Eccentricities and Absence of Mind. 195 



momentarily increasing in number. The 

 Vicar, with a horrified look, exclaimed, 

 "Why! it's dropping from your pocket!" 

 Putting his hand into the pocket of his coat 

 and drawing it forth steeped in ink, " The 

 Druid" confessed that he was quite uncon- 

 scious of having been the cause of such a 

 disaster, and slunk silently out of the church. 

 In more than one instance he went to church 

 in a pair of carpet slippers. Once he set out 

 to sleep at the house of a friend who lived 

 not far away, and was seen by his wife cross- 

 ing the street with a brass candlestick in his 

 hand in place of his carpet-bag. 



It was his habit to write verses or articles 

 when travelling on the railway, and twice in 

 his life his train was shunted into a siding, 

 and he continued his work for a considerable 

 time before a porter discovered him and 

 made him aware of his ludicrous and unfortu- 

 nate position. The second time this happened 

 was at Derby, where he was eventually 

 roused by the jeers of some navvies working 

 on the line. 



His utter indifference to meals arose, in 

 part, from absence of mind ; in fact, he rarely 



