While trying to find the whiskey bottle, he falls head-first into the food hamper.

Harris and J. stop to eat lunch by the side of the river. A man appears and accuses them of trespassing, threatening to report them to the landowner. Harris – a large man – physically intimidates the visitor until he leaves. J. explains to the reader that the man was expecting a bribe, and most likely did not work for the landowner at all. He adds that these attempts at blackmail are common along the banks of the Thames, and that tourists should avoid paying people who do this.

J. then launches into a diatribe on the violence he would like to inflict on landowners who actually do enforce trespassing laws on tourists like himself, since their claim at owning the river is specious in his mind.

J. shares his feelings with his friends, and Harris insists that he feels more anger towards the owners than J. does. J. chides Harris for his intolerance, and tries to convince him to be more Christian.

During their conversation, Harris mentions that he would sing a comic song while hunting the owners, so J. then digresses to explain how Harris believes himself a fine singer of comic songs, while he is actually quite terrible at it. He tells the reader of a party where Harris demanded he be allowed to sing, and then embarrassed himself and the piano players who tried to help him. Jerome relates part of this section in play-form.

J. then digresses to tell of a time he and others embarrassed themselves at a party. Two German guests, whom everyone was mostly ignoring, interjected to insist that a colleague of theirs could sing the funniest German songs they had ever heard. They offered to fetch him, and the man soon arrived to play. Though it turned out that his song was actually tragic, J. and the other guests laughed constantly, thinking it polite to do so. However, they actually angered the pianist, and the two German liars escaped before the song was finished, having played their practical joke.

The boat approaches Sunbury, where the backwaters flow in the opposite direction. J. recounts another boat trip on which he tried to row upstream in this area, but was only able to keep the boat in the same place. He lists a few points of interest around Sunbury and Reading, including a Roman encampment from the time of Caesar, a church that holds a torture instrument called a ‘scold’s bridle,’ and a dog cemetery.

When Harris and J. arrive at the village of Shepperton, they reunite with George, who surprises them by announcing that he has bought a banjo.

Since George has been away from the boat all day, Harris and J. assign him to untangle the tow-line while they make tea.

To the reader, J. explains how easily tow-lines become tangled. On long journeys like this, it is common for travelers to take a break from rowing while someone tows the boat from shore. However, J. observes that the towers, on the shore, tend to become distracted by their conversation and stop paying attention to the boat. Whoever is left on the boat is usually uncomfortable or responsible for whatever crisis emerges, but is ignored by the towers.

Over tea, George tells a story about seeing a couple distracted as they towed their boat from land. Sneakily, he tied his boat to their tow-line, thus tricking the couple into dragging the wrong boat for several miles. J. recounts a similar story, about a group of men whose boat ran aground because they were distracted. However, he argues that girls are the worst towers of all because they are so flighty and distractible.

After tea, George tows the boat from the shore. According to J., the last few hours of towing are always the most difficult. He remembers going boating with a female cousin. When towing the boat at the end of the day, they got lost, only to be saved by a group of working-class locals.

Although the friends intended to spend their first night on Magna Charta Island, they are too tired to travel all the way there, and decide to stop earlier. Because they did not bring a tent, they have to pitch the canvas cover over the boat before they can sleep. This task proves more difficult than it seems, and it takes them several attempts to successfully set it up.

They cook dinner, which is very satisfying because they have had such a long and exhausting day. They then prepare to sleep together in the boat's cramped quarters. J. tells his friends a story about two men who accidentally shared a bed in an inn; during the night, they stumbled into the same bed, and each thought his bed had been invaded by an intruder.

J. sleeps badly, and has a dream that doctors are trying to cut him open after he swallowed a sovereign. He begins a serious digression, discussing the beauty and melancholy of night. He concludes the chapter with a story about a knight who gets lost in the woods but manages to find joy in his suffering.

Character Sketches from the Novel Three Men in a Boat SA-I| Class 9th

Jerome, The narrator (J)

Jim is the narrator of the story who is single and live the life in his own way. He is funny, lively and poetic man but hypochondriac. He thinks himself as a walking hospital. He has a dog named Montmorency. He is quite lazy and easy going though he sees himself as intelligent and hard-working. He is romantic and likes human beings. He loves to watch sunset and the beauty of stars at night. He loves to muse and comments on certain truths about life and human beings. He loves to eat, drink and hates work. He possesses a good sense of humour and appears dreamy. He hates sea-voyages. He is humourous by nature and can take joke on himself. He likes to work in group. He has deep interest in history as he told many ancient stories and loves artwork. He is vain about his dress sense and appearance. He is friendly and caring and is practical in his life.William Samuel Harris (Harris)

Harris is boastful person. He always creates a mess whenever he takes a job. He is fond of drinks. He also likes food and thinks that eating regularly keep the diseases in check. He is short-tempered and has bad manners. He thinks that he suffers from fits of giddiness. He loves to swim in the morning. He does not like to sleep outside at night. He has weak memory as he gets lost in maize and moody in nature. He loves to sing and think himself as a good singer but has a bad voice. He always makes fool of himself by doing something strange. He is lazy by nature and wants other people to do the job. He has good physique. He likes to argue with Jerome and hates to watch George snoring. He doesn't care about the people around, is keen at his own decisions.George

George is a bank clerk. He is mature and sanest person. He is practical and knowledgeable person. His friends think that he is lazy and and likes to sleep. He is a polite person and makes sensible suggestions sometimes. He is in the habit of snoring. He created mess a lot of time with Harris. He cooks well among his three friends. He likes to play banjo though he is not good at that. He avoids to do work as much as he can. He wonders why he could not be happy like that always, why he could not remain away from sins and temptations, why he could not do well to others, and why he could not lead a sober and peaceful life. He loves orders and discipline in his life. He does have mischievous nature.

