42 Life and Times of " The Druid" 



On the Sabbath, in the interval of public 

 worship — from which, until his health began 

 to fail him he was never absent — he visited the 

 aged people in the neighbourhood and read 

 and explained to them the Scriptures, while 

 each returning Sunday morning found him 

 superintending his school or in the centre of 

 his own class. 



No man is entitled to look for an unbroken 

 course of prosperity, and Mr. Dixon was no 

 exception to the rule. His latter years were 

 crowded with trials and difficulties of various 

 kinds. His eldest son, Mr. Peter Sydenham 

 Dixon, " The Druid's " elder brother, a young 

 man of great steadiness and promise, who 

 took an active part in the management of the 

 business, became afflicted with total blind- 

 ness, and at last, in 1857, was suddenly cut 

 off by scarlet fever, leaving a widow and 

 young family. About the same time, and 

 indeed for some time previous, Mr. Dixon's 

 own health had begun to fail. A paralytic 

 stroke came on, which at last almost deprived 

 him of speech, besides seriously affecting his 

 general health. At length he was compelled 

 to withdraw wholly from active business, and 



