LIFE AND HABITS AT DROUGHSBURN. 289 



borders that ran on both sides of the walks. Allanach, a 

 practical, business man who despised all sentiment, wished 

 to have the whole of the space belonging to him devoted 

 to such substantial growths as cabbages and turnips, and 

 turned out all John's plants. He might as well have 

 plucked out his eye or cut off his hand. The result was, of 

 course, the irretrievable extinction of all sympathy between 

 them. Altogether, Duncan could scarcely have lived with 

 a man whose tastes were more unlike his own. Allanach 

 was a strong, dry, plain man who contemned all John's 

 dearest pursuits as oddities or weaknesses ; and he was far 

 too absorbed in his own occupations to feel or trouble 

 himself in any way with this want of sympathy between 

 himself and his tenant. To Duncan, their relations were 

 fraught with no little pain and unhappiness, though he 

 would have been the last to confess the cause. 



But the iciness of the husband was more than made 

 up by the geniality and warmth of the wife. She was an 

 excellent, hard-working woman and mother, whose disposi- 

 tion and manner were bright, intelligent, and kindly. She 

 appreciated and understood the old weaver, and respected 

 his knowledge and ability. By her hearty motherliness and 

 attention, she made his residence there comfortable, if not 

 homelike. As Allanach was necessarily much absent in 

 connection with his contracts, he seldom met the weaver 

 except for a little in the evenings and on Sundays. So 

 that John could tolerate this crook in his lot, for the sake of 

 the kindliness of Mrs. Allanach ; and thus, for nearly twenty 

 years, he continued to live there, till the death of Mr. 

 Allanach in 1880, and his own in 1881. 



The result of this want of rapport with Allanach was 



U 