Montmorency

Montmorency, the dog was the fourth member of the boating trip. He was a pet of Jerome. He is adventurous and is fond of doing some action. He doesn’t like to live alone. He hates cat as he got embarrassed by them once. He looks like a fox-terrier having a gentle look in his eyes. He looks like an angel. His ambition in life is to get in the way and be sworn at. He likes noise and is fond of doing some action. He had killed dozens chickens, had hundred and fourteen street fights, killed two cats and kept a man pinned in his own tool shed by making him afraid to come out. His idea of life was to march around the slums with the most disreputable dogs. He can squirm in anywhere where he particularly is not wanted. He is a perfect nuisance, makes people mad, and has things thrown at his head.

Uncle PodgerUncle Podger is uncle of Jerome. He is a leading member in his family. He always takes his job seriously. He is dedicated towards his job. Even for very small and less important work, he involves all the family members and makes a lot of mess. At the end, he thinks that the job is perfectly and easily done. He is a forgetful person as he forget his handkerchief which was in his coat. He is an impatient person and grunts over his family members. He is a clumsy person.

Herr Slosen Boschen Herr Slosen Boschen is a German Professor. He is good singer but he sings only in German language. He was once invited in a highly cultured party. Two students who returned from Germany asked him to sing a song. An announcement is made that he is going to sing a comic song but he starts singing a tragic song. The audience didn’t understand German and they laughed because they thought he is singing a comic song. He feels very insulted and leaves the party immediately. He is angry person as he cursed his audience.

Question: 1. Discuss the main plot of “Three Men in a Boat”.

Ans. The story is a travelogue which starts with three friends George, Harris and Jerome and their dog, Montmorency. They all were smoking in the room and suffering from health issues. They decided to go for a trip to River Thames between Kingston and Oxford on Saturday. The story is a humorous compilation of the incidents that occur to them on their trip. The story also includes the related incidents told by the author and his friends. They hired a boat for their journey. They decided to camp outside in fine weather and inside during bad weather. They did a lot of mishaps during their journey of the boat which was quite funny. The characters present their views on different aspects of life. We get to know of Uncle Podger, the Hampton Court Maze and the unreliability of barometers. Jerome also tells about how girls tow their boat and other related funny stories.

Question: 2. Describe the packing incident before the trip.

Ans. They move the table up against the window, piled everything in a heap in the middle of the floor, and sat round and looked at it. Jerome asked to leave the packing to him. George and Harris started relaxing which hurt Jerome as he thought to supervise the packing. When he packed everything, Harris told him that he forgot the boot so he had to repack everything. Harris and George started packing rest of the hamper, they started with breaking a cup. They packed the strawberry jam on top of a tomato and squashed it and Harris sat on butter. Montmorency sat down on things, put his leg into the jam and pretended that the lemons were rats. Harris move him away with a frying pan.

Question: 3. What problem that three men discussed and what they decided? /Why three men went to the trip?

Answer

The three men were feeling seedy. Harris and George felt extraordinary fits of giddiness. Jerome liver was out of order. He thought that he is suffering from each diseases that pill-circular mention except housemaid’s knee. They thought that they wanted rest and change. They should go out for a week to some old world and a peaceful spot. George was in the favour of sea trip but Jerome opposed it. He thought that sea-trip will make them tired after the journey. Lastly, they decided to go for a boat trip. However, Montmorency was not happy with this idea but they didn’t care about his thought.

Question: 4. Describe the incident in the party where Herr Slossenn Boschen sang his song?

Ans. It was a highly cultured party. Two young men who just returned from Germany said that Herr Slossenn Boschen will sing a comic song for them. They said nobody could sing it like Herr Slossenn Boschen. Young men whispered that they all will laugh while passing through the room. As the song started, everyone in crowd including the narrator fixed their eyes on young men as they didn’t understand German. When they tittered, all tittered; when they roared, all roared. German Professor did not seem happy and the expression of his face was one of intense surprise. Actually, it was a sad song. The two young men disappeared. He told that he only knew to sing the song in German. He felt very insulted and the party was ended.

Question: 5. Describe any humourous incident from the novel./Describe the incident of two ladies who were beautifully dressed.

Ans. Once the narrator went on a boat trip with two ladies. They had put on silky stuff, ribbons, dainty shoes and light gloves and were beautifully dressed. But they didn’t dressed for a river picnic, they were going to a photographic studio. While stepping in boat, the first thing that they noticed was that the boat was not clean so the narrator and his friend dusted all the seats for them. They thought that a drop of water would destroy their dress. The narrator tried his best, but could not prevent a few drops of water falling on their clothes. The ladies felt relieved when he asked another man to row. But the man spread more than a pint of water on their dresses, they began to protect themselves with their umbrellas and drew rugs and coats over themselves.

Question: 6. What happened to Harry at Hampton Court Place?

Ans. Harris once went in to maze to show it to his country cousin. He studied the map thought that it is simple. He met some people who had been there for three-quarters of an hour and lost. Harris asked them to follow him. Harris kept on turning to the right but it seemed a long way and his cousin thought that it was a very big maze. After a long time, they passed the half of penny on the ground. The woman with the baby said that she had thrown it on the ground just before she met him and said he is an impostor. Harris thought they should go back to the entrance and try again but he failed. They called the young keeper who was new and not able to locate them and also got lost while entering the maze. The old keeper came after the lunch and rescued them.

Question: 7. What happened to George’s father and his friend in the inn called “The Pig and Whistle”?

