daylight
had dawned, I was suddenly awakened out of a sound sleep, and to my
astonishment saw Bailey with lighted candle standing by my bedside, with
a serious look on his face. "Great Scott! what's the matter?" I
exclaimed. "_My dear boy, I can't sleep; do let me see your pipe_," he
answered. With such like pleasantries he beguiled the happy times we
spent together.

In these years I had another pleasure: I learned to ride, taking lessons
in horsemanship at a riding school in Belfast. I soon acquired a firm
seat, and my good friend H. H. (who was a practised horseman, and then
lived in Belfast too) and I had many delightful rides in the beautiful
country around the city. For many years, so far as opportunity and means
allowed, I indulged myself in this best of all exercises.

CHAPTER XVIII.
RAILWAY RATES AND CHARGES, THE BLOCK, THE BRAKE, AND LIGHT RAILWAYS

Until the autumn of 1888 nothing occurred to disturb the even tenor of my
way, and I pursued in peace my daily work at the County Down. It was
interesting work and pleasant to become personally acquainted with the
customers of the company, many of whom lived in towns and villages some
distance from the railway, and to gain their good will. It was
interesting and also satisfactory to gradually establish an improved and
efficient train service and to watch the traffic expand. It was
exhilarating to engage in lively competition with carriers by road who,
for short distance traffic, keenly competed with the railway. It was
good to introduce economies and improvements in working, and gratifying
to do what one could to help and satisfy the staff--a thing, I need
scarcely say, much easier to accomplish then than now.

And so the time passed until August, 1888, when the railway world was
deeply moved by the introduction of the _Railway and Canal Traffic Act_.

This Act was the outcome of the Report of the Select Committee of 1881,
before which Mr. James Grierson gave such weighty evidence. One of the
most important measures Parliament ever passed, it imposed on railway
companies an amount of labour and anxiety, prolonged and severe, such as
I hope they may not have to face again.

The Act, as I have stated before, altered the constitution of the Railway
Commission, and also effected minor alterations in the law relating to
railways and canals, but its main purpose was the revision of Maximum
Rates and Charges. It ordered each company to prepare a r