The Story of My Life | Page 3

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THE STORY OF MY LIFE BY HELEN KELLER WITH HER
LETTERS (1887-1901) AND A SUPPLEMENTARY ACCOUNT OF
HER EDUCATION, INCLUDING PASSAGES FROM THE

REPORTS AND LETTERS OF HER TEACHER, ANNE
MANSFIELD SULLIVAN By John Albert Macy
Special Edition, Illustrated CONTAINING ADDITIONAL
CHAPTERS BY HELEN KELLER
To ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
Who has taught the deaf to speak and enabled the listening ear to hear
speech from the Atlantic to the Rockies, I dedicate this Story of My
Life.
Editor's Preface This book is in three parts. The first two, Miss Keller's
story and the extracts from her letters, form a complete account of her
life as far as she can give it. Much of her education she cannot explain
herself, and since a knowledge of that is necessary to an understanding
of what she has written, it was thought best to supplement her
autobiography with the reports and letters of her teacher, Miss Anne
Mansfield Sullivan. The addition of a further account of Miss Keller's
personality and achievements may be unnecessary; yet it will help to
make clear some of the traits of her character and the nature of the
work which she and her teacher have done.
For the third part of the book the Editor is responsible, though all that is
valid in it he owes to authentic records and to the advice of Miss
Sullivan.
The Editor desires to express his gratitude and the gratitude of Miss
Keller and Miss Sullivan to The Ladies' Home Journal and to its editors,
Mr. Edward Bok and Mr. William V. Alexander, who have been
unfailingly kind and have given for use in this book all the photographs
which were taken expressly for the Journal; and the Editor thanks Miss
Keller's many friends who have lent him her letters to them and given
him valuable information; especially Mrs. Laurence Hutton, who
supplied him with her large collection of notes and anecdotes; Mr. John
Hitz, Superintendent of the Volta Bureau for the Increase and Diffusion
of Knowledge relating to the Deaf; and Mrs. Sophia C. Hopkins, to
whom Miss Sullivan wrote those illuminating letters, the extracts from

which give a better idea of her methods with her pupil than anything
heretofore published.
Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin and Company have courteously permitted
the reprinting of Miss Keller's letter to Dr. Holmes, which appeared in
"Over the Teacups," and one of Whittier's letters to Miss Keller. Mr. S.
T. Pickard, Whittier's literary executor, kindly sent the original of
another letter from Miss Keller to Whittier.
John Albert Macy. Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 1, 1903.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Editor's Preface
Part I. The Story of My Life Chapter
I-XXIII
II. Introduction to Letters, Letters III. A Supplementary Account of
Helen Keller's Life and
Education
Chapter I.
The Writing of the Book II. Personality III. Education IV. Speech V.
Literary Style

Part I. The Story of My Life

Chapter I

It is with a kind of fear that I begin to write the