 Table of Contents |
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
The
Story of My Life, by Helen Keller Part
I:
Chapter X
Just
before the Perkins Institution closed for the summer, it was arranged that
my teacher and I should spend our vacation at Brewster, on Cape Cod, with
our dear friend, Mrs. Hopkins. I was delighted, for my mind was full of
the prospective joys and of the wonderful stories I had heard about the
sea. My
most vivid recollection of that summer is the ocean. I had always lived
far inland and had never had so much as a whiff of salt air; but I had
read in a big book called "Our World" a description of the ocean
which filled me with wonder and an intense longing to touch the mighty sea
and feel it roar. So my little heart leaped high with eager excitement
when I knew that my wish was at last to be realized. No
sooner had I been helped into my bathing-suit than I sprang out upon the
warm sand and without thought of fear plunged into the cool water. I felt
the great billows rock and sink. The buoyant motion of the water filled me
with an exquisite, quivering joy. Suddenly my ecstasy gave place to
terror; for my foot struck against a rock and the next instant there was a
rush of water over my head. I thrust out my hands to grasp some support, I
clutched at the water and at the seaweed which the waves tossed in my
face. But all my frantic efforts were in vain. The waves seemed to be
playing a game with me, and tossed me from one to another in their wild
frolic. It was fearful! The good, firm earth had slipped from my feet, and
everything seemed shut out from this strange, all-enveloping
element--life, air, warmth and love. At last, however, the sea, as if
weary of its new toy, threw me back on the shore, and in another instant I
was clasped in my teacher's arms. Oh, the comfort of the long, tender
embrace! As soon as I had recovered from my panic sufficiently to say
anything, I demanded: "Who put salt in the water?" After
I had recovered from my first experience in the water, I thought it great
fun to sit on a big rock in my bathing-suit and feel wave after wave dash
against the rock, sending up a shower of spray which quite covered me. I
felt the pebbles rattling as the waves threw their ponderous weight
against the shore; the whole beach seemed racked by their terrific onset,
and the air throbbed with their pulsations. The breakers would swoop back
to gather themselves for a mightier leap, and I clung to the rock, tense,
fascinated, as I felt the dash and roar of the rushing sea! I
could never stay long enough on the shore. The tang of the untainted,
fresh and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought, and the shells
and pebbles and the seaweed with tiny living creatures attached to it
never lost their fascination for me. One day Miss Sullivan attracted my
attention to a strange object which she had captured basking in the
shallow water. It was a great horseshoe crab--the first one I had ever
seen. I felt of him and thought it very strange that he should carry his
house on his back. It suddenly occurred to me that he might make a
delightful pet; so I seized him by the tail with both hands and carried
him home. This feat pleased me highly, as his body was very heavy, and it
took all my strength to drag him half a mile. I would not leave Miss
Sullivan in peace until she had put the crab in a trough near the well
where I was confident he would be secure. But next morning I went to the
trough, and lo, he had disappeared! Nobody knew where he had gone, or how
he had escaped. My disappointment was bitter at the time; but little by
little I came to realize that it was not kind or wise to force this poor
dumb creature out of his element, and after awhile I felt happy in the
thought that perhaps he had returned to the sea.
|
||||
