the morning an old
gentleman, who slept in a room above them, complained to the landlord of
the uproar which had broken his night's rest, and expressed his
astonishment that such men should have taken more than was good for them.
"Well," replied the landlord, "I am bound to confess there was much loud
talk and laughter, but they had nothing stronger than tea and fresh
herrings." "Bless me," rejoined the old gentleman, "if that is so, what
would they be after dinner!"

In the entrance hall of the North British Railway Company's Waverley
station at Edinburgh stands the statue, in bronze, of Mr. John Walker. As
far as I know this is, the whole world over, the only instance in which
the memory of a railway general manager has been so honoured. It is of
heroic size and eloquently attests his worth. He was born in Fifeshire
in 1832, and died with startling suddenness from an apoplectic seizure,
at the age of fifty-nine, at Waterloo station in London. When he left
school he was apprenticed to the law, but at the age of nineteen entered
the service of the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. This railway was
in 1862 amalgamated with the original North British, which was first
authorised in 1844, and extended from Edinburgh to Berwick. His
exceptional ability was soon recognised and his promotion was rapid. He
became treasurer of the amalgamated company, and in 1866 was appointed
its secretary. In this office he rendered great service at a trying time
in the company's affairs, and in 1874 was rewarded with the position of
general manager.

The North British Railway has had a chequered career, has suffered great
changes of fortune, and to Mr. Walker, more than to any other, is due the
stability it now enjoys. On the occasion of his death, the directors
officially recorded that, "He served the company with such ability and
unselfish devotion as is rarely witnessed; became first secretary and
subsequently general manager, and it was during the tenure of these
offices that the remarkable development of the company's system was
mainly effected."

His capacity for work was astounding. He never seemed to tire or to know
what fatigue meant. Ordinary men are disposed to pleasure as well as to
work, to recreation and social intercourse as well as to business, but
this was not the case with Mr. Walker. It must be confessed that he was
somewhat exacting with his staff, but his own example was a stimulus to
exertion in others