GEORGE STEPHENSON.

Born 1781-Died 1848.

"I have risen from a lower level than the meanest person here; and all I have been enabled to accomplish in the course of my life has been done by PERSEVERANCE!"

GEORGE STEPHENSON is emphatically THE ENGINEER to whose intelligence and perseverance we owe the introduction of railways into England, and who set the first example, in this country, of works which others have successfully carried into execution throughout the world.

Not only is this great man a surprising example of a labourer raising himself to wealth and eminence without a single advantage, except what he derived from his own genius, but the direction which that genius took has stamped his name upon the most wonderful achievement of our age. It is as the originator of railway locomotion that he founds his highest claim to the gratitude of the world, though his powers were shown on many other subjects.

He was born in the colliery village of Wylam, a few miles from Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 9th June, 1781. His parents were in the lowest ranks of their occupation, but they were industrious, respectable, and amiable. His father is described as an exceedingly kind-hearted man, who encouraged the robins to feed

around his engine-fire, and delighted the boys and girls by his stories of Robinson Crusoe and Sinbad the Sailor. So poor were they, that father, mother, four sons and two daughters, all lived together in a one-roomed cottage, and none of the family were sent to school, which was too expensive a matter for their poor means.

George's first employment, at the age of eight years, was crow-keeping, his wages being 2d. a day. In the intervals of this employment, he found time for making whistles out of reeds, and other occupations more akin to his genius. His favourite amusement was erecting clay-engines, with the help of a chosen companion. They found the clay for the engines in the adjoining bogs, and the hemlock which grew about supplied them with imaginary steam-pipes. At the age of fourteen he was taken to assist his father as a fireman of the colliery, a promotion he had earnestly desired. From that time, he devoted himself so assiduously and successfully to the study of the engine he was appointed to work, that he soon acquired a practical knowledge of its construction and motions; in fact, "it became a sort of pet to him, and he was never weary of watching it." He was thus gradually attaining the character of a clever and improving workman; what he was set to do he tried to do well and thoroughly, never neglecting small matters, but aiming to be a complete workman, at all points.

At this time he was wholly uneducated. There was, however, a night-school in the village, kept by a poor

teacher, and this he determined to attend; by which means, at the age of nineteen, he had learned to read correctly, and "was proud to be able to write his own name." He afterwards began to learn arithmetic, in company with one of his comrades, who soon found himself outstripped, "for George took to figures wonderful." The secret of this success was perseverance. He worked out the sums in his by-hours, improving every minute of his spare time by the engine-fire, there solving the sums set for him on his slate by his master; and thus his progress was rapid, and, with a ready heart and mind, he soon became well advanced in arithmetic.

He had inherited his father's love of animals, and, like him, used to tempt the robins to hop and fly about the engine-fire with bread crumbs saved from his dinner. He kept blackbirds, too, and he tamed them so successfully, that they would fly about his cottage, unconfined. But his favourite pet was his dog, so sagacious that he performed the office of a servant, almost daily carrying his dinner to him at the pit, the tin can containing the meal being suspended from the dog's neck; and thus laden, he walked proudly on his road quite through the village, turning neither to right nor left, heedless of the attacks of other curs.

In the year 1801 Stephenson was appointed "brakesman" of a pit in the neighbourhood, with wages of about £1 a week; and he contrived to increase his earnings by mending and making the shoes

of his less dexterous fellow-workmen. One of his choicest productions in this line was a pair of shoes for Fanny Henderson, a young servant-girl in a neighbouring farmhouse, whom, at the age of twenty, he married.

He now furnished a small cottage near Wallsend, and settled down as a regular, steady workman, so habitually sober and industrious, that he was quite a standing example of character to his fellows. Never was he known to be "the worse for drink" in his life; and by the manner in which he spent his spare hours he was surely and silently paving the way to be something more than a mere workman. He set himself to study the principles of mechanics, and to master the laws by which his engine worked; and while sitting in the winter evenings beside his sweet young wife, he was industriously employed in making mechanical experiments or in modelling experimental machines. Among his various speculations he occupied himself a good deal in endeavouring to discover that ignis fatuus of experimentalists-perpetual motion.

In the year 1803 his only son, Robert, was born— one of the few examples of a son inheriting the genius as well as the peculiar tastes of his father. The child was, from his earliest years accustomed to the habits of steady industry he saw so diligently observed by those around him, and soon became a great delight to his father, whose evening hours were made happier by his presence. But within a twelvemonth after the birth of her little boy, Mrs. Stephenson died, to the great grief

of her husband, who never ceased tenderly to cherish

her memory.

As

At this time troubles multiplied upon him. His father met with a distressing accident, and lost his eyesight; the condition of the working classes was very discouraging, in consequence of high prices and heavy taxation; and he was himself drawn for the 'militia, and had to pay a large sum to provide a substitute. Almost in despair, he entertained the idea of emigrating to America; "but his poverty prevented him from effecting his purpose, and rooted him to the place where he afterwards worked out his career." An interesting feature in Stephenson's character was the strength of his filial attachment. soon as he had procured sufficient money from his savings, his first step was to pay off his father's debts; and from that time to the old man's death he entirely supported him. Another admirable trait was the care he took to educate his son. Feeling his own great deficiency in this respect, he determined to give the lad a liberal training. "I was, however, a poor man," he said; "and how do you think I managed ? I betook myself to mending my neighbours' clocks and watches at night, after my daily labour was done ; and thus I procured the means of educating my son."

The time was at hand when his fortunes were about to take a turn. In 1810, an opportunity was afforded him to turn the practical knowledge he had been so long carefully acquiring to account. An engine had been erected at Killingworth colliery of a very