136 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



surveying and general engineering ; and as there seemed to 

 be nothing else available I did so. 



Mr. William Matthews was a man of about thirty. He 

 had been married two years, and had a little girl under a 

 year old. Both he and Mrs. Matthews were pleasant people, 

 and I felt that I should be comfortable with them. He 

 had been partly educated under Mr. Bevan, a civil engineer 

 of some reputation, who had made experiments on the 

 strength of materials, the holding power of glue and nails, 

 etc., and had invented an improved slide-rule. My brother 

 had one of these rules, which we found very useful in 

 testing the areas of fields, which at that time we obtained by 

 calculating the triangles into which each field was divided. 

 To check these calculations we used the slide-rule, which at 

 once showed if there were any error of importance in the 

 result. This interested me, and I became expert in its use, 

 and it also led me to the comprehension of the nature of 

 logarithms, and of their use in various calculations. Mr. 

 Matthews had also charge of the town gas-works, which 

 involved some knowledge of practical chemistry, and a good 

 deal of mechanical work. I spent about nine months in his 

 house, and during that time learnt to take an ordinary watch 

 to pieces, clean it properly, and put it together again, and the 

 same with a clock ; to do small repairs to jewellery ; and to 

 make some attempts at engraving initials on silver. I also 

 saw the general routine of gas manufacture ; but hardly any 

 surveying, which was the work I liked best. I was, therefore, 

 very glad when circumstances, not connected with myself, 

 put an end to the arrangement, Mr. Matthews received the 

 offer of a partnership on very favourable terms in an old-estab- 

 lished wholesale watchmaking firm in the city of London. 

 Although he would have much preferred the more varied 

 interests of a country life, he could not give up the certainty 

 of a good income with prospect of increase, and thus be able 

 to provide for his wife and family. Fortunately, about the 

 same time my brother had engaged to go to Kington, in 

 Herefordshire, to assist the Messrs. Sayce, with whom he had 



