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diff --git a/39926.txt b/39926.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52dc3da --- /dev/null +++ b/39926.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4135 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Puffing Billy' and the Prize 'Rocket', by +Helen Cross Knight + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: 'Puffing Billy' and the Prize 'Rocket' + or the story of the Stephensons and our Railways. + +Author: Helen Cross Knight + +Release Date: June 5, 2012 [EBook #39926] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUFFING BILLY *** + + + + +Produced by sp1nd, Mebyon, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + "PUFFING BILLY" AND THE PRIZE "ROCKET." + + [Illustration: GEORGE STEPHENSON.] + + + + + "PUFFING BILLY" AND THE PRIZE "ROCKET;" + + OR, + + THE STORY OF THE STEPHENSONS AND OUR RAILWAYS. + + By Mrs. H. C. KNIGHT. + + + LONDON: + S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., 9, PATERNOSTER ROW. + + + Geo. Watson & Co., Printers, 28, Charles Street, Farringdon Road, + London, E.C. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +A brief book for the boys. God gives you work to do in the world. He +gives you honourable work. There is much done that is mean and +dishonourable. Depend upon it, _that_ is not His. In the beginning of +your work, character grows _out_ of it; as you go on, your character +goes _into_ it. Therefore the Bible declares that "God, without +respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work." We judge +in the same way. This little book will show you how much the practice +of the virtues--the humbler virtues--has to do with making good work. +A superior article cannot be produced without them. + +But keep ever in mind that these virtues, however useful and important +for your work in this world, have no _saving_ power in them; they form +no plea for the favour of God; the key which unlocks the door of +heaven is not found among them. Like the young man in the Gospel, you +may have the loveliness of every natural virtue, and yet be lost. + +As sinners in the sight of God, you need the atoning blood of the +Redeemer; you need repentance and faith in that blood. Make Jesus +Christ, therefore, the cornerstone of your character; on _that +foundation build_ your character. Cultivate the graces of the Gospel. +Baptize the virtues with your Saviour's love. A noble Christian +manhood can only be attained by the steady endeavours of a heart fixed +on God, and a hand diligent, and delighting in the work He has given +it to do. H. C. K. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. LIFE AMONG THE COAL-PITS + CHAPTER II. MENDING AND MAKING-- + LITTLE BOB + CHAPTER III. WHO BEGAN RAILROADS-- + "PUFFING BILLY" + CHAPTER IV. TWO CITIES THAT WANTED TO GET NEAR EACH OTHER-- + A NEW FRIEND + CHAPTER V. HUNTING UP HIS OWN WORK--AN ENTERPRISING QUAKER-- + WHAT WAS THE RESULT? + CHAPTER VI. THE TWO CITIES TRYING AGAIN--BUGBEARS + CHAPTER VII. GRAPPLING WITH DIFFICULTIES--THE BOG--A PUZZLE-- + THE PRIZE OFFER + CHAPTER VIII. ROBERT'S RETURN--A CURIOUS ENCOUNTER-- + THE PRIZE ENGINE + CHAPTER IX. OPENING OF THE NEW ROAD--DIFFICULTIES VANISH-- + A NEW ERA + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +LIFE AMONG THE COAL-PITS. + + +What useful little fellow is this, carrying his father's dinner to him +at the coal-pit? He takes care, also, of his little brothers and +sisters, keeping them clear of the coal-waggons, which run to and fro +before the cottage door. Then he is seen tending a neighbour's cows. +Now he is moulding mud engines, sticking in hemlock sticks for +blowpipes; besides cutting many a good caper, and uttering all sorts +of drolleries for the benefit of other little boys, who, like himself, +swarm round, too poor to go to school, if school there were--but +schools there were none. + +The boys call him "Geordie Steve." + +A lad is wanted to shut the coal-yard gates after work is over. +Geordie offers his services and gets the post, earning by it twopence +a day. A neighbour hires him to hoe turnips at fourpence. He is +thankful to earn a bit, for his parents are poor, and every little +helps. He sees work ahead, however, more to his taste. What? He longs +to be big enough to go and work at the coal-pits with his father. For +the home of this little fellow, as you already perceive, is in a coal +region. It is in the coal district of Newcastle, in the north-eastern +part of England. You had better find it on the map. + +I suppose you never visited a colliery. Coal is found in beds and +veins underground. Deep holes are made, down which the miners go and +dig it out; it is hoisted out by means of steam-engines. These holes +are called shafts. The pitmen have two enemies to encounter down in +the coal-pits--water, and a kind of gas which explodes on touching the +flame of a candle. The water has to be pumped out; and miners are now +provided with a lamp, called a safety-lamp, which is covered with a +fine wire gauze to keep the gas away from the flame. + +The coal is brought up from the pit in baskets, loaded on waggons, +running then on tramroads, and sent to the sheds. Tramroads were a +sort of wooden railway. A colliery is a busy and odd-looking spot. + +Geordie's family lived in one room--father, mother, four boys, and two +girls--curious quarters, one would think; but working men at that time +had smaller wages and poorer homes than now, for Geordie was born in +1781, in the little village of Wylam, seven miles from Newcastle, and +his full name is George Stephenson. + +James, an older brother, is "picker;" and by-and-by George is old +enough to be picker too, going with his father and brother to their +daily tasks like a man. To clear the coal of stones and dross is +their business. There are a number of pits around, and each one has a +name, "Dolly pit," "Water-run pit," and so on. + +I do not know how long George was picker, but we next find him driving +a gin-horse at a pit two miles off, across the fields. Away he goes in +the early morning, gladdened all along by many bird songs. George and +the birds are fast friends. He knows where their nests are in the +hedgerows, but he never robs them, and watches over them with fatherly +affection. At home he has tame birds, whose pretty, knowing ways are +the wonder of the neighbourhood. For many years a tame blackbird was +as much one of the family as George himself, coming and going at +pleasure, and roosting at night over his head. Sometimes it spent the +summer in the woods, but was sure to come back with cold weather to +share his care and crumbs through the winter. + +George, too, had a famous breed of rabbits; and as for his dog, it +was one of the most accomplished and faithful creatures in the +district. In fact, the boy had an insight into animal nature, as we +shall find he had into other things, that gave him power over it--a +power which he never abused. + +George next arose to be assistant fireman with his father, at a +shilling a day. He was fourteen, and so small of his age that he used +to hide when the inspector came round, lest he should be thought too +small for his wages. If small in body, he was large in heart, intent +in all things to _do his best_. And this made his work so well done +that it could not escape the notice of his employers. When he went to +the office on the Saturday night to receive his wages, double pay was +given him, twelve instead of six shillings. George could scarcely +believe in his good luck. When he found it was really no mistake, he +took the money and rushed out of the office, exclaiming, "I am now a +made man for life!" + +George rapidly shot ahead of his father, a kind old man who always +stayed as fireman, while his boy climbed one round after another up +the ladder of promotion. At seventeen we find him plugman. What is +that? A plugman has charge of a pumping-engine, and when the water in +the pit is below the suction holes he goes down the shaft and plugs +the tube, in order to make the pump more easily draw. The post +required more skill and knowledge of machinery than any he had filled +before, and George proved himself equal to it. + +Indeed he loves his engine as he loves his birds. It is quite a pet +with him. He keeps it in prime order. He takes it to pieces and cleans +it and studies it; pries into the why and wherefore, and is never +satisfied until he understands every spring and cog of the machinery, +and gets the mastery of it. You never find him idling away his time. +In leisure moments he is at his old study, moulding clay engines, and +putting new thoughts into them. + +He wished he knew the history of engines, and how they were thought +out at first. Somebody told him about Watt, the father of steam-power, +and that there were books which would satisfy his curiosity. Books! +What good would books do poor George? He cannot read. Not read? No. He +is eighteen, and hardly knows his letters. Few of the colliers could. +They were at that time a rough and generally ignorant set of men, +whose pay-day was a holiday, when their hard-won earnings were +squandered at cock-fights and ale-houses. + +If one was found who _did_ read, what a centre of light was he! At +night the men and boys gathered around him, when by the light of his +engine-fire he would give them the news from an old newspaper, or a +scrap of knowledge from some stray magazine, or a wild story from an +odd volume; and on these occasions no one listened with more profound +attention than George. + +Oh, it was so wonderful to read, he thought! It was to open the gates +into great fields of knowledge. Read he must. The desire grew upon him +stronger and stronger. In the neighbouring hamlet of Welbottle old +Robin Cowens taught an evening school. + +"I'll go," cried George. + +"And I too," echoed Tommy Musgrove, a fellow-workman, quite carried +away by George's enthusiasm. + +Now they went to Robin's school three evenings a week. I do not know +how it was with Tommy, but old Robin never had a better scholar than +George; indeed, he soon out-learned his master. His schooling cost him +threepence a week, and, poor as it was, put into his hand the two keys +of knowledge, READING and WRITING. + +These mastered, he longs to use them. Andrew Robertson opens an +evening school nearer than Welbottle, and Andrew proposes to teach +arithmetic, a branch George is anxious to grapple with next. "And he +took to figurin' wonderful," said Master Andrew, speaking of his new +scholar, who soon left his class-mates far behind. And no wonder. +Every spare moment to George was more precious than gold-dust, and was +used accordingly. When not on duty he sits by his engine and works out +his sums. No beer-shop enticed him to its cups. No cock-fight tempted +him to be its spectator. He hates everything low and vulgar. + +Andrew was proud of his pupil, and when George removed to another pit +the old schoolmaster shifted his quarters and followed him. His books +did not damage his interest in business. Was the plugman going to stay +plugman? No. Bill Coe, a friend of his, advanced to a brakeman, +offered to show George all about the machinery. The other workmen +objected. One man stopped the working of the engine when George took +hold of it, "for," he cried angrily, "Stephenson _can't_ brake, and is +too clumsy ever to learn." + +A brakeman has charge of an engine for raising coal from a pit. The +speed of the ascending coal, brought up in large hazel-wood baskets, +was regulated by a powerful wooden brake, acting on the rim of the +fly-wheel, which must be stopped just when the baskets reach the +settle-board where they are to be emptied. Brakemen were generally +chosen from experienced engine-men of steady habits; and in spite of +the grumbling of older colliers, envious perhaps of his rise, it was +not long before George learned, and was appointed brakeman at the +"Dolly pit." This was in 1801. + +[Illustration: STEPHENSON'S COTTAGE.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MENDING AND MAKING--LITTLE BOB. + + +George was now twenty; sober, faithful, and expert. Finding a little +spare time on his hands, he took to cobbling to increase his gains, +and from this source contrived to save his first guinea. To this +greater diligence he was urged by his love for Fanny Henderson, a +fine, sweet-tempered girl, whom he shortly married, and went to +housekeeping in the upper room of a small cottage in Willington, six +miles from Newcastle. Happy were they in each other, and in their +simple, industrious, and frugal habits; and when a little son was born +to them, George, who loved birds, rabbits, and dogs so well, welcomed +with all the tenderness of a father's heart the little Bobby. + +Robert he was named, after his grandfather. + +Accidents, they say, will happen in the best regulated families. +Fanny's family was not an exception. One day the cottage chimney got +on fire, and the neighbours, with friendly zeal, not only poured water +enough down the chimney to put out a much bigger and more alarming +fire, but enough to deluge the poor little home of the brakeman with +soot and water, making a pitiful sight to the young husband when he +reached it. His eight-day clock, the choicest bit of furniture the +young couple had, was completely smothered by ashes. What was to be +done? Sending it to a clock-maker for repairs was quite out of the +question--it would cost too much. + +"I'll try my own hand at it," said George. After righting everything +else he attacked the clock, took it to pieces, carefully cleaned it, +put it together, set it, and it _ticked_, ticking on as faithfully as +ever. The astonished neighbours now sent him their clocks, and George +became one of the most famous clock doctors in the district! + +The young man's reputation for business soon won him a situation in +Killingworth, the best and largest colliery in the region. But his +brightened worldly prospects were soon clouded by a dark sorrow--the +death of his young wife, after three happy years of married life. Poor +George felt it deeply, which was perhaps one reason for accepting a +situation in Scotland, hoping in a change of scene to divert the +mournful current of his thoughts. + +Leaving his little boy in kind hands, he set off to the north with his +pack on his back, a-foot and alone, for Montrose, a long journey in +those days. Good wages he received, and good friends he no doubt +made, for everybody loved his honest and generous character; yet by +the end of the year he yearned to get back to the friends and scenes +of his early days. It was not home in Scotland, for it is only home +where the heart is. With his savings in his pocket--twenty-eight +pounds--back he trudged to Killingworth; and not before his friendly +presence was greatly needed to comfort his aged parents, plunged in +debt and affliction. By a terrible accident his father had lost his +eyesight. No longer able to work, and receiving little or no help from +his other children, who were barely able to maintain themselves, the +old couple had a hard battle with life. But George is back again; all +is now righted. He paid off their debts, and moved them to comfortable +lodgings beside his own. He has father, mother, and Bobby to look +after, and is thankful and happy in doing it. + +Those were dark days, however, for the working-men of England. War +was draining the country of men and money. Taxes were high, wages low, +bread scarce, and able-bodied men were liable at any time to be +impressed for the army or naval service. George himself was drawn, and +go he must, or find a substitute; he found one, but it cost all he had +to hire him. + +Poor George was in straits. His spirits were much damped by the +prospect of things around and before him. All business was in a +discouraging condition. Some of his friends were about emigrating to +America, and he at one time nearly concluded to join them. It was a +sore trial to the young man. He loved his English home; and bitter +tears did he in secret shed as he visited old haunts, the fields and +lanes and scenes of his boyhood, feeling and fearing that all too soon +the wide Atlantic might roll between him and them. But the necessary +funds for such an enterprise were not forthcoming. George gave it up, +therefore, and went to work for what wages the times would allow. +Better times would come. + +The thing nearest his heart was affording his little son an education. +Keenly alive to his own early deficiencies and disadvantages, he +determined to make them up in Robert. Every spare moment was of +twofold value to him; and all the work he could pick up he cheerfully +did. Besides tinkering old clocks and cobbling old shoes he took to +cutting out the pitmen's clothes. Never was there such a fit; for +George acted fully up to the principle that everything which was worth +doing was worth doing well. + +Busy as were his hands, his mind was no less busy, catching up and +using every scrap of knowledge which came in his way. And it was a +perpetual surprise to his fellow-workmen to see what a knack he had at +bettering things. Everything improved in his hands. There was always +progress on his track. + +A new pit was opened at one of the collieries. Streams of water rushed +in, which the most vigorous strokes of the pump could not lower. On +the engine went, pumping, pumping, pumping for a year, and the water +continued to flow in, until they nearly concluded to give up the pit +as a failure. George's curiosity and interest were much excited, and +always, on seeing the men, he asked how matters were coming on. + +"Drowned out, drowned out," was the one and the same answer. + +Over he went to the poor pit as often as he could to see for himself, +and over he turned in his mind again and again the whys and wherefores +of the failure. + +"Weel, George," said his friend Kit one day, "what do you mak' o' her? +Do you think you could doctor her?" + +"Man," answered George, "in a week's time I could send you to the +bottom." + +The regular engineers were in high dudgeon with the forth-putting +brakeman. What right had _he_ to know how to cure an evil that had +baffled them? His words, however, were reported at head-quarters, and +the contractor was not long hastening over to see if he could make his +words good. + +"Well, George," he said, "they tell me you think you can put that +engine to rights." + +"Yes, sir," replied the young man modestly, "I think I can." + +As matters could be no worse, Mr. Dodds was ready to let him try. And +George agreed, on condition that