Please explain the excerpts from The story of my life by Helen keller

A-The family on my fathers side is descended from Caspar Keller ,a native of Switzerland,who settled in Maryland.One of my Swiss ancestors was the first teacher of the deaf in Zurich and wrote a book of subject on their education rather a singular coincidence; though it is true that there is no king who hasnt had a slave among his ancestors and no slave who hasnt had a king among his.

B-I used to feel along the square stiff boxwood hedges and guided by the sense of smell,would find the first violets and lilies.

1. Helen's father's family came from a man named Casper Keller. He was a native of Switzerland, who later settled in Maryland. On of Helen's Swiss ancestor taught deaf in Zurich (a place in Switzerland). This ancestor also wrote a book on the education of the deaf. Helen finds it a remarkable co-incidence because, she is deaf. It is ironical for Helen that she was deaf in a family line where an ancestor taught and wrote about education of deaf. She compares this fact with the idea that, All the Kings would have had a slave in their ancestral lines; and all the slaves would have had Kings in their ancestral line.

2 Helen could not see or hear, so she used to touch and feel the stiff box and smell the perfume of lilies to find them. Stiff means hard, hedges means corners and boxwood is a type of wood. 

*The sentence is self explanatory. However, its paraphrase has been given above.