Ans. George’s father and his friend got into the same bed in a dark hotel room unknowingly. When they got a room they were very happy and switched off the light and went to bed as they were tired. They got in the same bed the only difference was one lay with his feet next to the other's head. Each thought that there is another man in his bed. They both fought with each other not knowing that the other person was his friend. Each complained to the other that there was someone else in their bed then the other advised them to throw out the intruder. Finally they threw each other out and both landed on the floor. They thought that it was not a very naive hotel as strange things happened in it.

Chapter 13

Helen’s urge to speak

With the loss of the ability to hear, Helen’s speech had died down. However, from a young age, she had an impulse to speak. She tried to feel the noise that she made by keeping one hand on her throat and the other on her lips, feeling their movements. She produced sounds not to speak but for the exercise of her vocal chords. There was a feeling of lack in Helen which needed to be fulfilled. She was not satisfied with the means of communication she used and desperately wanted to learn to speak.

In 1890, Mrs. Lamson, one of the teachers at the Perkins Institutions, told Helen about a deaf and blind girl, Ragnhild Kaata who had been taught to speak. Helen resolved that she will also learn to speak and Mrs. Lamson took her for advice and assistance to Miss Sarah Fuller, the principal of Horace Mann School.

Speaking lessons from Miss Sarah Fuller

Miss Sarah Fuller was a “sweet-natured lady” who started tutoring Helen on the 26th of March, 1890. Miss Fuller passed Helen’s hand lightly over her face to make her feel her tongue and lips when she made a sound. Within the first hour itself, Helen learnt six elements of speech: M, P, A, S, T, I. “It is warm” is the first complete sentence that Helen managed to utter. In total, eleven lessons were given to her by Miss Fuller. The syllables were broken but, nevertheless, human. She was eager to share her happiness with her family and to see the joy on their faces. Miss Fuller taught her the elements of the speech but she was to continue practicing herself with Miss Sullivan’s help.

Helen learns to speak with Miss Sullivan’s assistance

Miss Sullivan dragged Helen’s attention to the “mispronounced words”. Helen had to depend on the vibrations felt by her fingers, the movement of the mouth and expressions of the face. Discouragement wearied her efforts initially but as soon as she thought of the joy of her family, she felt optimistic. Helen gave up the manual alphabet method to develop her speech even though Miss Sullivan and her friends continued to use it to communicate with her.

The final moment of joy: Helen’s speech

Finally, the happiest moment arrived. Helen had developed speech and was eager to return home. As she reached the station and her family heard her speak, they were overjoyed. Her mother was speechless with delight and hugged her tightly; Mildred danced in joy clasped her hand and kissed her; and her father expressed his pride and affection by a “big silence”.

Chapter 14

Helen’s first attempt to write a composition on her own

During her stay at the Fern Quarry, Miss Sullivan described to her the beauty of the “late foliage” plants. This apparently revived in Helen the memory of a story that had been read to her in the past. The story had been unconsciously retained in her mind but she thought that she was making up the story herself. She eagerly jotted down her ideas before they would slip away from her mind. The words and images smoothly flowed from her mind and she felt the joy of composing a story. The story was called “The Frost king”. She did not realize that the words and images coming to her mind without effort were not her own. For her, the boundary line between her own ideas and those she gathered from the books were blurred because most of the impressions came to her mind through the “medium of others’ eyes or ears”.

“The Frost King” appreciated by family and friends

After completing the story, she read it to everyone at dinner. Despite some pronunciation errors, she managed to impress everyone with her story. However, someone did ask her if she had read the story in a book. Helen did not have the faintest recollection of the story been read to her and so she denied it saying that it was her story and she had written it for Mr. Anagnos. Mr. Anagnos was delighted with her story and published it in one of the Perkins Institution reports.

Helen’s happiness gets crushed in Boston

During her short stay in Boston, Helen was astonished to discover that her story “The Frost King” was similar to “The Frost Fairies” written by Miss Margaret T. Canby. This story had appeared in the book, “Birdie and His Friends”, which was published even before Helen's birth. The fact that the language of the two stories was alike confirmed that Miss Canby’s story had been read to her and that hers was “a plagiarism”. Her joy changed into grief.

Mr. Anagnos felt deceived. He believed that Helen and Miss Sullivan had deliberately stolen the thoughts of a great writer to win his appreciation.

Helen at the court of investigation

Helen was brought before a court of investigation where she was examined and cross-examined by the teachers and officers of the Perkins Institution. The investigators seemed to force Helen to acknowledge that she remembered “The Frost Fairies” being read to her. Helen felt heavy at her heart because of the doubts and suspicions from her loved ones. She could respond to them only in monosyllables. Her consciousness could not be unburdened by the realization that she had only committed a ‘dreadful’ mistake. At last she was allowed to leave the room. Her friends and family assured her that she was a brave girl and that they were proud of her. That night, Helen wept pitiably, suffering for her mistake.

The problem in the composition of “The Frost King” acknowledged

Miss Sullivan had never heard “The Frost Fairies”, let alone read it to Helen. So, with the assistance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, she investigated the matter. At last, it was found out that Miss Canby’s story had been narrated to Helen by Mrs. Sophia Hopkins when she had spent a summer with her at Brewster. Even though Helen did not recall hearing the story, it sustained in her memory.

During this distressing time, Helen received a lot of messages of love and sympathy from her loved ones. She also received a kind note from Miss Canby herself, encouraging her to write something of her own in future that might help others.  This was comforting to Helen but she was afraid of “playing with words” again for a long time fearing that she would repeat her mistake again. Miss Sullivan’s encouragement, however, helped her to continue writing in future.