he should choose his own men to help +him. The old hands were highly indignant, but there was no help for +it. So they were ordered off, and George with his gang went on. + +The engine was taken to pieces, examined, righted, and put together +again. It was set to work. Did it go? Many a looker-on shook his head +doubtfully, and prophesied in his inmost heart, "_No_ go." It pumped +and pumped. The obstinate water found it had an antagonist that could +master it. In less than two days it disappeared from the pit, and +workmen were sent to the bottom. Who could gainsay George's skill? + +Mr. Dodds, of course, was delighted. Over and above his wages he put a +ten-pound note into the young man's hand, and engaged him to +superintend his works for the future. + +A profitable job was this. + +The fame of this engineering exploit spread far and wide. As an engine +doctor he took the lead, and many a weezy old thing was brought to him +to cure. Envious engineers tried to put him down. But real merit +cannot be put down. It is stern stuff. + +George's cottage showed the bent of his tastes. It was like an old +curiosity shop; full of models of engines, complete or in parts, +hanging and standing round; for busy as he had need to be eking out +his means by engineering clocks and coats, the construction and +improvement of machinery for the collieries was his hobby. + +Likeness of tastes drew a young farmer often to the cottage, John +Wigham, who spent most of his evenings in George's society. John had a +smattering of chemistry and philosophy, and a superior knowledge of +mathematics, which made him a desirable companion. George put himself +under his tuition, and again took to "figuring;" tasks set him in the +evening were worked out among the rough toils of the day. And so much +honest purpose did not fail to secure progress. Drawing was another +new line of effort. Sheets of plans and sections gave his rude desk +the air of mindwork somewhere. Thus their winter evenings passed away. + +Bobby was growing up in a little thought-world by himself; for he +could not fail to be interested in all that interested his father, +that father always making his son the companion of his studies, and +early introducing him into the curious and cunning power of machinery. + +Ah, that was a proud day when little Bob was old enough, and knew +enough, to be sent to the academy at Newcastle. He was thirteen. His +father's means had happily been increased. The old engine-wright of +the colliery having died, George Stephenson was promoted to the post, +on the salary of over a hundred pounds a year. This was in 1812. + +The new office relieving him from incessant hard work, and the +necessity of earning a shilling by extra labours, he had more time for +study, and for verifying his plans of practical improvement; and the +consequence was very considerable improvement in the machinery of the +colliery to which he was attached. + +Meanwhile Robert's education went on apace. The boy was hungry for +knowledge, not only for himself, but to satisfy the voracious appetite +of his father, and the no less keen one of John Wigham. + +Robert joined a literary and philosophical society at Newcastle, whose +fine library opened a rich storehouse of material. Here the boy spent +most of his time out of school, storing his mind with principles, +facts, and illustrations, to carry home on Saturday afternoon. Books +also. The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia was at his command. A volume of that +at the cottage unfolded a world of wonders. But the library had some +books too choice to be trusted away. How was Robert to get the gist of +these home? His father had often said that a "good drawing and a +well-executed plan would always explain itself," and many a time he +had placed a rough sketch of machinery before his son and told him to +describe it. Robert, therefore, when he could do no better, put his +drilling to test, and copied diagrams and drew pictures, thus taking +many an important and perhaps rare specimen of machinery and science +to Killingworth, for his father's benefit. + +We can well imagine Saturday afternoon was as much a holiday to father +as to son. Robert's coming was hailed with delight. John did not lag +far behind. Some of the neighbours dropped in to listen to discussions +which made the little room a spot of lively interest and earnest toil. +Wide-awake mind allows nothing stagnant around it. + +Among the borrowed books of the day was Ferguson's "Astronomy," which +put father and son to calculating and constructing a sun-dial for the +latitude of Killingworth. It was wrought in stone, and fixed on the +cottage door; and there it stands still, with its date, August 11, +1816--a year or two before Robert left school--a fair specimen of the +drift of his boyish tastes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHO BEGAN RAILROADS--"PUFFING BILLY." + + +Familiar as it has become to us, who does not stop to look with +interest at the puffing, snorting, screaming steam-horse? And who does +not rejoice in the iron-rail, which binds together with its slender +threads the north and the south, and makes neighbours of the east and +the west? + +"Who _began_ railroads?" ask the boys again and again. + +The first idea of the modern railroad had its birth at a colliery +nearly two hundred years ago. In order to lighten the labour of the +horses the colliers let straight pieces of wood into the road leading +from the pit to the river where the coal was discharged; and the +waggons were found to run so much easier, that one horse could draw +four or five chaldrons. As wood quickly wore out, and moreover was +liable to rot, the next step was nailing plates of iron on the wooden +rail, which gave them for a time the name of "plateway" roads. A Mr. +Outram making still farther improvements, they were called Outram +roads, or, for shortness' sake, "tram-roads"; and tramroads came into +general use at the English collieries. + +"There's mischief in those tramroads," said a large canal owner, +foreseeing they would one day push canal stock quite out of the +market. + +Improvements thus far had centred on the roads. To convey heavy loads +easier and faster was the point aimed at. Nobody had yet thought of +self-going teams. Watt, the father of steam-engines, said +steam-carriages might be built. He, however, never tried one; but +rather left the idea to sprout in the brain of an old pupil of his, +William Murdock, who did construct a very small one, running on thin +wheels, and heated by a lamp. It was a curious success in its way, and +set other minds thinking. + +One of these was a tin-miner of Cornwall, Captain Trevethick, a friend +of Murdock, who joined a cousin of his in getting a patent for +building a steam-carriage. It was built, and an odd piece of machinery +it was. It ran on four wheels over a common road, looked like a +stage-coach, and delighted both the inventor and his friends. They +determined to exhibit it at London. While on its journey, driving it +one day at the top of its speed, they saw a toll-gate in the distance; +not being able to check it in time, bump it went against the gate, +which flew open in a trice, leaving the affrighted tollman, in answer +to their inquiries, "How much to pay?" only able to gasp out, +"No--noth-ing to pay--drive off as fast as you can! nothing to pay!" + +It reached London in safety, and was some time on exhibition. +Multitudes flocked to see it, and some called it a "fiery dragon." + +"Ah," said Sir Humphrey Davy, very much interested in the invention, +"I hope to see the captain's 'dragons' on all the roads of England +yet." + +But the captain exhibited it only as a curiosity, the unevenness of +the roads rendering it for all practical purposes a failure; and the +captain had neither pluck nor genius enough to lay or clear a track +for it himself. This was in 1803. + +The idea, however, was in England, lodging itself here and there in +busy brains; until at last a colliery owner in Newcastle, seeing the +great advantage of having a locomotive on his tram-roads, determined +to try what _he_ could do. Accordingly he had one built after the +Cornish captain's model. It burst up at starting. Noways baffled, he +tried again. The engine proved a clumsy affair, moved at a snail's +pace, often got off the rails, and at length, voted by the workmen a +"perfect plague," it was taken off. The unsuccessful inventor was +called a fool by his neighbours, and his efforts an apt illustration +that "a fool and his money are soon parted." In spite of failure, Mr. +Blackett had faith that the thing _could_ be done. He built a third, +and ran it on the tramroad that passed by old Bob Stephenson's cottage +door. And George at his colliery, seven miles off, as you may suppose, +listened to every account of it with profound interest. Over he went, +as often as he could, to see "Black Billy," a rough specimen of +machinery at best, doing very little service beyond what a good horse +could do. + +George carried "Black Billy" back in his mind to Killingworth, +studying its defects and laying plans to improve it. I do not know how +long he was coming to it, but he at length gave it as his opinion that +he could make a better "travelling engine" than that. + +Tidings came to Killingworth about this time that the trial of a new +engine was to take place on a certain day at Leeds, and George did not +lose the chance of being present. Though the engine moved no faster +than three miles an hour, its constructor counted it a success. It +proved, however, unsteady and unreliable, and at last blew up, which +was the end of it. + +What did George think then? He more than ever wanted to try _his_ hand +at the business. Lord Ravensworth, knowing enough of Stephenson to +have faith in him, hearing of this, advanced means for the enterprise. +Good tools and good workmen were alike wanting; but after much +labour, alteration, and anxiety, in ten months' time the engine was +completed and put on the railway, July 25, 1814. + +Although the best yet made, it was awkward and slow. It carried eight +loaded waggons of thirty tons' weight at a speed not above four miles +an hour. The want of springs occasioned a vast deal of jolting, which +damaged the machinery, and at the close of a year's trial it was found +about as costly as horse-power. + +How to increase the power of his engine--that was the puzzling +question which George studied to answer. He wrestled with it day and +night, and at length determined to try again. In due time another was +built, "Puffing Billy," which most persons looked upon as a marvel, +but, shaking their heads, prophesied it would make a terrible blow-up +some day. "Puffing Billy," however, went to work, and worked steadily +on, a vast advance on all preceding attempts. It attracted little or +no attention outside the narrow circle of the collieries. The great +men of England did not know that in a far-off nook of the realm there +was slowly generating a power, under the persistent thought of a +humble working-man, which, before many years, would revolutionize the +trade of the kingdom and create a new source of wealth. + +"Puffing Billy," in fact, humble as its pretensions were, has proved +to have been the type of all locomotives since. + +Had George Stephenson satisfied himself? No. His evenings were chiefly +spent at home with his son Robert, now under him in the colliery, +studying and discussing together how to evoke the hidden power yet +pent up in "Puffing Billy." The son was even more sanguine than his +father, and many an amendment had "Billy" to undergo to satisfy the +quick intellect and practical judgment of the youth. + +Mr. Stephenson, delighted with Robert's scientific tastes and skill, +and ever alive to the deficiencies of his own education, was anxious +to give him still further advantages. For this purpose he took him +from a promising post at the colliery and sent him to the University +of Edinburgh. + +Here he enjoyed a six months' course of study; and so well prepared +was he for it by his wellformed habits of application and thinking, +that he gained in six months as much as many a student did in three +years. Certain it was his father felt amply repaid for the draft it +made on his purse, when Robert reappeared at the cottage in the +spring, with a prize for successful scholarship in mathematics. He was +eighteen then. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +TWO CITIES THAT WANTED TO GET NEAR EACH OTHER--A NEW FRIEND. + + +Manchester, thirty miles south-east of Liverpool, is the great centre +of our cotton trade. Its cloths are found in every market in the +world. Cotton coming to Liverpool is sent to the Manchester mills, and +the goods which the mills turn out are returned to Liverpool to be +shipped elsewhere. The two cities, therefore, are intimately connected +by constant intercourse and mutual interest. + +Two water communications existed between them: one by the rivers +Mersey and Irwell, the other by the famous Bridgewater Canal, which +did an immense business at an enormous profit. But the Manchester +mills were fast outgrowing these slow and cumbersome modes of travel. +Liverpool warehouses were piled with bales of cotton waiting to go, +and the mills at Manchester had often to stop because it did not come. +Goods also found as much difficulty in getting back. Merchants and +manufacturers both grumbled. Business was in straits. What was to be +done? Carting was quite out of the question. Canal owners were +besought to enlarge their water power. No, they would do nothing. They +were satisfied with things as they were. Their dividends were sure. + +But want demands supply. Need creates resources. Something _must_ be +done to facilitate the transit of goods between the two cities. What? +Build a tramroad, or a _railroad_. Nobody, however, but a very fast +man would risk his good sense by seriously advising a railroad. +Prudent men would certainly shun him. A tramroad was a better +understood thing. The collieries had used small pieces of them for +years. A tramroad then. Business men put their heads together, and +began earnestly to talk of a tramroad. + +Edward James, a rich and enterprising man, entered heartily into the +project, and undertook to make surveys for a suitable route. And not +long after a party of surveyors were seen in the fields near +Liverpool. Their instruments and movements excited attention. People +eyed them with anxiety: suspicions were roused: the inhabitants became +alarmed. Who were they, making such mysterious measurements and +calculations on other people's land? A mob gradually gathered, whose +angry tones and threatening gestures warned the surveyors of a storm +brewing over their heads. Wisely considering that flight was better +than fight, they took themselves off, and by-and-by turned up farther +on. + +The landowners, who might be supposed to have known better, told the +farmers to drive them off; and the farmers, with their hands, were +only too ready to obey. They stationed themselves at the field gates +and bars with pitchforks, rakes, shovels, sticks, and dared the +surveyors to come on. A poor chain-man, not quite as nimble as his +pursuers, made his leap over a fence, quickened by a pitchfork from +behind. Even women and children joined the hue and cry, pelting the +strangers with stones and dirt whenever they had a chance. The +colliers were not behind the farmers in their foolish hostility. A +stray surveyor was caught and thrown into a pond. + +At a sight of the theodolite their fury knew no bounds. That +unoffending instrument they seemed to regard as the very stronghold +of the enemy, to seize and destroy which was to win the day. The +surveyors, therefore, hired a noted boxer to carry it, who could make +good his threats on the enemy. A famous fighter among the colliers, +determined not to be outdone, marched up to the theodolite to capture +it. A fight took place; the collier was sorely beaten, but the rabble, +taking his part against the poor instrument, pelted it with stones and +smashed it to pieces. + +You may well suppose that surveying under such circumstances was no +light matter. What was the gist of the hostility? It is hard to tell. +The canal owners might have had a hand in scattering these wild fears; +fears of what, however, it is not so easy to find out. There was +nothing in a simple horse railroad, or tramroad, as it is called, to +provoke an opposition so bitter from the people. It was a _new thing;_ +and new things, great improvements as they may be on old ones, often +call up a thousand doubts and fears among the ignorant and unthinking. + +Nor did the project generally secure the approval of those who would +be most benefited by it. Mr. James and his friends held public +meetings in all the towns and villages along the way, enterprising men +in Liverpool and Manchester delivered speeches, and tried to create a +public interest; but there was a holding back, which, while it checked +all actual progress in the enterprise, did not cause it to be +altogether given up. The time had not come. That was all. + +Mr. James had a secret leaning towards the use of steam on the new +road. He would have immediately and unhesitatingly advocated a +railroad run by locomotives. But that was out of the question. The +public were far behind that point, and to have openly advocated it +would have risked his judgment and good sense in the opinion of the +best men. Therefore Mr. James held his tongue. But hearing of the +Killingworth locomotives, and a collier who had astonished the natives +by his genius, he determined to make a journey to Newcastle, and see +the lions for himself. + +Stephenson was not at home. "Puffing Billy" _was_, and "Billy" puffed +in a way that took Mr. James's heart at once. He seemed to see at a +glance "Billy's" remarkable power, and was struck with admiration and +delight. "Here is an engine," he exclaimed, "that is destined before +long to work a complete revolution in society." + +The image of "Puffing Billy" followed him home. + +"Why," he wrote to Stephenson's partner in the patent, "it is the +greatest wonder of the age, and the forerunner, I believe, of most +important changes in the modes of travel in the kingdom." + +A few weeks later he made another visit to Killingworth, taking his +two sons with him. "Puffing Billy" was at work as usual. + +The boys were frightened at the sight of the snorting monster; but +Stephenson encouraged them to mount with their father, and see how +harmless and manageable the giant was. + +The second visit was even more gratifying than the first. + +"Mr. Stephenson," said James, "is the greatest practical genius of the +age. His fame will rank with that of Watt." + +Mr. James lost all hesitation now about speaking his mind. "Puffing +Billy" had driven the backwardness out of him, and he was willing, at +all hazards, boldly to advocate railroads and the steam-horse. No more +tramroads; steam or nothing. This was in 1821. + +Mr. James entered heart and soul into the new idea of the age. On his +return to Liverpool it was everywhere his theme; and wherever he had +influence he tried to stir up men's minds to the benefits and +blessings puffing out in "Puffing Billy." + +Stephenson rejoiced in such a friend. It was just what he and "Billy" +most needed--somebody to introduce them into the great world. And +Stephenson and his partner offered him a share in the profits of +whatever business he could secure to them. + +But what can one man, or a few men, do in an enterprise like this, +depending upon the verdict of that important power--Public Opinion? +And public opinion had not yet made up its mind to it. + +A thousand difficulties bristled in the way; there was both the +indifference of friends and the opposition of enemies at home. In +addition to this, a violent opposition was foreseen in Parliament, +which it needed all the strength and courage of a united constituency +to meet. + +Under these discouraging circumstances there were not enough men of +courage to push the matter through. + +So everything about the new road was laid on the shelf, at least for +the present, and Liverpool and Manchester trade jogged on as before. