before october, 1893, i had studied various subjects by myself in a more or less desultory manner. i read the histories of greece, rome and the uates. i had a french grammar in raised print, and as i already knew some french, i often amused myself by posing in my head short exercises, using the new words as i came across them, and ign rules and other teicalities as much as possible. i even tried, without aid, to master the french pronunciation, as i found all the letters and sounds described in the book. of course this was tasking slender powers freat ends; but it gave me something to do on a rainy day, and i acquired a suffit knowledge of french to read with pleasure la fontaines "fables," "le mede malgre lui" and passages from "athalie.”
i also gave siderable time to the improvement of my speech. i read aloud to miss sullivan aed passages from my favourite poets, which i had itted to memory; she corrected my pronunciation and helped me to phrase and i. it was not, however, until october, 1893, after i had recovered from the fatigue aement of my visit to the worlds fair, that i began to have lessons in special subjects at fixed hours.
miss sullivan and i were at that time in hulton, pennsylvania, visiting the family of mr. william wade. mr.
irons, a neighbour of theirs, was a good latin scholar; it was arrahat i should study under him. i remember him as a man of rare, sweet nature and of wide experience. he taught me latin grammar principally; but he often helped me in arithmetic, which i found as troublesome as it was uing. mr.
irons also read with me tennysons "in memoriam." i had read many books before, but never from a critical point of view. i learned for the first time to know an author, tnize his style as i reize the clasp of a friends hand.
at first i was rather unwilling to study latin grammar. it seemed absurd to waste time analyzing, every word i came across--nouive, singular, feminine--when its meaning was quite plain. i thought i might just as well describe my pet in order to know it--order, vertebrate; division, quadruped; class, mammalia; genus, felinus; species, cat; individual, tabby. but as i got deeper into the subject, i became more ied, and the beauty of the language delighted me. i often amused myself by reading latin passages, pig up words i uood and trying to make sense. i have never ceased to enjoy this pastime.
there is nothing more beautiful, i think, than the eva fleeting images aiments p
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