Helen’s early compositions

Helen recognized herself as a part of the process of learning by “assimilation” and “imitation” to put ideas into words. Her early compositions are mainly assimilation of the descriptions from various forgotten sources. Helen gives an example of the composition she wrote for Mr. Anagnos about the beauty of the Greek and Italian old cities. Mr. Anagnos appreciated the ‘poetical essence’ in her ideas. Helen was happy that even though the works resembled a “crazy patchwork” comprising of her own thoughts and others’, they proved her ability to express of her admiration for beautiful objects in clear and “animated” language.

Effects of “The Frost King” incident in the later life of Helen

The good part of the tragic experience of “The Frost King” was that Helen started thinking about the problems of composition.

After the publication of “The Story of My Life” in the “Ladies’ Home Journal”, Mr. Anagnos, in a letter to Macy, stated his views supporting Helen in the matter of the “Frost King”. He also stated that he had cast his vote in favour of Helen in the court of investigation.

Helen remarks the “Frost King” incident as an important one for her education and, therefore, has included it in the chapter without an attempt to defend herself or laying the blame on anyone else.

Chap-15 to 23-SA-2  The Story of my Life: Summary (Chapter 15-22) 
The story of my life

Chapter 15 

Helen spent the next summer and winter with her family in Alabama. Staying at home made her forget about the controversy over ‘The Frost King’. Helen was scared that people would discover that the ideas were not her own. To help her, Helen’s teacher Anne Sullivan encouraged her to write the story of her own life in the form of an assignment. Helen was 12 years old at that time and used to write for a magazine called Youth's Companion. Her visit to President Cleveland’s inauguration, to Niagara Falls, and to the World’s fair were the big events of 1893. Although she couldn’t see the Falls, Helen said that their power had a big impact on her. Helen claimed that beauty and music were like goodness and love to her.

Chapter 16 

By the time Helen was 13, she could fingerspell and read in raised print and Braille. He could not only speak in English, but also a little bit of French. Helen began her formal schooling and preparation for college in for college by taking Latin and Math lessons.  She initially liked Math more, but later grew to love Latin too.

Anne Sullivan taught Helen based on her interests until now. She used to teach her what she wanted to know and provided her with experiences. However, when preparing for college, Helen worked systematically and things that did not gratify her immediately. She had to achieve her goal of receiving formal education. 

Chapter 17 

In October 1894, Helen went to the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf in New York City for two years. Miss Sullivan accompanied her and attended the school as her interpreter. Helen studied arithmetic, physical geography, French and German at the school. The school was chosen because it was the best for continuing the development of Helen’s speech and lip reading skills. Helen and her teachers were disappointed as her lip-reading and speech skills were not what they had hoped and expected to be despite the practice. Helen did not like Math. In spite of the setbacks, her admiration for geography and languages helped her form fond memories of her stay in New York.  The only thing she liked about New York was Central Park. The daily walks in Central park and closeness to nature were the two things that helped her get closer to her former life in her country.

Chapter 18 

In 1896, Helen went to Cambridge school for Young Ladies to be prepared to get into Radcliffe. It was her first experience of attending classes with girls who could hear and see. At the Cambridge School too, Miss Sullivan was to attend the classes with Helen as her interpreter. The teachers had never taught someone like Helen. The subjects that Helen learnt in the first year were English history, English literature, German, Latin, arithmetic, Latin composition and occasional themes. Miss Sullivan tried her best to spell into Helen’s hands everything that was in the books. Although Helen’s sponsors in London and Philadelphia worked to have the textbooks embossed in raised print for Helen to read, the books were not ready in time to suit Helen’s purpose. The Principal and the German teacher learnt to fingerspell so that Miss Sullivan could take a break. Although they were not as fluent as Miss Sullivan, Principal Gilman took over teaching Helen English Literature for the remaining part of the year.  

Chapter 19 Summary

Helen looked forward to her second year at Gilman’s school. However, she was confronted with unexpected difficulties that year which caused her a great deal of frustration.  She had to study mathematics without the needed tools. The classes were larger and it was not possible for the Cambridge teachers to give her special instructions. Anne Sullivan had to read all the books to her. Helen had to wait in order to buy a Braille writer so that she could do her algebra, geometry and physics.

When the embossed books and the other apparatus arrived, Helen’s difficulties began to disappear and she began to study with confidence. However, Mr. Gilman thought that Helen was overworked and was breaking down. He insisted that I was overworked, and that I should remain at his school three years longer. He made changes in her studies. A difference of opinion between Mr. Gilman and Miss Sullivan resulted in Helen’s mother withdrawing Helen and Mildred from the Cambridge school. Helen went on to continue her studies under a tutor. Helen found it easier to study with a tutor than receive instructions in class.

When Helen took her exam in June 1899, she faced many difficulties, as the administrative board of Radcliffe did not realize how difficult they were making her examinations. They did not understand the peculiar difficulties Helen had to go through. However, Helen, with her grit and determination, overcame them all.  

                

Chapter 20 

Helen Keller took the entrance exams for Radcliffe College in 1899 just after her 19th birthday. She became the first blind-deaf college student in the fall of 1900.  She had thought of college romantically, that it would be a time to reflect and think about her subjects. However, her college life was different from her fellow students. She had to use her hands to listen rather than take down notes. The speed at which the lectures took place made it difficult for Keller to understand and remember everything that was taught.

Ms. Keller and Ms. Sullivan worked hard at Radcliffe College. Ms. Sullivan attended all of Ms. Keller's classes and helped with reading. Radcliffe was not prepared for deaf or blind students at that time. Many of the other students had never met a deaf and blind person. Although she enjoyed college, Ms. Keller thought that schedules of the students were too hectic and gave no time to sit and think. She also wrote, "we should take our education as we would take a walk in the country, leisurely, our minds hospitably open to impressions of every sort."

