ould not be allowed to
go on, and the head of the firm bestirred himself accordingly with his
usual energy. He went down to Scotland, searched all the best
mechanical workshops there, and after a time succeeded in engaging
sixty-four good hands. He forbade them coming by driblets, but held
them together until there was a full freight; and then they came, with
their wives, families, chests of drawers, and eight-day clocks, in a
steamboat specially hired for their transport from Greenock to
Liverpool. From thence they came by special train to Patricroft, where
houses were in readiness for their reception. The arrival of so
numerous, well-dressed, and respectable a corps of workmen and their
families was an event in the neighbourhood, and could not fail to
strike the "pickets" with surprise. Next morning the sixty-four
Scotchmen assembled in the yard at Patricroft, and after giving "three
cheers," went quietly to their work. The "picketing" went on for a
little while longer, but it was of no use against a body of strong men
who stood "shouther to shouther," as the new hands did. It was even
bruited about that there were more trains to follow! It very soon
became clear that the back of the strike was broken. The men returned
to their work, and the clever brass founder continued at his
turning-lathe, from which he speedily rose to still higher employment.

Notwithstanding the losses and suffering occasioned by strikes, Mr.
Nasmyth holds the opinion that they have on the whole produced much
more good than evil. They have served to stimulate invention in an
extraordinary degree. Some of the most important labour-saving
processes now in common use are directly traceable to them. In the
case of many of our most potent self-acting tools and machines,
manufacturers could not be induced to adopt them until compelled to do
so by strikes. This was the ease with the self-acting mule, the
wool-combing machine, the planing machine, the slotting machine,
Nasmyth's steam arm, and many others. Thus, even in the mechanical
world, there may be "a soul of goodness in things evil."

Mr. Nasmyth retired from business in December, 1856. He had the moral
courage to come out of the groove which he had so laboriously made for
himself, and to leave a large and prosperous business, saying, "I have
now enough of this world's goods; let younger men have their chance."
He settled down at his rural retreat in Kent, but not to lead a life