Question

how did helen compare her learning of german and french languages ? how did physical geography interest helen?

Answer 1

Geography interested Helen endlessly because she would learn how to build dams of pebbles, islands and lakes and dig river-beds just for fun and forget that it was part of a lesson. She would listen with increasing wonder to Miss Sullivan's descriptions of the great round world with its burning mountains, buried cities, moving rivers of ice and numerous other strange things. The raised maps in clay helped her envision the mountains ridges and valleys and she could also follow the course of the rivers with her fingers. The division of the earth into zones and poles confused and challenged her understanding. The illustrative strings and the orange stick representing the poles seemed real to her so that the mere mention of the temperate zone would bring the vision of a series of twine circles.

She pursued Geography with unflagging interest, especially physical geography because it was a joy to learn the secrets of nature. It would help her learn how in the picturesque language of the Old Testament, the winds were made to blow from four corners of the heavens, how the vapours ascended from the ends of the earth and how rivers were cut out among rocks. The overturning of the mountains by the roots and the ways in which man could overcome many forces mightier than himself also formed the content of her lessons.