1844-54. PROSTRATION IN SPRING. 373 



ten months in the year usually left him so prostrated, that per- 

 fect rest and quiet were absolutely essential. Alluding to the 

 sad memories recalled by the month of April, so fatal in his 

 family, he says to Dr. Cairns, " Nor have I learned the trick of 

 cheating these recurring periods out of their power to re-awaken 

 the past in all its gloom. An over-developed, ill-regulated ima- 

 gination, is partly to blame for this, partly a worn-out, weary 

 body, which would make me uncheerful at this season, even 

 though I were not visited by sad remembrances. I do not 

 encourage, but repress the dark broodings, and my southern 

 ramble is intended to medicine this malady, and drive away 

 the evil spirit. 



" I am not, however, a materialist, blaming my body for the 

 darkness of my spirit, and accusing the barometer because my 

 soul is vexed and my heart sad. I rejoice to be pointed by you 

 to the great and only sufficing source of peace and rest. My soul 

 will be an anxious and troubled one to the end, but only in in- 

 creased faith in Christ, only in closer brotherhood with Him, 

 have I any hope of increased peace." 



Frequently in spring he was so overpowered that he would 

 scarcely speak at all, after returning home, during the whole 

 evening; from even the nearest friends he shrank, and at 

 such times he would say to a sister, " Let us go to some quiet 

 place, where we shall meet no one we know." A few weeks 

 of change of air and scene, combined with rest, gave power 

 to rally ; as he used to say, " The water was beginning again 

 to gather in the well," and he returned to work with the 

 buoyancy natural to him, partly restored. While absent 

 at such times, it was his custom to write frequently to his 

 mother to beguile her solitude. Those letters usually went by 

 the name of " George's nonsense." A few specimens will be 

 given occasionally. Here, for example, are one or two from 

 Bridge of Allan : 



"April 5th. 



" This is a most lazy place ; nobody does anything but eat and 

 sleep and lounge, and we follow the universal example. The 

 weather is delightful ; my cough reduced to a mild trumpeting ; 

 my bed no longer, like Job's, mocking me when I go to it, say- 



