Sandy Martin

Sandy Martin, the famous blind Harris tailor, lost his sight in early yooth by small-pox; yet so wonderfully did he possess the sense of touch, that the loss of vision seemed to cause him but little inconvenience. Of all the
tailors in the island, none were in greater repute than Sandy, and deservedly too, for in reality he was sur-
passed by none. Although stone-blind, he placed his customer before him, measured him quite scientifically, cut his cloth with rigid economy, sewed it firmly, smoothed it neatly, and, in short, finished his job to the entire satisfaction of his employer.

But what was more surprising still, suppose that the cloth
which he was to work upon was tartan, let it be however so fine and uncommon, he had the facility of tracing out
the stripes, squares, and angles of the fabric, by mere delicacy of touch. It is well known that tailors who have the sight of both eyes, experience at times ordinary difficulty in cutting and finishing a Hlighland tartan coat, so as to make the different squares in the cloth to coalesce diagonally at the back, and to meet angularly witb mathematical correctness. But in doing this blind
Sandy Martin never failed, and was never known to have committed a mistake. Not satisfied with the trade of
tailor, he had a second string to his bow, and acted as shoemaker also. He cut, shaped, sewed, and finished a pair of shoes as firmly and neatly as most men; and his jobs, when finished, showed no indications that the per-
former never saw what he so exquisitely handled. In one word, he failed but se!dom in any work which he took in
hand. There was not a man in Harris who could more expeditiously repair a torn herring net than poor blind Sandy. However tattered the net might be, and however scattered the broken meshes, Sandy soon discovered the existence and extent of the damage, and quickly repaired it. This poor man unquestionably furnished a striking proof of the extent to which one sense may be improved by the deprivation of another; for, undoubtedly, the want of the sense of sight in this individual was the cause of the perfection to which he earned that of touch.

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