Chapter 21 

In this chapter, Helen Keller goes back to tell readers about her initial experiences with reading. Helen first read when I was seven years old. That was her first connected story in May 1887. There were only a few books in raised print, which Helen read repeatedly until a time when the words were so worn and pressed that she could scarcely make them out.

During her visit to Boston, she was allowed to spend a part of each day at the Institution library, and here she used to wander from bookcase to bookcase and take down whatever her “fingers lighted upon”. When she discovered the book ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy,’ Miss Sullivan read it to her and the book became Helen’s “sweet and gentle companion” throughout her childhood.

From there she read many books and she loved "Little Women" because it gave her a sense of kinship with girls and boys who could see and hear. She also loved ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Wild ‘Animals I Have Known’ as she felt a genuine interest in the animals themselves, they being “real animals and not caricatures of men”.  She was fascinated by Greek literature and it was Iliad that made Greece her “paradise”. According to her, great poetry did not need an interpreter but a responsive heart. Macbeth and King Lear impressed her most among Shakespeare’s works. She read the Bible for years “with an ever-broadening sense of joy and inspiration”. She said she loved it as she loved no other book.

Helen also expresses her love for history apart from her love for literature. The first book that gave her a real sense of the value of history was Swinton's "World's History," which she received on her thirteenth birthday. Among the French writers, she liked Molière and Racine best. Literature was Helen’s Utopia, where she faced no barrier of the senses. The things that she had learned and the things that were taught to her seemed of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."

Chapter 22 

Books and reading were not the only things that Helen enjoyed. When Helen was not reading, she enjoyed outdoor activities. She liked swimming, canoeing, and sailing. She also loved trees and used to feel close to them so much so that she believed she could hear their sap flow and see the sun shining on the leaves. Helen felt that each one of us had the ability to understand the impressions and the emotions experienced by mankind from the beginning. Blindness or deafness could not rob us of our memory in the subconscious about the green earth. This, she termed as the sixth sense which can see, feel and hear.   

---

Summary

The Story of my Life--Helen Keller

Class X

Chapter 1

Helen’s apprehension before writing her autobiography

Helen felt a kind of hesitation before she set on the task of penning down her autobiography and, thus, reveal the story of her life. In addition, the task itself was a difficult one for Helen: looking back, she could hardly distinguish between the facts and the fancies across the years. Furthermore, in the process of learning new things, she had forgotten many important incidents and experiences of her childhood.

Birth of Helen 

Helen Adams Keller was born on a plantation called Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. She was the eldest daughter of Captain Arthur H. Keller, a former officer of the Confederate Army, and Kate Adams. Helen was named after her grandmother, Helen Everett. Even as an infant, she showed signs of eagerness and independence. By the age of six months, Helen attracted everyone’s attention piping out words like “How d’ye” and “tea”.

Helen suffers an illness that leaves her deaf and blind

In February, 1882, at the age of nineteen months, Helen fell ill with “an acute congestion of the stomach and brain”, which could possibly have been scarlet fever or meningitis. This illness left her deaf and blind. Later on, her spirit was liberated from the “world of silence and darkness” by her teacher, Anne Sullivan.


Chapter 2

Helen’s initial attempts to communicate

After her sickness, Helen started using “crude signs” to communicate with others. A shake of the head meant “No” and a nod “Yes”, a pull meant “Come” and a push, “Go”. If she wanted anything, she would imitate the relevant action. Her mother encouraged her by involving her in the household activities. This made Helen more observant of the actions performed by the people around her.

Observing herself as different from others

Helen started to observe that unlike her, other people did not use signs for communication but talked with their mouths. She realized that she was different from others. She attempted to copy them but in vain. At times, she released her frustration on her nurse, Elisa, by kicking and screaming at her until she felt exhausted. She regretted her misbehavior but did not try to change it.

Companionship with Martha Washington and Belle

Martha Washington was a little coloured girl who understood Helen’s signs. She was the cook’s daughter. Martha submissively obeyed Helen, who in turn enjoyed domineering over her. Both the girls spent a lot of time in the kitchen, kneading dough balls, grinding coffee, quarrelling over the cake bowl.

Helen enjoyed feeding the hens and turkeys, and feeling them as they ate from her hands. She also loved to hunt for guinea-fowl eggs in the long grass. Even though Helen could not understand Christmas per se, she enjoyed the preparations leading to that occasion.

One July afternoon, when Helen and Martha were bored of cutting paper dolls, they came up with the idea of cutting each other’s hair. Helen cut Martha’s hair and Martha cut off a curl of Helen’s. Martha would have cut them all if it weren’t for Helen’s mother’s timely intervention.

Belle was a lazy old dog and a companion of Helen. Despite of her attempts, it was inattentive to her signs and gestures. As a result, Helen would get frustrated and go looking for Martha.

Helen is saved by the nurse from getting burnt

Once, while drying her wet apron in front of the hearth, Helen ended up going too close to the fire. Her clothes caught fire. Fortunately, she was saved by the nurse, Viny, who threw a blanket around her to extinguish the fire. Except for her hands and hair, she was not badly burnt.

Discovering the use of a key: used as a tool for mischief

About that time, Helen found out the use of a key. The mischievous Helen played a prank on her mother by locking her in the pantry. After Miss Sullivan arrived to teach her, she played the same prank on her. Helen locked her teacher in her room and refused to reveal the hidden key. Eventually, her father had to intervene and take Miss Sullivan out of the room through the window.

When Helen was around five years old, the Keller family moved from the ‘little vine-covered house’ to a large new one.

The loving relationship between Helen and her father

Helen’s father was loving and indulgent. Helen was fond of the stories her father narrated to her by forming spellings on her hand. Her father in turn enjoyed Helen’s reiteration of these stories. Her father’s death in the summer of 1896 was Helen’s “first great sorrow-- [her] first personal experience with death.”

