HIS CHARACTERISTICS AND CHARACTER. 485 



scarce at one time, he was obliged to take employment 

 at a distance as a labourer, in order not to " fa' ahent," * that 

 is, not to get into debt, which he abhorred. When he 

 returned home, his wife sat sullen by the fire without 

 asking him to come near it. John stood in silence for 

 a time at the door, until shame compelled her at last to 

 speak. " Weel, man, yeVe won hame ? " said she. " Ay, 

 hive I," returned he, " and three poun' ten i' my pooch ! " 

 " Hae ye, man, though ? " exclaimed his wife, at once bright- 

 ening up, in more friendly tones. " Come in by." In telling 

 the tale, John concluded by saying, " Af 'n hae I mint on 

 that sin syne, Willie. Fin ye hae plenty o' sillar, fowk'll 

 aye bid ye ' come in by ' ! " 



John was never very smart at repartee, his whole style 

 being too staid and slow for such rapid coruscations of the 

 moment, though the steel of opposition did occasionally 

 strike real fire out of him. In argument, he could "give 

 a good cut " to an opponent, as " I hae aft'n felt," Charles 

 Black says ; and as many of those who tried to make fun 

 of himself and his plants also did to their cost, as we have 

 seen. John looked to most, as James Black justly observes, 

 like a harmless pill that you could easily swallow, though 

 it generally turned that you were in the power of " a 

 marvellously potent little agent." But hard hitting was not 

 much in John's line ; he was too subdued and kindly for 

 that dealing more in quiet, humorous replies when occasion 

 offered. 



Charles Hunter met him one day near the Free Church 

 of Keig, as he was returning to Netherton after some 

 absence, carrying a bundle on his back, his oil jar in one 

 * That is, fall ahind or behind. 



