64 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



John Duncan kept up correspondence with both 

 daughters to the last. They paid visits to each other, and 

 he frequently assisted them in their poverty, in various 

 ways. As was natural and pardonable in a father, he 

 wished his second daughter had married some one of higher 

 social standing than a hawker, and was considerably 

 ashamed of the connection a foible that even the most 

 philosophical could scarcely rise above in connection with 

 a daughter, however honourable in character the lowly 

 husband might be. 



When he wished to meet the Cormacks to give them the 

 assistance he regularly did, he used to appoint some more 

 or less secluded place for the purpose. On one occasion, 

 after seeing them on a hill in Tullynessle, in the Vale of 

 Alford, he called on a friend who had a farm at its base, 

 and complained of the disgrace it was to be connected with 

 such people, relatives though they were of his own. His 

 friend tried to soothe his wounded feelings by reminding 

 him that Cormack was an honest, much-respected man. 

 John replied that he knew that, but that surely he might 

 get something more respectable to do than making heather 

 besoms ; for that occupation is irretrievably associated in 

 Scotland in which social status and respect stand high, 

 amongst even the poorest with tinkers and their dis- 

 reputable life, with which Cormack had not the remotest 

 connection or sympathy. But it is in vain to reason 

 against such feelings, and it shows John's true kindliness of 

 heart that, possessing them so strongly, he still treated 

 their subjects so kindly, as he continued to do till they 

 passed away. Both daughters have long since died, along 

 with their husbands and children, so that no representative 