Helen’s relationship with her baby sister

Initially, Helen viewed her younger sister, Mildred, as an intruder. She felt that her sister got all the attention from her mother. Helen vented her frustration and showed her affection on her doll, Nancy. Once Helen overturned Nancy’s cradle in which her sister was sleeping. Fortunately, their mother’s timely arrival saved Mildred. Later, however, the love between the hearts of the two sisters prospered despite the fact that neither of them understood the language of the other.


Chapter 3

The need for a better means of communication

Gradually, the few signs that were used by Helen to communicate became inadequate. Failure to get across her thoughts led to fits of anger and frustration in Helen. She felt miserable. As a result, it became imperative for her parents to find a teacher or a school for Helen so that she could learn a better means of communication.

Helen’s mother’s hope was aroused by an account she read in Dickens’s “American Notes” about the education of Laura Bridgeman, a deaf and blind student, by Dr. Howe. Unfortunately, his methods had possibly died with him. Besides, it would not be easy to find a teacher who would come to their distant town in Alabama to teach Helen.

The train journey to Baltimore 

Helen was six when her father decided to consult an oculist in Baltimore for the treatment of Helen’s sight. Helen enjoyed the new experiences during her trip. She was happy to receive a box of shells from a lady and a doll made out of towels from her aunt during the journey. She also played with the “punching machine” of the conductor. In fact, she did not experience any fits of temper during her journey as there were so many things to keep her mind and hands busy.

Exploring the possibilities of Helen’s education at Baltimore

At Baltimore, Dr. Chisholm said that there was nothing he could do about Helen’s sight. However, he advised Helen’s father to consult Dr. Alexander Graham Bell of Washington, who would be able to guide them in regards to the education of Helen.

Meeting Dr. Bell was a great experience for Helen. He understood Helen’s signs, which made her happy. This meeting was the beginning of a long friendship between Dr. Bell and Helen. Helen later recalled this interview as the foundation of her journey from darkness to light, “from isolation to friendship, companionship, knowledge and love.”

Dr. Bell advised Mr. Keller to write to Dr. Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institute in Boston. Her father wrote to him without any delay and got a reply in positive. Finally, in the March of 1887, Miss Sullivan arrived at the Keller house.

Chapter 4

The most important day of Helen’s life

Miss Anne Mansfield Sullivan arrived at the house of the Keller family on the third of March, 1887. This was the day from which Helen’s life started to transform; the ailing spirit of Helen could only find solace by the knowledge delivered by Miss Sullivan.

Beginning of the journey of knowledge with Miss Ann Sullivan

Miss Sullivan gave Helen a doll, which was a present from the little blind students of the Perkins Institute and was dressed by Laura Bridgeman. Miss Sullivan spelled the word ‘D-O-L-L’ on Helen’s hands. Helen managed to imitate the movements of her fingers even though she was not aware of the fact that Miss Sullivan was trying to teach her the name of the thing. It took several weeks for Helen to realize that everything has a name. Miss Sullivan tried to teach the names of several other objects to Helen, such as “M-U-G” and “W-A-T-E-R”, but Helen was annoyed at the repeated attempts of her teacher and she broke her doll on the floor.

One day, when they were walking in the garden, Miss Sullivan put Helen’s hand under a spout of water. As the cool stream gushed over Helen’s hand, Miss Sullivan spelled the word “water” on the other. Then Helen realized that ‘water’ meant that “cool something that was flowing over [her] hand”. She experienced the joy of gaining knowledge. When she returned to the house, she was eager to learn since “every name gave birth to a new thought”.

That day Helen learnt several new words, including “father”, “mother” and “teacher”. This eventful day left her very happy and excited. She waited eagerly for the upcoming new day.


Chapter 5

Helen could experience new joy as she learned the names of the objects and their uses. This made her more confident and familiar with the outside world.

Learning lessons in the lap of nature

Helen had many new experiences during her summer trip to the banks of the Tennessee River with Miss Sullivan. There, sitting on the warm grass, Helen learned lessons from her teacher. She got to know how birds make their nests; how trees grow with the help of the sun and the rain; how animals find food for themselves, etc. She became more sensitive to nature and rejoiced the company of the world about which she was now more informed.

Helen learns that nature is not always kind

One day Miss Sullivan helped Helen to climb up a tree. It was a pleasant sunny afternoon and they decided to have their luncheon there. Miss Sullivan left to fetch the food, with Helen sitting on a tree alone. Suddenly the weather became dark and stormy. Helen was terrified and felt alienated from the world. Helen longed for the return of her teacher and above all to get down from the tree. Too scared to jump, she “crouched down in the fork of the tree”. Just as she thought she would fall along with the tree, her teacher rescued her. Helen felt relieved to reach the ground safely. This experience taught her that nature is not always kind, that nature “wages open war against her children…”

Rejoicing independence and a new bond with nature

Helen continued to be terrified of climbing a tree for a long time. One day, however, she was lured to climb a ‘Mimosa tree’ by its beautiful fragrance. She did experience some difficulty in holding on to the large branches but the pleasure of attempting something new and wonderful kept her going. Finally, she sat down on a “little seat” and felt like a “fairy sitting on a rose cloud”.

Chapter 6

With the acquisition of words, Helen turns more inquisitive

Gradually, Helen’s knowledge grew in terms of vocabulary and subsequently, her area of inquiry broadened. She returned to the same subject repeatedly, eager for more and more information.

Challenges in understanding abstract ideas

One day Helen brought a bunch of violets for her teacher. Miss Sullivan put her arm around Helen to show her affection and spelled into her hand, “I love Helen”. But Helen failed to understand the meaning as she tried associating it with a thing and not with an emotion or an abstract idea. She was disappointed by the fact that her teacher could not “show” her what love meant.

