NATURE IN ENGLAND 5 



oats, and close beside it, without an inch of waste 

 or neutral ground between, rise the skeletons of 

 innumerable ships, like a forest of slender growths 

 of iron, with the workmen hammering amid it like 

 so many noisy woodpeckers. It is doubtful if such 

 a scene can be witnessed anywhere else in the world, 

 — an enormous mechanical, commercial, and archi- 

 tectural interest, alternating with the quiet and 

 simplicity of inland farms and home occupations. 

 You could leap from the deck of a half-finished 

 ocean steamer into a field of waving wheat or Win- 

 chester beans. These vast shipyards appear to be 

 set down here upon the banks of the Clyde without 

 any interference with the natural surroundings of 

 the place. 



Of the factories and foundries that put this iron 

 in shape you get no hint; here the ships rise as if 

 they sprouted from the soil, without waste or litter, 

 but with an incessant din. They stand as thickly 

 as a row of cattle in stanchions, almost touching 

 each other, and in all stages of development. Now 

 and then a stall will be vacant, the ship having just 

 been launched, and others will be standing with 

 flags flying and timbers greased or soaped, ready to 

 take to the water at the word. Two such, both 

 large ocean steamers, waited for us to pass. We 

 looked back, saw the last block or wedge knocked 

 away from one of them, and the monster ship saun- 

 tered down to the water and glided out into the 

 current in the most gentle, nonchalant way imagin- 

 able. I wondered at her slow pace, and at the 



