MISUNDERSTANDINGS UNDER WHICH HE LIVED. 335 



said, " they were na up till't, and, fat was waur, they wi'dna 

 be instruckit." John concluded the drama by solemnly 

 declaring, that the bush never would bear another berry ; 

 and sure enough it never did. The story got wind in the 

 district, raising John in general estimation as a botanist, if 

 not as a magician, with powers that were " no canny," and 

 doing much to silence future aggressors. 



Speaking of the subject afterwards, in the Society at 

 Auchleven, he said that, when he saw the successful 

 action of the pollen, " it gave him more happiness than if 

 he had fallen heir to a kingdom." 



But John was depreciated by not a few who should 

 have known better ; and about Alford, from first to last, he 

 was less understood than at Auchleven and elsewhere. 

 In the Howe of Cushnie, for instance, there flourished, for 

 some years, another branch of the Mutual Instruction 

 movement. In accordance with his desire to act as pro- 

 pagandist for his own studies and help in all intellectual 

 pursuits, he offered to read a paper, of which we have seen 

 not unworthy specimens. But, as one of the members 

 informs me, " the secretary had the greatest possible diffi- 

 culty in putting him off. The services of a lecturer from a 

 distance were sometimes secured, and John was very, very 

 anxious to give us a lecture. Our trusty secretary, how- 

 ever, would not hear of such an outrage, and had to coin 

 divers excuses that would not hurt the old botanist's 

 feelings. It was a pity," he continues, " that he was so 

 conservative and so zealous for the honour of our society. 

 We ought to have accepted John's offer, and heard him 

 lecture on the subject regarding which he could have 

 enlightened the best of us : but ' a prophet is not without 



