“About thirteen or fourteen years old. You see, my father was an
amateur boat-builder, in a small way, and did very good work, but
usually not for sale. But I began the work as a business thirty-six
years ago, when I was about twenty-two.”
“You must have been terribly handicapped by your blindness?”
“It was an obstacle, but I simply would not allow it to discourage me,
and did my best, just the same as if I could see. My mother had taught
me to think, and so I made thought and memory take the place of eyes. I
acquired a kind of habit of mental projection which has enabled me to
see models in my mind, as it were, and to consider their good and bad
points intelligently. Besides, I cultivated my powers of observation
to the utmost in other respects. Even now I take an occasional trip
of observation, for I like to see what others are doing, and so keep
abreast of the progress of the age. But I must stop, or I shall get to
‘talking shop,’ the thing I declined to do at first. The main thing
for a boy is to have a good mother, to heed her advice, to do his
best, and not get a ‘swelled head’ as he rises—in other words, not to
expect to put a gallon into a pint cup or a bushel into a peck measure.
Concentration, decision, industry and economy should be his watchwords,
and invincible determination and persistence his rule of action.”