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +HUNTING UP HIS OWN WORK--AN ENTERPRISING QUAKER--WHAT WAS THE RESULT? + + +It appears strange to us that so simple a thing as the laying of a +rail or the making of a tunnel seems to be, should have taken years of +thought and experiment to do it. Nothing looks easier to have done +than the straight smooth track of a railway, such as we now see in +use; and yet it was only arrived at by slow steps through two hundred +years. + +In pondering upon the powers of "Puffing Billy," George Stephenson saw +that the efficiency of locomotives must, in a great measure, depend +upon what kind of roads they had to run upon. Many were sanguine that +steam-carriages would some day come into use on common roads. After a +long series of experiments George Stephenson said, "No, the thing +wouldn't pay." For a rough surface seriously impairs the power of a +locomotive; sand scattered upon the rails is sufficient to slacken and +even stop an engine. The least possible friction is desirable, and +this is found on the smooth rail. + +Could they ever be laid up hill, or on "ascending gradients," as the +scientific term is? No; as nearly level as possible, Stephenson's +experiments showed, was the best economy of power. Then how to get rid +of the jolts and jars and breakages of the rails as they were then +laid? He studied and experimented upon both chairs and sleepers, and +finally embodied all his improvements in the colliery railway. + +"Puffing Billy" was in every respect a most remarkable piece of +machinery, and its constructor one of the most sagacious and +persistent of men; but how was the public, ever slow in discovering +true merit, or accepting real benefits, to discover and appreciate +them? Neither influence, education, nor patronage had Stephenson to +command mind and means, or to drive his engine through prejudice, +indifference, and opposition to profit and success. + +But what he could not do other men could do and did do. Yes, there +were already men of property and standing ready to listen to a new +idea. While he worked they talked. As yet unknown to each other, but +each by himself clearing the track for a grand junction. + +One of these wide-awake men was Mr. Edward Pease, a rich "Friend," of +Darlington, who, his friends said, "could look a hundred miles ahead." +He needed a quicker and easier transit for his coal from the +collieries north of Darlington to Stockton, where they were shipped; +and Mr. Pease began to agitate, in his mind, for a railroad. A company +for this purpose was formed chiefly of his own friends, whom he fairly +talked into it. Scarcely twenty shares were taken by the merchants and +shipowners of Stockton, whose eyes were not yet open to the advantage +it would by-and-by be to them. A survey of the proposed road was made, +when to the indifference of the many was added the opposition of the +few. A duke was afraid for his foxes. Shareholders in the turnpikes +declared it would ruin their stock. Timid men said it was a new thing, +and it was best to let new things alone. The world would never improve +much under _such_ counsel. Mr. Pease was hampered on all sides. +Nobody convinced him that his first plan was not the right one; but +what can a man do in any public enterprise without supporters? So he +reluctantly was obliged to give up his railroad, and ask parliament +for liberty to build a tramroad--horse-power instead of steam-power; +he seemingly could do no better, and even this was obtained only after +long delay and at considerable cost. + +Among the thousands who carelessly read in the newspapers the passage +through parliament of the Stockton and Darlington Act, there was one +humble man whose eye kindled as he read it. In his bosom it awakened a +profound interest. He went to bed and got up brooding over it. He was +hungry to have a hand in it; until at last, yearning with an +irrepressible desire to do his own work in the world, he felt he must +go forth to seek it. + +One night a couple of strangers knocked at the door of Mr. Edward +Pease's house in Darlington, and introduced themselves as two +Killingworth colliers. One of them handed the master of the mansion a +letter of introduction from a gentleman of Newcastle, recommending him +as a man who might prove useful in carrying out his contemplated road. + +To support the application a friend accompanied him. + +The man was George Stephenson, and his friend was Nicholas Wood. It +did not take long for Edward Pease to see that Stephenson was +precisely the man he wanted. + +"A railway, and not a tramroad," said Stephenson, when the subject was +fairly and fully opened. + +"A horse railway?" asked Mr. Pease. + +"A locomotive engine is worth fifty horses," exclaimed Stephenson; and +once on the track, he launched out boldly in its behalf. + +"Come over to Killingworth, and see my 'Puffing Billy,'" said George; +"seeing is believing." And Mr. Pease, as you may suppose, was quite +anxious to see a machine that would outride the fleetest horse. Yet he +did not need "Puffing Billy" to convince him that its constructor knew +what he was advocating, and could make good his pledges. The good +Quaker's courage rapidly rose. He took a new start, and the +consequence was that all other plans and men were thrown aside, and +Stephenson was engaged to put the road through much in his own way. + +The first thing to be done was to make an accurate survey of the +proposed route. Taking Robert with him, who had just come from +college, and entered as heartily into the enterprise as his father, +with two other tried men, they began work in good earnest. From +daylight till night the surveyors were on duty. One of the men going +to Darlington to sleep one night, four miles off. + +"Now, you must not _start_ from Darlington at daybreak," said +Stephenson, "but be here, ready to begin work, at daybreak." He and +Robert used to make their home at the farm-houses along the way, where +his good-humour and friendliness made him a great favourite. The +children loved him dearly; the dogs wagged their approving tails at +his approach; the birds had a delighted listener to their morning +songs; and every dumb creature had a kind glance from his friendly +eye. + +But George was not satisfied until Mr. Pease came to Killingworth to +see "Puffing Billy," and become convinced of its economical habits by +an examination of the colliery accounts. He promised, therefore, to +follow George thither, bringing with him a large capitalist; and over +they went in the summer of 1822. + +Inquiring for George Stephenson, they were directed to the cottage +with a stone dial over the door. George drove his locomotive up, +hoisted in the gentlemen, harnessed on a heavy load, and away they +went. George no doubt showed "Billy" off to the best advantage. +"Billy" performed admirably, and the two wondering passengers went +home enthusiastic believers in locomotive power. + +A good many things had to be settled by the Darlington project. One +was the width of the gauge, that is, the distance between the rails. +How wide apart should they be? Stephenson said the space between the +cart and waggon wheels of a common road was a good criterion. The +tramroads had been laid down by this gauge--four feet and eight +inches--and he thought it about right for the railway; so this gauge +was adopted. + +One thing which hampered Stephenson not a little was a want of the +right sort of workmen--quick-minded, skilful mechanics, who could put +his ideas into the right shape. The labour of originating so much we +can never know. He had nothing to copy from, and nobody's experience +to go by. Happily he proved equal to his task. We can readily imagine +his anxiety as the work progressed. Hope and fear must have in turn +raised and depressed him. Not that he had any doubts in regard to the +final issue of the grand experiment of railroads--they _must_ go. + +Dining one day at a small roadside house with Robert and John Dixon, +after walking over the route, then nearly completed, "Lads," he said, +"I think you will live to see the day when railroads will be the great +highway for the king and all his subjects. The time is coming when it +will be cheaper for a working-man to travel on a railway than to walk +on foot. There are big difficulties in the way, I know; but it will +surely come to pass. I can hardly hope to live to see that day, much +as I should like to; for I know how slow all human progress is, and +how hard it is to make men believe in the locomotive, even after our +ten years' success in Killingworth." + +While the father roughed it through, Robert's health failed. His close +application to business made sad inroads upon a frame naturally more +delicate than his father's, and an offer to go out and superintend +some mining operations in South America was thankfully accepted, in +the hope that a sea voyage and less exciting labours might restore +him. + +Robert shortly sailed; and his father pushed on alone, with that brave +spirit which carried him through many a darker hour. + +On the 27th of September the Stockton and Darlington railway was +finished and opened. A great many came to see the new mode of +travelling, which had proved a fruitful subject of talk, far and near, +for many months: some to rejoice; some to see the bubble burst; some +with wonder, not knowing what to think; some with determined +hostility. The opposition was strong--old England against young +England--the counter currents of old and new ideas. + +The road ran from Stockton to Darlington, a distance of twelve miles, +and thence to the Etherly collieries; in all thirty-two miles. + +Four steam-engines were employed, and two stationary engines, to hoist +the trains over two hills on the route. The locomotives were of +six-horse power, and went at the rate of five or six miles an hour. +Slow as this was, it was regarded with wonder. A "travelling engine" +seemed almost a miracle. One day a race came off between a locomotive +and a coach running on the common highway, and it was regarded as a +great triumph that the former reached Stockton first, leaving the +coach one hundred yards behind. + +The road was built for a freight road, to convey lime, coal, and +bricks from the mines and kilns in the interior to the seaboard for +shipment abroad. Carrying passengers was not thought of. Enterprise, +however, in this direction took a new start. A company was soon formed +to run two coaches on the rails between Darlington and Stockton by +horse-power. Each coach accommodated six inside passengers, and from +fifteen to twenty outside; was drawn by one horse, and went at the +rate of nine miles an hour. + +"We seated ourselves," said a traveller of those days, "on the top of +the Defence coach, and started from Stockton, highly interested with +the novelty of the scene, and of this new and extraordinary +conveyance. Nothing could be more surprising than the rapidity and +smoothness of the motion." Yet the coach was without springs, and +jerked and jolted over the joints of the rails with a noise like the +clinking of a millhopper. + +"Such is the first great attempt to establish the use of railways," +writes a delighted editor, "for the general purposes of travelling; +and such is its success that the traffic is already great; and, +considering that there was formerly no coach at all on either of the +roads along which the railroad runs, quite wonderful. A trade and +intercourse have arisen out of nothing, and nobody knows how." + +Such was their small and imperfect beginning, we should say, now that +railroads, improved and perfected, have fulfilled Stephenson's +prediction, and have become the great highways of the civilized world. + +These wonders stirred the enterprise of old Massachusetts. Bunker-hill +monument was then being built, and built of Quincy granite. To make an +easier and cheaper transit to the water, the company built a railway +from the quarries to the wharf, a distance of three miles, whence the +blocks were carried in boats across the harbour to Charlestown. The +rails were made of oak and pine, and the cars ran by horses. This was +the first railroad in the United States. + +The example of the monument building committee, and the success of the +Stockton road, put the Boston people on a new track to get into the +country. By the old modes of travel, the Connecticut river valley was +very far off. Intercourse with the interior towns cost time and money. +Going to Boston was a long and expensive journey. Of course there were +not many journeys made, and no more trading than was absolutely +necessary. Cheap and easy travelling was the need: Boston wanted what +the country produced, and the country wanted what Boston merchants had +to sell. + +A canal was talked of, and routes surveyed. But nobody was sure it was +the best thing, when English newspapers broached railroads. Ah, there +it was; the best thing! Two advantages it had over a canal. A canal +must only be a skating-ground for boys some months in the year, while +a railway could be run winter and summer. It was also quicker and +pleasanter for passengers. So, as early as 1827, the subject was +stirring the minds of business men, and brought before the notice of +the legislature. It was a horse-railway they were thinking of, and +nothing more. It, however, came to nothing. + +The first passenger railway in America, the Baltimore and Ohio, was +opened for fifteen miles, in 1830, with horse-power; and the Mohawk +and Hudson, from Albany to Schenectady, sixteen miles, was run with +horses in 1831. A few months later the steam-horse, with its iron +sinews, drove them off, never to yield the right of way again. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE TWO CITIES TRYING AGAIN--BUGBEARS. + + +One, two, three years passed by, and the Liverpool and Manchester +project started up again. It was not dead, it had only slept; and the +three years had almost worn out the patience of both merchants and +manufacturers. Trade between the two cities must have speedier and +easier transit. Trade is one of the great progressive elements in the +world. It goes ahead. It will have the right of way. It will have the +right way--the best, safest, cheapest way--of doing its business. Yet +it is not selfish: its object is the comfort and well-being of men. To +do this it breaks down many a wall which selfishness has built up. It +cuts through prejudices. It rides over a thousand "can't bes" of timid +and learned men. For learned men are not always practical. They +sometimes say things cannot be done when it only needs a little stout +trying to overcome difficulties and do them. + +A learned man once said crossing the Atlantic by steam was impossible. + +"For the good of the race we must have something truer than wind and +tougher than sails," said trade. And it was not many years before +ships steamed into every port. + +"Carriages travelling at twelve, sixteen, eighteen, twenty miles an +hour! Such gross exaggerations of the power of a locomotive we +scout--it can never be!" cries a sober Quarterly. + +"You may scout it as much as you please," rejoins trade; "but just as +soon as people need cheaper, pleasanter, swifter modes of travel, it +will be _done_;" and now the railroad threads the land in its arrowy +flight. + +"The Magnetic Telegraph!