Huntsville gazette., 1889-11-30
FAMOUS BLIND MEN.
Vidal, the Sculptor, Chaplain NIiIburn and
Inventor Herreshof.


Inventor Herreshoff.
Vidal, the blind sculptor, is one Of the
wonders of the French capital. He has
been blind since his twenty-first year.
we can quite easily understand how
blind farmer would cultivate the ground
with the plow, spade and hoe. How he
would feel around the tender plants and
gently loosen the dirt from their roots,
or how the blind Birmingham (Ala.l
miner tells, with the sense of touch
alone, the direction and to what depth
to drill his holes before putting in
blast, but the work Of Vidal stands out
in bold relief, unique, wonderful and
incompatible. To be sculptor it is
generally supposed that one must have
the mechanics eye" and the artists
taste and perspicuity. The latter facul-
ties Vidal has to an exceptional degree
even more acute, he believes, than if
the former were not lost to him forever.
BY slowly passing his hands over an OBJ
ject he notes its external proportions,
and initiates them in clay in a manner
which strikes the beholder dumb with
surprise. A dog, horse, human face or
any thing alive or dead, he models with
as much ease as any of the dozens of
Partisan sculptors who still retain the
faculty of sight.
From 1855 to 1875 Vidal received more
works in the Paris art exhibitions.
Many of his works, made in the solitude
of his perpetual midnight, were on
the shelves at the great Exposition,
where the blind wonder contended in
friendly rivalry with his less unfortu-
nate brother artists. He never COM
plains, is always genial and festive
when among his friends, who always
speak of and to him as though he could
see, and well may they do so, for he is
one of the best art critics in all Paris.
Rev. w. III. Milburn, known through
out the civilized world as 1.-THE blind
preacher and who is actively in the
| field at the present time, is one of the
| most remarkable men of the age. He
was born in Philadelphia in 1928. He
totally lost the sight of one eye when
quite young, the other becoming rapid
ly impaired from sympathy, so much so
| that it soon darkened forever. With
spirit undaunted he studied and was
ordained as a minister at the age of
twenty and, it is claimed, travelled over
| two hundred thousand miles filling APP
| pointments in the Southern States.
Within the last thirty years he has
preached in nearly every State in the
Union and some European countries.
| He has been chaplain of the House of
Representatives at Washington, besides
| filling many other important positions.
| AS writer he is known as the author of
TEN Years of Preachers Life" :"
| "Rifle, Axe and Saddlebags" and ''Pio-
neer Preachers Of the Mississippi Val.
ley"
Mr.. Herreshoff, the blind president of
| the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company,
of Bristol, R. l., seems as much out of
| his element in his present capacity as
| the blind sculptor. Aside from Edison,
| the Government has recognized him as
| being one of the greatest inventors of
| the times. Many of the torpedo-boats
and steam launches now used by this
| and all the civilized governments on the
globe, are the inventions of this sight
! less genius. His steam launches have
made the highest speed with but few
exceptions, and his torpedo-boats are
| ranked among the most efficient in use.
He works on his models in the quiet of
the night shut up in the darkness of his
| room, but this is all the same to Here
shoff-the brightest midday would be
| to him as black as the darkest midnight.
st. Louis Republic.