As the cold water gushed forth filling the mug I spelled w-a-t-e-r in Helen's free hand.The word coming so close upon the sensation of cold water rushing over her hand seemed to startle her.She dropped the mug and stood as one transfixed.A new light came into her face.She spelled water several times.
Then she dropped on the ground and asked for its name， and pointed to the pump and the trellis， and suddenly turning round she asked for my name.
I spelled 'teacher.' Just then the nurse brought Helen's little sister into the pump-house， and Helen spelled 'baby' and pointed to the nurse.
All the way back to the house she was highly excited， and learned the name of every object she touched， so that in a few hours she had added thirty new words to her vocabulary "The following day Miss Sullivan writes， "Helen got up this morning like a radiant fairy.She has flitted from object to object， asking the name of everything and kissing me for very gladness." And four days later， "Everything must have a name now....She drops the signs and pantomime she used before， so soon as she has words to supply their place， and the acquirement of a new word affords her the liveliest pleasure.And we notice that her face grows more expressive each day."
This experience is a type of what happens more gradually to all of us： it is through communication that we get our higher development.
The faces and conversation of our associates； books， letters， travel， arts， and the like， by awakening thought and feeling and guiding them in certain channels， supply the stimulus and framework for all our growth.
In the same way， if we take a larger view and consider the life of a social group， we see that communication， including its organization into literature， art， and institutions， is truly the outside or visible structure of thought， as much cause as effect of the inside or conscious life of men.All is one growth： the symbols， the traditions， the institutions are projected from the mind， to be sure， but in the very instant of their projection， and thereafter， they react upon it， and in a sense control it， stimulating， developing， and fixing certain thoughts at the expense of others to which no awakening suggestion comes.By the aid of this structure the individual is a member not only of a family， a class， and a state， but of a larger whole reaching back to prehistoric men whose thought has gone to build it up.In this whole he lives as in an element， drawing from it the materials of his growth and adding to it whatever constructive thought he may express.
Thus the system of communication is a tool， a progressive invention， whose improvements react upon mankind and alter the life of every individual and institution.A study of these improvements is one of the best ways by which to approach an understanding of the mental and social changes that are bound up with them； because it gives a tangible framework for our ideas梛ust as one who wished to grasp the organic character of industry and commerce might well begin with a study of the railway system and of the amount and kind of commodities it carries， proceeding thence to the more abstract transactions of finance.
And when we come to the modern era， especially， we can understand nothing rightly unless we perceive the manner In which the revolution in communication has made a new world for us.So in the pages that follow I shall aim to show what the growth of intercourse implies in the way of social development， inquiring particularly into the effect of recent changes.
EndnotesThe Story of My Life， 316， 317.