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ON MORNING.

Oh, sweet is the dawning hour,
When dews like holy incense rise,
And waft to God, on mystic wings,
Earth's morning sacrifice.

And fair Aurora tints

The azure sky with golden light,
And chases far the sable clouds,
That vail the world in night.

And angels bright, that nightly watch,
While earth reposing lies.
Spreading their pure celestial wings,
Mount swiftly to the skies.

Or rosy twilight fades

Before the gorgeous king of day, Who from the east rejoicing comes

In glorious array.

And gentle zephyrs kiss

Dew-drops from the blushing flowers, That waking shed their odors sweet, Through fields and summer bowers.

And on the ocean's wave

Sunbeams like golden shadows gleam, And laughing breezes catch the spray That leaps from mountain stream.

And to the huntsman's horn,

The echoing rocks and hills reply, And beasts of prey that nightly prowl, Like falcons swift go by.

And insect voices greet,

With songs of praise the waking day, And feathered songsters warble sweet, To God their morning lay.

And man from sweet repose,
Joyful again to see the light,
Goes forth to toil with cheerful heart,
Till day gives place to night.

O sweet and hallowed time,

Let thy peaceful influence rest On all the hours that shall succeed

To this that thou hast blessed.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BLIND IN THE LEARNED

PROFESSIONS.

SERIES I-SECTION I.

PROGRESS IN THE SCIENCES.

HAVING given in the preceding pages a somewhat detailed account of a sufficient number of authors, and extracts from their writings, to establish the literary character of the blind, we next proceed to notice in a more summary manner, the success of this class in the scientific pursuits. As the hydrographical chart points out to the mariner a safe course over the trackless ocean, and national history affords to the legislator the experience of past ages, so the biographies of those who have risen against every tide of opposition from a lowly station in life to one of honor and distinction, serve in a powerful manner to stimulate others to grapple with similar difficulties. Whatever may be the impediments in our course, if we have the assurance that others, under like circumstances, have surmounted them, and arrived in triumph at the mark to which we aspire, the bugbear of impossibility is removed, and the timid heart, gathering courage, moves forward, cheered by the way

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marks of predecessors. But more especially is this true of the blind, than any other class of mankind.

All the higher institutions of learning, with their experimenting laboratories, improvements in the arts, and an application of natural agents to the multifarious labor-saving machineries that have transformed the civilized world into one spacious bee-hive, these are all especially adapted to the seeing. And the blind must still depend upon their own experience, and that of their predecessors, to force from society and nature the means by which to supply their daily wants, and to exercise their genius in the arts and higher pursuits of knowledge. The examples we shall give in these series are so diversified, (we are happy to say,) as to furnish every blind youth with pattern or example, into whatever worthy pursuit his genius or taste may incline him.

The first notable character under this head of which history informs us, is DIODOTUS, a stoic philosopher, who lived about one hundred years B. C. He was the preceptor of Cicero, the Roman orator, in Greek literature and geometry, and for many years his intimate friend. He was ever assiduous in the study of philosophy, and eminently successful as a teacher of geometry; a thing, says Cicero, which one would think scarcely possible for a blind man to do, yet would he direct his pupils where every line was to be drawn just as exactly as if he had the use of his eyes.

Another Roman, named AUFIDIUS BASSUS, who lost

his sight in early youth, was famous in his time for attainments in philosophy, geometry, and knowledge of general literature. He was also the author of an excellent Greek history.

But antiquity can boast of no greater genius than DIDYMUS, of Alexandria, who flourished in the fourth century. This distinguished man, who lost his sight at four years of age, is known to us principally as a theological writer. But we are informed by his pupil, St. Jerome, that he also distinguished himself at the school of Alexandria, in every department of science then conceived to constitute the whole field of human learning. He was so great a proficient in theology that he was chosen to, and long filled, the chair in the famous divinity school at Alexandria. His high reputation secured for him many scholars, some of whom are known as among the most distinguished writers of that period. He was the author of numerous works, a catalogue of which is preserved in the writings of St. Jerome. His treatise on the Holy Spirit (a Latin translation of which only remains) is said to be the best ever possessed by the Christian world. He died in 398, aged eighty-five years. So great was his fame abroad, that St. Anthony (excited by the same curiosity that moved the queen of Shebah to visit Solomon) came from the desert to satisfy himself concerning the wisdom and sanctity of this famous philosopher, who being informed by Didymus in answer to his questions, that he deplored his deprivation, notwithstanding his attainments, the saint

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