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mainland began to go down on the horizon; before she came to her 

unhomely destination; and lay…to at last where the rock clapped its 

black head above the swell; with the tall iron barrack on its 

spider legs; and the truncated tower; and the cranes waving their 

arms; and the smoke of the engine…fire rising in the mid…sea。  An 

ugly reef is this of the Dhu Heartach; no pleasant assemblage of 

shelves; and pools; and creeks; about which a child might play for 

a whole summer without weariness; like the Bell Rock or the 

Skerryvore; but one oval nodule of black…trap; sparsely bedabbled 

with an inconspicuous fucus; and alive in every crevice with a 

dingy insect between a slater and a bug。  No other life was there 

but that of sea…birds; and of the sea itself; that here ran like a 

mill…race; and growled about the outer reef for ever; and ever and 

again; in the calmest weather; roared and spouted on the rock 

itself。  Times were different upon Dhu…Heartach when it blew; and 

the night fell dark; and the neighbour lights of Skerryvore and 

Rhu…val were quenched in fog; and the men sat prisoned high up in 

their iron drum; that then resounded with the lashing of the 

sprays。  Fear sat with them in their sea…beleaguered dwelling; and 

the colour changed in anxious faces when some greater billow struck 

the barrack; and its pillars quivered and sprang under the blow。  

It was then that the foreman builder; Mr。 Goodwillie; whom I see 

before me still in his rock…habit of undecipherable rags; would get 

his fiddle down and strike up human minstrelsy amid the music of 

the storm。  But it was in sunshine only that I saw Dhu…Heartach; 

and it was in sunshine; or the yet lovelier summer afterglow; that 

the steamer would return to Earraid; ploughing an enchanted sea; 

the obedient lighters; relieved of their deck cargo; riding in her 

wake more quietly; and the steersman upon each; as she rose on the 

long swell; standing tall and dark against the shining west。



But it was in Earraid itself that I delighted chiefly。  The 

lighthouse settlement scarce encroached beyond its fences; over the 

top of the first brae the ground was all virgin; the world all shut 

out; the face of things unchanged by any of man's doings。  Here was 

no living presence; save for the limpets on the rocks; for some 

old; gray; rain…beaten ram that I might rouse out of a ferny den 

betwixt two boulders; or for the haunting and the piping of the 

gulls。  It was older than man; it was found so by incoming Celts; 

and seafaring Norsemen; and Columba's priests。  The earthy savour 

of the bog…plants; the rude disorder of the boulders; the 

inimitable seaside brightness of the air; the brine and the iodine; 

the lap of the billows among the weedy reefs; the sudden springing 

up of a great run of dashing surf along the sea…front of the isle; 

all that I saw and felt my predecessors must have seen and felt 

with scarce a difference。  I steeped myself in open air and in past 

ages。



〃Delightful would it be to me to be in UCHD AILIUN

On the pinnacle of a rock;

That I might often see

The face of the ocean;

That I might hear the song of the wonderful birds;

Source of happiness;

That I might hear the thunder of the crowding waves

Upon the rocks:

At times at work without compulsion …

This would be delightful;

At times plucking dulse from the rocks

At times at fishing。〃



So; about the next island of Iona; sang Columba himself twelve 

hundred years before。  And so might I have sung of Earraid。



And all the while I was aware that this life of sea…bathing and 

sun…burning was for me but a holiday。  In that year cannon were 

roaring for days together on French battlefields; and I would sit 

in my isle (I call it mine; after the use of lovers) and think upon 

the war; and the loudness of these far…away battles; and the pain 

of the men's wounds; and the weariness of their marching。  And I 

would think too of that other war which is as old as mankind; and 

is indeed the life of man: the unsparing war; the grinding slavery 

of competition; the toil of seventy years; dear…bought bread; 

precarious honour; the perils and pitfalls; and the poor rewards。  

It was a long look forward; the future summoned me as with trumpet 

calls; it warned me back as with a voice of weeping and beseeching; 

and I thrilled and trembled on the brink of life; like a childish 

bather on the beach。



There was another young man on Earraid in these days; and we were 

much together; bathing; clambering on the boulders; trying to sail 

a boat and spinning round instead in the oily whirlpools of the 

roost。  But the most part of the time we spoke of the great 

uncharted desert of our futures; wondering together what should 

there befall us; hearing with surprise the sound of our own voices 

in the empty vestibule of youth。  As far; and as hard; as it seemed 

then to look forward to the grave; so far it seems now to look 

backward upon these emotions; so hard to recall justly that loath 

submission; as of the sacrificial bull; with which we stooped our 

necks under the yoke of destiny。  I met my old companion but the 

other day; I cannot tell of course what he was thinking; but; upon 

my part; I was wondering to see us both so much at home; and so 

composed and sedentary in the world; and how much we had gained; 

and how much we had lost; to attain to that composure; and which 

had been upon the whole our best estate: when we sat there prating 

sensibly like men of some experience; or when we shared our 

timorous and hopeful counsels in a western islet。









CHAPTER IX。 THOMAS STEVENSON … CIVIL ENGINEER





THE death of Thomas Stevenson will mean not very much to the 

general reader。  His service to mankind took on forms of which the 

public knows little and understands less。  He came seldom to 

London; and then only as a task; remaining always a stranger and a 

convinced provincial; putting up for years at the same hotel where 

his father had gone before him; faithful for long to the same 

restaurant; the same church; and the same theatre; chosen simply 

for propinquity; steadfastly refusing to dine out。  He had a circle 

of his own; indeed; at home; few men were more beloved in 

Edinburgh; where he breathed an air that pleased him; and wherever 

he went; in railway carriages or hotel smoking…rooms; his strange; 

humorous vein of talk; and his transparent honesty; raised him up 

friends and admirers。  But to the general public and the world of 

London; except about the parliamentary committee…rooms; he remained 

unknown。  All the time; his lights were in every part of the world; 

guiding the mariner; his firm were consulting engineers to the 

Indian; the New Zealand; and the Japanese Lighthouse Boards; so 

that Edinburgh was a world centre for that branch of applied 

science; in Germany; he had been called 〃the Nestor of lighthouse 

illumination〃; even in France; where his claims were long denied; 

he was at last; on the occasion of the late Exposition; recognised 

and medalled。  And to show by one instance the inverted nature of 

his reputation; comparatively small at home; yet filling the world; 

a friend of mine was this winter on a visit to the Spanish main; 

and was asked by a Peruvian if he 〃knew Mr。 Stevenson the author; 

because his works were much esteemed in Peru?〃  My friend supposed 

the reference was to the writer of tales; but the Peruvian had 

never heard of DR。 JEKYLL; what he had in his eye; what was 

esteemed in Peru; where the volumes of the engineer。



Thomas Stevenson was born at Edinburgh in the year 1818; the 

grandson of Thomas Smith; first engineer to the Board of Northern 

Lights; son of Robert Stevenson; brother of Alan and David; so that 

his nephew; David Alan Stevenson; joined with him at the time of 

his death in the engineership; is the sixth of the family who has 

held; successively o

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