Wright-Humason: Helen's Second School

October, 1894

Helen and Anne travel to New York City, where Helen attends the Wright-Humason School for the Deaf.  During her two years there, she studies lip-reading and vocal culture, plus arithmetic, physical geography, French and German.  Helen flourished at Wright-Humason in French and German, reading William Tell in German, and Le Medecin Malgrè Lui in French, but her progress in lip-reading, speaking and arithmetic was not what she or her instructors had hoped. 

The highlight of the two years spent in New York was the city itself.  She loved Central Park, and sailing on the Hudson river. She also visited West Point, Tarrytown, and the home of Washington Irving, including taking a walk in the "Sleepy Hollow."

February, 1896

Helen's good friend and a principal financial backer, Mr. John P. Spaulding, dies.

August 19, 1896

Helen's father, Captain Keller, dies.

Fall, 1896

Helen reads the Swedenborg book, Heaven and Hell. For the rest of her life, she claimed to be a Swedenborgian when asked about religion. She even wrote a book about it later, titled My Religion.