--a miserable chimera," cries a knowing member +of parliament. "Nobody who does not read outlandish jargon can +understand what a telegraph means." + +"You will soon find out," answers trade; and now it buys flour by the +hundred barrels, and sells grain by the thousand bushels, while fleets +sail at its bidding, treaties are signed at its word, and the +telegraph girdles the world. + +You see trade is a civilizer, and Christian civilization makes all the +difference in the world between Arabs and Englishmen. + +Liverpool merchants were now fairly awake. "What is to be done?" was +the question. Something. Could there be a _third_ water-line between +the two cities? No; there was not water enough for that. + +Would the Bridgewater Canal increase its power, and reduce its +charges? No. + +A tramroad or railroad, then; there was no other alternative. + +Mr. James, who was so much interested before, had failed and left the +country. When he left he said to his friends, "When you build a road, +build a railroad, and get George Stephenson to do it." + +The Darlington and Stockton enterprise could not fail to be known at +Liverpool, and a drift of opinion gradually began to set strongly in +favour of the railway. People talked about it in good earnest. + +"A railway!" cried the canal owners, "it is absurd--it is only got up +to frighten us; it will fall through as it did before." They were +easy. + +"Let us go to Darlington and Killingworth, and see for ourselves," +said the merchants; and four gentlemen were sent on a visit of +inquiry. They went first to Darlington, where the works were in +vigorous progress, though not done. It was in 1824, the year before +they were finished. Here they met Stephenson. He took them to +Killingworth to see "Puffing Billy." + +Seeing was believing. "Billy's" astonishing feats won them completely +over, and they went back to Liverpool warm for a railroad. Their clear +and candid report convinced merchants, bankers, and manufacturers, who +gave a verdict in its favour. Public opinion was now coming over. + +Books were opened for funds. There was no lack of subscribers. Money +was ready. To be sure of the _safety_ of locomotive power, a second +deputation was sent to Killingworth, taking with them a practical +mechanic, better able to judge about it than themselves. The man had +sense enough to see and to own that while he could not ensure safety +over nine or ten miles an hour, there was nothing to be afraid of +slower than that. Then a third body went. The enterprise required +caution, they thought. + +Yes, it did. + +Having decided upon steam power, the next thing was to secure the +right sort of man to carry on the work. Stephenson was that man. His +energy and ability were indispensable. Before trying to get an act of +parliament, the route needed to be surveyed again, and a careful +estimate of expenses made. + +The Stockton road done, Stephenson was free to engage in this new +enterprise, his success in that proving his principles true on a +larger scale. + +The canal owners now took alarm. They saw there was a dangerous rival, +and they came forward in the most civil and conciliatory manner, +professing a wish to oblige, and offering to put steam power on their +canals. It was too late. Their day had gone by. + +You know the violent opposition made to a former survey. How would it +be again? Did three years scatter the ignorance out of which it grew? +Ah, no. There was little if any improvement. The surveyors were +watched and dogged by night and by day. Boys hooted at them, and gangs +of roughs threatened them with violence. Mr. Stephenson barely escaped +duckings, and his unfortunate instruments capture and destruction. +Indeed, he had to take with him a body-guard to defend them. Much of +the surveying had to be done by stealth, when people were at dinner, +or with a dark lantern at night. + +When dukes and lords headed the hostility, you cannot wonder that +their dependents carried it on. One gentleman declared he would rather +meet a highwayman or see a burglar on his premises than an engineer; +and of the two classes, he thought the former the most respectable! +Widows complained of damaged corn-fields, and gardeners of their +violated strawberry beds; and though Stephenson well knew that in many +cases not a whit of damage had been done, he paid them for fancied +injuries in hope of stopping their tongues. + +A survey made under such circumstances must needs have been imperfect, +but it was as good as could be made. And no time was lost in taking +measures to get a bill before parliament. + +A storm of opposition against railways suddenly arose, and spread over +every corner of the kingdom. Newspapers and pamphlets swarmed with +articles crying them down. Canal and turnpike owners spared no pains +to crush them. The most extraordinary stories were set afloat +concerning their dangers. Boilers would burst, and passengers be +blown to atoms. Houses along the way would be burnt; the air would +become black with smoke and poisoned with cinders, and property on the +road be stripped of its value. + +The Liverpool and Manchester bill, however, got into parliament, and +went before a committee of the House of Commons to decide upon it, in +March, 1825. + +First its friends had to show the _necessity_ of some new mode of +travel between the two cities, and that it was not difficult to do. + +But when it came to asking for liberty to build a railway and run a +locomotive, the matter was more difficult to manage. And to face the +tremendous opposition leagued against it, the courage of its friends +was severely tried. + +The battle had to be fought inch by inch. + +Stephenson of course was the chief witness for locomotives. But what +headway could he, an uneducated Northumbrian mechanic, make against +members of parliament, backed by all the chief engineers of the +kingdom. For very few had faith in him; but those few had strong +faith. He was examined and cross-examined. They tried to bully him, to +puzzle him, to frighten him. On the subject of locomotives his answers +were clear. He declared he could drive an engine, and drive it safely, +at the rate of twelve miles an hour! + +"Who can believe what is so notoriously in the teeth of all +experience?" cried the opposition; "the witness is a madman!" + +Famous engineers were called as witnesses. What had _they_ to say? One +declared the scheme a most wild one. He had no confidence in +locomotives. They were affected by the wind, the weather; with +difficulty were kept on the track, and were liable to constant +accidents; indeed, a gale of wind would render it impossible to start +a locomotive, either by poking the fire or keeping up the steam till +the boiler should burst: they could never be relied on. + +The proposed route had to cross an ugly quagmire, several miles in +extent, called Chat Moss, a very shaky piece of land, no doubt; and +here the opposition took a strong stand. "No engineer in his senses," +cried one, "would think of going through Chat Moss. No carriage could +stand on the Moss short of the bottom." + +"It is absurd to hold out the notion that locomotives can travel twice +as fast as stage-coaches," says another; "one might as soon trust +himself to a rocket as to the mercy of a machine going at that rate." + +"Carriages cannot go at anything like that speed," added another; "if +driven to it, the wheels would only spin on their axles like a top, +and the carriages would stand stock-still!" + +So much for learned arguments against it. + +Then came the dangers of it. The dumb animals would never recover +from the sight of a locomotive; cows would not give their milk; cattle +could not graze, or horses be driven along the track, cried the +opposition. + +"As to that," said Stephenson, "come to Killingworth and see. More +quiet and sensible beasts cannot be found in the kingdom. The farmers +_there_ never complain." + +"Well," asked one of them, "suppose, now, one of those engines to be +going along a railroad at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour, and +that a cow were to stray upon the line and get in the way of the +engine; would not _that_, think you, be a very awkward circumstance?" + +"Yes," answered Stephenson, with a droll twinkle in his eye, "very +awkward indeed--_for the coo_!" + +The inquirer, as you may suppose, was silent. + +The danger in other respects was thus dwelt on: "In addition to the +smoke and the noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive engines +make going at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, and filling the +cattle with dismay, what," asked an honourable member, "is to be done +with all those who have advanced money in making and mending +turnpikes? What with those who may still wish to travel in their own +or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers? What is to +become of coach-makers and harness-makers, coach-masters and workmen, +innkeepers, horse-breeders, and horse-dealers? Iron would be raised +one hundred per cent., or more probably exhausted altogether. The +price of coal would be ruinous. Why, a railroad would be the greatest +nuisance, the biggest disturbance of quiet and comfort, in all parts +of the kingdom, that the ingenuity of man could invent." + +Not content with decrying his engine, they could not stop short of +abusing Stephenson himself. "He is more fit for Bedlam than anywhere +else," they cried; "he never had a plan, he is not capable of making +one. Whenever a difficulty is pressed, as in the case of a tunnel, he +gets out of it at one end; and when you try to catch him at that, he +gets out at the other." + +"We protest," they said, "against a measure supported by such evidence +and founded upon such calculations. We protest against the Exchange of +Liverpool striding across the land of this country. It is despotism +itself." + +What had the friends of steam-power to say? + +"We beseech you," they pleaded to the committee, "not to crush it in +its infancy. Let not this country have the disgrace of putting a stop +to that which, if cherished, may in the end prove of the greatest +advantage to our trade and commerce. We appeal to you in the name of +the two largest towns in England--we appeal to you in the name of the +country at large--and we implore you not to blast the hopes that this +powerful agent, steam, may be called in aid for the purpose of land +communication; only let it have a fair trial, and these little +objections will be done away." + +Flaws were picked in the surveys, and the estimate of costs based on +them. The surveys, quite likely, were imperfect; indeed, how could +they be otherwise, when every mile of the line had to be done at the +risk of their necks? + +The battle lasted two months, and a very exciting one it was. It was +skilfully and powerfully carried on. Who beat? + +_The opposition._ The bill was lost. + +Matters looked dark enough. Judging from appearances the enterprise +was laid on the shelf, and the day of railways long put off. As for +poor Stephenson, his short day of favour seemed about gone. His being +called a madman and regarded as a fool, as he had been by the +opposition, was not without its effect upon his newly-made friends. +Their faith in him sensibly cooled. But he did not lose faith in +himself, not he. He had waited long for the triumph of his engine, and +he could wait longer. A great blessing to the nation was locked up in +it he well knew, and the nation would have it some time, in spite of +everything. + +Was the enterprise a second time to be abandoned? No, no. Taking +breath, its friends again started on their feet. Never give up, was +their motto, for they were in earnest. They rallied, and met in London +to consult what to do next. + +Mr. Huskisson, a member of parliament for Liverpool, came into the +meeting and urged them to try again--to try at the next session of +parliament. + +"Parliament must in the end grant you an act," he said, "if you are +determined to have it." And try they determined to, for a horse +railroad at least. + +For this purpose another and more careful survey had to be made. + +Stephenson was left out. A _known_ man must be had. They meant to get +surveyors and engineers with well-established reputations to back them +up, Stephenson was too little known. He had no fame beyond a little +circle in one corner of the kingdom. How did he feel to be thus thrown +in the background? George was not a man to grumble; he was too noble +to complain. In fact, you see, he was ahead of the times--too far +ahead to be understood and appreciated. He could afford to wait. + +Two brothers by the name of Rennie were appointed in his stead. In +time the new survey was finished, the plans drawn, and the expense +reckoned up. Changes were made in the route. Ill-tempered land-owners +were left on one side, and every ground of complaint avoided that +could be. + +The new bill was then carried to parliament, and went before the +committee in March the next year. The opposition was strong indeed, +but less furious. Much of its bitterness was gone. It made a great +show of fears, which the advocates of the bill felt it was not worth +while to waste words in answering. They left it to the road to answer +them. Build it, and see. + +Mr. Huskisson and others supported it in a strong and manly tone, and +after a third reading the bill passed in the House of Commons. So far +so good. It then had to go to the House of Lords. What would befall it +there? The same array of evidence on both sides was put forward. The +poor locomotive engine, which had proved such a bugbear in the House +of Commons, was regarded as quite a harmless affair by most of the +lords; and the opposition made such poor work in showing off its +dangers that no plea in its behalf was called for. They were +satisfied, they said, and the bill passed almost unanimously, Victory! +Victory! + +The victory cost more than four thousand five pound bank-notes! For a +first cost it looked large. But nothing worth doing can be done +without effort, and effort made _on faith_. Nothing done, nothing +have. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +GRAPPLING WITH DIFFICULTIES--THE BOG--A PUZZLE--THE PRIZE OFFER. + + +The real work was now to be done. Hopes and fears had yet to be +verified. + +At the first meeting of the directors, a man to put the enterprise +through was to be chosen. Who? The Rennies were anxious to get the +appointment. They naturally expected it. They had made the survey, and +their name had had weight in getting the Act of Parliament. But they +could not superintend the details of the work. They had other +enterprises on foot. + +Stephenson, no doubt, was _the_ man. The directors felt him to be so. +No one could long be with him without feeling his power. Besides, what +he had done had been ably done. At the risk of offending the Rennies +and their friends, they chose him, and the result proved the wisdom of +their choice. + +On receiving the appointment, he immediately moved to Liverpool, and +the work began in good earnest. It was a stupendous undertaking for +those days. Chat Moss had to be filled in, sixty-three bridges built, +excavations made, tunnels erected, and all the practical details +carried out, with very little past experience to profit by. Neither +was the kind of labour well understood, nor was there that division +of labour between contractors and engineers which relieves one man of +too heavy a responsibility. In fact, both tools and men had to be +made, and Stephenson had to do it. + +The great quagmire was first grappled with. "No man in his senses +would undertake to make a road over Chat Moss," opposers said in +parliament: "That was to undertake the impossible." Stephenson, +however, meant to try. Formidable it certainly was. Cattle ploughing +on farms bordering the bog, where it ran underneath the tilled land, +had to wear flat-soled boots in order to keep their hoofs from sinking +down into the soft soil. + +The proposed route ran four miles across it, and the way had to be +drained and filled in with sand and gravel. The drainage tasked their +ingenuity to the utmost, and almost baffled the workmen. After that +was in some degree accomplished, waggon after waggonful of earth was +thrown on for weeks and weeks, and it only sank into the mire and +disappeared--not an inch of solid footing seemed gained; and on they +went, filling and filling, without apparently having made the least +impression on the Moss: the greedy bog only cried out for more. + +Stephenson's men began to have their doubts. The opposition might have +judged more correctly, after all. They asked him what he thought. "Go +ahead," was his answer. By and by the directors began to have _their_ +fears. It looked to them like a very unpromising job. So it was. After +waiting and waiting in vain for signs of progress, they called a +meeting on the edge of the Moss, to see if it were not best to give it +up as a bad job. The bog, they were afraid, might swallow up all their +funds, as it had everything else. Stephenson lost not a whit of his +courage. "Go ahead," was his counsel. He never for a moment doubted +of final success. And considering the great outlay already made, they +wisely gave in to him. + +Monstrous stories were afloat of the terrible accidents taking place +there. Every now and then the drivers of the coaches brought into +Manchester the astonishing news of men, horses, carts, and Stephenson +himself submerged and sunk for ever in the insatiable quagmire. Time +corrected one only to publish another. Newsmongers were kept in a +state of delightful excitement, and tea-table gossip was spiced to +suit the most credulous and marvel-loving taste, until the Moss was +conquered, as conquered it was acknowledged to be, when, six months +after the directors had met to vote to leave it to its original +unproductiveness, they were driven over it on a smooth and secure rail +to Manchester. + +Another tough job was tunnelling Liverpool; excavating a mile and a +third of road through solid rock. Night and day the boring, blasting, +and hewing were kept in vigorous execution. Sometimes the miners were +deluged with water, sometimes they were in danger of being +overwhelmed by heavy falls of wet sand from overhead. Once, when +Stephenson was gone from town, a mass of loose earth came tumbling on +the heads of the workmen, frightening them, if nothing more. On his +return they were in a most refractory state, complaining of the +dangers, and stoutly refusing to go back to work. Wasting no time on +words, Stephenson shouldered a pickaxe, and called for recruits to +follow. Into the tunnel he marched, and the whole gang after him. +Nothing more was heard of fears, and the work went bravely on. + +Besides laying out all the work, Stephenson had to make his tools. All +their waggons, trucks, carriages, switches, crosses, signals were +planned and manufactured under his superintendence, besides meeting +and providing for a thousand exigencies constantly occurring in a new +enterprise like this, giving full scope to all the sagacity, +invention, and good-humour which naturally belonged to him. + +The expenses of the road were heavy, and money was not always +forthcoming. If the works lagged in consequence of it, the hopes of +the directors fell; so that Stephenson's energies were taxed to the +utmost during the four years of the work, and he showed, what +observation and history both teach us, that efficient men are men of +_detail_, as well as men of great plans. + +Remember this, boys--for we sometimes despise little particulars, and +the day of small things--that the secret of effective doing lies not +only in making wise plans, but in filling up the minutest parts with +promptness and fidelity. There must be detail to achieve any great and +good work. If you would possess the fruits of learning, you must get +them by the toil of daily drudgery. If you undertake to become rich, +you must not despise the small gains and little economies by which a +fortune is made. If you would obtain a noble Christian manhood, you +must not neglect hourly self-restraint, watchfulness, and prayer, or +the daily exercise