Although he could not be said to have an indifference for money, he yet estimated it as a thing worth infinitely less than character; and every penny that he earned was honestly come by. He had no wife, *[8] nor family, nor near relations to provide for,--only himself in his old age. Not being thought rich, he was saved the annoyance of being haunted by toadies or pestered by parasites. His wants were few, and his household expenses small; and though he entertained many visitors and friends, it was in a quiet way and on a moderate scale. The small regard he had for personal dignity may be inferred from the fact, that to the last he continued the practice, which he had learnt when a working mason, of darning his own stockings.*[9] Telford nevertheless had the highest idea of the dignity of his profession; not because of the money it would produce, but of the great things it was calculated to accomplish. In his most confidential letters we find him often expatiating on the noble works he was engaged in designing or constructing, and the national good they were calculated to produce, but never on the pecuniary advantages he himself was to derive from them. He doubtless prized, and prized highly, the reputation they would bring him; and, above all, there seemed to be uppermost in his mind, especially in the earlier part of his career, while many of his schoolfellows were still alive, the thought of "What will they say of this in Eskdale?" but as for the money results to himself, Telford seemed, to the close of his life, to regard them as of comparatively small moment. During the twenty-one years that he acted as principal engineer for the Caledonian Canal, we find from the Parliamentary returns that the amount paid to him for his reports, detailed plans, and superintendence, was exactly 237L. a year. Where he conceived any works to be of great public importance, and he found them to be promoted by public-spirited persons at their own expense, he refused to receive any payment for his labour, or even repayment of the expenses incurred by him. Thus, while employed by the Government in the improvement of the Highland roads, he persuaded himself that he ought at the same time to promote the similar patriotic objects of the British Fisheries Society, which were carried out by voluntary subscription; and for many years he acted as their engineer, refusing to accept any remuneration whatever for his trouble.*[10]