Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/169

 past errors, he held on his way regardless of every argument and every prophecy of failure.

His enthusiasm was one of his most noticeable traits, and his intense vitality showed itself nowhere more clearly than in the energy he threw into mastering whatever subject had aroused his interest. As a result, he was continually consulted on matters outside postal affairs by strangers who had heard of his wide sympathies. A letter advocating a project for tree-planting by school children would send him down to Kent with every offer of assistance a note from a scientist concerning an invention for testing the eyesight of mariners would evoke in reply: "I know nothing about eyesight, but if you will breakfast with me to-morrow and explain your invention I will take you on to the Admiralty afterwards." The next morning over eggs and bacon H. H. and his new friend would discuss the subject "hammer and tongs" until H. H. became not less enthusiastic than the inventor.

He was one of the first to be interested in an almost uncanny invention by Sir Hiram Maxim for preventing collisions at sea, and he and Marconi journeyed down to see the instrument tested in its early stages. Watching the meeting between the old Magician, and the young Magician, H. H. congratulated himself on living in the twentieth century, free from the charge of conspiring with sorcerers and dealers in black magic.

Any question of an injustice immediately became his to set right promotion deferred, or a pension ungranted, became an all-absorbing matter until it was settled in the only right way. The helping hand I