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cena agen ee boemnmepe ot Pree Ses id peed once wrote. In June 190) she received her B. A. cum laude from Radcliffe College, with “espe- cat mention for her excellence in English lit- erature.” “Feacher™ and Helen then moved to Wren- tham, ontside of Roston, where they bought a heuse and a little farm. Helen began te study the prublems of the blind whase state at that time was deplorable, | The adults were idle and in dire need. Prevention of blindness in new-born chikdren conld not be discussed pute - licly—even though the medical profession had known since T8s7 that vphihalmia neonatorian was preventable —hecause it was connected with venereal diseases. lt took a Helen Keller to bring light to the blind, She bad already started te work for then when she was a junior in college and had joined an associa- tion that bad been founded hy the Women's Educational and Industrial Union in Boston to promote the welfare of adult blind people. Vpon her reqnest, a stiute commission was appointed which made them its special care. and she was asked to serve on it, A few years later she steeceded in persuading Colonel Netson, editor of the Kansas City Star, to discuss Itindness in the newborn in his paper. tn 1907 Edward Bok opened the pazes of the Ladies’ Home Journal to a similar discussion, for which Helen wrote several articles. . A) year after Helen's graduation Anne Satlivan was marricd to John A. Macy, the famous literary _ critic. Living with | the Macys, Helen did not fese her teacher and steady companion but merely won another friend. It was Jobo A. Macy who advised her and edited her autobiography, The Story of My Life, published in 1902 as a. serial in the Ladies’ Llome Journal, This story of her carly struggle “to yet into communica- tion with the world of knowledge and of her development therein” was eagerly awaited and read by the public. Optimism, an Essay (1903), and The World fb Live In (1908), foth mostly autobiographical, followed the first account of her life. The Song of the Stone Wall (1910) Schronicted in unthymed verses. New England's history of toil and triumph.” After some more lessons Helen Keller's vaice had so improved that in February 1913 che agreed ta) speak in public, The same sear she spoke in Washington and) on that ecasiott was asked to cover the imaugura- tien of Woodrow Wilson for the United Press, Other engagements followed. Later, however, Mrs. Macy lecame seriously ill. She had had no time to recover from an op- eration, and worry about lack of money and the fact that her hushand had left her and Helen had contributed considerably ta the breakdown. In her desperation Helen asked her old friend Andrew Carnegie for help and in the return mail received a check with the assurance of an amnutity. tn WL Miss Keller and “Teacher” em- barked oon their first transcontinental tour, where Helen filled speaking engagements int Canaia, Michigan, Minnesota, Towa, other Midwestern stites, and California. In Oc- CURRENT BIOGRAP KE £ : 4\ tober of the same year Polly Themeon from Glasgow, Scotland, became her secretary; she was Jater to hecome manager of her house- hold, In V8 the hame at Wrentham had to he sold, and the three women moved, to Forest: Uills, a subuch of New York City. Helen got an_ offer from Hollywood which she accepted inimediately for a motion pie ture based on the story Of her life, The pie- ture, unfortunately, Was 4 financial loss, but she enjoyed her stay in the film colony im- mensely. - Lo. The necessity of ‘earning more money lie- came imperative. The junds provided for Helen Keller's support would cease with her death, and if she should die before her teacher Mrs. Macy would be feft almost des- fitute, Vaudeville seemed to offer more Pay than literary work or lecturing, and the two women therefore went of the stage. For two years they went from coust to coast with the Orpheum Circuit and only in 1924 settled down to the quict life of ordinary citizens. Alidstream: My Later Life was published in 1929, “The story las something less of the emotional appeal and the psy chofogival inter: est and value inherent. in’ her first book,” said the New York Times reviewer, “But there is compensation for this in the por- trayal of her reactions to and activities in, the busy world af men and women and of her contacts. with famous people” such as Mexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, and Mark ‘Twain, to mention only a few. Outside of writing her memoirs, Helen Keller still accepted lecture invitations in he- half of the American Foundation for the Blind, for instance, or any, other organiza- tien that was connected with the effort to help the blind. She made it her task “to travel up and down the Jand, and up and down in the clevators of great olticc Luild- ings, to solicit funds from rich men. . - 10 plead with some wealthy person to take our precious cause under his golden wing.” She started the Helen Keller Endowment Fund of $2,000,000 for the Foundation and in 1932 —in recognition of her work in this conncc- tion—reeeived the Achievement Prize ol $5, from Pictorial Review. This moncy she des- ignated for the use of those who were both deaf and blind. On October, 20, 1930 Anne Sullivan Macy died, What) Helen Keller bad often feared oo af she were Rene away .. > | should he blind and deaf in very truth’) had hap- pened. Yet she was not alone. Polly Thom- son immediately applied for citizenship, and two weeks later the two sailed for Scotland “to find a quict time in which 10 readjust their lives,” and Jater for Japan. Miss Kel- ter's Journal (1938), written in 19360 and (937, is “a record of her awakening trem a great spiritinal numbacss into a renewed de- termination te make her hfe a service to others—to live se) that on exch third of March to come she can Jook hack upen sete achievement that has justified her teacher's faith in her.”