CHAPTER XVIII

Surprising announcement

Helen's announcement that some day she would go to college, and that
too, to Harvard surprised her friends. The thought of going to a college and
studying with seeing and hearing girls took hold of her. It was thought that she
should go to Cambridge and join the school there - the nearest approach for
her to go to Harvard. So she joined the Cambridge School in October, 1896. Miss Sullivan attended the classes with her and spelled in her hand the
instructions given. Her instructors had had no experience in teaching any but
normal pupils. Her subjects of study during the first year were English history
English literature, German, Latin, arithmetic, Latin composition and occasional
themes. Her English was found sufficient. She made a good start in French
was good at German.

Helen's peculiar problems

Miss Sullivan could not spell out in Helen's hand all that the books for
It was difficult to have textbooks embossed in time to be of use to her. She had
coher Latin in braille so that she could recite with the other girls. Her instrum
began to understand her imperfect speech. Each day Miss Sullivan went to the
dasses with Helen and spelled in her hand all that the teachers said. Frau Grote
her German teacher, and Mr. Gilman, the principal, were the only teachers who
leamed the finger alphabet to give her instructions. Miss Sullivan had to do mod
of the tedious work.

Various subjects of study

That year Helen finished arithmetic, reviewed her Latin grammar. She read
many good writings in German, especially Schiller's wonderful lyrics, the history
of Frederick the Great's achievements and accounts of Goethe's life. Mr. Gilman
taught her English literature, and she read "As You Like It, Burke's "Speech an
Conciliation with America and Macaulay's "Life of Samuel Johnson" She
found Burke's speech very instructive. She wondered how King George and his
ministers could ignore his warning and prophecy of America's victory. After
reading Macaulay's "Life of Samuel Johnson" she began to visualize and
sympathise with Johnson who "ate the bread of affliction in Grub Street".

Enjoyable company

At the school Helen enjoyed the companionship of seeing and hearing g
of her own age. Some of the girls learned to speak to her. At Christmas, her
mother and sister spent the holidays with her. and Mr. Gilman kindly offered
let her sister, Mildred, study in his school. Both the sisters spent helping
other in study.

Examinations for Radcliffe

Helen took her preliminary examinations for Radcliffe from the 29th of June

to the 3rd of July in 1897. The subjects she offered were Elementary and Advanced
German, French, Latin, English, and Greek and Roman history. The candidate
was required to pass in sixteen hours-twelve hours being called elementary and
four advanced Helen was allotted No. 233, and she was allowed to use a
typewriter alone in a room, Mr. Gilman read all the papers to her by means of
the manual alphabet. She wrote out her answers on the typewriter. The papers
were difficult. Mr. Gilman spelled to her what she had written so that she could
make necessary changes. Later, at Radcliffe, no one read the paper to her for
any correction.

Passing the preliminaries with higher credit

Helen was able to pass the preliminaries with higher credit because she was
familiar with some of the subjects already, and in the finals no one read her work
over to her. The first preliminary was the most difficult. Professor Schilling informed
her that she had passed satisfactorily in German the day the Latin paper was
brought to them. This prompted her to go through her ordeal with a light heart
and a stead hand."