FRIENDSHIP AND COURTSHIP. 277 



John not a little down-hearted, she never again coming to 

 terms. 



His friend naturally asked John why he did his courting 

 in that formal, distant style ? and why, by all that was sacred 

 and loving, he did not sit down beside his lady-love, on the 

 same stone at least, if he did nothing else ? John's reply 

 was perfect in its simplicity : " That wu'd hae been takin' 

 an undue advantage o' the wumman ! " And he meant it, 

 so great was his spirit of fairness and proper form, even in 

 love matters ; for the maxim that " All is fair in love and 

 war " would be viewed as selfishness, if not sin, by such a 

 man. Was not this a bit of the ancient spirit of chivalrous 

 respect for woman, in humble life ? Yet in his own un- 

 demonstrative way, he was truly warm-hearted and devoted, 

 though he evidently was not skilled in those arts that 

 win a woman's affections. And so ended all John's new 

 attempts at love-making, though he continued for years 

 after to cherish hopes of finding a partner for life. It was 

 no doubt a pity and a loss to him in many ways, poor good 

 soul, that he did not succeed. 



