The "Teutonic's" trips will be for long remembered for the munificent manner in which Mr. Ismay entertained his guests, and the perfection of all the arrangements.
Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G.
The late Sir Alfred Jones is another of our great shipowners whose career conveys many striking lessons. Enthusiastic about everything he put his hand to, intense in his application to work, and resourceful in finding out the ways and means to success, he had one fault not uncommon in forceful men—he had not the power of delegation. He would do everything himself, and the strain was more than even his robust nature could stand. On my asking him a few weeks before he died why he did not take a partner, he replied: "I will do so when I can find a man as intense as myself."
As indicating his resourcefulness, when he found bananas were not selling freely in Liverpool, he brought down a number of hawkers from London with their barrows and peddled his fruit about the streets. On my suggesting to him that he would make nothing of Jamaica, on account of the lazy habits of the negro, he replied: "I will change all that. I will send out a lot of Scotchmen."
When he travelled to London he was always accompanied by two clerks, to whom he dictated letters en route. Every moment of his time was filled up, he told me: "My work is done on a time table. A certain hour each day I devote to my steamers, another to my oil-mills, another to my hotels, and so on."
Sir Alfred Jones' name will, however, ever dwell with us as the founder and most active supporter of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, which has destroyed the ravages of yellow fever and made the malarial and waste places of the world habitable.
CHAPTER XIV. THE CHURCHES.
In my young days eloquent preachers were still much in the fashion, and attracted large congregations, but the building of churches and appointing to them preachers of eminence as a financial speculation had happily ceased. The church in Liverpool was largely recruited from Ireland, and we had certainly many able men, who were not only eloquent but whose discourses were also very lengthy. The hearing of sermons was not merely an act of devotion but a form of religious entertainment and enjoyment, and a short discourse would not have been appreciated. I remember one very eloquent divine, to whose church it was impossible to obtain admission unless you were at the door a quarter of an hour before the service commenced, being when advanced in years removed to another church. He continued to preach the same sermons with much of his old fire and vigour, but he emptied the church, for people would no longer tolerate fifty minutes every Sunday of the old fashioned controversial discourse. We had in those days many eminent divines, Dr. Lowe at St. Jude's, Dr. Taylor at St. Silas', Dr. Falloon at St. Bride's, and Mr. Ewbank at Everton, and most eloquent of all, Dr. MacNeile at St. Paul's, Prince's Park. He was a great power, both in the pulpit and the platform, and in the press. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, were stirred by his eloquent appeals. I never heard him preach, but his speeches to the boys at the Collegiate on our prize days still linger in my memory as marvels of eloquence. His presence was very dignified, and he was stately in manner. He had a profusion of snow-white hair, which added impressiveness and solemnity to his handsome appearance. He wielded a giant's strength in debate, and some thought he used his power without mercy. He died in 1879 at the age of 83.