Editing Robert Louis Stevenson (section)

===Lighthouse inspections===
Each year during his university holidays, Stevenson also travelled to inspect the family's engineering works. In 1868, this took him to [[Anstruther]] and for a stay of six weeks in [[Wick, Caithness|Wick]], where his family was building a sea wall and had previously built a lighthouse. He was to return to Wick several times over his lifetime and included it in his travel writings.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=RLS in the Highlands and Islands |url=https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/highlands-and-islands |access-date=26 August 2024 |website=RLS Website |language=en}}</ref> He also accompanied his father on his official tour of [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]] islands lighthouses in 1869 and spent three weeks on the island of [[Erraid]] in 1870. He enjoyed the travels more for the material they gave for his writing than for any engineering interest. The voyage with his father pleased him because a similar journey of [[Walter Scott]] with Robert Stevenson had provided the inspiration for Scott's 1822 novel ''[[The Pirate (novel)|The Pirate]]''.<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 70–2; Furnas (1952), 48–9; Mehew (2004)</ref> In April 1871, Stevenson notified his father of his decision to pursue a life of letters. Though the elder Stevenson was naturally disappointed, the surprise cannot have been great, and Stevenson's mother reported that he was "wonderfully resigned" to his son's choice. To provide some security, it was agreed that Stevenson should read law (again at Edinburgh University) and [[Admission to practice law|be called to the Scottish bar]].<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 85–6</ref> In his 1887 poetry collection ''Underwoods'', Stevenson muses on his having turned from the family profession:<ref>''Underwoods'' (1887), Poem XXXVIII</ref>
<blockquote>
Say not of me that weakly I declined<br />
The labours of my sires, and fled the sea,<br />
The towers we founded and the lamps we lit,<br />
To play at home with paper like a child.<br />
But rather say: ''In the afternoon of time''<br />
''A strenuous family dusted from its hands''<br />
''The sand of granite, and beholding far''<br />
''Along the sounding coast its pyramids''<br />
''And tall memorials catch the dying sun,''<br />
''Smiled well content, and to this childish task''<br />
''Around the fire addressed its evening hours.''
</blockquote>