to success, will not be questioned by any one, in the least acquainted with their history.

But, in any branch requiring the use of numerous tools, change of position, and bringing together many parts into one whole, they must necessarily lose more time, in feeling over their work, selecting, using and replacing their implements, than one who has his eyes. Here, then, arises their only inability to compete with other laborers. Facility is what they have lost, and not skill. It seems to us that, in those manufacturing establishments where labor is so divided among the operatives, that each person has but one distinct part of the whole to perform, and where no change of position is requisite, the blind might perform some portions of the process with but little or no inconvenience. Should manufacturing establishments of this kind be erected, in connection with our Institutions, where machinery would facilitate labor, we think, with the aid of a few seeing persons to perform the most difficult parts, a more profitable and honorable operation might be conducted, than in the few simple trades at present selected for, and taught to, the blind. Complex mechanism seems never to have frightened them, but on the other hand, when left to their own. inclination in this respect, they have almost uniformly selected those pursuits in which great ingenuity and delicacy of perception were most indispensable.

WILLIAM HUNTLY, a native of Barnstaple, in Devon, who was born blind, spent the principal portion of his life in watch and clock making. His father seems

to have possessed great skill in this business, and brought up his son to the same craft. He was considered by the inhabitants of his native place, a very superior hand in his profession, especially in repairing musical clocks and watches. It is said that he seldom met with any difficulty, even in the most complicated cases; and it often occurred that when others failed in repairing a clock or watch, Huntly found no trouble in discovering the nature of the malady, and presently administered the proper nostrum. Had not our own experience and observation taught us to what an astonishing degree the sense of touch may be cultivated, the idea of making it supply the place of the eye, and a powerful magnifying glass, (which is generally used by jewelers,) might, to us, as well as to others, seem preposterous. Besides, these facts will appear still more reconcilable, when it is remembered that Huntly lived in the days of huge wooden clocks, and watches about the size of a Moravian biscuit.

Neither is he the only blind person who turned his attention to this art. WILLIAM KENNEDY, who became sightless in childhood, had the reputation of being one of the best clock builders, both common and musical, of his time. This mechanical genius was a native of Tanderagee, Armagh, and lived in the latter part of the seventeenth century. When a boy, he was master builder and projector for all the children in his native town, nor did maturer years relax his desire to engage in useful employments.

When at the age of thirteen, having been sent to Armagh for the purpose of receiving lessons in music, and while there, residing with a cabinet maker, his mechanical propensities were newly awakened, and he soon made himself acquainted with the tools of his host, and the manner of working them. Although this more congenial employment occupied much of his time, he also made a very satisfactory progress in music; but, on his return home, his first care was to procure tools, with which he fabricated many articles of household furniture. He also constructed Irish bagpipes of a very improved patent, together with other wind and stringed instruments; and so perfect was his knowledge in this art, that he was, by a sort of common consent, elected repairer and builder-general, for the entire musical order, over a large section of country. In the alternate occupations of clock and cabinet making, building looms, with their various tacklings, and his other mechanical accomplishments, he maintained and raised a large and respectable family.

Another genius of the same kind, not altogether without fame, was THOMAS WILSON, a native of Dumfries, who lost his sight in very early infancy. His intuitive fondness for mechanical pursuits, early enticed him to gain a knowledge of the wood-turning trade, in which occupation he spent most of his life. So well did he succeed in this business, that his rolling-pins and potatoe-mashers gained great reputation among the good wives of both town and country; and

in making tinsmiths' mallets, lint-breaks, and hucksters' stands, honest Tom was acknowledged on every side to be without a rival. He also made a lathe suited to his purpose, and the numerous tools which this business requires, he had so arranged that he could take from his shelf any one he might need, without the least difficulty.

It is related of Cæsar, the ambitious Roman, that, on passing through a small country village one day, in company with some of his courtiers, he turned to one of them, and said, "Believe me, I had rather be the first man in this small town, than the second in Rome." If Wilson was inspired with any such desires of superiority, he had the good fortune to have them early gratified; for, in addition to the honor arising from his mechanical genius, he was elected principal, not of a college or university, for why should he have his peace of mind disturbed by the impertinent trickery of mischievous students ?but principal of the high situation of bell-ringer in the mid-steeple of Dumfries. And to prove to all future generations that a blind man can be true to high situations, as well as any other man, he died at his post, in the mid-steeple, at the age of seventy-five years, and the sixty-third year of his bell-ringership. He was respected and beloved during the whole of his life, by his fellow-citizens, and all who knew him. It appears that he was never married, but lived the enviable life of a bachelor, doing his own cooking,

making his own bed, raising his own potatoes, and living, in every respect, a freeman.

JOHN KAY, of Glasgow, was engaged at the carpenter and joiner trade for a number of years, though he lost his sight through the accidental discharge of a musket, when but nine years of age. His skill in the use of edge tools was so complete that he gave his work as perfect a finish as the most skillful of his fellow-tradesmen. He also worked in mahogany and other sorts of fine wood, and made various kinds of furniture. But the most valuable labors of Kay's life, and those that endeared him most to his friends and the church, were directed towards the spiritual and intellectual elevation of the youth. As a teacher and promoter of Sabbath schools, distributer of tracts, and an humble and assiduous disciple of Christ, his influence will long be felt in the villages and country of Scotland. He died December 16th, 1809, in the thirty-second year of his age.

In this connection we may also notice BAGERO, the blind carpenter and joiner of Western New York. This enterprising man, who was sightless from infancy, has gemmed the counties of Livingston and Steuben with beautiful cottages, finished in the most elegant style.

It seems that there are but few mechanical departments in which sight may not be dispensed with, as the following example may serve to show: MACGUIRE, the family tailor of Mr. McDonald, of Clanronald, Invernesshire, totally lost his sight fifteen