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TEACHER: Anne Sullivan Macy by Hele Keller

TEACHER: Anne Sullivan Macy

By

Pub Date: Oct. 13th, 1955
Publisher: Doubleday

A tribute to Anne Sullivan Macy, who was not only to give Helen Keller her ""seeing and hearing mind"" but also a lifetime of devoted guidance re-phrases the Helen Keller story as well- inextricably dependent as it was on the skill and patience of her teacher. At five, ""living in a world that was no world"" of dark silence- Annie Sullivan, an ignorant, Irish immigrant girl came as a companion to the blind deaf-mute child, and after a month, a first word was to reach her consciousness. To that child she also gave the ""sparkle of her inventive spirit"", her imagination, her interest, and her love- and this is the record of the years together until her death in 1936: of Helen's learning, of the time at Radcliffe, of (only sketchily) Annie's marriage to John Macy which did not last, of their work together for the blind- the lectures, books, engagements (even vaudeville), until in the last years Annie's life was shadowed by her failing health and vision, her often despondent spirits as well. Her valedictory-just before her death- of ""great thoughts, grave thoughts, thoughts lasting to the end"" endures here, and this timeless story never loses its dedicated, inspirational value for all.