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, ais influence will long be felt in the villages and cou try of Scotland. He died December 16th, 1809, in the thirty-second year of his age.

In this connection we may also notice BAGER), the blind carpenter and joiner of Western New York. This enterprising man, who was sightless from infancy, has gemmed the counties of Livington 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 dispened with, as the following example may serve to show: MAO GUIRE, the family tailor of Mr. McDor Ald, of Clan ronald, Invernesshire, totally lost his sight fifteen

years before his death. Yet he continued to work for the family as before, not indeed with the same expedition, but with equal correctness. It is well known how difficult it is to make a Tartan dress, because every stripe and color (of which there are many) must fit each other with mathematical exactness; yet from this material he made an entire suit for his master's brother, with as much precision as he could have done before he lost his sight.

DAVID MAPES, who lost the use of his eyes, after having learned the trade of wagon making, continued in that pursuit with nearly the same success as before, and is at present earning a very respectable livelihood at Angelica, New York.

exception.

It has been remarked, that those who lose their sight in mature years, never succeed in learning a new trade. But even to this rule we must offer an NATHANIEL PRICE, who became blind from severe cold, while on a voyage to America, af ter his return betook himself to the employment of binding books. It seems that he had no previous knowledge of this art, as his former occupation was that of a bookseller. Yet it is recorded that he bound books in the very first style. Several speci mens of his skill are in the English libraries of the curious, among which is an elegantly bound quarto bible, in the library of the Duke of Marlborough, at Sion-hill, in Oxfordshire. Mr. Price also gave vent to his ingenuity in the manufacture of his clothes,

which he made, from the shoes on his feet to the hat on his head.

We shall now proceed to notice a few characters, who, it seems, rose to greater proficiency in the mechanical department than any adverted to in the foregoing. One of these is JOSEPH STRONG, a native of Carlisle, who lost his sight at the age of four years. He early exhibited an inventive and mechanical genius, in the construction of a curious fiddle, bellharp, hautboy, and other musical instruments; and at the age of fifteen his great ambition was to build an organ, on which he had learned to play. In order to gain a more perfect knowledge of its several parts and their combinations, he was anxious to examine that in the cathedral of Carlisle. For this purpose he concealed himself one afternoon in that place, and when the congregation had retired and the gates were shut, he proceeded to the organ loft, and examined every part of the instrument. He was thus occupied till about midnight, when, having satisfied himself respecting its general construction, he began to try the tone of the different stops and the propor tion they bore to each other. This experiment, however, could not be conducted as silently as the business which had before engaged his attention; the neighborhood was alarmed, and various were the conjectures as to the cause of the nocturnal music, as spiritual manifestations were then unknown. But at length some persons mustered courage sufficient to go and see what was the matter, and Joseph was

found playing the organ. The next day he was sent for by the dean, who, after reprimanding him for the method he had taken to gratify his curiosity, gave him permission to play whenever he pleased.

He now set about building his first organ, which, after its completion, he sold, and it is now in possession of a gentleman in Dublin, who preserves it as a curiosity. After receiving some instruction in this art at London, he built a second organ for his own use, and afterward constructed a third, with great perfection, which he sold to a gentleman in the Isle of Man. Mr. Strong was married at the age of twentyfive, and had several children. His house was elegantly furnished, yet it contained but few articles, either of utility or ornament, that were not of his own construction. He died at Carlisle, in March, 1798, in his sixty-sixth year.

The acquirements of WILLIAM TALBOT were so numerous and diversified, that it is difficult to determine in which of his accomplishments he most excelled. As we have reserved for our next series a sufficient number of musicians (among whom he might claim an eminent rank) to prove the capacity of our order for that profession we shall mainly speak of his mechanical attainments. He was born near Roscrea, in Tipperary, in the year 1781, and lost his sight from small-pox at four years of age. Afterwards his family removed to the seaside, at a place near Waterford, where young Talbot soon began to evince a

taste for mechanics, in the construction of miniature wind-mills and water wheels, and in fitting up small ships and boats, with every rope and appendage as exactly formed as in those of a larger scale.

At the age of seventeen he became acquainted with a captain in the navy, and was finally persuaded to go with him to sea. In the four years of his seafaring life, during which time he visited many parts of the world, he became so thoroughly acquainted with the ship that he could readily go aloft among any part of its tacklings, and was frequently seen ascending to the mast-head with the dexterity of an ex perienced seaman. But the alternate smooth and bil .owed breast of the ocean had not sufficient variety to satisfy his nature, and in 1803 he again set his foot upon the turf of green Erin. He soon after married at Limerick, and resorted to the exercise of his bagpipes, on which he was a perfect performer, and to mechanical ingenuity, as means of support.

ance.

About this time he commenced building an organ, and admirably succeeded, without the least assistSoon after completing this instrument, he moved to the city of Cork, where he purchased an organ, for the purpose of making himself better acquainted with its mechanism. After dissecting and examining all its parts minutely, he built a second instrument of this kind, of a superior tone and finish. In this way Mr. Talbot maintained a large family in respectability and comfort.

Among these sons of Jubal, we must not omit our