Mr. Smith’s Chatter 
tease, he rather liked hearing of behaviour in 
others—irritating, ‘‘ aggravating”? behaviour— 
such as he never would have condescended to 
himself. At the same time it pleased him to be 
rather provoking. On his farm more than once 
he caused some tree or other to be cut down before 
he asked permission; and if any of his family 
protested that the landlord might not be pleased, 
his rejoinder was to urge “* He can’t make me put 
it up again, can he?” And this was character- 
istic. As he behaved to his landlord so he loved 
to see others behave in other things. It was his 
delight to see personality asserting itself—pushing 
itself close up against circumstance or against 
other personality. Obstinacy—that, to tell the 
truth, was fully developed in him. Only, he 
was at heart so kind a man that, instead of being 
seriously annoying, his obstinacy was only 
laughable. 
Few men can have been less ostentatious than 
he was. He never tried to “shine”; was as 
well content to listen as to talk. And if he some- 
times exclaimed against himself for being ‘‘ such 
a talkative old man,” he had provocation enough 
to excuse talking. He must have known that 
we enjoyed hearing him, as indeed we did; for 
not the long-forgotten scent of new bread that 
used to pervade the Farnborough farm-house 
in our childhood was more agreeable than his 
523 
