was not thought in any sense. It was the same
kind of association that makes animals take shelter from the rain. From
the same instinct of aping others, I folded the clothes that came from
the laundry, and put mine away, fed the turkeys, sewed bead-eyes on my
doll's face, and did many other things of which I have the tactual
remembrance. When I wanted anything I liked,--ice-cream, for instance,
of which I was very fond,--I had a delicious taste on my tongue (which,
by the way, I never have now), and in my hand I felt the turning of the
freezer. I made the sign, and my mother knew I wanted ice-cream. I
"thought" and desired in my fingers. If I had made a man, I should
certainly have put the brain and soul in his finger-tips. From
reminiscences like these I conclude that it is the opening of the two
faculties, freedom of will, or choice, and rationality, or the power of
thinking from one thing to another, which makes it possible to come into
being first as a child, afterwards as a man.

Since I had no power of thought, I did not compare one mental state with
another. So I was not conscious of any change or process going on in my
brain when my teacher began to instruct me. I merely felt keen delight
in obtaining more easily what I wanted by means of the finger motions
she taught me. I thought only of objects, and only objects I wanted. It
was the turning of the freezer on a larger scale. When I learned the
meaning of "I" and "me" and found that I was something, I began to
think. Then consciousness first existed for me. Thus it was not the
sense of touch that brought me knowledge. It was the awakening of my
soul that first rendered my senses their value, their cognizance of
objects, names, qualities, and properties. Thought made me conscious of
love, joy, and all the emotions. I was eager to know, then to
understand, afterward to reflect on what I knew and understood, and the
blind impetus, which had before driven me hither and thither at the
dictates of my sensations, vanished forever.

I cannot represent more clearly than any one else the gradual and subtle
changes from first impressions to abstract ideas. But I know that my
physical ideas, that is, ideas derived from material objects, appear to
me first an idea similar to those of touch. Instantly they pass into
intellectual meanings. Afterward the meaning finds expression in what is
called "inner speech." When I was a child, my inner speech was inner
spelling. Althoug