'I confess that these letters were a revelation to me. I thought that I knew James pretty well, but these letters from entire strangers up till a short time ago to him and to us, all revealed more to me about him than I was prepared for. James, as we all could see, was reticent on the higher things of heart and life, as many Scotch people, myself included, are; and his little hesitation in utterance doubtless made him more so than he naturally was. I once, as I thought, had a glimpse of his inner nature. It was when I met him first at Dunavon after his father had passed away. He and I happened to be coming together round the house at night from the back. He, with his usual consideration and helpfulness, took the old man's arm to guide me along the paths. We naturally fell into an intimate talk, the darkness perhaps helping us both. I spoke to him about his father's eminent goodness, and of the precious example left by his life to all of us. He responded with hearty appreciation, which seemed at the time to give me a peep into him, which was pleasing, if not unexpected. Probably other friends of James had similar experiences at times. But these letter-writers appear to have seen quite clearly what others saw but dimly. They made acquaintance with him at the great period of his life, and in circumstances fitted to brush aside all formality and conventionality. It was the War that did it. The War, with its reality and sternness, has evidently been both developing and revealing the badness of some persons and nations, and the goodness of others; and it seems to have developed as well as revealed the strength and the beauty of James' character. It seems to me as if we saw the tender buds peeping at times timidly out of the ground, while these strangers saw the flowers in full bloom and sweetness. The charm of what they saw won the respect, the admiration and the love of both his inferiors and superiors. And how glad they evidently were to tell, in sincerity, not in flattery, what they had seen, to you, to whom what they wrote was sure to be more than it could be to any other person in the world! They wanted to tell his mother what an impression her son's gallantly and high-toned character had made upon them who saw him at his best. They have helped us to know James better than perhaps any of us, even you, knew him before; and that new knowledge is well fitted to raise him high in our loving memory. Had it not been for the War, his good qualities would have been shown by degrees in other ways. Had he lived long, as we all hoped that he would, his life would have been doubtless a prosperous, honourable business life, a life of strict integrity and much usefulness, in which he would have been an influence for good among his workmen and others. But God ordered things otherwise. A great crisis in the country's history, the greatest indeed in the world's history, occurred, and the call came for defenders of Right against Might, of high ideals and liberties, and James was ready and obeyed the call of duty, not counting even his life dear to him, and that supreme sacrifice in the great cause was required of him.'