The Arizona sentinel., 1889-12-07
FAMOUS BLIND MEN.
Vidal, the Sculptor, Chaplain Milburn ant
 Inventor HerreshOff.


 Inventor HerreshOf.
 Vidal, the blind sculptor, is one of the wonders of the French capital. He has been blind since his twenty-irst year. I've can quite easily understand how blind farmer would cultivate the ground | with the blow, 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.) 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 incomparable. To be a 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 ob- ject he notes it's external proportions, and initiates them in clay in 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 Parisian sculptors who still retain the faculty of sight.
 From 1855 to 1875 Vidal received more medals than any other exhibitor of 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 we'll may they do so, for he is one of the best art critics in all Paris.
 Rev. w. H. Milburn, known through out the civilized world as ''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 1923. 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 minister at the age of twenty, and, it is claimed, travelled over two hundred thousand miles filling ap- 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 A. known as the author - .'Ter Years of Preachers Life. "RiHo. Axe and Saldlehar5 end "Pi0- nocr Preachers of the Mississippi Val loy."
 MT Herroshoff, the blind president of the HerrCshofI Manufacturing Company of Bristol. R. l., seems as much out of his element in his present. capaoIvy c. 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 Herre- shoff-the brightest midday would be to him as black as the darkest midnight. St. Louis Republic.