Helen Keller and Her Teacher, Ann Sullivan

Their friendship began in a miraculous moment at the farmyard water pump. Anne Sullivan stood and spelled the word WATER over and over into the hand of seven-year-old Helen Keller.

She held Helen's other hand under the gushing stream. Helen was blind, deaf, and dumb. Almost from her birth, touch and taste has been her only links with the outside world.

But with real water in one hand and Anne's touch in the other, Helen suddenly comprehended the existence of language; that people communicated with one another; that she could speak to them herself.

This stamp honors these women and their lifelong friendship, a story of courage and love that has inspired millions. It was issued on the centennial of Helen Keller's birth; the First Day City was Helen's hometown of Tuscumbia, Alabama.

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© Khorsheed.com - Apr 2002