A Girl Named Helen

A Teacher Arrives

On March 3rd, 1887, six-year-old Helen was outside her porch when she heard the vibrations of a horse-drawn carriage arriving. The carriage stopped and Helen expected her mother. But instead she felt a stranger. Helen didn’t like strangers, but she was curious. Who was this new person?

It was Anne Sullivan, a twenty-year-old recent graduate of the Perkins Institute. She would live with the Kellers as Helen’s teacher. The next morning as Helen helped Anne unpack her bags, Helen found a doll. Anne took Helen’s hand and spelled out the letters for the word doll on her palm. Helen thought the doll belonged to her now. When Anne took back the doll, Helen had a temper tantrum. Anne tried to calm her down, but Helen grew more and more angry. Helen and her teacher were not off to a good start.

Helen’s temper tantrums continued. When Helen tried to eat food from Anne’s plate, Anne stopped her, and then Helen became furious. She kicked and screamed, and refused to use a spoon to eat her food. Everything with Helen was a battle. The Kellers tried to help, but Anne realized they were enabling her poor behavior. The best thing to do was to get Helen away from her family. Anne and Helen would live in a cottage that was near the main house.

Although they were alone, things between them did not get better. The two had fights every day about tasks like getting dressed and eating. But Anne never gave up trying to teach Helen. One day, Anne took Helen outside to the water pump. Anne put one of Helen’s hands under the cold water and spelled out the letters for the word water on her other palm. W-A-T-E-R. Suddenly, Helen understood.

A thrill ran through Helen’s body. Anne spelled out a lot of other words into Helen’s hand that day, too, including the word teacher. For the first time, Helen felt hope. Her dark world was starting to brighten.