The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-02-10
A Blind Man Builds q House.

A Blind Man Builds q House.
Paul S. Pinkham is a resident OF
Millbridge, Me-, who, though blind,
has succeeded in building, unaided, a
better house than most carpenters in
possession of all their faculties would
construct
Pinkham has been bcreft of sight
since he was ~ years old and he is
now 55. The house which Pinkham
built, says the Philadelphia Press, is
spacious house, with comfortable
and roomy look, a story and half
high, with a long ell one story high.
The clapboarding is we'll put on and
the windows, doors, and exterior finish
look as if done by an expert carpenter,
while the interior is as perfect in it's
plan and construction as one could
expect. Yet Paul Pinkham, sightless,
planned the house and built it. There
is not stick or nail or stone or brick
in its construction, from foundation
to roof, that he did not place there.
The house as it stands is hand
some monument to the industry and
unfaltering courage of its maker, and
a convincing proof in support Of the
time-honored adage, "Where there's
will there's a way" It is also a
suggestive reminder that there is some
dormant faculty in man that asserts
itself when necessity makes demand
upon it, else how could blind Paul
Pinkham plan and construct this
house, or do other things equally won
derful, and to the verify of which the
neighbors bear witness =?
81 Mr.. Pinkham's father, who
had been a well-to-do shipmaster, died,
leaving him penniless and alone. The
neighbors pitied "poor, blind Paul."
and it was the generally accepted
theory that Paul would ere long find
his way to the town farm, to be cared
for at the public expense. But Paul
was made of better stuff. Although
up to that time he had done little for
his own maintenance, he at once set
about dcvising means whereby to sup
port himself. He feared at the outset
that his blindlcss might prove an in
surmountable obstacle to making his
way, but he did not lie down under
the fear. He shipped with Capt.
Wilson, of Millbridge, on the schooner
Forest and made one trip along the
coast. He soon discovered that some
latent sense or faculty was developing,
enabling him to know of the presence
of objects and to estimate distances.
What this sense is Mr.. Pinkham can
not explain, although in him it has
now reached a high stage of develop
ment.
He next shipped in the schooner
Sympathy and found the work more
easily performed. With this trip the
season was at an end, and during the
winter he added to his savings by saw
ing frewood and chopping cordwood.
Then he venturedinto peddling clans,
and was fairly successful. With his
earnings he purchased boat and fitted
it out for lobster catching. He hired
boy to steer the boat while he at
tended to the traps. The danger
which lobster catchers fear greatly is
being nipped by the jaws of the lob
sters when handling them. Men with
good sight are frequently thus nipped
and receive painful wounds, yet Paul
Pinkham handled his Holsters bare
handed, and so nicely was the sense
Of touch, or prescience, or whatever
it may be termed developed, that he
was never caught by a lobster, al
though he continued in the business
for twenty-sevcn years.
in addition to his home Pinkham
has built many boats that sail to-day
near Millbridge, and they are all good
models and easy sailers. He also
made some fine showcases and various
other forms of fancy woodwork. His
neighbors generally look to him for
small jobs of delicate wood repairing:
and he turns out the work as rapidly,
and with far less appearance of mental
worry, than many clear-visoned car
pcnterS exhibit
whenever set out to do a thing, "
says Mr.. Pinkham, 81 plan it in my
mind, and that picture remains for.
ever before me. | made the plan of
this house, arranged just how far back
from the road it should sit, how high
it should be, and how long and wide.
l saw in my mind the shape it should
assume before | started to make the
excavation for the cellar wall. |
made the excavation, laid the wall,
raised the frame, boarded and clap;
boarded it, put in the windows and
made the doors and hung them, lathed
and plastered the interior and painted
the exterior, and l even topped out
the chimneys." His neighbors call
Pinkham's house 'the miracle. =