Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/130

 296 * WORKMEN AND HEROES was one often admired. Both became wealthy and full of honor. Titled men were proud to pay their respects to George Stephenson, and when he died, in 1848, at the age of sixty-seven, the whole nation rose up to do him honor. Though probably Stephenson had never heard of Emerson, Emerson had heard of Stephenson, and he called upon him on his visit to England. After- ward Emerson said that " it was worth crossing the Atlantic to have seen Ste- phenson alone ; he had such native force of character and vigor of intellect." What a contrast that meeting offers ! There face to face stood two men, two great philosophers, both of whom have broadly and deeply influenced mankind one by deeds, the other by words. One wielded the pen, giving us noble, beau- tiful and inspiring thoughts, profoundly analyzing life and character ; the other wielded those cunning tools with which man subdues nature and harnesses its forces to do his will. He wrote not for the pages of a book, but on lines of steel with a stylus that conquered time and space, bringing distant cities into com- panionship. I look up to each with an equal reverence. Each achieved the con- quest of mind over matter, and each exhibited the exceeding manliness of a noble life and character. There is no space with which to speak of Stephenson's safety-lamp, nor of the influence his life and character have had on the brain and brawn of working Eng- land. If my reader is interested to know him more and better, let him consult the nearest library. One word about " The Rocket " and this brief sketch is done. For some years " The Rocket " did service on the Liverpool and Manchester road, but it soon proved too light for the heavy traffic, and was sold to a coal company in the North, where for years it faithfully hauled coal-cars from the mines. But even there it was superseded, and in contempt consigned to the back- yard. It was still fleet, but not strong. In that dreary back-yard among use- less lumber, the once peerless " Rocket " spent a season or two in rain and snow and sunny weather, when George Stephenson bought it back and put it in his cabinet at the Newcastle works. After Stephenson's death the precious relic was placed in the British Museum in London. " The Rocket " itself was exhibited a few years ago at the Railway Exposi tion in Chicago, and an exact copy of it was shown at the recent World's Fair.