of those humbler virtues and godly industries which +make the woof of character. + +Stephenson strikingly illustrated the practical force of this +principle. The minutest detail of every plan in this new enterprise +was thought out and carried on by himself, or under his direct +supervision. Both in summer and winter he rose early. Before breakfast +you might find him on a morning round, visiting the extensive +workshops where their machines and tools were made. Or perhaps "Bobby" +is brought to the door, and, mounted on this his favourite horse, he +is off fifteen miles to inspect the progress of a viaduct, a ride long +enough to whet the appetite for a tempting breakfast, one would think. +But nothing tempts him from his frugal habits; he eats "crowdie," and +that made by himself, which is nothing more or less than oatmeal +hasty-pudding and milk. Again he is off, inspecting the labours of his +men all along the line from point to point, pushing the works here, +advising there, and inspiring everywhere. "Bobby" is a living witness +that one beast at least is not to be scared by a locomotive. He can +face the snorting monster without so much as a shy step or a prick of +the ears. _He_ afraid? not "Bobby." + +Returning home, bills are to be examined perhaps, when every item of +expense must be accounted for; or drawings are to be made, or +directions given, or letters written. + +Several young men were received into his family, to be trained for +engineers. A second wife, frugal, gentle, and friendly, superintended +his household. Their evenings were passed in study and conversation, +brightened by the genial humour of the remarkable man whose genius +drew them together, and whose good-tempered pleasantries relieved the +heavier tasks of mind and body. The compendium of all his instructions +was, Learn for yourselves; think for yourselves; master principles; +persevere; be industrious, and there is no fear for you. It is an +indication of the value of these instructions that every young man +trained under him rose to eminent usefulness. "Ah," he sometimes said, +on relating a bit of his own early history, "you don't know what work +is, these days." And yet work is work, all the world over. + +In spite of the best Stephenson could do, the directors, looking at +their unproductive capital, and not fully comprehending all the +difficulties to be overcome, sometimes urged greater despatch. "Now, +George," said Friend Cropper one day, "thou must get on with the +railway; thou must really have it opened by the first of January +next." + +"Consider the heavy nature of the works, sir," rejoined George, "and +how much we have been delayed by want of money, to say nothing of the +bad weather. The thing is impossible." + +"Impossible!" cried Cropper; "I wish I could get Napoleon to thee; he +would tell thee there is no such word as 'impossible.'" + +"Tush!" exclaimed George, "don't tell me about Napoleon. Give me men, +money, and material, and I'll do what Napoleon couldn't do--drive a +railroad over Chat Moss." + +He might have retorted, more significantly, by asking the directors +what _they_ meant to do; for Liverpool was tunnelled, and Chat Moss +railed, before they could agree what kind of power to put on it. There +were some who insisted upon using horse-power; but the majority +thought that was out of the question. Meeting after meeting was held, +debate followed debate, and the whole body became more and more +puzzled as the road itself neared completion. + +Some kind of machine, but _what_? Ah, that was the question. You would +naturally have thought a locomotive, of course. But no; since +parliamentary opposition raged against it, steam had lost ground in +the public estimation, and it was very slow in getting back to favour. +Locomotives, or travelling engines, as they were called, were hid in a +cloud of doubts; and more than ever since the parliamentary debates. +They were dangerous, they were frightful, "they could never go fast +enough," their utmost speed would not be ten miles an hour. Some of +the most distinguished engineers would give no opinion of them at all. +They had none. It was certainly hard to patronize them, in spite of +their indifference, and possibly their sneers. Certainly, if the poor +locomotive depended upon their verdict its fate was sealed. + +One staunch friend remained. Stephenson stood faithfully by "Puffing +Billy," puffing away in his far off Northumberland home. He never +flinched advocating its principles, and urged the directors to try +one on the road. They at last ordered one to be built, one that would +be of service to the company, and no great nuisance to the public. It +was built, and excellent service it did, drawing marl from the +cuttings and excavations to fill up the bogs and hollows. +Nevertheless, it settled nothing, and convinced nobody not already +convinced. + +Meanwhile the directors were deluged with projects, plans, and advice +for running their road. Scheme upon scheme was let loose upon them. +Some engines to go by water-power; some by gas; some by cog-wheels. +All the engineering science in the kingdom was ready to engineer for +them in its own way; but who among all could pronounce the best way, +and, upon the whole, decide which was the right motive power? + +A deputation was despatched to Darlington and Stockton to inspect the +fixed and locomotive engines employed on that road. But the +deputation came back differing so among themselves that the directors +were more puzzled than ever. Two professional engineers of high +reputation were then sent, who on their return reported in favour of +_fixed engines_: for safety, speed, economy, and convenience, fixed +engines by all means; reiterating again and again all the frightful +stories of danger and annoyance charged upon steam. They proposed +dividing the road into nineteen stages, of a mile and a half in +length, and having twenty-one stationary engines at different points +to push and draw the trains along. The plan was carefully matured. + +Poor Stephenson! how did he feel? "Well," he said, with the calm +earnestness of a man of faith, "one thing I know, that before many +years railroads will become the highways of the world." + +Could the directors accept a project without consulting him? Again +they met. What had he to say concerning it? Fight it he did. He dwelt +upon its complicated nature, the liability of the ropes and tackling +to get out of order, the failure of one engine retarding and damaging +and stopping the whole line--a phase of the matter which did not fail +to make an impression. The directors were moved. Friend Cropper, +however, headed the stationary-engine party, and insisted upon +adopting it. "But," answered the others, "ought we to make such an +outlay of money without first giving the locomotive a fair trial?" And +Stephenson pleaded powerfully, as you may suppose, in its behalf. +"_Try_ it, _try_ it," he urged; "for speed and safety there is nothing +like it." And the words of a man with strong faith are strong words. +"Besides," he said, "the locomotive is capable of great improvements. +It is young yet; its capacities have never been thoroughly tested. +When proper inducements are held out, a superior article will be +offered to the public." + +Never were directors in a greater strait. There was no withstanding +Stephenson, for he knew what he was talking about. All the rest were +schemers. At last one of the directors said, "Wait; let us offer a +prize for a new locomotive, built to answer certain conditions, and +see what sort of engine we can get." + +That was fair. It was right his engine should be properly tested. All +agreed; and in a few days proposals were issued for the building of +one. There were eight conditions, two of which were, that if the +engine were of six tons' weight it should be able to draw twenty tons +at a speed of _ten_ miles an hour. The prize was five hundred pounds. + +The offer excited a great deal of attention, and many people made +themselves merry at its expense. The conditions were absurd, they +said; nobody but a set of fools would have made them. It had already +been proved impossible to make a locomotive engine go at ten miles an +hour, and one gentleman in his heat even went so far as to say that +if it ever _were_ done, he would undertake to eat a stewed engine +wheel for his breakfast. As that condition was answered, it is to be +hoped he was relieved from his indigestible dish. + +More candid minds turned with interest to the development of this new +force struggling into notice. Stephenson felt how much depended on the +issue. And the public generally concluded to suspend its verdict upon +the proper working of railways until time and talent gave them better +means of judging. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +ROBERT'S RETURN--A CURIOUS ENCOUNTER--THE PRIZE ENGINE. + + +One step forward; yes, a great one too, Stephenson thought. His +beloved locomotive was to have a chance of being properly introduced +to the great English public; and he felt that it only needed to be +known to be valued. The building of it was a matter of no small +moment, and he wanted above all things a tried and skilful hand to +superintend and put into its construction every conceivable +improvement. It must be the best engine yet built. + +Where should he find the right man? No one would answer like his son +Robert, and Robert he determined to send for. Robert, you remember, +went to South America three years before. There he had regained his +health, and on receiving his father's letter made immediate +preparations to return to England. + +On his way, at a poor little comfortless inn, in a poor little +comfortless seaport on the gulf of Darien, where he was waiting to +take ship, he met two strangers, one evidently an Englishman, who by +his appearance looked as if the world had gone hard with him. A +fellow-feeling drew the young man towards his poor countryman, and on +inquiry, who should it prove to be, but the old Cornwall tin-miner, +Captain Trevethick, whose first steam-carriage awoke so much curiosity +in London nearly a quarter of a century before. + +He had sown his idea to the winds. Others had caught it up, cherished +it, pondered over it, examined it, dissected it, improved it, embodied +it, and by patient study and persistent endeavour had reduced it to a +practical force. And Robert Stephenson was now on his way to +inaugurate it as one of the great commercial values of the kingdom and +of the world. The poor inventor, what had he done meanwhile? While +others worked had he slept? Oh, no! He had tried an easier and shorter +road to fame and fortune. You remember he left his "dragon," as some +people called his locomotive, in London, quite careless what became of +it, and went scheming and speculating in other things. Several years +after, in a shop window, it attracted the attention of a French +gentleman passing by. He was from Peru, and had just come to England +to get a steam-engine for pumping water from some gold-diggings in the +new world. Delighted with the model, he bought it for twenty guineas. +Taking it with him to Lima, an engine was built on the plan of it, +which worked admirably. The gentleman was then sent back to England to +hunt up and bring out the inventor himself. The captain was found, and +came forth from his obscurity into sudden notice and demand. The +gentleman engaged him to make five pumping-engines according to his +model, which he did, and shipped them to Lima, the captain himself +soon following. + +At Lima he was received with great honours, and a public rejoicing. A +guard of honour was appointed to wait on him; and in view of the +wealth he was supposed to be able to engineer from their mines, a +massive silver statue of him, as the benefactor of Peru, began to be +talked of. + +Of course poor Trevethick thought his fortune made, and no doubt +looked back with pity on his humble English life. Friends at home +spread the news of his successes, and when they stated that the +smallest estimate of his yearly income amounted to one hundred +thousand pounds, no wonder he was pronounced a success! Tardier steps +to fortune seemed tedious; and many of his old associates perhaps +sighed over the wholesome toil of a slower-paced prosperity. + +Years passed on, and the poor captain next turns up at Cartagena, +penniless and pitiable. In crossing the country he had lost +everything. Fording rivers, penetrating forests, and fighting wild +beasts, had left him little else than a desire to reach England again; +and Robert Stephenson gave him fifty pounds to help him home. Sudden +fortunes are apt as suddenly to vanish; while those accumulated by the +careful husbandry of economy, industry, and foresight reward without +waste. So character is stronger than reputation. For one is built on +what we are, the other on what we seem to be; and, like a shadow, +reputation may be longer or shorter, or only a distorted outline of +character. One holds out, because it is real; the other often +disappears, because it is but shadow. + +Robert reached home in December, 1827, right heartily welcomed, we may +well believe, by his father, who was thankful to halve the burden of +responsibility with such a son. To build the prize locomotive was +_his_ work. + +Stephenson had long been a partner in a locomotive factory at +Newcastle, which had hitherto proved a losing concern to the owners. +There was little or no market for their article, and they struggled +on, year after year, waiting for better times. Nobody saw better times +but Stephenson. He saw them ahead, shooting through the gloomy clouds +of indifference and prejudice. And now, he calculated, it was very +near. So he sent Robert to Newcastle to take charge of the works +there, and construct an engine that would make good all his words. + +It was a critical moment, but he had no fears of the result. Robert +often came to Liverpool to consult with his father, and long and +interesting discussions took place between father and son concerning +the best modes of increasing and perfecting the powers of the +mechanism. One thing wanted was greater speed; and this could only be +gained by increasing the quantity and the quality of the steam. For +this effect a greater heating surface was necessary, and mechanics had +long been experimenting to find the best and most economical boiler +for high-pressure engines. + +Young James, son of Mr. James, who, when the new Liverpool and +Manchester route was talked of, was the first to discover and +acknowledge George Stephenson's genius, made the model of an improved +boiler, which he showed to the Stephensons. Perhaps he was one of the +boys who went to Killingworth with his father to see the wonders of +"Puffing Billy," and whose terrors at the snorting monster were only +smoothed by a pleasant and harmless ride on his back. Whether this +gave him a taste for steam-engines we do not know. At any rate, he +introduces himself to our notice now, with a patented model of an +improved boiler in his hand, which Stephenson thinks it may be worth +his while to make trial of. "Try it," exclaimed the young inventor, +"try it, and there will be no limit to your speed. Think of thirty +miles an hour!" + +"Don't speak of thirty miles an hour," rejoined Stephenson; "I should +not dare talk about such a thing aloud." For I suppose he could hardly +forget how parliamentary committees had branded him as a fool and a +madman for broaching such beliefs. + +The improved boiler was what is called a multitubular boiler. You do +not understand that, I suppose. An iron boiler is cast, six feet long, +and three feet and a third in diameter. It is to be filled half full +of water. Through this lower half there run twenty-five copper tubes, +each about three inches in diameter, opened at one end to the fire, +through which the heat passes to the chimney at the other end. You see +this would present a great deal of heating surface to the water, +causing it to boil and steam off with great rapidity. The invention +was not a sudden growth, as no inventions are. Fire-tubes serving this +use started in several fertile minds about the same time, and several +persons claimed the honour of the invention; but it was Stephenson's +practical mind which put it into good working order, and made it +available; for he told Robert to try it in his new locomotive. + +He did. The tubes were of copper, manufactured by a Newcastle +coppersmith, and carefully inserted into the ends of the boiler by +screws. Water was put into the boiler, and in order to be sure there +was no leaking, a pressure was put on the water; when lo, the water +squirted out at every screw, and the factory floor was deluged. Poor +Robert was in despair. He sat down and wrote his father that the whole +thing was a failure. + +A failure indeed! Back came a letter by the next post telling him to +"go ahead and try again!" The letter, moreover, suggested a remedy for +the disaster--fastening the tubes into the boiler by fitting them +snugly into holes bored for the purpose, and soldering up the edges. +And it proved to be precisely what Robert himself had thought of, +after the first bitter wave of disappointment had subsided. So he took +heart and went to work again. Success crowned his efforts. A heavy +pressure was put on the water, and not a drop oozed out. The boiler +was quite water-tight. + +This is precisely the kind of boiler now in use: some have fifty +tubes; the largest engines one hundred and fifty. + +Various other improvements were incorporated into the new engine, +which, as you do not probably understand much about machinery, will +not particularly interest you. + +At last the new engine was finished. It weighed only four tons and a +quarter, little less than two tons under the weight required by the +directors. The tender, shaped like a waggon, carried wood in one end +and water in the other. + +It was forthwith put on the Killingworth track, fired up, and started +off. Robert must have watched its operations with intense anxiety. +Nothing could have met his expectations like the new boiler. It in +fact outdid his highest hopes. The steam made rapidly, and in, what +seemed to him then, marvellous quantities. Away went a letter to +Liverpool that very evening. + +"The 'Rocket' is all right and ready," wrote the young man joyfully. +That was the engine's name, "Rocket," on account of its speed perhaps. +"Puffing Billy" was quite cast into a shade. + +It was shortly shipped to Liverpool in time for the grand trial. + +The trial, rapidly