In order, therefore, not to be tedious I shall try to present in a series of sketches only the episodes that seem to me to be the most interesting and important. A few impressions stand out vividly from “the first years of my life but the shadows of the prison-house are on the rest.” Besides, many of the joys and sorrows of childhood have lost their poignancy and many incidents of vital importance in my early education have been lost sight of in the excitement of great discoveries.

The woman paints the child’s experiences in her own fantasy. When I try to classify my earliest impressions I find that fact and fancy look alike across the years that link that period with the present. I have, as it were, a superstitious hesitation in lifting the veil that clings about my childhood like a golden mist. IT IS with a kind of fear that I begin to write the history of my life. PART ONE: THE LONG NIGHT Miss Helen Keller (1893) It is the editor’s hope to be able to publish at the conclusion of Miss Keller’s own story a supplementary article by one of her friends, explaining, in detail, exactly how this marvelous work was done. “In the story of my life here presented to the readers of The Ladies’ Home Journal, I have tried to show that afflictions may be looked at in such a way that they become privileges.”ĪS THE feat may seem almost incredible, it may be in order to say at the beginning that every word of this story as printed in THE JOURNAL has actually been written by Helen Keller herself - not dictated, but first written in “Braille” (raised points) then transferred to the typewriter by the wonderful girl herself next read to her by her teacher by means of the fingers corrected then read again to her, and in the proof finally read to her once more. Written Entirely by the Wonderful Girl Herself

In: Blindness, People, Social Welfare Issues Helen Keller’s Own Story of Her Life

The story of my life 1903