predilections as a stonemason might certainly have made him rather
overlook the value of the novel material. But Telford was a man who
could rise superior to such little accidents of habit or training; and
as a matter of fact there is no other engineer to whom the rise of the
present "iron age" in engineering work is more directly and immediately
to be attributed than to himself.

Meanwhile, the Eskdale pioneer did not forget his mother. For years he
had constantly written to her, in _print hand_, so that the letters
might be more easily read by her aged eyes; he had sent her money in
full proportion to his means; and he had taken every possible care to
let her declining years be as comfortable as his altered circumstances
could readily make them. And now, in the midst of this great and
responsible work, he found time to "run down" to Eskdale (very different
"running down" from that which we ourselves can do by the London and
North Western Railway), to see his aged mother once more before she
died. What a meeting that must have been, between the poor old widow of
the Eskdale shepherd, and her successful son, the county surveyor of
Shropshire, and engineer of the great and important Ellesmere Canal!

While Telford was working busily upon his wonderful canal, he had many
other schemes to carry out of hardly less importance, in connection with
his appointment as county surveyor. His beautiful iron bridge across the
Severn at Build was was another application of his favourite metal to the
needs of the new world that was gradually growing up in industrial
England; and so satisfied was he with the result of his experiment (for
though not absolutely the first, it was one of the first iron bridges
ever built) that he proposed another magnificent idea, which
unfortunately was never carried into execution. Old London Bridge had
begun to get a trifle shaky; and instead of rebuilding it, Telford