12 JOHN AT ANSTER SCHOOL. 



sive thought and extending the lines of science. John's 

 character as a boy, his brother states, " was singularly 

 pure and good, never defiled by bad language or mean 

 and evil deeds. His activity of mind and sagacity, 

 co-operating with a most kindly and just spirit, 

 formed for him a constant safeguard. In one sense he 

 never was a child or boy, for he was at no time the 

 sport of mere childish or boyish inanity. But still he 

 was as little, in early as in later life, in the least 

 priggish or austere. He was an open-faced, warm- 

 hearted, rather diffident boy and lad, even as through 

 life he continued to be an honest, kindly, and unosten- 

 tatious man/' Good education and trainingr fell to 

 John Goodsir's lot. The worldly wisdom and Scotch 

 caution, the love of home and of natural scenery, and 

 the sea and its living things, were exampled to the 

 juvenile Goodsirs, along with the moralities, the prin- 

 ciples, and the virtues of correct life. John imbibed 

 the hereditary feeling of his family for worldly dis- 

 tinction, and seems at an early age to have been gather- 

 ing up his strength for the great conflict of life. On 

 this head his brother very justly remarks : — " While 

 natural force of character will always find or make its 

 own way, and that apart from such force no circum- 

 stances can be of much avail, still the favourable or 

 unfavourable traditions of a family, equally with those 

 of a larger society, act most powerfully on the members, 

 whether of the family or larger associations." 



John was sent to the Burgh and Grammar Schools 

 of Anstruther, and these, like other Scottish schools, 