The first conception of an abstract idea

A couple of days later, when Helen was stringing beads of different sizes, her teacher kept on pointing out mistakes to her. Helen was trying to think about the correct arrangement when Miss Sullivan touched her forehead and spelled the word “think” on her hand. Helen suddenly realized that the word is the name of the process going on in her mind. This was Helen’s first conscious awareness of an abstract idea. Finally, her teacher explained to her that, “you cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that love pours into everything.”

The tedious process of learning for a deaf and blind child like Helen

Miss Sullivan encouraged Helen to talk to her. She supplied her with several words and idioms by spelling them on her hand. It was a long and tedious process that continued for several years. This was because Helen could neither distinguish between the different tonalities of the speaker nor look at his expressions.

Chapter 7

Learning to read

The next important lesson for Helen was learning how to read. Once Helen had managed to spell a few words, her teacher gave her slips of cardboard with raised letters printed on them. Helen promptly learned that each printed word stood for an object, an act, or a quality. She was given the slips of paper, which represented, for example, “doll”, “is”, “on”, “bed”, and each name was placed on the relevant object. Her doll was put on the bed with words is, on, bed arranged beside the doll, thus making a sentence out of it.

From the printed slips Helen moved on to read printed books. Helen enjoyed hunting for the words she knew in her book “Reading for Beginners”.

Learning lessons out of doors and through illustrations

Miss Sullivan taught Helen with the help of illustrations through beautiful story or a poem. In this way, she made each difficult lesson easy to learn.

The early lessons were carried out in the sunlit woods. Among other places that Helen often visited were the garden and the orchard. Helen’s favourite walk was to the Keller’s Landing, an old wharf on the Tennessee River. There she was also given geography lessons in a playful manner without any exhaustion or feeling of being taught lessons. Helen built dams with pebbles, made islands and lakes, and dug river-beds. Miss Sullivan built “raised maps in clay” on a sheet so that Helen could feel the mountains, ridges and valleys by following her fingers. She illustrated the division of earth into different zones with the help of illustrative strings and “orange stick” representations.

Miss Sullivan taught Helen arithmetic, botany and zoology with the same leisurely approach.

Learning in the form of stories that were based on the gifts received by Helen

A collection of fossils was once gifted to Helen by a gentleman. These served as a key to the “antediluvian world” on which Miss Sullivan narrated dreadful tales about various beasts and devils with unpronounceable names.

Another time, a beautiful shell was gifted to Helen, and it helped her to learn about the habitat of the marine animals. She associated the shell building process with the working of the mind. Just as the Nautilus changes the material it absorbs from water and makes it a part of itself, similarly, the mind converts the “bits of knowledge” that one gathers into “pearls of thought”.

Lessons of science from life itself

Miss Sullivan picked up illustrations for her lessons from life itself. She taught the growth of a plant by making observations on a growing lily plant kept on the window. Helen learnt about the behaviour of animals by feeling the tadpoles in a “glass globe” and monitoring their growth.

Teaching skills of Miss Sullivan

Miss Sullivan was a teacher with great teaching skills: she was sympathetic and loving. She could seize the right moment for delivering knowledge to Helen, which made learning experience pleasant. Helen developed such closeness with her teacher that she hardly thought herself distant from her. She acknowledges her teacher for all the good in her and as a source of aspiration to gain knowledge

Chapter 8

Preparing for Christmas celebration

Helen eagerly waited for the first Christmas after the arrival of Miss Sullivan. Everyone in the house was planning surprises for Helen and she, in turn, was preparing surprises for them with the help of her teacher. Her friends incited her excitement by throwing hints at her with “half spelled words” and “incomplete sentences” which were both amusements and language lessons for her. Meanwhile, Miss Sullivan and Helen played the guessing game every evening to help her learn the use of language.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Helen was invited to a school in Tuscumbia. She felt excited in the presence of a beautiful Christmas tree standing in the centre of the room. She was delighted when asked to distribute presents among the school children. She received her gifts as well. However, she was not satisfied with these and wanted those gifts that were being planned by her family and friends. Later, she waited eagerly for the morning to discover her Christmas presents from Santa Claus and others.

Helen’s new pet: Tim:

Helen woke up to a large number of gifts. She was most pleased by her teacher’s gift: a canary bird.

Helen named the little bird as ‘Tim’ and Miss Sullivan taught her to take proper care of it. Tim was a friendly bird who clenched to Helen’s fingertip and loved to eat candied cherries out of her hand. Helen grew quite fond of Tim, until one fateful day when a cat ate the bird. That day, she had forgotten to shut the door of the cage and as she was returning with water for the bird’s bath, she felt a pussy cat pass by her. Soon she realized what happened: she would not be able to see it again.

Chapter 9

The journey to Boston in May, 1888

In May, 1888, Helen travelled to Boston with Miss Sullivan and her mother. This journey was different from the previous journey to Baltimore as she was no longer a young “restless” child. Instead, she was now a calm child sitting beside her teacher who was informing her about the views outside the car window: the Tennessee River, cotton fields, hills, woods and so on.

Helen recalls the tragic end of Nancy, her doll

After their arrival at Boston, Helen’s doll Nancy underwent a sad experience. During the journey, the doll became dirty and hence, the laundress at the Perkins Institution gave her a bath. Consequently, the doll turned into a “formless heap of cotton” and could only be recognized by Helen by her “two bead eyes”.

Helen’s friendly arrival at the Perkins Institution for the Blind

Helen could befriend the blind children at the Perkins Institute quite easily. She was delighted to be able to communicate with the blind children in her own language. Besides, she was happy to be at the same institute where Laura Bridgeman had been taught. She envied the blind children only in one aspect: their ability to hear. Eventually, Helen felt contended and happy in their company and forgot all her pain.

