The following description is given of an ingenious and singular piece of
mechanism--constructed by a boy of the name of John Young, who in 1819
resided at Newton-on-Ayr--which attracted much notice among the
scientific of the day:--"A box, about three feet long by two broad, and
six or eight inches deep, had a frame and paper covering erected on it,
in the form of a house. On the upper part of the box are a number of
wooden figures, about two or three inches high, representing people
employed in those trades and sciences with which the boy is familiar.
The whole are put in motion at the same time by machinery within the
box, acted upon by a handle like that of a hand-organ. A weaver upon his
loom, with a fly-shuttle, uses his hands and feet, and keeps his eye
upon the shuttle, as it passes across the web. A soldier, sitting with a
sailor at a public-house table, fills a glass, drinks it off, then
knocks upon the table, upon which an old woman opens a door, makes her
appearance, and they retire. Two shoemakers upon their stools are seen,
the one beating leather, and the other stitching a shoe. A
cloth-dresser, a stone-cutter, a cooper, a tailor, a woman churning, and
one teasing wool, are all at work. There is also a carpenter sawing a
piece of wood, and two blacksmiths beating a piece of iron, the one
using a sledge, and the other a small hammer; a boy turning a
grindstone, while a man grinds an instrument upon it; and a barber
shaving a man, whom he holds fast by the nose with one hand. The boy was
only about seventeen years of age when he completed this curious work,
and since the bent of his mind could be first marked, his only amusement
was that of working with a knife, and making little mechanical figures.
This is the more extraordinary, as he had no opportunity whatever of
seeing any person employed in a similar way. He was bred a weaver with
his father, and since he could be employed at the trade, has had no time
for his favourite study, except after the work ceased, or during the
intervals; and the only tool he ever had to assist him was a
pocket-knife. In his earlier years he produced several curiosities on a
smaller scale; but the one now described is his greatest work, to which
he devoted all his spare time during two years."
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