136 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



which was generally freely offered. Indeed, throughout 

 his career as a lecturer, my father was hardly ever 

 obliged to sleep at an hotel, owing to the kindness and 

 hospitality of the numberless friends whom he made on 

 his travels ; and very commonly he was obliged to 

 refuse three or four invitations, which would perhaps 

 reach him almost simultaneously. And, finally, notices 

 had to be sent round to the different secretaries or 

 managers, with particulars as to time of arrival, lug- 

 gage, &c., in order that arrangements might be made 

 for conveying both lecturer and apparatus from the 

 railway station to the lecture hall. 



Still, however and before even the preliminary 

 circulars could be sent out very much had to be done. 

 In the first place a syllabus had to be drawn up ; no 

 easy matter, as it practically involved the writing out of 

 tolerably full notes for some fourteen or fifteen lectures, 

 in order that a brief abstract of these might be supplied 

 as a guide to secretaries, &c. Then, when these were 

 printed, a small photograph had to be affixed to each ; 

 a practice which was continued until the great increase 

 in the number of circulars sent out rendered it imprac- 

 ticable. 



Next a portable drawing-frame had to be designed 

 and constructed; and this proved to be a long and 

 tedious undertaking. My father had soon discovered, 

 not only that he possessed an almost unique talent for 

 what may be best denominated " descriptive freehand 

 drawing," but that audiences were far more interested 

 and pleased by even a rough-and-ready extempore 



