events of his early life; and this opened the
way for a great many other recollections not set down in the book.

"He vividly remembered the parting from his mother, nearly seventy
years ago, and spoke of her last words to him: 'When you remember me,
think of me as waiting at this window, watching for your return.' This
led him to speak of the great forgetfulness and want of respect which
children have for their parents nowadays. 'We seem,' he said, 'to have
fallen upon a disrespectful age.'

"'It is strange,' said he, 'how little things influence one's mind and
character. When I was a boy at Waterford, I bought an old second-hand
book from a man on the quay, and the maxim on its title-page fixed
itself deeply on my memory. It was, "Truth, like water, will find its
own level."' And this led him to speak of the great influence which the
example and instruction of Mr. Rice, of the Christian Brothers, had had
upon his mind and character. 'That religions institution,' said he,
'of which Mr. Rice was one of the founders, has now spread itself over
the country, and, by means of the instruction which the members have
imparted to the poorer ignorant classes, they have effected quite a
revolution in the south of Ireland.'

"'I am not much of a reader,' said Mr. Bianconi; 'the best part of my
reading has consisted in reading way-bills. But I was once
complimented by Justice Lefroy upon my books. He remarked to me what a
wonderful education I must have had to invent my own system of
book-keeping. Yes,' said he, pointing to his ledgers, 'there they
are.' The books are still preserved, recording the progress of the
great car enterprise. They show at first the small beginnings, and
then the rapid growth--the tens growing to hundreds, and the hundreds
to thousands--the ledgers and day-books containing, as it were, the
whole history of the undertaking--of each car, of each man, of each
horse, and of each line of road, recorded most minutely.

"'The secret of my success,' said he, 'has been promptitude, fair
dealing, and good humour. And this I will add, what I have often said
before, that I never did a kind action but it was returned to me
tenfold. My cars have never received the slightest injury from the
people. Though travelling through the country for about sixty years,
the people have throughout respected the property intrusted to me. My
cars have passed through lonely and unfrequented places, and they have
never,