Prairie Du Sac High School - Prairie Pride Yearbook (Prairie Du Sac, WI)

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HELEN KELLER Helen Keller is one of the most wonderful personalities of the age and her name is a synonym for the mastery of all but impossible obstacles. Unable to see, and unable to hear, she has through the sense of touch alone, attained to a degree of mental culture that is marvelous. She was born in a vine-covered cottage in Tuscumbria, Alabama, June 27, 1880. Her father was clever, hospitable, loving, indulgent, and devoted to his home. “To describe my mother,” she writes, is like attempting to put into words the fragrance of a flower or the smile on a beloved face.” The beginning of Helen’s life was simple. “I came, I saw, I conquered, as the first baby in the family always does.” At the age of nineteen months she was taken ill with a fever which

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found in our ranks. When particularly finished musicians were necessary, who so fit as several of our members? When any of the literary organizations required great executive ability1', must have a constitution organized and drawn up, or a program pre- pared, where could they find more competent helpers than in the ranks of the usually despised Freshman Class! When a search was made for efficient officers to guard the interests of these societies, where could more zealous ones be obtained than from the Class of 1904! Such has been our glorious record, and aside from all this, we also helped to develop a pleasant social atmosphere. To- gether with the Class of 1903, we began our series of inter-class parties, which were to last until the graduation of the latter, and which stood out as the jolliest functions of the entire school. Perhaps much of their interest was due to the pathetically ineffectual efforts of the rest of the school to interrupt and mar them. The fright of these disturbers, as they fled panic-stricken before the sure and close pursuit of the mighty classmen of 1903 and ’04 can be somewhat imagined from the fact that for days afterward, certain of these marauders wore a weary, hunted look, and evidences of nervous prostration prevailed, when broken windows, red-pepper, obstructed chimney tops, mis- placed steps, etc., happened to be unkindly mentioned in their hearing. Thus our school-life went on through the Sophomore and Junior years, characterized only by a still further strength- ening of our unusual mental capacity, the manifestations of which our teachers delighted to point out to astonished visitors. Then came the long looked for event of our High School career,—our entrance into the mystic realms of the Senior year and the enjoyment of its unlimited privileges. Now the honors and cares of this victorious year have passed away, leaving in their wake mixed feelings of joy and regret. Naturally we are glad to see our work finished and complete, but we also feel in the words of George Eliot,—“ 'Tis grievous parting with good company.” As we go forth to join the Alumni of the Prairie du Sac High School,—with the assurance that we leave “one of the few immortal names that were not born to die,” we hope that the Class of 1905 may awake and shoulder its coming yoke in as conscientious, if not in as capable a manner as the Class of 1904! Philip Meyer. J

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deprived lier of both sight and hearing. In this world of silence and darkness she dwelt until her seventh year, when Miss Sullivan, her teacher, came and by love and genius let some intellectual sunlight into her life. It is hard to imagine the mental condition of such a pupil. Sight and sound did not ex- ist for her. They had never existed for her save as a vague baby memory. The blue of the sky, the beautiful birds and flowers and landscapes, the murmur of waters, the ringing of bells, the rich melody of voices in song, she could never know. Her first lessons consisted in the slow and laborious mastery of the fact that certain raised forms of metal which we call letters stood for the idea of a certain thing, as an apple, which she could touch and taste and smell. She was drilled in this until she always thought of that particular object when her fingers came in contact with that special kind of roughness. Later she learned to prick the same name in paper by means of metal guides, to turn the paper over and by means of the little pro- jections to read her own writing. Her knowledge of words grew with her knowledge of things and ideas and was a part of that knowledge. She w as delighted beyond all description when she found that she was learning to communicate with others, and plied her teacher with ceaseless questions. In the case of a fork she was not content to know merely the name, but pointed to the tines, handle, decorations, and must know what move- ment of the fingers stood for the different parts. At times, when a child she gave vent to her anger at her inability to ex- press herself, in violent outbursts of passion; but years and cul- ture have changed her, and made of her a sensible, original, good-humored young woman of endless patience. She studied with Miss Sullivan, attended Perkins institute, then a Cambridge preparatory school, and finally finished her preparation for college under the tutorship of a Mr. Keith. In the fall of 1900 she entered Radcliffe College at Cambridge, Mass, and on the twenty-eighth of this month she will graduate from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. On the day before graduation she will celebrate her twenty-fourth birthday. In Radcliffe she has competed successfully with girls who can see and hear. Miss Sullivan attends recitations with her and interprets to her the instructions given there. She found Mathematics both uninteresting and difficult. Geometry