Helen's father was very affectionate towards her. It was he who developed her interest in nature. He used to take her out into the garden where he read stories to her. Her house was covered with vines, climbing roses and honeysuckles and it was the favourite haunt of honeybees and hummingbirds. Helen considered it to be the paradise of her childhood. Miss Sullivan also played an important role in developing Helen's love towards nature. She always taught her outdoors in the lap of nature. She learnt all tire subjects like zoology, botany, geography, etc. outdoors. Miss Sullivan took her to riverbanks, built dams of pebbles, and dug river-beds in order to teach her. She learnt the growth of a plant by actually feeling its growth day-by-day, in order and systematically. Once Miss Sullivan took her outdoors, while sitting on a tree branch, she was caught in a storm. She was terrified as Miss Sullivan had gone home to bring food. At that moment, she realized that nature could be benevolent as well as dangerous. Despite her disability, she learnt swimming. She had a bad experience in the ocean as well but that did not deter her from learning how to swim. Her experiences with nature made her come out as a woman who could move ahead on the path of life with full confidence.