Draw up a character sketch of Helen as a little girl before she started her education in a formal way.
Answers
Helen as a little girl was a very eager and cheerful girl. She was a vivacious and self-asserting child during her infancy before illness snatched all her faculties of sight and hearing. She was a quick learner and could speak words like 'tea' and 'water' clearly. She would speak phrases like 'how do'ye' and 'wah-wah' for 'water'. She started walking when she was one year old. She insisted upon imitating what other people did.
But the happy days did not last last long. One day she was suddenly attracted by the dancing shadows of the leaves on the floor. She was then in her mother's lap. She slipped out of her mother's lap who had just given her a bath. She ran towards the shadows but suddenly fell down. She cried for her mother to take her up in her arms.
Thus, Helen showed signs of growing up into a bright child as she was a promising infant.
Helen, as a young girl, was in deep communion with nature. She enjoyed her time in their garden, feeling along the square stiff boxwood hedges, losing herself among the flowers, and after a fit of temper, seeking solace in the cool leaves and grass. She learnt to talk quite early, and learnt to walk when she was but a year old. Then came her illness, an acute congestion of stomach and brain, which robbed her of her senses of sight and hearing. Gradually, she got accustomed to the silence and darkness that became her entire life. With her mother's help, she developed signs which she could use to communicate. Her disabilities made her frustrated with the world, and often it would result in a tantrum when she could not understand what others were saying. Martha Washington, the child of their cook, understood her signs the best, and Helen used to domineer over her, making her do things she wanted. She was also resentful of her little sister at first, almost killing her when she overturned her cradle.