CHAP. XX. READING AND CONVERSATION. 445 



the foot of the hill on which Tapton House stands, he 

 saw some bees trying to rise up from amongst the 

 !_:T;ISS, laden with honey and wax. They were already 

 exhausted, as if with long flying ; and then it occurred 

 to him that the height at which the house stood above 

 the bees' feeding-ground rendered it difficult for them to 

 reach their hives when heavy laden, and hence they sank 

 exhausted. He afterwards incidentally mentioned the 

 circumstance to Mr. Jesse the naturalist, who concurred in 

 his view as to the cause of failure, and was much struck 

 1 > v the keen observation which had led to its solution. 



Mr. Stephenson had none of the in-door habits of the 

 student. He read very little ; for reading is a habit 

 which is generally acquired in youth ; and his youth 

 and manhood had been for the most part spent in 

 hard work. Books wearied him, and sent him to 

 sleep. Novels excited his feelings too much, and he 

 avoided them, though he would occasionally read 

 through a philosophical book on a subject in which 

 he felt particularly interested. He wrote very few 

 letters with his own hand ; nearly all his letters were 

 dictated, and he avoided even dictation when he could. 

 His greatest pleasure was in conversation, from which 

 he gathered most of his imparted information ; hence he 

 was always glad in the society of intelligent, conversible 

 persons. 



It was his practice, when about to set out on a journey 

 by railway, to walk along the train before it started, 

 and look into the carriages to see if he could find " a 

 conversible face." On one of these occasions, at the 

 Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very hand- 

 some, manly, and intelligent face, which he afterwards 

 found was that of the late Lord Denman. He was on his 

 way down to his seat at Stony Middelton, in Derbyshire. 

 Mr. Stephenson entered the carriage, and the two were 

 shortly engaged in interesting conversation. It turned 

 upon chronometry and horology, and the engineer 



