to return to its home in peace.  When felling a tall poplar overhanging the mill-pond, it was necessary to secure the tree with a rope fixed high up the trunk and with a stout stake driven into the meadow, to prevent the tree falling into the pond.  Bell was the volunteer who climbed the tree with one end of the rope tied round his body and fixed it in position.  He was always ready to undertake any specially difficult, dirty, or hazardous duty, and in giving orders it was never “Go and do it,” but “Come on, let’s do it.”  An example of this sort was not lost upon the men; they could never say they were set to work that nobody else would do, and their willing service acknowledged his tact.

One day a widow tenant asked me to read the will at the funeral of an old woman lying dead at the cottage next her own.  I consented, and reached the cottage at the appointed time.  It was the custom among the villagers, when there was a will, to read it before, not after, the ceremony, as, I believe, is the usual course.  I found the coffin in the living-room and the funeral party assembled, and the will, on a sheet of notepaper, signed and witnessed in legal form, was put into my hands.  Looking it through, I could see that there would be trouble, as all the money and effects were left to one person to the exclusion of the other members of the family, all of whom were present.  It was quite simply expressed, and, after reading it slowly, I inquired if they all understood its provisions.  “Oh yes,” they understood it “well enough.”  I could see that the tone of the reply suggested some kind of reservation; I asked if I could do anything more for them.  The reply was, “No,” with their grateful thanks for my attendance; so, not being expected to accompany the funeral, I retired.  I was no sooner gone than the trouble I had anticipated began, and the disappointed relatives expressed their disapproval of the terms of the will, some going so far as to decline to remain for the ceremony.  Bell was not among the guests or the bearers, but, hearing raised voices at the cottage and guessing the cause, he boldly went to the spot, and in a few moments had, with the approval of the sole legatee, arranged an equal division of the money and goods; whereupon the whole party proceeded in procession to the church.  I think no one else in the village could so easily have persuaded the favoured individual to forgo the legal claim; but Bell was no ordinary man, and his simple sincerity of purpose was so apparent, that his influence was not to be resisted.  Later in the evening a plain, but very useful, old oak chest was sent to me, when the division of the furniture was arranged, as an acknowledgment of my services and in recognition of the saving of a lawyer’s attendance and fee, with the thanks of the persons concerned.  I was loath to accept it, but it was of course impossible to refuse such a delicate attention.

Bell’s cheerfulness and his habit of making light of difficulties were very contagious.  I had early recognized the seriousness of the problem presented by the foul condition of the land, but, as we gradually began to reduce it to better order, I remarked that the prospect was not so alarming after all.  His reply was that when once the land was clean, and in regular cropping, “a man might farm it with all the playsure in life.”