Spirit of the times. [volume] (Ironton, Ohio) 1853-1858, 1854-05-30
The Blind Sculptor.

lnat is very tOucnInS pictuIe whlcn
is drawn by modern traveller. Of
blind sculptor, whom he fell in with at
Innspruck, in Tyrol. His name was
Kleinbans; AMI this is a brief synopsis
Of his history:
When FIVE years OF age he was attack.
cd with the small pox; it affected his
eyes, s,aad finally made him entirely
blind. Before he had lost his sight, he
had often played with those little wood.
en- figures, which arc so skilfully carved
by the inhabitance Of Tyrol, and had
even attempted to handle knife, and
TO form statue himself
When no longer permitted to behold
the light, his thoughts increasingly turn.
Ell to those images he was want TO con.
template with so much pleasure, and
which he would gladly have initiated.
Then he would take them between his
hands, feel them, and try 10 console
himself for not being able 10 see, by
measuring them with his fingers. Feel.
ing them again and again, and turning
them over in every way, he was able,
by degrees, to comprehend from the
touch, the exact proportions Of the fig.
ure; anatomizing upon wood marble or
bronze, the features Of the face and the
different parts Of the body, and thus TO
| Judge of the niceties Of the whole art.
When he had acquired tho skill, he
one day asked himself whether he could
no, succeed in supplying the loss Of
sigkt by the keen sense of touch, with
which he was gifted. His father and
mother were dead; he found himself q.
lone and destitute, and rather than beg
he resolved to make out, through his
own exer,ions, means Of substance.
Taking piece Of wood and chisei
he at length began to work. His first
attempts we're very troubl esome anil
very iri1ing. Frequently did the un'
conscious blind man destroy, by one
notci, male TO deep, piece Of work to
which he diligently devoted long day.
of labor. Such obstacles would have
lis CO uragcd any other, but his love lo'
the art induced him to persevere.
After many efforts, he at le'.gth sue.
Gee !el in using his chisel with steady
hand, and so carefully would he ex'
anime every fold of the drape,y, one
after another, and the contour Of each
limb. that he saw, as it were, by means
of his fingers, the figure he intended 10
Thus he proceeded by degrees, until
he attained TO what seems an almost
Incredible perfection, for he is now able
to engrave from memory the features OF
face, AMI produce perfect resemb'
lance. .....--
Flo is now seventy years OF age, but
robust, and works every day as in youth
During the course Of his career, he has
sculptured several hundred figures.
lie lives alone in his humble depart.
ment, and supplies his wants from the
produce OF his sculpture. He is Of a
cheerful dispositions; no vain desires
agitats him; no ambition for honor o.
riches troubles the dreams Of the blint
artist. He commences his work il thu
morning, and as it advances his face
becomes more animated, and his soul
expands.-"I feel" he says, "cach piece
that carve, even to the very minutes
part, and am content with it as il
had beheld it with my own eyes," d.
What forcible illustration is this ol
the beautiful sentence Of Sterne: "GoJ
| ,empers the wind 10 tho shorn lamb!'
Here il is seen tho true compensation
in the dispensations Of Divine Prcvi
dence; like the light and life, into th'
dark recessss OF poor Laura Bridgman n
who seemed shut out from the world
and almost from her Maker, ,being deaf
dumb, and blind. ~ff