Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/120

 F m WORKMEN AND HEROES GEORGE STEPHENSON* By Professor C. M. Woodward ( 1 781-1848) >ar in the north of England, near the Scottish border, by the shore of the German Ocean, is the county of brown and barren hills called Nor- thumberland, and its principal city, Newcastle, fa- mous for its coal. There is another Newcastle near the centre of England, so this one is often distin- guished by the name " Newcastle-on-Tyne" Tyne being the blackest and dirtiest of all rivers. A few miles from Newcastle, up the Tyne, is the little mining village of Wylam, where, a hundred years ago, lived Robert Stephenson and his wife Mabel. There was no style about Wylam, and few evidences of wealth or culture. The houses straggled about near the outlets of the coal-mines, and everything was as uninviting as it well could be. Stephen- son's house, or rather "shanty," had but one room, and that had an earthen floor. Robert and Mabel were about as ill-furnished as their house ; for neither could read, they had not a book nor a print, and neither knew much more of the world than could be seen, as they stood on the bank of the Tyne and looked about on the neighboring hills and down toward Newcastle. In 1892 I rode down the valley of the Tyne, past Wylam, through Newcastle, and over the high bridge that our fireman's grandson, Robert, built in later days. Few valleys are less attractive, and few seem less likely to be the birthplace of epoch-making men. Robert Stephenson, the father of our hero, was a fireman, earning two shil- lings a day. He was sober and industrious, but as would be expected, he never " got on." He was a good story-teller, and transmitted to his children healthy bodies and clear heads. George was the second of six children, and he was born June 9, 1 78 1, during our war for independence. His boyhood was unevent- ful enough. When the weather was cold he was cooped up in their narrow home ; he was out of doors whenever the weather would permit. He played in the street, ran errands, carried his father's dinner, and herded cows, as soon as he was big enough, for four cents per day. At fourteen he was assistant-fireman, earning twenty-five cents a day, and at seventeen he was "plugman." He was thus in contact with much that had been achieved in the way of building engines and transporting materials on cars. But I must describe the engines then in use, and explain what it was to be a " plugman." The coal-mines were so deep that, in spite of the valleys, they could be drained only by pumps, and it was often more difficult to keep the water out "Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.