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"A sweet, heart-lifting cheerfulness,
Like spring-time of the year,
Seems ever on her steps to wait."

This glad flow of spirits is one of the main tributaries to the stream of her physical well-being; for, of all the mental dispositions that exert a favorable influence upon health, cheerfulness is the most potent. It is a peculiarly excellent tonic, and the "best cordial of all." It is a perpetual song without words, promoting harmony of soul, and refreshing mind and body as much as actual rest.

"It gives to beauty half its power,
The nameless charm, worth all the rest --
The light that dances o'er a face,
And speaks of sunshine in the breast."

Indeed, joy, mirth, hope and a sense of contentment may be classed among the strongest and most effective sanitary agencies. They stimulate the respiration and circulation, and aid the various organs of the body to perform all their functions smoothly and powerfully.

It has been ascertained, beyond the possibility of doubt, that Helen has not the slightest perception of light or of sound. She is totally blind and deaf. On the other hand, the acuteness of her remaining senses, and especially that of touch and feeling generally, has been brought to perfection by constant exercise. She recognizes her friends as soon as her fingers come in contact with their hands or with their dress, and not the faintest odor escapes her notice. When anyone begins to play on the pianoforte, on the organ or on any other instrument, her brain is instantly informed of the fact through the vibrations of the floor. While attending one of the weekly concerts in our hall last summer, she became so animated and enlivened by the strains of the music, that it was quite difficult to prevent her from indulging in dancing. Of this diversion she is very fond, having learned its rhythmic movements by feeling the motions of the feet and the bend of the knee of one of her little companions, who was trying to teach her the Terpsichorean art.

Helen's mind has developed itself in a remarkable manner during the past year. By cheerful toil and patient labor she has gathered a rich harvest of general information, and has made astonishing progress in the acquisition of language. Her vocabulary has increased to such an extent as to comprehend more than three thousand words, which she can spell without a mistake and employ accurately in composition. This is a marvellous achievement, for there is no pupil in any of the schools for the blind, from the lowest up to the highest grade, who is so thoroughly acquainted with the intricacies of orthography, and none in those for deaf-mutes who can use idiomatic English with such ease and precision. Nay, more! There is no child of her age, in full possession of his faculties, who could accomplish in several years what she has done in nineteen months.

The story of the progress made by this little human being is like a romance. It is fraught with interesting and instructive incidents, and opens to all intelligent persons new sources of thought and wonder. As will be seen by the extracts from her diaries, and by her letters, she has gained an uncommon facility and copiousness of expression. She takes great delight in reading to herself. Indeed, it is an indescribable pleasure to watch her beaming and ever-changing countenance as the sentences fall from her fingers. Little stories, written in a simple style, offer, of course, peculiar attractions to her; but, no matter what the nature of an embossed book is, she will occupy herself with it for hours, apparently feasting on its contents.

One evening she put her hand on a copy of Bach's chorals, selected and edited by Mr. John S. Dwight for the use of the blind, which was lying on my desk; and, as she turned a few leaves, she began to inquire the meaning of the words wie, schön, leuchtet, etc., which formed part of the title of the first hymn. No explanation was given to her then about the German or any other foreign tongue. This was done, however, on the evening of the 8th of July, when she was anxious to know what Latin was, having just heard it mentioned by a pupil of the high school as one of the studies there. On being told by her teacher that it was a foreign language, spoken by an ancient people and altogether different from ours, Helen caught the idea instantly, and learned in a few minutes the words mensa, homo, pater, mater, puer, puera and soror, most of which were spelled to her only once.

The next day she left Boston for Brewster, where she was to spend the summer months playing, bathing, and gathering shells and sea-weeds; but on the 14th of August I received a note from her, saying that she was studying French with her teacher, and giving as specimens of her work several short sentences, in which there was but a single inaccuracy, the expression ma chére, instead of mon cher monsieur, being used twice. I need scarcely remark that I was both delighted and surprised at this new revelation. In the same letter she spoke of her future intentions and of her thirst for general information in the following words: "I will learn to talk Latin, too, and some day you will teach me Greek. I do want to learn much about everything." While bathing at the sea-shore at Brewster, she made the acquaintance of a German lady, who, responding to her wishes, taught her a few German words.