approaching, elicited a great and general interest. +The public mind was astir. The day fixed was the first of October. +Engineers, mechanics, and scientific men, far and near, flocked to +Liverpool. The ground where the exhibition was to take place was a +level piece of railroad two miles long, a little out of the city. Each +engine was to make twenty trips at a rate of speed not under ten miles +an hour, and three competent men were appointed as judges. + +Four engines were entered on the list, "THE NOVELTY," "SANS-PAREIL," +"THE ROCKET," "PERSEVERANCE." + +Several others were built for the occasion in different parts of the +kingdom, or rather projected and begun, but were not finished in time. + +In order to afford ample opportunity for their owners to get them in +good working order, the directors postponed the trial to October 6th. +The day arrived, and a glance at the country round showed that an +unusual occasion was drawing people together. Multitudes from the +neighbouring towns assembled on the grounds at an early hour. The road +was lined with carriages, and a high staging afforded the ladies an +opportunity of witnessing the novel race. + +The "Novelty" and "Sans-pereil," though first on the list, were not +ready at the hour appointed. What engine was? The "Rocket." +Stephenson, next on the roll, was called for by the judges, and +promptly the little "Rocket" fired up at the call. It performed six +trips in about fifty-three minutes. + +The "Novelty" then proclaimed itself ready. It was a light, trim +engine, of little more than three tons weight, carrying its wood and +water with it. It took no load, and ran across the course sometimes at +the rate of twenty-five miles an hour. The "Sans-pareil" also came +out. + +The "Perseverance," not able to go faster than five or six miles an +hour, withdrew from the contest. As the day was now far spent, further +exhibition was put off till the morrow. + +What exciting discussion must have taken place among rival competitors +and their friends! What a scrutiny of the merits and demerits, the +virtues and defects, of opposing engines! + +Before the appointed hour the next day the bellows of the "Novelty" +gave out, and as this was one of its merits--a bellows to increase the +draft of the air-blast--its builders were forced to retire from the +list. + +Soon after a defect was discovered in the boiler of the "Sans-pareil." +Mr. Hackworth begged for time to mend it; as there was no time, none +could be granted, and he, too, withdrew his claims. + +The "Rocket" alone stood its ground. The "Rocket," therefore, was +called for. Stephenson attached to it a carriage large enough to hold +a party of thirty, and drove his locomotive along the line at the rate +of twenty-five and thirty miles an hour, to the amazement and delight +of every one present. + +The next morning it was ordered to be in readiness to answer the +various specifications of the offer. It snorted and panted, and +steamed over the race-ground in proud trim, drawing about thirteen +tons weight. In twenty trips, backward and forward, its greatest speed +was twenty-nine miles an hour, three times greater than Nicholas Wood, +one of the judges, declared to be possible. Its average rate was +fifteen miles, five miles beyond the rate specified for the prize. The +performance appeared astonishing. Spectators were filled with wonder. +The poor directors began to see fair weather; doubts were solved, +disputes settled; the "Rocket" had cleared the track for them. There +could no longer be any question how to run the road. George Cropper, +who had steadily countenanced stationary engines, lifted up his hands, +exclaiming, "Stephenson has at last delivered himself!" + +The two other locomotives, however, were allowed to reappear on the +stage; but both broke down, and the "Rocket" remained victor to the +last. It had performed, and more than performed, all it promised, +fulfilled all the conditions of the directors' offer, and was +accordingly declared to have nobly earned the prize, five hundred +pounds. + +But the money was little compared to the profound satisfaction which +the Stephensons felt at this public acknowledgment of the worth of +their life-long labours. George's veracity, skill, and intelligence +had all been doubted, denied, and derided by men of all classes. Even +old friends turned against him, and thought his mind was crazed by +"one idea." He had to struggle on alone; faithful to his convictions, +patiently biding his time, yet earnestly pleading his cause on every +suitable occasion. He had a blessing for the world, and he knew when +it felt its want of it, it would have it. That time had come. The +directors flocked around him with flattering congratulations. All +shyness and coolness vanished. Friends were no longer few. The shares +of the company immediately rose ten per cent. Men and means were at +his disposal. George Stephenson was a happy man. + +The "Rocket" had blown stationary engines to the winds. And steam that +day, on the land as well as the water, took its place as one of the +grand moving powers of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OPENING OF THE NEW ROAD--DIFFICULTIES VANISH--A NEW ERA. + + +There was no more waiting for work at the locomotive factory in +Newcastle. Orders immediately arrived from the directors to build +eight large engines for the new road, and all the workshops were astir +with busy life. The victorious little "Rocket" was put on the road, +and sensibly helped to finish it. Neither faith, men, nor means were +now wanting, and the labour in every part went heartily on. + +In June a meeting of the directors was held in Manchester, when the +"Rocket" made a trip from Liverpool to that city with a freight and +passenger train, running through in two hours. Chat Moss never +quivered; and the directors, I daresay, would have been very glad to +forget their disconsolate meeting on the edge of it, when they nearly +voted themselves beaten by the bog, only Stephenson would not let +them. + +On the 15th of September, 1830, there was to be a public opening of +the road, and preparations were made at each end, and all along the +way, for the grand event. The occasion awakened a deep and universal +interest. It was justly regarded as a national event, to be celebrated +with becoming honours. The Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister, +was present; also Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Huskisson, whose stirring +words revived the drooping spirits of the directors after their defeat +in parliament, and whose influence served to get their bill +successfully through at last. No one, perhaps, had watched the +progress of the enterprise with deeper interest than Mr. Huskisson, or +rejoiced more in the vanquishing of one difficulty after another to +its final finishing. Great numbers came from far and near, who, +assembling by the slow mode of travel of those days, took time +accordingly. + +Carriages lined the roads and lanes; the river was crowded with boats; +and soldiers and constables had their hands full to keep the people +from the track. + +The new locomotives, eight in number, having been faithfully tested, +steamed proudly up. The "Northumbrian," driven by George Stephenson, +took the lead. Next the "Phoenix," under Robert's charge; then the +"North Star," by a brother of George. The "Rocket," and the rest, with +their trains, followed. Six hundred persons were in this procession, +flying at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour! Oh, the wonder and +admiration which the spectacle excited! These noble steam-horses +panting, prancing, snorting, puffing, blowing, shooting through +tunnels, dashing across bridges, coursing high embankments, and racing +over the fields and far away. England and the world never saw before a +sight like that. + +But the joy and the triumph of the occasion were destined to be +dampened by a terrible disaster. At Parkenside, seventeen miles from +Liverpool, the "Northumbrian," which carried the Duke and his party, +was drawn up on one track, in order to allow the other trains to pass +in review before them on the other. Mr. Huskisson alighted, and, +standing outside, was talking with the Duke, when a hurried cry of +"Get in! get in!" went up from the bystanders; for on came the +"Rocket," steaming along at full speed. Mr. Huskisson, startled and +confused, attempted to regain the carriage an instant too late; he was +struck down, and the "Rocket" went over him. + +"I have met my death!" exclaimed the unfortunate statesman; which, +alas! proved but too true, for he died that evening. + +A sad confusion prevailed. The body of the wounded gentleman was +lifted into the car, or carriage as it then was, and the +"Northumbrian" took him over the track home, a distance of fifteen +miles, in about twenty minutes. So swiftly and easily done! The use +rather than the abuse of the new power made the strongest impression. + +The mournful accident threw a cloud over the occasion. The Duke wished +to stop the celebration, and immediately return to Liverpool. Mr. +Huskisson's friends joined with him in the wish. Others felt that +Manchester should not be disappointed in witnessing the arrival of +the trains, and that the accident might become magnified and +misrepresented, and thus operate mischievously upon public sentiment +in relation to railroads; the party therefore consented to proceed to +their journey's end, but were unwilling to mingle in any of the +rejoicings common to such occasions. + +But the railroad needed no such demonstrations to prove its worth. It +had within itself more substantial proof. Time was saved; labour was +saved; money was saved. Coal, cotton, and every article of merchandise +useful to men could be carried cheaper, could be had cheaper, than +ever before, and, what was better, had in quantities sufficient to +satisfy the industry and necessities of men. And with cheapness was +combined comfort and safety. The first eighteen months seven hundred +thousand persons were carried over the road, and not an accident +happened. + +But were not people frightened by the smoke, cinders, fire, and noise +of the engines, as the opposition in Parliament declared they would +be? No, no. It was not long before everybody wanted land near the +track; and land, therefore, near the road rapidly rose in value. The +farmers who had scouted the surveyors from their fields now complained +of being left on one side; and those who had farms near the stations +to rent rented them at a much higher rate than ever before. Barren +lots became suddenly profitable, and even Chat Moss was turned into +productive acres. + +In 1692 an old writer states, "There is an admirable commodiousness +both for men and women of the better rank to travel from London, the +like of which has not been known in the world; and that is, by +stage-coaches, wherein one may be transferred to any place, sheltered +from foul weather, with a velocity and speed equal to the fastest +posts in foreign countries; for the stage-coaches called +'Flying-coaches' make forty or fifty miles a day." + +An English paper, bearing the date of January, 1775, has this +advertisement, "HEREFORD MACHINE. In a day and a half, twice a week, +continues flying from the 'Swan' in Hereford, Monday and Thursday, to +London." + +What would the people of those days say to a railroad carriage, +especially on the "Lightning Train?" + +The first stage-coach between Boston and New York began, June 24, +1772, to run once a fortnight, starting on the thirteenth, and +arriving on the twenty-eighth, fifteen days' travel. Now the distance +is gone over in less than the same number of hours. And so the first +stage-coach between New York and Philadelphia, begun in 1756, occupied +three days in the journey. Three days dwindle down to three hours in +the train. + +In the Scriptures we find Isaiah with prophetic eye looking over the +centuries to these later times, and penning down, "Every valley shall +be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the +crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain;" and +"swift messengers" are seen executing the world's affairs--no meagre +description of the great means of intercourse in our day, the railway +and telegraph. The prophet saw in it a clearing of the track for the +coming kingdom of the Redeemer, which is, some time, to spread over +the whole earth as "the waters cover the sea." Men make good tools and +instruments for themselves. They forget they are perfecting them for +God also, who is using them, and who will use them to make known the +precious Gospel of His Son, "peace on earth, and good will to men." + +What powerful preachers for the Sabbath are the railway and telegraph, +doing away with all necessity and every excuse for Sabbath travelling, +as they do. Long journeys and the most urgent business can be done +between Sabbath and Sabbath, giving a rest-day to the nation. And this +view of them is deserving more and more regard. + +The institution of the Sabbath was founded with the human race. It was +meant to be the rest-day of the entire world. It was set up as a +blessing: "The Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." The +bodies of man and beast need it. The muscles, bones, nerves, sinews, +and brain cannot endure the strain of constant and uninterrupted work. +It is a day of making up the waste of the animal frame under continual +labour and excitement. Night rest is not enough. The God of nature and +the God of the Sabbath has fitted the one to the other. + +When the knowledge of God had faded out of the earth, and God chose a +people to restore and preserve it, besides a code of national laws +particularly for them, He enacted from Sinai a code of moral laws for +man. Among them was the rest-law of the Sabbath. It is the Fourth +Commandment of the Decalogue, taught in all our Sabbath-schools, +pulpits, and homes: "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy: in it +thou shalt do no work," man or beast. Farther, God promises great +reward to those who call "the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, +honourable * * not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own +pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, but delighting thyself in the +Lord;" showing not only the rest-use of the Sabbath, but its soul-use, +as a day of special intercourse with God. + +"The Sabbath was made for man," says Jesus Christ; and the _Christian_ +Sabbath incorporated into it the finishing of the great plan of our +redemption, when Christ, + + "Who endured the cross and grave, + Sinners to redeem and save," + +left the tomb and ascended to heaven. Thus it is appropriately called +"the Lord's day," the day when our worldly business is to be set +aside, and Christ presses His claims upon the hearts and consciences +of men. It is a break in the hurrying whirl of this life's interests, +to consider the solemn issues of eternity, and that Atoning Love which +is mighty to save all who, by repentance and faith, accept its terms +of mercy. + +We find it was on the observance or desecration of the Sabbath that +the prosperity of the Hebrew nation hung. "You bring wrath upon the +nation," cried Nehemiah to the Sabbath-breaking traders. "This very +profanation has been the cause of our disasters in times past." For +Sabbath profanation leads to forgetfulness of God; and God left out, +what becomes of man? Ruin stares him in the face. "The ungodly shall +not prosper." What becomes of a nation? Ruin. They shall be left to +their own doings. The French nation blotted out the Sabbath, and +showed what it was _to be left of God_. + +When an African prince sent an ambassador to Queen Victoria with +costly presents, and asked her to tell him in return the secret of +England's greatness and England's glory, presenting him with a copy of +the Bible, the queen replied, "Tell your prince that _this_ is the +secret of England's greatness." + +If this is true of England, much more must it prove true of America. +For all our institutions, all our civil and religious interests, month +by month and year by year, are in the hands of and are subject to the +will of the people. What ought such a people to be. Pre-eminently they +need the morality of the Bible, the conscience and the self-restraint +which the Bible enjoins; and for this purpose they must vigorously +support the institutions of the Bible. Foremost in the foreground is +the Sabbath. It has come down to us through the ages, the great +anniversary-day of a finished creation and a completed atonement, +summoning men to call on the name of the Lord, and bless and praise +His holy name. + +[Illustration: Holy Bible] + +On its observance the highest moral education of the people depends. +Every railroad corporation is bound to be a Sabbath-keeping +corporation. It _makes time enough_ to do its work. The _nature_ of +its work demands responsible men. An immense amount of property is in +its hands, requiring officers of scrupulous integrity to manage its +interests. The gross receipts of eight of the railways terminating in +London are over two hundred and fifty thousand pounds a week. + +It has the life and limbs of thousands upon thousands entrusted to its +charge, at the mercy of its employers, engineers, firemen, brakemen, +switchmen, the recklessness or unfaithfulness of any of whom can bring +sudden death to scores, and plunge a nation into mourning. These men, +to be _kept_ the right men, need the Sabbath. To be honest, +responsible, vigilant, true, God-fearing men, fit for their posts of +duty, they _must have_ the Sabbath. + +Many roads are Sabbath-keeping. Some of those which do run on that day +are poorly paid. Carrying the mail helps them out. They run, perhaps, +for that purpose. But is it _necessary_ to keep up Sabbath violation +on our great routes in order to forward the mail? Does not the +Saturday telegraph do away with that necessity? Every important item +of business can be put through on the wires in time. + +The side of the Sabbath is the side of God. + + * * * * * + +What became of George Stephenson and his son Robert? the boys will +have the curiosity to ask. + +George and Robert Stephenson took their rank among the great men of +England--that class of great men who contribute to the true prosperity +of the world, by giving it better tools to do its labour with. A good +tool is a great civilizer. The more perfect the instrument, the better +the work. The more perfect the instrument, the greater the number of +persons benefited: for