es of work, and enter with zest
into the topics of the day. He had a keen appreciation of the
humorous side of things, and his merry laugh did one good.
Altogether he was a delightful companion, and was held in universal
esteem. One of Gilmour's leading thoughts was unquestionably the
unspeakable value of time, and this intensified with years. There
was not a shred of indolence in his nature; it may be truthfully
said that he never wilfully lost an hour. Even when the college
work was uncongenial, he never scamped it, but mastered the
subject. He could not brook the idea of skimming a subject merely
to pass an examination, and there were few men of his time with
such wide and accurate knowledge.

'Unlike many of his fellows, he did not relax his energies in
summer. During the recess he might have been seen wending his way
from the old home at Cathkin to the college library, and returning
laden with books. His superior scholarship secured for him
excellent certificates and many prizes, both for summer and winter
work, and it was noticeable that he shone most in written
examinations. On one occasion, in the Moral Philosophy class, which
then suffered from the failing health of the professor, the teacher
_pro tem._ appended, as a criticism of an essay of Gilmour's on
Utilitarianism, the words, "Wants thoroughness." This was a problem
to the diligent student, who tackled his critic at the end of the
hour, and apparently had the best of the argument; for he told me
afterwards that he had puzzled the judge to explain his own
verdict. There was a strong vein of combativeness in him; he liked
to try his strength, both mentally and physically, with others; and
it was no child's play to wrestle with him in either sense, though
he never harboured ill-feeling. He had the advantage of being in
easy circumstances, but was severely economical, wasting nothing.
He had quite a horror of intoxicating drinks. On one occasion,
perhaps for reasons of hospitality, some beer had found its way
into our room: he quietly lifted the window and poured the
dangerous liquid on the street, saying, "Better on God's earth than
in His image."

'As the close of his career in Glasgow drew near, some of us could
see that all through he had been preparing for some great work on