Do you know why it is that you are unable to speak , when all your other faculties are so perfect ? '' `` No , I do not know at all why I can not speak . I asked mother once and she told me it was a judgment on her for a great sin she had committed , and she looked so strangely that I was frightened , and I never spoke of it to her or anyone else again . '' `` Were you ever taken to a doctor to have your tongue and organs of speech examined ? '' `` No . I remember when I was a very little girl that Uncle Thomas wanted to take me to a doctor in Charlottetown and see if anything could be done for me , but mother would not let him . She said it would be no use . And I do not think Uncle Thomas thought it would be , either . '' `` You can laugh very naturally . Can you make any other sound ? '' `` Yes , sometimes . When I am pleased or frightened I have made little cries . But it is only when I am not thinking of it at all that I can do that . If I TRY to make a sound I can not do it at all . '' This seemed to Eric more mysterious than ever . `` Do you ever try to speak -- to utter words ? '' he persisted . `` Oh yes , very often . All the time I am saying the words in my head , just as I hear other people saying them , but I never can make my tongue say them . Do not look so sorry , my friend .
I am very happy and I do not mind so very much not being able to speak -- only sometimes when I have so many thoughts and it seems so slow to write them out , some XXXXX them get away from me .
as at for if in of on than that to