At shareholders' meetings Mr. Burns was splendid.
He rose after the critics had expended their force, or if the storm grew
too violent, intervened at its height, and with facts and figures and
sound argument always succeeded in restoring order and serenity. An
excellent story of him appeared about this time in _Good Words_. He,
Anthony Trollope and Norman Macleod were once at a little inn in the
Highlands. After supper, stories were told and the laughter, which was
loud and long, lasted far into the night. In 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.
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