competition, alliances and
agreements are the tranquil order of the day, and the Clearing House has
become a Temple of Peace.

Between David Dickie, Goods Manager, and John Mathieson, Passenger
Superintendent, as I have said, many differences arose. I sometimes
thought that Mathieson might well have shown more consideration to one so
much his senior in years as Dickie was. Poor Dickie! Before I left
Scotland he met a tragic death. He was a kind-hearted man, a canny Scot,
and died rich.

James Stirling was the Locomotive Superintendent. He and Mathieson did
not always agree, and the clash of arms frequently raged between them.
Mr. Wainwright's suavity often, and not infrequently his authority, were
required to adjust these domestic broils, but as all deferred to him
willingly, the storms that arose were usually short lived.

In 1878 Mathieson and I took a short holiday together and crossed to
Ireland. It was our first visit to that unquiet but delightful country,
in which, little as I thought then, I was destined a few years later to
make my home.

It was in January, 1879, that the headquarters of the company were
removed from the old and narrow Bridge Street Station to the new palatial
St. Enoch, and there a splendid set of offices was provided. This was
another advantage much to my taste. St. Enoch was and is certainly a
most handsome and commodious terminus. Originally it had one great roof
of a single span, second only to that of St. Pancras Station. Other
spans, not so great, have since been added, for the business of St. Enoch
rapidly grew, and enlarged accommodation soon became necessary. In 1879
it had six long and spacious platforms, now it has twelve; then the
number of trains in and out was 43 daily, now it has reached 286; then
the mileage of the railway was 319, now it is 466; then the employees of
the company numbered 4,010 and now they are over 10,000. These figures
exemplify the material growth of industrial Scotland in the forty years
that have passed. St. Enoch Station was not disfigured by trade
advertisements, and it is with great satisfaction I learn that the same
good taste has prevailed to this day. Not long after it was opened a
great grocery and provision firm, the knightly head of which is still a
well-known name, offered to the company a large annual sum for the use of
the space under the platform clock, which could be seen from all parts of
the station, which the directors, o