the sagacity necessary to invention and +discovery, and the intelligence required to mature them, are +large-hearted and broad-minded. They work for the many, not the few. + +The history of railways in England it is not my object to give you, +and that enters largely into the remaining period of George +Stephenson's life; you will find it fully detailed in Smiles' life of +him. He became rich and famous, yet he always preserved the simple +habits and tastes of his early days. Though asked to dine at the +richly-spread tables of lords and baronets, no dish suited his taste +better than his frugal oatmeal "crowdie," and no cook served it better +than himself. Kings and queens thought it a privilege to talk with +him. Liverpool erected a statue of him. The King of Belgium knighted +him. But he cared little for honours. When somebody, wishing to +dedicate a book to him, asked what his "ornamental initials" were, "I +have to state," replied he, "that I have no flourishes to my name, +either before or after. I think it will be as well if you merely say, +'George Stephenson.'" + +Young men beginning life often called upon him for advice and +assistance. He hated show and foppery, and a weakness in that +direction often got reproof. One day one came flourishing a +gold-headed cane. "Put by that stick, my man," said Stephenson, "and I +will talk with you." + +"You will, sir, I hope, excuse me," he said, on another occasion, to a +gaily-dressed youth; "I am plain spoken, and am sorry to see a clever +young man like you disfigured by that fine-patterned waistcoat, and +all those chains and fang-dangs. If I, sir, had bothered _my head_ +with those things when I was of your age _I should not have been where +I now am_." + +Wholesome as were his reproofs, his counsel was as reliable, and his +help as timely. From the mine of his own rugged experience he had +gathered truths richer than grains of gold; and he never allowed any +good opportunity to pass without insisting upon the practice of those +homelier and sterner virtues which form the strong woof of character. +When building a road between Birmingham and London, Robert walked +twenty times over the entire route, illustrating the patient assiduity +taught him by his father. No slip-shod work could escape their eye. +_"Neglect nothing_," was their motto. As a Killingworth collier, +George put his brains and his heart into his work; as a +master-builder, he put his conscience into it. All his work was +honest, representing the actual character of the man. + +When the rough and tumble of life began to subside, and he became a +more stationary engine, with greater leisure for the enjoyment of his +now ample home, his old love for birds, dogs, horses, and rabbits +revived. There was not a bird's nest upon his grounds that he did not +know, and he often watched their building with a builder's interest; a +blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds, an ant tugging for one +poor grain, were all to his mind revelations of the wonderful +mechanism and creative power of God. + +He died in August, 1848, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. + +Robert proved himself worthy of such a father. They were alike in +character, intimately associated in the great engineering enterprises +of their day, and bound to each other by the fondest affection. + +George built roads, Robert bridges to run them over; for railroads +have given birth to the most stupendous and splendid bridges the world +ever saw. The famous tubular bridge over the Straits of Menai, +connecting Holyhead with the main land, and the High Level bridge of +Newcastle, built by him, are monuments of engineering skill. You often +see pictures of them. The most remarkable work of his genius, however, +is on _the American_ side of the Atlantic ocean. + +The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, terminating at Montreal, wanted +to connect with the seaboard; and the road was extended from Montreal +to Portland, Maine. But the river St. Lawrence, deep and broad, +sweeping down its mighty current the waters and ice of the great +lakes, broke the line, and separated the road into two parts. The +river must be spanned. A bridge must be built. It was a stupendous +undertaking, but Robert Stephenson can do it. Robert Stephenson did do +it. It is thrown from Languire to a point half a mile below the city, +a distance of nearly two miles. It is composed of twenty-four spans, +and has three million feet of solid masonry in it. The road runs +through iron tubes, sixty feet above the river, and the train is nine +minutes going across. There are ten thousand tons of iron in the +tubes. It was six years in building. It is called the Goliath of +bridges, and is named the Victoria Bridge, in honour of the Queen. + +[Illustration: TUBULAR BRIDGE OVER THE MENAI STRAITS.] + +Robert drafted, calculated, estimated, and superintended section +after section of this immense work, and yet never visited the scene of +labour; photographs were sent him of its progress step by step. It was +finished December, 1859, and opened with all the festal honours +possible in that season of the year. At the entertainments given there +was one sentiment: "Robert Stephenson, the greatest engineer the world +ever saw," followed by no cheers. A deep hush swept over the assembly. + +For Robert Stephenson was dead. He died the twelfth of October, two +months before the full completion of the work, in the rich prime of a +noble manhood. His death was looked upon as a public calamity, and +England, with a true sense of his worth, laid him side by side with +her most honourable dead. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, with her +kings and queens, her princes and poets, her warriors and statesmen. +The funeral procession was between two and three miles long; +thousands lined the streets, and thousands pressed into the Abbey. +Tickets were necessary in order to get entrance; and one of the most +pressing applicants was a humble working-man, who, years before, drove +the first locomotive engine from Birmingham to London, with Robert +Stephenson at his elbow. + +The humble Newcastle collier-boy crowned his life with honourable +toil, and at his death a nation mourned a great man fallen. + + * * * * * + +You have read this short history with great interest, I doubt not, my +young friends; and some I hear say, "I wish _I_ could achieve some +great and useful work in the world, and have my name written in a +book." + +It is not a mean aspiration. Every noble spirit desires to be better +and greater than it is, and God gives to each of you a great and +precious work to do. + +You have a Saviour to serve and glorify, and heaven to win, which is +indeed our great life-work here. + +The Lord Jesus, having bought our redemption by His own blood on the +cross, has set up His kingdom in the world, and says to you and to +every one, "Son, give Me thy heart." + +And there is but one true purpose to make before every other purpose +in life: "As for me, _I_ will serve the Lord." If by true repentance +and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ you give yourself to Him, the +noblest life is before you. This work will bless all other work. This +path will make all other paths safe. No matter what your situation in +this world may be, high or low, rich or poor, your Master is most +honoured by godliness and humility, and they are out of place nowhere. + +The world is so poor that it can give its honours to but a few. God, +in His infinite richness, offers heaven to us all; and by the gift of +His Holy Spirit, for which we must ever pray, a life of piety is +within the reach even of a little child. + +The steady trust and singleness of purpose which have so delighted you +in the lives of the Stephensons, may you have, my children, in the +service of your blessed Lord, who will make you victorious over every +hindrance, and bring you safe to His sweet presence in heaven at last. + +There you will find your name written in the Lamb's _Book of Life_, +never, never to perish. + +George Watson and Co., Printers, 28, Charles Street, Farringdon Road, +London. + + * * * * * + + CATALOGUE of ILLUSTRATED PUBLICATIONS + + LONDON: + S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., 9, Paternoster Row. + + +ILLUSTRATED PERIODICALS. + + + New Penny Periodical. With numerous Engravings by first-class + Artists. + + WEEKLY WELCOME. + + The Articles are by popular Authors, and are suitable for the + entertainment of both young and old. 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The Yearly Volume for 1877, with cover + printed in colours, 1s. 6d.; Cloth, 2s.; Gilt Edges, 2s. 6d. A + piece of music appears in each number. + + The Volumes from 1875 kept on sale, in three sorts of binding, + as above. + + + In Numbers, Monthly, price One Penny. + + FRIENDLY VISITOR. + + Illustrated. A Magazine for the Aged. Printed in bold Type. The + Yearly Volume for 1877, coloured cover, 1s. 6d. Cloth 2s.; Gilt + Edges 2s. 6d. + + Volumes for 1876 in three sorts of binding, as above. + + +FOR SUNDAY SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES, Etc. + + THREE PEOPLE. A Story of the American Crusade. Giving an + interesting history of the lives of three young men from the + day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great + success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. + It is an excellent and interesting gift-book for young and old. + With twenty-nine full-page Illustrations. Large crown quarto, + cloth, 5s. + + ANECDOTES FOR THE Family. Being a selection of interesting + Anecdotes, suitable for the Social Circle. Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + THE BROOK'S STORY, and other Tales. By Mrs. Bowen. An + interesting story for the young; teaching them from references + to nature to make the best use of their early days. With + full-page Illustrations. Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + A BUNCH of CHERRIES, Gathered and strung by J. W. Kirton. + Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + MORNING DEW-DROPS; or, The Young Abstainer. By Mrs. C. L. + Balfour. A revised and Illustrated Edition of this most + valuable Temperance Book for the Young is just ready. Cloth, + 3s. 6d. + + THE BIBLE PICTURE Roll. Containing a large engraving of a + Scripture subject with a few lines of letterpress for each day + of the month. Suitable for the Schoolroom and Nursery. With + Coloured Cover, 3s. + + GERARD MASTYN; or, The Son of a Genius. By E. H. Burrage. With + Illustrations, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + ILLUSTRATED ANECDOTES and Pithy Pieces of Prose and Verse. + Compiled by T. B. S. With numerous Illustrations. Cloth plain, + 2s. 6d. + + LEAVES FROM the TREE of Life. By Rev. R. Newton, D.D. With + numerous Illustrations. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + LIFE of JAS. McCURREY, Edited by Mrs. Balfour. CL, 2s. 6d. + + NATURE'S MIGHTY Wonders. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + RAYS FROM THE SUN of Righteousness. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. + With numerous Illustrations, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + THE BEST THINGS. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. With numerous + Illustrations. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + THE KING'S HIGHWAY. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. With numerous + Illustrations. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + THE SAFE COMPASS, and How it Points. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. + With numerous Illustrations. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + "MY TEXT ROLL." Containing thirty-one large engraved Texts in + handsome borders, for hanging on the Walls of Rooms. With + Illuminated Cover, 2s. 6d. + + BIBLE JEWELS. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + A MORE EXCELLENT Way, and other Stories of the Temperance + Crusade in America. By M. E. Winslow. Containing incidents + founded on facts in connection with Woman's Work in this branch + of Temperance labour. With eight full-page Engravings. Crown + 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + BIBLE WONDERS. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + THE DAIRYMAN'S Daughter. By the Rev. Legh Richmond, M.A. Cloth, + 1s. 6d.; Gilt, 2s. 6d. + + THE GREAT PILOT and His Lessons. By the Author of "The Giants, + and how to fight them." Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + ILLUSTRATED SABBATH Facts; or, God's Weekly Gift to the Weary. + Reprinted from the "British Workman." Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + The LITTLE WOODMAN and his Dog Caesar. By Mrs. Sherwood. Cloth, + 1s. 6d. + + "PUFFING BILLY" and the Prize "Rocket;" or, The Story of the + Stephensons and our Railways. By Mrs. H. C. Knight. Cloth + plain, 1s. 6d. + + RAG AND TAG. By Mrs. E. J. Whittaker. Containing an account of + two ragged children who are taken in hand by Christian people + and become worthy members of society. With ten full-page + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + RILLS FROM the FOUNTAIN of Life. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. Cloth, + 1s. 6d. + + DIVINE AND MORAL Songs. By Dr. Watts. Cloth, 1s. + + The GIANTS; AND HOW to Fight them. By the Rev. Dr. Newton. + Cloth, 1s. + + HOW PAUL'S PENNY became a Pound. By the Author of "Dick and his + Donkey." With Illustrations. New Edition. Cloth, 1s. + + HOW PETER'S POUND became a Penny. By the Author of "Jack the + Conqueror," &c. With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + JENNY'S GERANIUM; or, the Prize Flower of a London Court. + Cloth, 1s. + + JOE and SALLY; or, a Good Deed and its Fruits. By the Author of + "Grumbling Tommy." With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + JOHN ORIEL'S START IN LIFE. By Mary Howitt. With many + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + A MOTHER'S STORIES for her Children. By the late Mrs. Carus + Wilson. Cloth, 1s. + + "NOT A MINUTE TO Spare." A Thought for the Times. By S. + Clarence. With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + PRINCE CONSORT, The late. Reminiscences of his Life and + Character. By Rev. J. H. Wilson. With numerous Illustrations. + Cloth, 1s. + + SNOWDROPS; or, Life from the Dead. With numerous Illustrations. + Cloth, 1s. + + TOIL AND TRUST; or, Life Story of Patty, the Workhouse Girl. By + Mrs. Balfour. Cloth, 1s. + + WIDOW GREEN AND her Three Nieces. By Mrs. Ellis. Cl., 1s. + + NO WORK, NO BREAD. By the Author of "Jessica's First Prayer." + With Illustrations. Cloth, 6d. + + THE PEARLY GATES. By Mrs. C. Rigg. With Illustrations. Cloth, + 6d. + + WILLIE TURNER, THE Cripple; or, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus." By + Mrs. Fry. Cloth, 6d. + + +TEMPERANCE. + +(_Many of these are suitable for Sunday School Library_) + + THREE PEOPLE. A Story of the American Crusade. Giving an + interesting history of the lives of three young men from the + day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great + success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. + It is an excellent and interesting gift-book for both young and + old. With twenty-nine full-page Illustrations. Large crown + quarto, cloth, 5s. + + A BUNCH of CHERRIES. Gathered and strung by J. W. Kirton, Esq., + Author of "Buy your own Cherries." Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + MORNING DEW-DROPS; or, The Young Abstainer. By Mrs. C. L. + Balfour. A revised and Illustrated Edition of this most + valuable Temperance Book for the Young is just ready. Cloth, + 3s. 6d. + + LIFE OF JAMES M'CURREY, The. Edited by Mrs. C. L. Balfour. + Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + A MORE EXCELLENT Way, and other Stories of the Temperance + Crusade in America. By M. E. Winslow. Containing incidents + founded on facts in connection with Woman's Work in this branch + of Temperance labour. With eight full-page Engravings. Crown + 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. + + THE FOUR PILLARS OF Temperance. By the Author of "Buy your own + Cherries." Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + ILLUSTRATED TEMPERANCE Anecdotes; or, Facts and Figures for the + Platform and the People. Compiled by the Editor of the "British + Workman." 1st and 2nd series. Cloth, 1s. 6d. each. + + CHURCH OF ENGLAND Temperance Tracts. Illustrated. Assorted + packets, 1s. Nos. 1 to 18. + + CLUB NIGHT: A Village Record. By Mrs. Balfour. Cloth, 1s. + + COME HOME, MOTHER. A Story for Mothers. Cloth, 1s. + + COUSIN BESSIE: A Story of Youthful Earnestness. Cloth, 1s. + + DIGGING A GRAVE with a Wine Glass. By Mrs. S. C. Hall. Cloth, + 1s. + + FRANK SPENCER'S Rule of Life. By J. W. Kirton, Author of "Buy + your own Cherries." Cloth, 1s. + + MODERATE DRINKING. Containing the Speeches on the above subject + by Sir H. Thompson, F.R.C.S.; Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S.; + Rev. Canon Farrar, D.D., F.R.S.; Edward Baines, Esq.; Admiral + Sir James Sulivan, K.C.B.; and Rev. H. Sinclair Paterson, M.D. + With Portraits of the above Speakers. Cloth, 1s. Without + Portraits and first three Speeches only, paper cover, 4d. + + NOTHING LIKE EXAMPLE. By Nelsie Brook. With Engravings. Cloth, + 1s. + + PARISH DIFFICULTY and its Remedy. By K. Ashley. Cloth, 1s. + + PASSAGES IN THE HISTORY of a Shilling. By Mrs. C. L. Balfour. + Cloth, 1s. + + WANDERINGS OF A Bible, and My Mother's Bible. Cloth, 1s. + + THE BLACK BULL. By the Widow of a Publican. A Story for the + Times. Cloth, 6d. + + "BUY YOUR OWN Cherries." Prose Edition. By J. W. Kirton, Esq. + Cloth, 6d. + + "BUY YOUR OWN Cherries." Versified from the original Edition. + Cloth, 6d. + + Christopher THORPE'S Victory. A Tale for the Upper Classes. By + Nelsie Brook. Cloth, 6d. + + JOHN WORTH; or, The Drunkard's Death. Cloth, 6d. + + NO WORK, NO BREAD. By the Author of "Jessica's First Prayer." + With Illustrations. Cloth, 6d. + + PASTOR'S PLEDGE. By Rev. William Roaf. 6d. + + ELIZABETH COMSTOCK'S Address. 2d. + + JIM LINEHAM's HAPPY Blunder. 2d. + + HOW RACHEL HUNTER bought her own Cherries. 2d. + + HISTORY and MYSTERY of a Glass of Ale. By the Author of "Buy + your own Cherries." 2d. + + "GOOD FRUIT." With Cover, 2d. + + "HE DRINKS." With Cover, 2d. + + "NOT A DROP MORE, Daniel." With coloured cover, 2d. + + OLD BOOTS. 2d. + + TOTTIE'S CHRISTMAS Shoes. 2d. + + WILLIAM AND MARY; or, The Fatal Blow. By Mrs. Ellis. 2d. + + BUY YOUR OWN CHERRIES. By J. W. Kirton. 1d. + + CLERGYMAN'S REASONS for Teetotalism. 