Date Created:
Year Created: 1907
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Description: In this letter, Alexander Graham Bell write about his illness, discusses his busy schedule, and remarks upon his family matters. He also spoke about trying to write to Helen Keller in Braille and the difficult task of having someone transcribe his letters and the process of Keller understanding the letter as well.
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1331 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, D.C.
March 23, 1907.
Miss Helen Keller,
Wrentham, Mass.
Dear Helen:—
I have been ill for quite a long time, and your note of February 19 has just been brought to my attention.
It does my heart good to hear from you, and I hope sincerely that your enemy bronchitis has left you and that your dear teacher is well again.
I often think of you and feel impelled to write but — as you know — I am a busy man, and such a poor correspondent that I have always lots of back correspondence to make up. Then, again, it is hard to write freely to you through intermediories. I have to dictate my letter to a Secretary, and then you require an interpreter to read what I have to say, so that I feel that we are apart when I would like to come close to you, and talk to you face to face, and heart to heart. If you really would write to me sometime, I will get a machine like that at the Volta Bureau, and try my hand at a letter in braille. I wrote you in braille a year or two ago, but I do not know how far you were able to read it without help from others.
Daisy and her husband (Mr. Fairchild) arrived last night from Gibraltar. They have had a very pleasant outing together in the Madeira Islands, and Portugal. They have only been gone for about two months, but their baby has grown so much during their absence, that they could hardly recognize him upon their return.
We are very happy to have all our family with us once more. I expect to go to Cape Breton Island in the latter part of April. I shall probably remain in Boston for a few days, and if you are then in Wrentham, I would like to have the opportunity of calling upon you there. I have never seen your Wrentham home and want to have a look at you there, and have a talk with you about yourself, and what you are doing and proposing to do with your life.
Please remember me kindly to Mr. and Mrs. Macey. With love and best wishes for yourself, I am
Your loving friend,
Alexander Graham Bell
Citation: Bell, Alexander Graham, et al. Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to Helen Keller. 1907. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/magbell.12400314/>.
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