CHAP. XIV. SOCIAL HABITS. 483 



acquiring practical skill, a thorough knowledge of the 

 materials employed in construction, and last, but not 

 least, a perfect knowledge of the habits and dispositions 

 of the workmen who carry out our designs. This course, 

 although forbidding to many a young person, who be- 

 lieves it possible to find a short and rapid path to dis- 

 tinction, is proved to be otherwise by the two examples 

 I have cited. For my own part, I may truly aver that 

 ' steep is the ascent, and slippery is the way.' " l 



That Mr. Telford was enabled to continue to so ad- 

 vanced an age employed on laborious and anxious work, 

 was no doubt attributable in a great measure to the 

 cheerfulness of his nature. He was, indeed, a most 

 happy-minded man. It will be remembered that, when 

 a boy, he had been known in his valley as " Laughing 

 Tarn." The same disposition continued to characterize 

 him even in his old age. He was playful and jocular, 

 and rejoiced in the society of children and young people, 

 especially when well-informed and modest. But when 

 they pretended to acquirements they did not possess, he 

 was quick to detect and see through them. One day a 

 youth expatiated to him in very large terms about a 

 friend of his, who had done this and that, and made so 

 and so, and could do all manner of wonderful things. 

 Telford listened with great attention, and when the 

 youth had done, he quietly asked, with a twinkle in his 

 eye, " Pray, can your friend lay eggs ? " 



When in society he gave himself up to it, and tho- 

 roughly enjoyed it. He did not sit apart, a moody and 

 abstracted " lion ; " nor desire to be regarded as " the 

 great engineer," pondering new Meiiai Bridges ; but he 

 appeared in his natural character of a simple, intelligent, 

 cheerful companion ; as ready to laugh at his own jokes 

 as at other people's ; and he was as communicative to a 

 child as to any philosopher of the party. 



1 Letter to Miss Malcolm, Burnfoot, Langholm, dated 7th Oct., 1830. 



2 i 2 



