The door of the Perkins School had slammed shut, but another door opened. Annie learned about a new school for deaf children. Two men—Dr. Thomas Humason and John Wright—started the school in 1894 in New York City and it sounded perfect for Helen.
But how would the Kellers pay for it? Helen’s father had fallen on hard times. There was no money to spare. Fortunately, Helen had met many rich people, such as Dr. Bell, John D. Rockefeller, and John Spaulding. Spaulding offered to pay for Helen’s schooling. So Annie and Helen left for New York.
They settled into a fine house close to Central Park. At the Wright-Humason School, Helen studied arithmetic (still her least favorite subject), English literature (which she loved), American history, French, and German. She also studied lip-reading and speech.
Helen’s fame spread. A reporter from The New York Times came to interview her. He thought he would meet a quiet, shy girl. But fifteen-year-old Helen amazed him. Throughout the interview, Helen laughed, joked, and flirted.
Helen and her class visited the Statue of Liberty. She climbed to the top. To Helen, the air at the top smelled cleaner. The smell of the ocean reminded her of Cape Cod. Another time Helen’s class went to a dog show at Madison Square Garden. Helen loved it because dogs were her favorite animal.
One trip affected Helen greatly. Annie and Helen went to the Lower East Side. This is where many new immigrants lived. They lived in tiny, crowded apartments in buildings called tenements. As many as ten people lived in one small dark room.
Helen could not see the poverty. But she could feel it. The people’s clothes felt rough and ragged as they brushed Helen and Annie in the street. Helen also smelled the machine oil, the sawdust, the street dirt, and the salted fish. She could tell just how different life here was from hers.
Many famous people lived in New York. At a party, Helen met Mark Twain. Twain had written The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Twain watched Helen read lips. They talked together at the party. When Helen left, she put violets in his buttonhole. The two became lifelong friends.
After school, Helen liked going to Central Park. On winter days, Helen went bobsledding. She took riding lessons. Helen was growing up. She was becoming a beautiful, interesting, young woman.
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