The
vacant stage on which he was to act, and where all had yet to be
created--the greatness of the difficulties, the smallness of the
means intrusted him--would rouse a man of his disposition like a
call to battle. The lad introduced by marriage under his roof was
of a character to sympathise; the public usefulness of the service
would appeal to his judgment, the perpetual need for fresh
expedients stimulate his ingenuity. And there was another
attraction which, in the younger man at least, appealed to, and
perhaps first aroused, a profound and enduring sentiment of
romance: I mean the attraction of the life. The seas into which
his labours carried the new engineer were still scarce charted, the
coasts still dark; his way on shore was often far beyond the
convenience of any road; the isles in which he must sojourn were
still partly savage. He must toss much in boats; he must often
adventure on horseback by the dubious bridle-track through
unfrequented wildernesses; he must sometimes plant his lighthouse
in the very camp of wreckers; and he was continually enforced to
the vicissitudes of outdoor life. The joy of my grandfather in
this career was strong as the love of woman. It lasted him through
youth and manhood, it burned strong in age, and at the approach of
death his last yearning was to renew these loved experiences.
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