TO MRS. SOPHIA C. HOPKINS Tuscumbia, Ala. Dec. 11th, 1888.
My dear Mrs. Hopkins:-- I have just fed my dear little pigeon. My brother Simpson gave it to me last Sunday.
I Annie, for my teacher. My puppy has had his supper and goo bed. My rabbits are sleeping, too; and very soon I shall go to bed. Teacher is writiers to her friends. Mother and father and their friends have goo see a huge furhe furnace is to make iron. The iron ore is found in the ground; but it ot be used until it has been brought to the furnad melted, and all the dirt taken out, and just the pure iro. Then it is all ready to be manufactured into engines, stoves, kettles and many other things.
Coal is found in the ground, too. Many years ago, before people came to live on the earth, great trees and tall grasses and huge ferns and all the beautiful flowers cover the earth. When the leaves and the trees fell, the water and the soil covered them; and then more trees grew and fell also, and were buried under water and soil.
After they had all been pressed together for many thousands of years, the wood grew very hard, like rock, and then it was all ready for people to burn. you see leaves and ferns and bark on the coal? Men go down into the ground and dig out the coal, and steam-cars take it to the large cities, and sell it to people to burn, to make them warm and happy when it is cold out of doors.
Are you very lonely and sad now? I hope you will e to see me soon, and stay a long time.
With much love from your little friend HELEN A. KELLER.
TO MISS DELLA BEuscumbia, Ala., Jan. 29, 1889.
My dear Miss Be:--I am delighted to write to you this m. We have just eaten our breakfast.
Mildred is running about downstairs. I have been reading in my book about astronomers. Astronomer es from the Latin word astra, which means stars; and astronomers are men who study the stars, and tell us about them. When we are sleeping quietly in our beds, they are watg the beautiful sky through the telescope. A telescope is like a very strong eye. The stars are so far away that people ot tell much about them, without very excellent instruments. Do you like to look out of your window, and see little stars? Teacher says she see Venus from our window, and it is a large aiful star. The stars are called the earths brothers and sisters.
There are a great many instruments besides those which the astronomers use. A knife is an instrument to cut with. I think the bell is an instrument, too. I will tell you what I know about bells.
Some bells are musical and others are unmusical. Some are very tiny and some are very large. I saw a very large bell at Wellesley. It came from Japan. Bells are used for many purposes. They tell us when breakfast is ready, when to go to school, when it is time for church, and when there is a fire. They tell people when to go to work, and when to go home a. The engiells the passehat they are ing to a station, and it tells the people to keep out of the way. Sometimes very terrible acts happen, and many people are burned and drowned and ihe other day I broke my dolls head off; but that was not a dreadful act, because dolls do not live and feel, like people. My little pigeons are well, and so is my little bird. I would like to have some clay. Teacher says it is time for me to study now. Good-bye. With much love, and many kisses, HELEN A. KELLER.
TO DR. EDWARD EVERETT HALE Tuscumbia, Alabama, February 21st, 1889