ed emphasis, "Think."

In a flash I knew that the word was the name of the process that was
going on in my head. This was my first conscious perception of an
abstract idea.

For a long time I was still--I was not thinking of the beads in my lap,
but trying to find a meaning for "love" in the light of this new idea.
The sun had been under a cloud all day, and there had been brief
showers; but suddenly the sun broke forth in all its southern splendour.

Again I asked my teacher, "Is this not love?"

"Love is something like the clouds that were in the sky before the sun
came out," she replied. Then in simpler words than these, which at
that time I could not have understood, she explained: "You cannot touch
the clouds, you know; but you feel the rain and know how glad the
flowers and the thirsty earth are to have it after a hot day. You
cannot touch love either; but you feel the sweetness that it pours into
everything. Without love you would not be happy or want to play."

The beautiful truth burst upon my mind--I felt that there were
invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.

From the beginning of my education Miss Sullivan made it a practice to
speak to me as she would speak to any hearing child; the only
difference was that she spelled the sentences into my hand instead of
speaking them. If I did not know the words and idioms necessary to
express my thoughts she supplied them, even suggesting conversation
when I was unable to keep up my end of the dialogue.

This process was continued for several years; for the deaf child does
not learn in a month, or even in two or three years, the numberless
idioms and expressions used in the simplest daily intercourse. The
little hearing child learns these from constant repetition and
imitation. The conversation he hears in his home stimulates his mind
and suggests topics and calls forth the spontaneous expression of his
own thoughts. This natural exchange of ideas is denied to the deaf
child. My teacher, realizing this, determined to supply the kinds of
stimulus I lacked. This she did by repeating to me as far as possible,
verbatim, what she heard, and by showing me how I could take part in
the conversation. But it was a long time before I ventured to take the
initiative, and still longer before I could find something appropriate
to say at the right time.

The next important step in my education was learning to read.

As soon as I cou