我的生活海伦凯勒摘抄 海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第22期

海伦·凯勒自传《我的生活》第22期  

After I had recovered from my first experience in the water
I thought it great fun to sit on a big rock in my bathing-suit and feel wave after wave dash against the rock
sending up a shower of spray which quite covered me. I felt the pebbles rattling as the waves threw their ponderous weight against the shore; the whole beach seemed racked by their terrific onset
and the air throbbed with their pulsations. The breakers would swoop back to gather themselves for a mightier leap
and I clung to the rock
tense
fascinated
as I felt the dash and roar of the rushing sea!
I could never stay long enough on the shore. The tang of the untainted
fresh and free sea air was like a cool
quieting thought
and the shells and pebbles and the seaweed with tiny living creatures attached to it never lost their fascination for me. One day Miss Sullivan attracted my attention to a strange object which she had captured basking in the shallow water. It was a great horseshoe crab—the first one I had ever seen. I felt of him and thought it very strange that he should carry his house on his back. It suddenly occurred to me that he might make a delightful pet; so I seized him by the tail with both hands and carried him home. This feat pleased me highly
as his body was very heavy
and it took all my strength to drag him half a mile. I would not leave Miss Sullivan in peace until she had put the crab in a trough near the well where I was confident he would be secure. But next morning I went to the trough
and lo
he had disappeared! Nobody knew where he had gone
or how he had escaped. My disappointment was bitter at the time; but little by little I came to realize that it was not kind or wise to force this poor dumb creature out of his element
and after awhile I felt happy in the thought that perhaps he had returned to the sea.