這個美好的事理闖進我心中，讓我感覺得到在我和別人的心靈之間，可有許多無形的線索緊密相連。

在我受教育的萌芽階段，蘇利文老師就打算把我當作聽力正常的小孩教導，這樣和我談話。若有不同，僅是她在我的手上拼寫句子替代用聲音唸出；如果我無法用她教我的字彙和成語去表達我的想法，無法抓住對談的要點，她還會啟發我談話的技巧。

不像聽力正常的小孩能在一個月或兩三、年內，學得無數的那些可在日常生活中完全和人交往的成語和措詞，蘇利文老師對我那樣教導持續了好多年；沒有多少聽力的小孩，必須不停的背誦和模擬，才能學成那樣。正常的小孩在家裡聽到的交談，可以促進他的心智啟發她的話題，還可以喚起自發性表達思想的能力；這樣自然的和別人交換觀念，對於耳聾的孩子卻是行不通的。我的老師，深識這樣的情況，決心要給予我缺乏的這類刺激。她不厭其煩的逐字講解她所聽說的，另再三的讓我知道我是多麼有能力參與交談；她盡可能反覆來這樣教導我。但是，在我自己能有進取心來參與這樣的探知，蘇利文老師的期望是太早了；這時，我甚至於也還沒有能力知道，要在什麼正確的時候談適當的事。

聾人和盲者很難舒適的和人交談，且覺得愉快。對於即聾又盲的人來說，這樣的困難當然要更加了；在無協助之下，他們不能分別賦予話語意義的聲音語氣或音調高低音域；他們也無法觀察說話者臉上的表情，而一抹表情或一閃眼神卻往往是談話間稍縱即逝的菁華。

The beautiful truth burst upon my mind–I felt that there were invisible lines stretched between my spirit and the spirits of others.

From the beginning of my education Miss Sullivan made it a practice to speak to me as she would to any hearing child; the only difference was that she spelled the sentences into my hand instead of speaking them. If I did not know the words and idioms necessary to express my thoughts she supplied them, even suggesting conversation when I was unable to keep up my end of the dialogue.

This process was continued for several years; for the deaf child does not learn in a month, or even in two or three years, the numberless idioms and expressions used in the simplest daily intercourse. The little hearing child learns these from constant repetition and imitation. The conversation he hears in his home stimulates his mind and suggests topics and calls forth the spontaneous expression of his own thoughts. This natural exchange of ideas is denied to the deaf child. My teacher, realizing this, determined to supply the kinds of stimulus I lacked. This she did by repeating to me as far as possible, verbatim what she heard, and by showing me how I could take part in the conversation. But it was a long time before I ventured to take the initiative, and still longer before I could find something appropriate to say at the right time.  

The deaf and the blind find it very difficult to acquire the amenities of conversation. How much more this difficulty must be augmented in the case of those who are both deaf and blind! They cannot distinguish the tone of the voice or, without assistance, go up and down the gamut of tones that give significance to words; nor can they watch the expression of the speaker's face, and a look is often the very soul of what one says.