244 



The Review of Reviews. 



the seat of the greatest shipbuilding yard in the 

 world. 



Ilarland and Wolff appear to have been men who 

 had an eye for capacity among their employes. It 

 is not quite clear how long it was before they discovered 

 the genius whom they had employed unawares. 

 William James stuck to his work. He meant to " go in 

 and win." He had the right stuff in him and the 

 right kind of mother behind him. 



LORD PIRRIE's mother. 



His mother was the third daughter of Mr. Alexander 

 Montgomery, of Crumlin, co. Antrim, and niece of the 

 Rev. Henry Montgomery, LL.D., of Belfast, who took 

 such an active part in the Disestablishment of the 

 Irish Church. 



Young Pirrie was a ^•ery lively and observant boy 

 taking a keen interest in country pursuits and every- 

 thing that came within his range. He owed much 

 to the advantage of having spent his early years under 

 the daily supervision of a devoted mother. For it was 

 his mother who had the early training of William 

 James. Of silver and gold she had little, but she gave 

 him what was more valuable than either silver or 

 gold, in the shape of a little manuscript book, in 

 which with loving care she wrote down in simple 

 sentences the love of a lifetime. 



In later years Lord Pirrie declared that he would 

 advise every young man to make the chief corner- 

 stone of their lives this maxim : — 



Respect your patents' wisdom aud good advice. 



At the outset of his career a young man could not do better 

 than resolve that by thelielp of loivine giace nothing shall enter 

 into his life of which his mother would not approve, or which 

 would cause her pain. 



Herein we hear an echo of the Book of Proverbs : — 



My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not '.he 

 law of Ihy mother. 



Bind tfiem continually upon thine heart, and tie them about 

 thy neck. 



When thou goest it shall lead thee, when Ihou sleepcst it 

 shall keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee. 



For the commandment is a lamp, and the lav/ is light, and 

 reproofs of instruction are the way of life. 



HIS mother's M.\XIMS. 



Few men have obeyed this precept more literally 

 than Lord Pirrie. As one who wrote of him said 

 quite recently :— 



Lord Firrie's mother framed a cod': of laws for her son's 

 observance, quaint, lender, pious, and vastly wise and sound. 

 .•\nd the beauty of it is that her system succeeded. Lord 

 I'irrie grew up on the system, lie based his career upon it. 

 The treasured little volume in which his mother wrote down 

 her thoughts and aspirations concerning him h.as never been 

 far from his hand. It has accompanied him on all his many 

 voyages. I( has Iain snug in his pocket while he has been 

 negotiating deals with the princes of money and industry on 

 both sides of the Atlantic. This is no namby-pamby senti- 

 nientalism, no gush. This little volume of counsel in his 

 mother's hand was for many years the stay and support of his 

 career, and since then, seeing that he feels that he owes his 

 fortune to it, what more right and natural than thai he should 

 rcgartl it with pious reverence and treasure it as his richest 

 possession ? 



I have not seen the book which has been Lord 



Pirrie's guide and compass through the stormy seas 

 of life, for it has never been published ; but extracts 

 which have been published show that the mother was 

 a shrewd, practical woman who knew how to condense 

 into a few simple sentences the wisdom born of the 

 observation and experience of a lifetime. For instance, 

 she wrote : — 



It is the result of everyday experience that steady attention 

 to matters of detail lies at the root of human progress, and 

 that diligence is above all the mother of good luck. Accuracy 

 is also of much importance, and an invariable maik of good 

 training in a man, accuracy in observation, accuracy in speech, 

 accuracy in the transaction of affairs. What is done in busi- 

 ness must be well done ; for it is better to accomplish perfectly 

 a small amount of work than to half-do ten times as much. A 

 wise man used to say, " St.ay a little, that we may make an end 

 the sooner." 



.Simple industry and studious exactness would be the making 

 of Ireland. Method is essential, and enables a large amount 

 of work to be got through with satisfaction. Despatch comes 

 with practice. " If you want your work well done," says the 

 proverb, " go and do it ; if you don't want it done, send some 

 one else." 



HIS FIRST START. 



With these maxims in his head, and the inspiring 

 influence of his mother ever behind him at home, 

 William James soon made his mark. He rose rapidly 

 in favour. He was steady, energetic and pushing. 

 He had a head on his shoulders, an observant eye, 

 and he never spared himself when work had to be 

 done. By degrees he was trusted with more important 

 work. When he was hardly out of his teens he was 

 sent off to sea to learn the miseries and discomforts 

 of sea travel as they then existed. And what he had 

 to do when he came back was to take note of hi.s 

 difficulties and privations seriatim and so improve his 

 master's ships that these discomforts and disabilities 

 should be ruled out of the products of the Queen's 

 Island Yard. 



HARLAN U AND WOLFF. 



The story of the creation of the great shipbuilding 

 firm of Harland and Wolff, prope'rly told, would b« 

 an epic of modern industry. The founder of the firm 

 Sir Edward Harland, was a man of original genius 

 of bold initiative and great capacity in the selection o 

 assistants. \\'ith his partner Wolfl he decided that ii | 

 mudbank in the North of Ireland was the ideal sitif 

 for a shipbuilding yard. It seemed a crazy decisiorij 

 Ireland produced none of the ingredients necessa 

 for the construction of steamships. Irishmen hai 

 never shown much capacity for the building of ship: 

 Neither had Ireland ever created a great nicrcha 

 marine. 'I'here were no skilled arti.sans available o{ 

 the spot. Of the raw material, iron and steel and bras 

 and wood, not one ton could be produced in t 

 whole of Ireland. And what was perhaps still moil 

 important, coal, the magician whose touch alone coulli 

 transmute iron ore and pig iron into hulls of ship 

 marine engines, and all the appurtenances thereof, hai 

 to be imported from (heat 15ritain. Neither skillc 

 labour, capital, nor raw materials were to be foun 

 in Belfast when Sir Edward Harland decided to ent 



