DISCIPLES AND SYMPATHISERS AT DROUGHSBURN. 355 



name of the place where he had obtained it. " That ane I 

 pu'd and brocht hame frae B. Here's ane ye winna see ilka 

 day ; I had a gey ca'in' afore I got my neeves . on him. I 

 wis he may grow doon here ; but the snell air and mountain 

 dew suit his constitution best. I got him awa' up on the hill 

 o' C. This wee bit thingie's nae thrivin'. I got it in a 

 hedge at D. Weel, weel, they're a' wild, as ye say, but I'm 

 tamin' them ; killin' some o' themj^nae doo't i' the process, 

 but kind to them a'. Here's a girse I carried frae E ; there's 

 lots o't near your hoose." And so the good old enthusiast 

 went on, showing and speaking of what was dear to him 

 and must be interesting, he thought, to every one that 

 heard him. 



Then the conversation drifted to other matters, and 

 amongst these, the affairs of the Cushnie Free Church. Of 

 a preacher they had lately heard, John observed, " He 

 mak's awfu' moo's ; I liket him better when I didna leuk 

 at'm." The old man accompanied the young minister along 

 the road, as he was wont, and after a hearty "good-bye, 

 and haste ye back ! " he returned to his quiet hollow. 



The medical students from Aberdeen, in their botanical 

 excursions, used sometimes to call on John, and he has led 

 them on occasions to the spots where the rarer species grew. 

 But " puir fallows," said he, " they cu'dna stand my walkin' 

 at a' ; they had ower thin boots. But fat cu'd you expect 

 frae thae young loons ? " 



The Rev. David A. Beattie, the first Free Church incum- 

 bent at Cushnie and John's minister for eight years, used 

 to visit him frequently, and was much interested in his 

 uncommon parishioner. "In his lowly home," he says, " he 

 was all sunshine when conversation led to his favourite 



