CHAP. XIV. HIS ESTIMATE OF MONEY. 489 



to mere money was one of the greatest dangers with 

 which modern society was threatened. " I admire com- 

 mercial enterprise," he would say ; " it is the vigorous 

 outgrowth of our industrial life : I admire everything 

 that gives it free scope, as wherever it goes, activity, 

 energy, intelligence all that we call civilization ac- 

 company it ; but I hold that the aim and end of all ought 

 not to be a mere bag of money, but something far higher 

 and far better." 



Writing once to his Langholm correspondent about 

 an old schoolfellow, who had grown rich by scraping, 

 Telford said : " Poor Bob L - ! His industry and 

 sagacity were more than counterbalanced by his childish 

 vanity and silly avarice, which rendered his friendship 

 dangerous and his conversation tiresome. He was like 

 a man in London, whose lips, while walking by himself 

 along the streets, were constantly ejaculating < Money ! 

 Money ! ' But peace to Bob's memory : I need scarcely 

 add, confusion to his thousands ! " He himself was most 

 careful in resisting the temptations to which men in his 

 position are frequently exposed ; but he was preserved 

 by his honest pride, not less than by the purity of his 

 character. He would not receive anything in the shape 

 of presents or testimonials from persons employed under 

 him as contractors ; for he would not have even the 

 shadow of an obligation stand in the way of performing 

 his rigid duty to those who employed him to watch over 

 and protect their interests. 



Yet Telford was not without a proper regard for 

 money, as a means of conferring benefits on others, and 

 especially as a means of being independent. By the 

 close of his life he had accumulated as much as, invested 

 at interest, would bring him in about 800/. a-year, and 

 enable him to occupy the house in Abingdon Street 

 until he died. This was amply sufficient for his wants, 

 and more than enough for perfect independence. It 

 enabled him also to continue those secret acts of bene- 



