The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1897-03-03
A BLIND MANS SKILL
He Has Faculties That Puzzle fersor
who Can See.

who Can See.
It IL a weli-known fact that persons
who lose one or more senses often de-
selop remarkable qualities in those re-
naming. This has seldom " ever been
shown in so notable a way as in the
case of Paul s. Pinkham, resident of
Millbridge, Me-, who, though blind, has
succeeded In building, unaided, better
house than most carpenters in posses
sion of all their faculties would con-
struct.
Pinkham has been bereft of sight
since he was ~ years old, and he Is now
l55.
The house which Pinkham built Is a
spacious house, with a comfortable
and roomy look, o story and n half
high, with a long ell one story high,
extending back from the main house.
The clapboarding is well put on, and
the windows, doors and exterior finish
look as If done by an expert carpenter,
while the interior is as perfect in its
plan and construction as one could en-
Feet. Yet Paul Pinkham, sightless,
planned the house, and built 1t. There
is not a stick or nail or stone or brick
in its construction, from foundation to
roof, that he did not place there.
At 81 Mr.. Pinkham's father, who had
been a well-to-do shipmaker, died, 1eav-
ing him penniless and alone. III.
neighbors pitied poor blind Paul" and
it was the general accepted theory that
Paul would ere long find his way to the
town farm. Paul was made of better
stuff. Although up to that time he had
done little for his own maintenance, he
at once set about devising means where
by to support himself. lie feared at the
outset that his blindness might prove an
insurmountable 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
fcculty was Developing, enabling him
to know of the presence of objects and
to estimate distances. What this sense
is Mr.. Pinkham cannot explain, al
though in him it has now reached q
high stage of development.
He next shipped on 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 fire wood and chopping cord wood.
Then he ventured into peddling clans,
ard was fairly successful. With his
earnings he purchased boat and fitted
it out for lobster catching. He hired a
boy to steer the boat while he attended
to the traps. The danger which lobster
catchers fear greatly is in being nipped
by the jaws of Holsters when landing
them Men with good sight are fire.
quently thus nipped and receive painful
wounds-yet Paul Pinkham handled
his Holsters northumberland so nicely
was the sense of touch or prescience, OF
whatever it may be termed, developed
that he was never caught by lobster
although he continued in the business
for 81 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 salers. He also made
some fine showcases and various other
forms of fancy woodwork. His neigh
bors generally look to him for small
jobs of delicate repairing, and he turns
out the work as rapidly and with far
less appearance of mental worry than
many clear-visioned carpenters exhibit.
"Whenever l set out to do, a. thing"
says Mr.. Pinkham,"I plan it in my mind,
| and that picture forever remains before
me. l made the plan of this house, ar
ranged just how far back from the road
it should sit, how high it should be and
how long ana wide. l saw in my mind
the shape it should assume before ]
started to make the excavation for the
liar wall. | made the excavation, laid
the wall, raised the frame, boarded and
clapboarded it. put in the windows and
made the doors and hung them, lathed
and plastered the interior and painted
the exterior, and even topped out the
chimneys." His neighbors call Pink
hams house "thc miracle. "-Lewiston
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