thropists, (though last of all,) to ameliorate the condition of the blind. In the twenty-second year of her age, while residing at Dexter, Michigan, being informed that books with embossed letters were printed for the blind, she would not rest content until in possession of such (to her) priceless volumes. She has since been enabled to read the sacred oracles, together with other works prepared in this manner, and highly esteems the privilege, though it is by the slow process of feeling out the letters.

In 1839, the refulgent star of the New York Institution for the Blind, that has shed its intellectual light upon so many noble youths, and who in return have become lights of the first magnitude in the literary world, beckoned her to come, and soon her cheerful voice echoed within its spacious halls. Her legitimate residence being in Michigan, and she therefore unable to claim the patronage of our state proffered to all New York pupils, the Baptist society (of which she was a member and ornament) and the directors of the institute, generously offered to defray her expenses while here passing through a course of scientific studies.

There have been episodes in the annals of literature, whose greatest and controlling intellects were the spontaneous productions of nature, and their own unaided efforts. But in an age like the present, when everything in the scope of human reason is so thoroughly theorized and systematized, the world is slow to acknowledge merit, unless tipped by a diploma

and honorary medals of some renowned university. But aside from the honors generally awarded to superior knowledge, to secure a literary education and connection with the mighty battery of science that electrifies and binds together the entire enlightened portion of mankind, and thereby keep pace with the spirit of the nineteenth century, is an object claiming the most assiduous attention of every social being.

There is perhaps no institntion in our country more eminently calculated to develop all the essential powers of our nature, than the one of which Miss Giles became a happy inmate, and no effort did she spare to avail herself of all the advantages afforded in its several departments. The student's time is here divided into three parts, and his instruction arranged into three separate classes, intellectual, mechanical, and musical. By means of the first, regular instruction is given in reading, writing, grammar, geography, arithmetic, history, and all other English branches taught at the best schools, together with the Latin and French languages.

The number of books printed in raised characters being as yet very limited, the instruction in this department is principally conducted orally; a system of teaching not inferior to any other, especially where the retentive powers of the pupil are as tenacious as those of the blind. The mechanical operations consist of several trades, in the prosecution of which sight can be most easily dispensed with. This, while it produces something towards the expenses of the in

stitution, is the means of instructing the laborers and learners in branches of industry that will enable them to provide for themselves. Music in every age has been the chief delight and principal pursuit of the blind, and owing to the extreme refinement of their auditory powers, it perhaps affords them higher gratification than any other class of mankind. This science is here taught to great perfection. Almost every instrument of modern use has been introduced, and great proficiency in performance has been attained by students, especially on the piano forte and organ. The vocal department of music has also received efficient attention. In acquiring a knowledge of this branch, but little inconvenience is realized by the pupil from his loss of sight. After receiving a thorough knowledge of its rudiments, all the assistance he requires is the reading of the music until committed to memory, which practice greatly facilitates.

In all the varied exercises and duties of this institution, and the perplexing incidents invariably attending a student's life, Miss Giles sustained herself with commendable ability. In 1841, she bade adieu to the institute, her teachers, and kind benefactors, and returned to her friends in Michigan, with a more exalted and rational idea of life and happiness. We need not the feeling eloquence of a Milton to paint out before the public mind the utility of such institutions for this class of community; we need only advert to the child as it enters the school, borne down

with a sense of blindness, and witness the changed condition of the graduate student in the honorable walks of life; happy as if unmindful of the want of sight, his soul filled with the thought that he can always find in labor, support, and in reading, amusement, without painfully depending on the eyesight of others, while in writing he has his circle of communication enlarged until it embraces the world.

When Miss Giles wrote her first poems, it appears to have been far from her intention to present herself before the public in the capacity of an authoress. They were the result of her solitary musings on heavenly themes, while in a measure secluded from society, and were written down for the gratification of those few friends with whom she was daily conversant. Several of these found their way into the public journals, and the favorable notice they attracted induced her to publish from her portfolio a small volume. The approving smile with which an indulgent public received this laudable effort for selfmaintenance, and the essential pecuniary aid realized from its sale, induced her more extensively to employ her pen.

Three years subsequent, in 1848, her second work made its appearance, entitled "Female Influence; and her third publication, entitled "Balm of Gilead," was issued from the press in 1852. Much might be justly said in praise of the chaste, poetic, and highly descriptive style of these productions; but it is not our purpose, in the present work, to bias the minds

of our readers in favor of the authors we notice with an elaborate review, but prefer to give a few select extracts.

We copy the following essay on intellectual development from her work entitled “Female Influence," chapter seventh :

"What a striking resemblance there is between a well cultivated garden and the immortal mind! What a living picture is here of the beneficial effects of industry! By industry and cultivation this neat spot is an image of Eden. Here is all that can entertain the eye or regale the smell. Whereas, without cultivation, this sweet garden had been a desolate wilderness. Vile thistles had made it loathsome, and tangling briars inaccessible. Without cultivation, it might have been a nest for serpents, and the horrid haunt of venomous creatures. But the spade and pruning knife, in the hand of industry, have improved it into a sort of terrestrial paradise. How naturally does it lead us to contemplate the advantages which flow from a virtuous education, and the miseries which ensue from the neglect of it! The mind, without early instruction, will, in all probability, become like the vineyard of the sluggard,' if left to the propensities of its own depraved will; what can we expect but the luxuriant growth of unruly appetites, which, in time, will break forth in all manner of irregularities? What but that anger, like a prickly thorn, arms the tempter with an untractable moroseness; peevishness, like a stinging nettle, ren