336 JOHN DUNCAN, WEAVER AND BOTANIST. 



honour save in his own country,' especially if he be a 

 carpenter there, or a weaver ! " 



A prevalent charge that John's study of plants brought 

 against him was, that he was idling his time by doing such 

 useless things. Now, if there was one thing more than 

 another true of the man, it was that he was not only 

 industrious but hard-working at his trade. When he 

 indulged in botanising at any time, the hours thus spent 

 v/ere fully made up by extra work at another time, either 

 taken from his sleep or his leisure. When his neighbours 

 saw him outside gathering plants during the day, that 

 looked to them like spending time at play, when he should 

 have been at work " like other folks ; " but they did not see 

 him hard at his loom early in the morning or late at night, 

 when they were under the blankets. Though he thus laid 

 himself open to be misjudged as he was, he was too proud, 

 too self-contained, too careless of their opinion, or too 

 conscious of right, to stoop to explain. 



The one great test to which every pursuit such as John 

 indulged is subjected by the worldly wise, with their narrow 

 foot-rule, is, " What is the use of it ? " or, as they express 

 it in Aberdeenshire, " Fat's the ees o't ? " By this is meant, 

 not true utilitarianism, the broad range of use, but the 

 narrow, hardening test of its value in hard cash, worldly 

 advancement, or personal advantage. John's enthusiasm 

 for stars and plants being judged by this criterion, he was 

 found wanting. 



If there is a part of the country where this narrow 

 utilitarian rule of thumb is more constantly applied to 

 everything than in most places, it is the county in which 

 John passed the greater part of his life and pursued his 

 thankless researches. 



