28 SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



description he was well able to perform, and he was 

 urged by his friends to over-take it. Daily bread, 

 however, was still with him to be reached by working 

 with the leather apron about him, and he continued 

 to make or cobble shoes, to the extent which his 

 health permitted. For several months he had been 

 less before the public eye, and when the stroke which 

 separated him from all earthly friendships occurred, 

 a painful surprise was created. As we have stated 

 in the opening of this notice, his end came quickly. 

 He had been apparently in nearly his usual health 

 and spirits, and had been persuing his favourite story 

 from the German, " The Journal of a Poor Vicar" 

 a narrative which he almost knew by heart when 

 illness, disclosing a hopeless paralytic seizure ensued, 

 and before another day was gone John Younger 

 was dead. 



That John Younger was a recognized celebrity 

 was seen in the many genial tributes to his charac- 

 ter and attainments which instantly appeared in the 

 Edinburgh and local press several of them elo- 

 quent and lengthy. In the Scotsman's article he 

 was designated as " one of the most remarkable men 

 of the population of the south of Scotland ; whether 

 as a genial writer of prose or verse, or a man of high 

 conversational powers, and clear common sense, the 



