Martha Washington was a young African American child who lived on the Keller homestead.  She was the daughter of the family cook.  Helen Keller described Martha Washington as being "black as ebony, with little bunches of fuzzy hair tied with shoestrings sticking out all over her head like corkscrews."  Helen would have known what her friend's hair was like by touching it.  Martha Washington was several years older than Helen.Young Helen Keller was very bossy with Martha Washington.  The little girl "understood [Helen's] signs," which were a makeshift method of communication.  Helen often got her own way when she was with Martha Washington.  Helen's friend was much more timid than she was.  Despite this, they were good friends.  The two girls "spent a great deal of time in the kitchen, kneading dough balls, helping make ice-cream, grinding coffee, quarreling over the cake-bowl, and feeding the hens and turkeys that swarmed about the kitchen steps."  One day they snatched a freshly baked cake from the kitchen and consumed it all, which made them sick.Like Helen, Martha Washington "had [a] great... love of mischief."  They often got into trouble.  They enjoyed cutting out paper dolls with scissors.  One day Helen decided to cut off some of Martha Washington's hair with the scissors.