"
Very pleasant and very interesting I found my new avocation on the County
Down, which for short the Belfast and County Down Railway was usually
called. My salary certainly was not magnificent, 500 pounds a year, but
it was about 100 pounds more than the whole of the income I earned in
Scotland, and now for the 500 pounds I had only my railway work to
perform. Now I could give up those newspaper lucubrations, which had
become almost a burden and daily enjoy some hours of leisure. The change
soon benefited my health. Instead of close confinement to the office
during the day, and drudgery indoors with pen and ink at night, my days
were varied with out-door as well as in-door work, and I had time for
reading, recreation and social enjoyment. My lean and lanky form filled
out, and I became familiar with the greeting of my friends: "Why, how
well you look!"
The County Down railway was 68 miles long. Situated entirely in County
Down, it occupied a snug little corner to itself, bounded on the north by
Belfast Lough, on the south by the Mourne Mountains, and on the east by
Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea.
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