Seldom has there been seen a more inspiring example of
indomitable energy triumphing over fate than that which the
Engraver Florian is now giving to the world, says the New York
_World_.
Six years ago, while at work upon the designs for the new French
bank-notes, he was suddenly stricken by paralysis. His right
side became as if dead; he was bereft of speech; the hand whose
skill had made him famous was useless forever. Did he complain?
Did he resign himself to the inevitable? Did he sit down in
despair and allow his young wife and daughters to support him?
Not for a moment. He let the women work, it is true, but only
while he learned to engrave with the left hand.
Hour after hour, day after day, month after month he passed,
struggling with that awkward, untrained left hand, drawing at
first crudely like a little child, then with ever-increasing
precision. Gradually he educated the refractory member to
obey his will. Drawing, water-color painting, designing for
typographers succeeded one another, until to-day he has again
attained absolute mastery over the engraver’s tools. Arsene
Alexandre, the famous art critic, saw him at work recently, his
wooden block screwed to a table, his left hand plying the tools
with all the deftness his now dead right hand formerly possest,
his speechless lips smiling and his face radiant with happiness.
(915)