SKETCH OF LEWIS MORRIS RUTHERFURD. 409 



erfurd's physical condition was delicate during the later years of 

 his life, and not suitable for sedentary occupation, or that which 

 exposed him to sudden changes of weather ; but he continued his 

 astronomical work as long as prudence permitted it, then retired 

 wholly from it. His death was brought on by a cold, contracted 

 while traveling to his winter residence in Florida, to which was 

 added the shock caused by the sudden death of his daughter. 



Of his personality, Mr. O. G. Mason says, in the Photographic 

 Times: "No one could be long in his presence without feeling 

 that he was a man of rare ability. His tall, erect figure and 

 scholarly face made him conspicuous wherever he went. His 

 dignified, courtly bearing and genial nature made earnest 

 friends of all his acquaintances. His dislike of ostentation and 

 show was a conspicuous trait of his character. He was never 

 known to wear any one of the many decorations, emblems of 

 rank, or acquirements which had been conferred upon him." 

 His signature was his plain name, without the addition of any of 

 the literary and scientific honors and titles he had a right to use. 

 " His liberality in the diffusion of the knowledge which he had 

 gained was known and appreciated by hundreds who sought his 

 advice"; and "his wise counsel was sought and recognized as 

 being of the highest value." 



In his address as President of the English Folklore Society, Mr. G. Laurence 

 Gomme mentioned as one of the most important of the folklorist's duties the 

 tracing of the influence of Christianity on traditional belief and usage. The heroes 

 and heroines of folk-tales were certainly not Christians, and Christianity was not 

 even nominally represented, except in Slavic countries and in Spain. Thus a dual 

 system of belief was manifested in many of the tales and traditions. This dualism 

 was illustrated in the cry of an old Scottish peasant when he came to worship at 

 the sacred well : "O Lord, thou knowest that well would it be for me this day, 

 an' I had stoopit my knees and my heart before thee in spirit and in truth as 

 often as I have stoopit them afore this well. But we maun keep the customs of 

 our fathers." In like manner there is still a superstition in Lancashire of a long 

 journey after death. Of a man who died of apoplexy at a public dinner, one of 

 the company remarked : " Well, poor Joe, God rest his soul. He has at last gone 

 to his long rest, wi' a belly full of good meat, and that is some consolation." 

 This survival of paganism was frequently noticed by the early Christian fathers; 

 and the pagan conceptions, as a whole, lasted much longer than many of us would 

 conceive possible. In a sermon preached in 1659 by Mr. Pemble, of the Church 

 of England, the case of an old man is given who, being questioned by a minister 

 touching his faith and hope, replied that God was a good old man and Christ a 

 towardly youth ; that his soul was a great bone in his body, and after he was 

 dead, if he had done well, he should be put in a pleasant green meadow. This 

 conception of the soul as a bone in the body was paralleled by the notion of the 

 New-Zealanders that a peculiarly sacred character attaches to the backbone. 

 Other curious customs illustrating the mixture of faiths were referred to in the 

 address. 



