In a cellar room, with a small window with burglar bars, in The Boston City Infirmary, was kept a small girl with an eye defect. She was like a little wild animal.
It was the end of the 19th century and the doctors and phychiatrists had no knowledge of a disease that kept the little one with outbursts of anger and creams for days on end.
In the same building was a nurse in her fourties. She had a child, born out of wedlock and she had to give her away, because she didn’t have means to raise her. She longed for her daughter and therefore she came to love children. Every day she took her sandwitches and ate it on the bench in front of little Annie’s window.
She tried to make conversation with Annie, but there was no reply. The psychiatrists warned her to stop communicating with her. They were afraid the nurse would disturb the little one even more. Once she said to the doctors: “What if she only needs love?” The doctors just laughed.
The nurse tried everyday to speak to Annie, as soft and calm as she could.
One day she left her dessert – a piece of chocolate cake – in front of the open window. Annie didn’t look at her. The next day the nurse found only a few crumbs left. Annie ate the cake!! Since that day she left something sweet for her everyday.
As the weeks go by, the doctors saw a change in Annie. She was almost calm and more focused. It was as if she could follow them, but she still did not say one word. Then one day she smiled at the nurse, and then the doctors knew that they were wrong. She was transfered to a ‘normal’ room.
Little Annie’s full name? Anne Sullivan, who loved and tutored Hellen Keller
A little love, and two of the most formidable women of the 20th century !!