Helen’s first history lesson at Bunker Hill

While Helen was at Boston, she visited the Bunker Hill. There she had her first history lesson. She was thrilled to imagine that she was standing at the high stairway which was once used by the soldiers to shoot their enemies.

Helen’s maiden ocean voyage: trip to ‘Plymouth’:

The next day, they went to Plymouth by water. It was Helen’s first trip on the ocean and first voyage on a steamboat. On reaching their destination, she felt the curves and cuts of the Plymouth Rock and the “1620” engraved on it. A gentleman at the Pilgrim Hall museum gave her a small model of the rock. She was familiar with the wonderful stories about the Pilgrims that visited that rock. She could idealize them for their bravery and zeal to acquire home in an unknown territory. Later on, she was disappointed to know about their shameful acts of persecuting minority groups like the ‘Quakers’.

Close companionship with Mr. William Endicott and his daughter

Among her close friends at Boston were Mr. William Endicott and his daughter. She was delighted by their stroll through their rose-garden of their house at Beverly Farms. Their dogs, Leo and Fritz, were quite friendly with Helen and the horse, Nimrod, poked his nose in her hand to get a pat.

She also enjoyed playing in the sand near the sea. Mr. Endicott told her about great Europe-bound ships that sailed by from Boston. Helen recounts her whole experience at Boston as full of pleasure and denotes the city in one phrase as “The City of Kind Hearts”.

Chapter 10

The vacation at Brewster with Mrs. Hopkins

When the Perkins institute closed for the summer, Helen and her teacher went to Brewster, on Cape Cod, to spend the vacation with a dear friend, Mrs. Hopkins. Helen had read about the sea in her book Our Worldand was excited to visit it.

Helen’s first encounter with the sea

Once at the sea shore, she hurriedly plunged into the water. She was enjoying the water, when suddenly her foot struck a rock. Her “ecstasy” changed into fear as she started drowning. She struggled for a while and finally, the waves threw her back on the shore and she was supported by the embrace of her teacher. After she recovered from the panic, she innocently asked her teacher, “Who put salt in water?”

After she had recovered from the incident, Helen enjoyed sitting on a big rock and feeling the dashing of waves against the rock, sending up a shower of spray.  She noticed the movement of the waves and their affect on the pebbles and the beach.

The horseshoe crab

Miss Sullivan drew Helen’s attention to a sea organism---the horseshoe crab. Helen was so fascinated by it that she carried the heavy crab all the way to their house. On reaching their home, she carefully placed it in a trough of water. But to her surprise, it disappeared the next morning. Helen slowly but surely realized her mistake of separating the crab from his habitat and felt happy thinking that it had possibly safely travelled to its home.

Chapter 11

Spending a leisurely autumn at the Fern Quarry

Helen returned to her Southern home in autumn. She felt happy and content with her experiences in the north. She spent her autumn months with her family at their summer cottage, Fern Quarry. The cottage was like a “rough camp” situated on top of a mountain, near a limestone quarry.  Helen spent her time in a leisurely manner at the cottage.

Many visitors came to Fern Quarry. In the evening, men played cards and talked about their hunting experiences. She woke up in the morning with the sound of rattling guns and the smell of coffee. All the men went off to hunt after bidding each other good luck for the season.

Later in the morning, barbecue was prepared. The “savoury odour” of meat made her hungry even before the tables were set. Afterward, the hunting party also joined the feast of veal and roast pig, following their discussion on their hunting events during the day.

Helen had a pony and she named it Black Beauty, having just completed the book. Sometimes, accompanied by her teacher, she rode the pony. At times, Miss Sullivan would release the rein and the pony would stop at his will to eat leaves from trees. On other days, they would go for walks in the woods and return home with armful of laurels, ferns and other beautiful flowers. Sometimes, she would go on similar trips with her sister and cousins.

Adventure with the train at the rail road

At the foot of the mountain there was a railroad and about a mile distant was a trestle spanning a deep gorge. Helen had never actually been there until one day when she, along with her sister and Miss Sullivan, got lost in the woods. They came across the trestle, which was a short cut to their home. Since they were lost, they decided to take this way in spite of the dangers: the ties were wide apart and quite narrow. Feeling the rails with the toes, Helen moved on the trestle cautiously but without fear. Suddenly, train was heard coming in from the other side. They had to climb quickly down upon the crossbraces while the train passed by. With some difficulty, they regained the track. When, ultimately, they reached back home, it had grown quite dark and all the family members were out looking for them.

Chapter 12

Chilly winter at a New England Village

After her first visit to Boston, Helen continued to visit the north every winter. Once Helen went on a visit to a New England village. This village had frozen lakes and vast snow fields. It was here that Helen got to experience the snow. She explored the snow-covered hills and fields that were devoid of any life, the empty nests and the bare trees.

One day, the advent of a snowstorm made Helen rush out-of-doors to enjoy the first few descending snowflakes. Gradually, the whole area was covered by snow and the morning became dark. In the evening, there was a snowstorm. Helen and her teacher spent their time sitting around the fire and narrating stories. At night, they could hear the terrifying noise of the wind on the trees around the house and the creaking and breaking sounds of the rafters. On the third day, the storm was over and sunlight peeped out from the clouds. It scattered to the different places making everything shine and glow. The trees were standing still as if statues of “white marble”.  The roads and paths were all covered with snow. Helen could scarcely feel the earth below her feet.

The favorite amusement during winters: tobogganing

Helen’s favorite pastime during the winters was tobogganing. Helen enjoyed plunging through the drifts, leaping hollows, drifting and swooping down upon the lake while riding on a toboggan.