234 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



regrets at his departure, and hopes that he would 

 shortly return. He had, indeed, almost pledged him- 

 self to revisit America during the following winter, and 

 was even thinking, and thinking seriously, of taking 

 up his abode in that country altogether. But this 

 last idea, fortunately, as I think, for himself, was not 

 destined to be carried out, and although a second trans- 

 atlantic visit was paid according to promise, it again 

 took the form of a mere lecturing tour of only a few 

 months' duration. 



The return passage was accomplished under far more 

 favourable circumstances than that in the Cephalonia, 

 although the sea was again very rough, and bad weather 

 almost incessant. On Thursday, the 17th, Queenstown 

 was reached, and early on the following morning the 

 Servia was in the docks at Liverpool. 



Had the tour been successful ? 



It had, and it had not. Judged merely by the 

 enthusiasm which the lectures had excited, its success 

 could not be doubted. In every town which my father 

 had visited he had been greeted by overflowing 

 audiences, the papers had been full of his praises, and 

 he had received invitation after invitation to return to 

 the country for a more prolonged tour. But, from a 

 financial point of view, it was scarcely, if at all, more 

 profitable than would have been a winter in England. 

 Throughout his life my father suffered very severely in 

 pocket through his utter lack of business qualities. 

 Anyone who would could cheat him. He never set a 

 sufficiently high price on his work, and very often did 



