'2 HE JOURNEYMAN'S FIRST FREEDOM. 51 



scientific inquiry, remained unbroken to the end, and was 

 strengthened by his practical mastery over it and the good 

 it did in his hands. 



From the knowledge of the heavenly bodies required 

 in Culpepper's astrological system, John was early led to 

 the study of astronomy, which for many years, as we 

 shall see, became one of his special pursuits. This issued, 

 by-and-by, in his studying several cognate subjects, such 

 as astrology, dialling, meteorology, and calendars, of which 

 more anon. In 1815, the first year he returned to Stone- 

 haven, he bought a copy of " Orr's Belfast Almanack," an 

 old calendar which still holds its own among the people ; 

 and from that time till his death, for sixty-six years, he 

 purchased an almanack annually, some of them high priced, 

 and finally possessed a complete suite of these, which he 

 presented to one of his disciples, Mr. John Taylor, who 

 was following kindred studies. 



That year, also, Stonehaven took a worthy share in the 

 national celebration of the victory of Waterloo and the 

 overthrow of Napoleon, in which John Duncan, with his 

 hatred of tyranny, recently intensified at Drumlithie, took 

 an active part. In that village, he had also acquired a 

 taste for politics, and an interest in the great questions of 

 social progress then increasingly agitating the country, 

 and he now began regularly to read the newspapers and 

 keep himself conversant with the rapid march of events. 



About this time, his mother removed from Stonehaven 

 to Aberdeen, where she resided in the Hardgate. There she 

 made a living, as hitherto, by harvest work, washing and 

 dressing, and other domestic employments, like the hard- 

 working, careful woman she was. John either accompanied 



