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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part18_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Carlenrig, in Etterick Forest, between Hawick and Langholm, James

ordered him to instantexecution. Had Johnnie Armstrong, like the



Scotts and Kers and Johnstones of like calling, been imprisoned

beforehand, he might possibly have lived to found a British



peerage; but as it was, the genius of the Armstrong dynasty was for

a time extinguished, only, however, to reappear, after the lapse



of a few centuries, in the person of the eminent engineer of

Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the inventor of the Armstrong gun.



The two centuries and a half which have elapsed since then have

indeed seen extraordinary changes.*[2] The energy which the old



borderers threw into their feuds has not become extinct, but

survives under more benignant aspects, exhibiting itself in efforts



to enlighten, fertilize, and enrich the country which their

wasteful ardour before did so much to disturb and impoverish.



The heads of the Buccleugh and Elliot family now sit in the British

House of Lords. The descendant of Scott of Harden has achieved a



world-wide reputation as a poet and novelist; and the late Sir

James Graham, the representative of the Graemes of Netherby, on the



English side of the border, was one of the most venerable and

respected of British statesmen. The border men, who used to make



such furious raids and forays, have now come to regard each other,

across the imaginary line which divides them, as friends and



neighbours; and they meet as competitors for victory only at

agricultural meetings, where they strive to win prizes for the



biggest turnips or the most effective reaping-machines; while the

men who followed their Johnstone or Armstrong chiefs as prickers or



hobilers to the fray have, like Telford, crossed the border with

powers of road-making and bridge-building which have proved a



source of increased civilization and well-being to the population

of the entire United Kingdom.



The hamlet of Westerkirk, with its parish church and school,

lies in a narrow part of the valley, a few miles above Langholm.



Westerkirk parish is long and narrow, its boundaries being the

hill-tops on either side of the dale. It is about seven miles long



and two broad, with a population of about 600 persons of all ages.

Yet this number is quite as much as the district is able to



support, as is proved by its remaining as nearly as possible

stationary from one generation to another.*[3] But what becomes of



the natural increase of families? "They swarm off!" was the

explanation given to us by a native of the valley. "If they



remained at home," said he, "we should all be sunk in poverty,

scrambling with each other amongst these hills for a bare living.



But our peasantry have a spirit above that: they will not consent

to sink; they look up; and our parish schools give them a power of



making their way in the world, each man for himself. So they swarm

off--some to America, some to Australia, some to India, and some,



like Telford, work their way across the border and up to London."

One would scarcely have expected to find the birthplace of the



builder of the Menai Bridge and other great national works in so

obscure a corner of the kingdom. Possibly it may already have



struck the reader with surprise, that not only were all the early

engineers self-taught in their profession, but they were brought up



mostly in remote country places, far from the active life of great

towns and cities. But genius is of no locality, and springs alike



from the farmhouse, the peasant's hut, or the herd's shieling.

Strange, indeed, it is that the men who have built our bridges,



docks, lighthouses, canals, and railways, should nearly all have

been country-bred boys: Edwards and Brindley, the sons of small



farmers; Smeaton, brought up in his father's country house at

Austhorpe; Rennie, the son of a farmer and freeholder; and



Stephenson, reared in a colliery village, an engine-tenter's son.




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