i88 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



high-stepper, but so exaggerated and badly drawn as to be 

 almost ludicrous. It was framed and hung in his room, and 

 he always called visitors' attention to it, and told them that 

 Mr. Price, the owner of the collieries, had said that he could 

 never get a horse like that one, as if this were the highest 

 commendation possible of his work. 



About that time the method of measuring the acreage of 

 fields on maps by means of tracing-paper divided into squares 

 of one chain each, with a beam-compass to sum up each line 

 of squares, had recently come into use by surveyors ; and Mr. 

 Osgood amused himself by making a number of these com- 

 passes of various kinds of wood nicely finished and well 

 polished, rather as examples of his skill than for any use he 

 had for them, though he occasionally sold them to some of 

 the local surveyors. He had these all suspended vertically 

 on the wall instead of horizontally, as they are usually placed, 

 and as they look best. While we were one day admiring the 

 workmanship of an addition to the series, he remarked, " I 

 dare say you don't know why I hang them up that way ; 

 very few people do." Of course, we acknowledged we did 

 not know. " Well," said he, " it is very important. The air 

 presses with a weight of fifteen pounds on every square inch, 

 and if I hung them up level the pressure in the middle would 

 very soon bend them, and they would be spoilt." My brother 

 knew it was no good to try and show him his error, so merely 

 said, " Yes, that's a very good idea of yours," and left the old 

 man in the happy belief that he was quite scientific in his 

 methods. My brother took a sketch of him enjoying his 

 pipe and glass of toddy of an evening, which was a very good 

 likeness, and which is here reproduced. 



After we had completed the survey and maps of Cadoxton, 

 which occupied us about six months, we had not much to do 

 except small pieces of work of various kinds. One of these 

 was to make a survey and take soundings of the river between 

 the bridge and the sea, a distance of three or four miles, for a 

 proposed scheme of improving the navigation, making docks, 

 etc., which was partly carried out some years later. We also 



