Joseph Lye, the diarist, learned shoemaking of his father, the Revolutionary soldier, as did many a lad of his time. He worked on the farm, too, and became a handy man, able to undertake most any of the simple tasks of his time. He was content to work industriously and to live thriftily. Ambition did not tempt him. He thought deeply upon matters of religion. The Puritan conscience then was alive. He kept a diary. Its records are a good standard by which to compare the acts and thoughts of an average man of a century ago with the acts and thoughts of an average man of today, should any reader desire to do so. JOSEPH LYE’S SHOP. Soon after his return from the war of the Revolution, Joseph Lye bought a parcel of land and buildings thereon near the Common in Lynn, paying 123 pounds, 6 shillings for the entire property. Among the buildings was a small, sturdy structure, scarcely as large as a kitchen. In it were four “berths,” or seats, on which shoemakers sat, their tools by their side and their stock on the floor, making shoes by hand. It was heated by a wood stove and lighted by candles, but aside from these it was as primitive as an old barn and had none of the hundred and one devices so essential to the modern factory. It had no steam, no machinery, not even running water. But it sufficed for the times. In it the Lyes made a comfortable living, first Joseph Lye, shoemaker and soldier of the Revolution, and then his son, Joseph, shoemaker and diarist. This shop passed from the Lye family by purchase to Amos Preston Tapley, a shoe merchant, related to the Lyes by marriage. From him it passed to his son, Henry F. Tapley, who gave it to the Essex Institute in Salem. Here it is preserved as an example of an early type of American shoe factory. JOSEPH LYE’S RELIGION. Lye began his diary by writing: “A Diary of my Daily occupations and a few remarks that do not relate to them, and a record of what deaths and marriages come to my knowledge.” “Let not ambition mock my useful toil, My humble joys and destiny obscure, Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The simple annals of the poor.” Lye thought much upon spiritual matters. He wrote in his diary frequently of his attendance at church and of his views of religious subjects. He worked leisurely and had time to reflect upon the meaning of life and its highest ideals. It may be his view of life has been lost among men of today, intent upon their affairs of the moment. The point is worth looking into, for the solution of many serious problems of business, labor and society is coming through Christianity and its interpretation by men. Lye wrote in his diary many records of his acts and views of Christianity, and some of his records are these: “Sunday, Nov. 23. This day attended the meeting at the meeting house in Lynn, heard Rev. Mr. Brown preach from Luke 23, 61-62 verse. In the afternoon from Matthew 26, 24-27 verse.”