He [Mr. R] had many odd jobs of repairing to do, the ornamental work on a ship’s bows and sterns was always getting knocked away when coming into or going out of dock; and generally it had to be repaired in situ, only the worst damage being worked over in the shop and then taken down and fitted on. There was something to me very delightful in sitting alongside him on a precarious-looking stage overhanging the black water in a dock, listening to his cheery remarks, his clear tenor as he sang snatches of song, or his whistle, melodious as a skylark’s. He never seemed to be weary or discouraged, or ill-tempered; and I know that I rendered him all the loving homage [as his apprentice] of which I was capable.