JOHN BECOMES AN ESSAYIST. 26 1 



A pretty good library was also formed in connection 

 with the society. This was kept in a three-cornered cup- 

 board, in which the librarian, young Smith, had difficulty in 

 arranging the books. They used to hold yearly soirees in 

 the mill. Their grandest effort in this direction took place 

 at their entering on new premises in the cottage, when a 

 select choir discoursed sweet music and John Duncan held 

 forth on Astronomy. The society had also its poet laureate, 

 for they cultivated the muses as well as science and philo- 

 sophy. 



Duncan was a member from the first, and continued 

 to be so during his stay in the village. He read essays 

 there, and took his part in the criticisms. There were 

 several elderly men connected with it, but John was the 

 patriarch of the society, being then fifty-six. He was a 

 steady attender, and was counted " quite a treat " when he 

 read or spoke, on account of his wide knowledge, quaint 

 aspect, and unusual style of speech. In reading his papers, 

 which he did with his face close to the sheet, he was so 

 absorbed in his subject that he became quite oblivious to the 

 smiles of the members, excited by his unusual earnestness 

 and style of reading ; for he laboriously spelled aloud the 

 more difficult technical words, and, though breaking down 

 with some of them more than once, still attacked them till 

 they were moulded to his mind, the final result being often 

 queer enough. 



His essays were counted "clever." In the discussions 

 that followed the papers, he was frequently humorous, if not 

 droll, but was always instructive. His speech, till he 

 became animated, was slow and hesitating, and the ideas 

 evidently crowded themselves so close that the words were 



