5

manufacture, used his drawing skill as a
designer and finally had reached the dignity
of inspector at Beauharnois, a suburb
of Montreal.

But trade did not satisfy all the needs
of a soul like David's. If he has two
characterisitics more marked than others
they are a passion for argument and
a weakness for poetry. So many of the
great poets have been similarly affected
that one needs mention only a few
like Dryden, Euripides, Goethe, Browning,
Tennyson and Lucretius. It is just possible
that Mr. Cornish may have thought of
politics, auctioneering or school-teaching
as a more suitable field for his
peculiar genius. But auctioneering seems
to demand an abrupt, tyrannical nature,
school-teaching is a thankless job and
politics are at present hedged by no