1d. + + FAMILY PLEDGE CARD. 1d. + + PUT ON THE BREAK, Jim! 1d. + + +KINDNESS TO ANIMALS, Etc. + + OUR ZOOLOGICAL Friends. By Harland Coultas. Cl., 6s. + + ANIMALS AND THEIR Young. By Harland Coultas. With Full-page + engravings. Cloth, 5s. + + STORIES ABOUT Horses. With numerous Full-page Illustrations. + Cloth, 5s. + + BIRDIE AND HER DOG; and other Stories of Canine Sagacity. With + numerous Illustrations. Cl., 3s. 6d. + + OUR FOUR-FOOTED Friends; or, the History of Manor Farm, and the + People and Animals there. By Mary Howitt. With numerous + Illustrations. Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + NATURAL HISTORY Picture Roll. Consisting of 31 Illustrated + Leaves, with simple large type Letterpress, suitable to hang up + in the Nursery, Schoolroom, &c. Price 3s. + + OUR DUTY to ANIMALS. By Mrs. C. Bray, Author of "Physiology for + Schools," &c. Intended to teach the young kindness to animals. + Cloth, 1s. 6d.: School Edition, 1s. 3d. + + A MOTHER'S LESSONS on Kindness to Animals. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd + Series. Cloth, 1s.; Limp, 6d. each. + + CLAIMS OF ANIMALS. A Lecture on the duty of promoting kindness + to the Animal Creation. In large type, with Illustrations. + Cloth, 1s. + + KINDNESS to ANIMALS. By Charlotte Elizabeth. With numerous + illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + POOR BLOSSOM. The Story of a Horse. By E. H. B. With many + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + DICK and HIS DONKEY; or, How to Pay the Rent. Cloth, 6d. + + LITTLE FAN. Cloth, 6d. + + ONLY A LADYBIRD. Cloth, 6d. + + RICHARD BARTON; or, The Wounded Bird. Cloth, 6d. + + SPARROW CLUB. By the Author of "Whose dog is it?" &c. Showing + the folly of farmers, &c., banding themselves together to + destroy Sparrows, &c. With Illustrations. Cloth. 6d. + + "WHOSE DOG IS IT?" or, the Story of Poor Gyp. With + Illustrations. Cloth, 6d. + + OLD JANET'S CHRISTMAS Gift. An interesting Story of a Donkey. + Coloured Cover, 2d. + + ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. With Cover, and full of Illustrations. + 1d. each. + + 1. Anecdotes of Horses. + 2. Anecdotes of Dogs. + 3. Anecdotes of Donkeys. + 4. Neddy and Me. + 5. Blackbird's Nest. + 6. On the Management of Horses. + 7. The Brother Drovers. + 8. Kind-Hearted Ralph. + + ANIMALS' FRIEND Sheet Almanac. Annually. 1d. + + HALFPENNY BOOKS. + + Kindness to Animals. + Peter's Pets. + "Only for Fun." + The Useful Donkey. + Mercy to Animals. + Emma's Visit to the Country. + The Chaffinch's Story. + The Sparrow's Sermon. + Bobby and the Birds. + The Feathered Friends. + Annie and the Butterfly. + Roland, the Champion. + + ILLUSTRATED FLY-Leaves. 2s. 6d. per 100. + + No. 87. A Plea for the Birds. + + ILLUSTRATED WALL Papers. 1d. each. + + No. 11. A Plea for the Donkey. + " 28. A Plea for the Birds. + " 38. Horses and their Masters. + " 51. The Shoeing Forge. + " 52. Robin and the Railway Guard. + " 59. How to Manage Horses. + " 68. Our Little Feathered Friends. + " 72. The Cow's Complaint. + " 73. Man's Noble Friend--The Horse. + " 74. A Royal Society. + " 77. The Costermonger. + " 85. Anecdotes of Elephants. + + +FOR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. + + OUT AT SEA: A Few Simple Ballads addressed to Sailors. Cl., 6d. + & 1s. + + BEN AND HIS MOTHER. By Mrs. Carns Wilson. Cloth, 6d. + + ARTICLES OF WAR: A Dialogue between two Soldiers. 3d. + + NED STOKES, THE MAN-o'-War's Man. By Agnes E. Weston. 3d. + + "HE DRINKS!" With cover, 2d. + + "THE DRUMMER BOY." With Cover, 2d. + + DOES IT ANSWER. 1d. + + RIGHT ABOUT FACE. 1d. + + GOING ALOFT. 1d. + + +FOR WORKING MEN. + + ILLUSTRATED PENNY Readings: being Twelve Separate Readings in + each Series. In Paper Covers. Third Series, 1s. + + SPARKS FROM THE Anvil. By Elihu Burritt. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + NEVER GIVE UP. A Christmas Story for Working Men and their + Wives. By Nelsie Brook. Cloth, 1s. + + NOTHING LIKE EXAMPLE. By Nelsie Brook. With engravings. Cloth, + 1s. + + THE BEST MASTER; or, Can Coachmen have their Sundays? By the + Author of "Household Proverbs." Cloth, 6d. + + THE BLACK BULL. By the Widow of a Publican. A Story for the + Times. Cloth, 6d. + + "BUY YOUR OWN Cherries." By J. W. Kirton, Esq. Cloth, 6d. + + LOST IN THE SNOW; or, The Kentish Fisherman. By Mrs. C. Rigg. + With numerous Illustrations. Cloth, 6d. + + "BRITISH WORKMAN" Series of Tracts. Intended for circulation + amongst the Working Classes. 2d. each. + + 1. Darby Brill + 2. The Carpenter's Speech + 3. The Sailor's Parrot + 4. Tom Carter's Way of Doing Good + 5. The Last Customer + 6. Going Aloft + 7. "Right about Face" + 8. John Harding's Locket + 9. He Drinks + 10. Doing his Duty + 11. Good Fruit + 12. The Bent Shilling + 13. The Drummer Boy + 14. Inch Auger + 15. Split Navvy + 16. Put on the Break, Jim! + 17. Taking up of Barney O'Rourke + 18. The House that John Built + 19. Articles of War + 20. Little Sam Groves + 21. Poor Man's House Repaired + 22. Richard Harvey + 23. Only one Glass + 24. How Rachel Hunter, &c. + 25. Robert Gray Mason + 26. My Mother's Gold Ring + 27. The Emperor's Proclamation. + 28. The Sign of the Fox. + 29. John Jarvis + 30. Elizabeth Comstock's Address + 31. The Polite Postmaster + 32. The Home Concert + 33. Temperance and Intemperance + 34. Cure for Strikes + 35. Betty Brown, the Orange Girl + + COLOURED TRACTS. Twenty pages. With coloured Cover, 2d. each. + + 1. Buy your own Cherries + 2. Matthew Hart's Dream + 3. Old Janet's Christmas Gift + 4. A Little Child shall lead them + 5. The Last Penny + 6. Out of Work + 7. John Stepping Forth + 8. The Independent Labourer + 9. Bought with a Price. By A. L. O. E. + 10. Bethlehem + 11. The Three Bags of Gold + 12. The Hidden Foe. By A. L. O. E. + 13. No Work, No Bread + 14. Light in the Bars + 15. Tramp's Story + 16. Thady O'Connor + 17. The Shadow on the Door + 18. Fisherman's Shagreen Box + 19. Going Down Hill + 20. Not a Drop more, Daniel + 21. Mike Slattery + 22. The Holly Boy + 23. Melodious Mat + 24. Blind Mary of the Mountain + 25. Old Boots + 26. Tottie's Christmas Shoes + 27. Died at his Post + 28. Jim Lineham's Happy Blunder + 29. The Emperor's Proclamation + + WORK AND WAGES. By J. W. Kirton, Author of "Buy your own + Cherries." 2d. + + BUY YOUR OWN CHERRIES. Prose. By J. W. Kirton. 1d. + + PUT ON THE BREAK, Jim! 1d. + + ILLUSTRATED WALL Papers. Reprints in large type from the + "British Workman." For the Walls of Workshops and Schools, + Ships' Cabins, Barbers' Shops, &c. One Penny each. And done up + in One Shilling packets, containing twelve numbers. Five + Shilling packets containing Nos. 1 to 60. + + 1. "No Swearing Allowed" + 2. Bob, the Cabin-Boy + 3. "Swallowing a Yard of Land" + 4. "Knock off those Chains" + 5. "He stands Fire!" + 6. Fisherman and Porter + 7. "Will Father be a Goat?" + 8. Man with a Cross on his Back + 9. John Maynard, the Brave Pilot + 10. My Account with her Majesty + 11. A Plea for the Donkey + 12. Preparing for the Flower Show + 13. Gin Shop + 14. Thomas Paine's Recantation + 15. Oil and Stewed Eels + 16. The Blue Jacket's Sampler + 17. Buy your own Cherries + 18. Fred Harford's Great Coat + 19. Reduced to the Ranks + 20. Musical Coal Man + 21. The Fool's Pence + 22. "What's that to Me?" + 23. A Plea for the Birds + 24. A Pledge for a Pledge + 25. The First Snowdrop + 26. The Losings Bank and the Savings Bank + 27. Mike Donovan's Looking Glass + 28. John Morton's New Harmonium + 29. On the Look-Out + 30. The "'Tis Buts" Box + 31. The Prodigal Son + 32. The Christmas Arm Chair + 33. The Village Gleaner + 34. The Ambitious Blacksmith + 35. My First Ministerial Difficulty + 36. Something to Show for your Money + 37. Stop! Mend your Buckle + 38. Horses and their Masters + 39. The Parable of the Sower + 40. Jack and the Yellow Boys + 41. The Christmas Sheaf + 42. Discontented Pendulum + 43. The Life Boat + 44. Providence will Provide + 45. Celebrated Italians + 46. Dust Ho! + 47. A Plea for Washerwomen + 48. The Nativity + 49. The Name in Gold Letters + 50. John Rose's Freehold + 51. The Shoeing Forge + 52. Robin and Railway Guard + 53. In the Far Country + 54. Canute's Rebuke + 55. Tom Carter's Way of Doing Good + 56. The Two Gardeners + 57. Dip your Roll in your Own Pot + 58. Our Christmas Tree + 59. How to Manage Horses + 60. Home-Coming of Darby Brill + 61. Scripture Patchwork Quilt + 62. Michael Donovan + 63. "That's Thee, Jem" + 64. The Secret of England's Greatness + 65. My Uncle's Life Motto + 66. Should Museums be Opened on Sundays? + 67. Where are you going, Thomas Brown? + 68. Our Little Feathered Friends + 69. Tim's Oration + 70. Live and Let Live + 71. The Story of a Violin + 72. The Cow's Complaint + 73. Man's Noble Friend--The Horse + 74. A Royal Society + 75. Hints for Working Men + 76. The Well-to-do Cabman + 77. The Costermonger + 78. Eric, the Russian Slave + 79. Herrings for Nothing + 80. Died at his Post + 81. Conditions of Sale + 82. The Emperor's Proclamation + 83. The Brazen Serpent + 84. The Polite Postmaster + 85. Anecdotes of Elephants + 86. The Workman's Home Concert + + JEFFREY THE MURDERER. By the Rev. G. W. McCree. 1d. + + PROVIDENCE ROW; or, The Successful Collier. By Rev. T. H. + Walker. 1d. + + SLAVERY IN ENGLAND. A Vision of the Night. 1d. + + SUNDAY ON "THE Line;" or, Plain Facts for Working Men. 1d. + + "BRITISH WORKMAN" Placards. Adapted for Workshops, &c., 1d.; + Nos. 1 to 14. Nos. 1 to 12 done up in packets, 1s. If an order + be sent with 14 stamps, the complete Set will be forwarded post + free. + + +BOOKS FOR BOYS. + +(_See also Temperance, etc._) + + JACK THE CONQUEROR; or, Difficulties Overcome. By the Author of + "Dick and his Donkey." Cloth, 5s. + + MORNING DEWDROPS; or, The Young Abstainer. By Mrs. C. L. + Balfour. With Illustrations. Cl., 3s. 6d. + + THREE PEOPLE. A Story of the American Crusade. Giving an + interesting history of the lives of three young men from the + day of their birth to the sad death of one, and the great + success and happiness, after great struggles, of the other two. + It is an excellent and interesting gift-book for both young and + old. With twenty-nine full-page Illustrations. Large crown + quarto, cloth, 5s. + + GERARD MASTYN; or, The Son of a Genius. By E. H. Burrage. With + Illustrations. Cloth, 2s. 6d. + + THE LITTLE WOOD-MAN and his Dog Caesar. By Mrs. Sherwood. Cloth, + 1s. 6d.; gilt, 2s. 6d. + + "PUFFING BILLY" and the Prize "Rocket"; or, The Story of the + Stephensons and our Railways. By Mrs. H. C. Knight. Cloth, + plain, 1s. 6d. + + RAG AND TAG. By Mrs. E. J. Whittaker. Containing an account of + two ragged children who are kindly taken in hand by Christian + people and become worthy members of society. With ten full-page + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + VIGNETTES OF AMERICAN History. By Mary Howitt. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + FRANK SPENCER'S Rule of Life. By J. W. Kirton, Author of "Buy + your own Cherries." Cloth, 1s. + + HOW PAUL'S PENNY became a Pound. By the Author of "Dick and his + Donkey." New Edition. With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + HOW PETER'S POUND became a Penny. By the Author of "Jack the + Conqueror," &c. With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + JOE AND SALLY; or, A Good Deed and its Fruits. By the Author of + "Grumbling Tommy." With illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + JOHN ORIEL'S START in Life. By Mary Howitt. With many + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + "NOT A MINUTE TO Spare." A Thought for the Times. By S. + Clarence. With Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. + + NO GAINS WITHOUT Pains; A True Story. By H. C. Knight. Cloth, + 1s. + + WILLY HEATH AND the House Rent. By William Leask, D.D. Cloth, + 1s. + + DICK and HIS DONKEY; or, How to Pay the Rent. Cloth, 6d. + + STORY OF TWO APPRENTICES. The Dishonest and the Successful. By + the Rev. J. T. Barr. Cloth, 6d. + + SCRUB, THE WORK-HOUSE Boy. By Mrs. Balfour. 6d. + + THE TINY LIBRARY. Books printed in large type. Cloth, 6d. Nos. + 1 to 26 may be had in two boxes (A & B), price 6s. 6d. each, or + in one box, price 13s. each. + + 1. Hot Coals + 2. The Golden Rule + 3. Grandpapa's Walking-Stick + 4. Honesty the best Policy + 5. Silver Cup + 6. Short Stories + 7. Brave Little Boys + 8. Ben and his Mother + 9. Little David + 10. Richard Barton; or, The Wounded Bird + 11. Little Jim, the Rag Merchant + 12. Curious Jane + 13. Jenny and the Showman + 14. Little Fan + 15. Broken Window + 16. Letty Young + 17. Matty and Tom + 18. The Orphans + 19. John Madge + 20. Philip Reeve + 21. Henry Harris + 22. L1 and L10,000 + 23. Brave Little Tom + 24. Ella's Rose-bud + 25. The Pedlar's Loan + 26. Milly's New Year + 27. Only a Ladybird + 28. The First False Step + 29. Richard Shaw + 30. He would not Think + + WILLIE TURNER, THE Cripple; or, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus." By + Mrs. Fry. Cloth, 6d. + + A LAD WITH A GOOD Character. 1d. + + ORPHAN BOY; or, How Little John was Reclaimed. 1d. + + SON OF MY FRIEND. 1d. + + JUVENILE LIBRARY. Small books containing Stories for Children. + Well Illustrated. Nos. 1 to 84. One halfpenny each; and may + also be had in assorted Sixpenny Packets, A, B, C, D, E, F, and + G. + + 1. Fear of Ridicule + 2. The Two Nests + 3. Little Helpers + 4. Anecdotes of Dogs + 5. The Two Bears + 6. Questions with Answers + 7. Beautiful Garment + 8. The Bird's Nest + 9. The Organ Boy + 10. Lessons on Kindness + 11. Spring Flowers + 12. True Duncan + 13. Bread cast upon the Waters + 14. Greek Testament + 15. Brave Sailor Boy + 16. "You Can't Straighten It." + 17. Child Colporteur + 18. Boy that could be Trusted + 19. The Golden Star + 20. What a Blind Child can Do + 21. Be Truthful + 22. Child's Resolution + 23. Soldier and Princess + 24. Have you a Winter Garden? + 25. Trembling Eyelid + 26. Willie Harris + 27. The "Cry" Boy + 28. Troublesome Joe + 29. The Tell-Tale + 30. John Reynolds + 31. Pleasures of the Country + 32. Bennie Wilson's, Anti-Society + 33. Robert, The Stone-thrower + 34. Little Frank and Old "Dobbin" + 35. True Bravery + 36. Nellie Lindsay + 37. A Youthful Hero + 38. The Clever Boy + 39. Little Hugh's Tool-Box + 40. Try Company + 41. Remarkable Answer to Prayer + 42. What Echo Said + 43. Girl at the Well + 44. Juvenile Inquiries + 45. The Young Cadet + 46. Elijah in the Desert + 47. Greedy Bill + 48. A Happy New Year + 49. "Please, Sir" + 50. Young Sailor + 51. Horses from the Wood + 52. Little Bertha + 53. White Feather of Peace + 54. Helping Father to Garden + 55. Indian Chief + 56. Christmas Tree + 57. It Rains + 58. Young Patriot + 59. "With a will, Joe" + 60. Letter to Little Boys and Girls + 61. Young Drummer's Patchwork Quilt + 62. Poor Boy who became a great Painter + 63. Little Gleaner + 64. Pincher's Friend + 65. Help a Fellow-Creature + 66. Bargain with the Pump + 67. Bridal Wine-cup + 68. Plymouth Boatman + 69. True and False Courage + 70. Be kind to your Mother + 71. What the Birds say + 72. Ministry of Flowers + 73. Kindness to Animals + 74. Peter's Pets + 75. Only for Fun + 76. The Useful Donkey + 77. Mercy to Animals + 78. Emma's Visit to the Country + 79. The Chaffinch's Story + 80. The Sparrow's Sermon + 81. Bobby and the Birds + 82. The Feathered Friends + 83. Annie and the Butterfly + 84. Roland, the Champion + + +BOOKS FOR GIRLS. + + BIRDIE AND HER DOG; and other Stories of Canine Sagacity, with + numerous Illustrations. Cl., 3s. 6d. + + THE BROOK'S STORY, and other Tales. By Mrs. C. E. Bowen. An + interesting Story for the young; teaching them from references + to nature to make the best use of their early days. With + numerous Illustrations. Cloth, 3s. 6d. + + THE DAIRYMAN'S Daughter. Cloth, 1s. 6d., gilt, 2s. 6d. + + RAG AND TAG. By Mrs. E. J. Whittaker. Containing an account of + two ragged children who are kindly taken in hand by Christian + people and become worthy members of society. With ten full-page + Illustrations. Cloth, 1s. 6d. + + COME HOME, MOTHER! A Story for Mothers. By Nelsie Brook. Cloth, + 1s. + + COUSIN BESSIE. A Story of Youthful Earnestness. Cloth, 1s. + + THE GOVERNESS; or, The Missing Pencil Case. Cloth, 1s. + + JENNY'S GERANIUM; or, The Prize Flower of a London Court. + Cloth, 1s. + + JESSIE DYSON. A Tale for the Young. By John A. Walker. 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Nos. 1 to 12 in one volume, cl., 3s. 6d. + + 1. Farmer O'Shaugnessy and his Son. + 2 & 3. The Michelstown Caves. + 4. Brian Gallagher. + 5. The Last of the O'G's. + 6. Phelim M'Carthy. + 7. Ned Cassidy of the Lakes. + 8. Ned Cassidy on the Lakes. + 9. Larry O'Toole. + 10 & 11. Ned Cassidy of the Lakes in "the Steel Bracelets." + 12. Barny O'Brien on "Home Rule." + 13. Larry Corcoran, the Blacksmith. + 14. Thady O'Connor. + + BETHLEHEM. A Little Narrative for Christmas. 1d. + + GOING HOME FOR Christmas. 1d. + + HOW to GROW a PLANT and Win a Prize. 1d. + + ON THE USE of MONEY. By Rev. John Wesley. 1d. + + ON REDEEMING THE Time. By Rev. John Wesley. 1d. + + SAM ADAMS, Welsh. 1d. + + HALFPENNY ILLUSTRATED Books. 32mo. An assorted packet may be + had, containing one of each of Nos. 1 to 24, price 1s. + + FOREIGN "BRITISH Workman." 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Printed in the following + languages. 1d. each. + + Malagasy Nos. 1 + Maori " 1 + Italian " 1-2-4 + Welsh " 1-2 + Spanish " 1-2 + Persian " 1 + Chinese " 1-3 + Hawaiian " 1 + French " 1-8 + Fijian " 1-2 + Hebrew " 1 + Turkish " 1 + Urdu " 1-2 + Tamil " 1-2 + Hindi " 1-2 + + FIVE SHILLING Packets of Back Numbers of any of the following + Illustrated Periodicals may be had as under, being less than + half-price: + + Weekly Welcome Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + British Workman Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + Children's Friend Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + Friendly Visitor Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + Band of Hope Review Pkt., 250 copies, 5s. + Infant's Magazine Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + Family Friend Packet, 125 copies, 5s. + + The above charges do not include the cost of carriage, and only + refer to Back Nos. Please be careful to order "Back Nos. + Packets." + + ILLUSTRATED FLYLEAVES. Four-page Reprints from the "Friendly + Visitor," "British Workman," &c. Specially commended to Tract + Distributors, Sunday-school Teachers, &c. + + 1. Providence will Provide + 2. Poor Joseph + 3. A Remarkable Contrast + 4. Doing things on a Large Scale + 5. Patched Window + 6. A Thoughtful Wife + 7. Daily Teachings + 8. A Crown: or, Does it Pay? + 9. Railway Guard + 10. Old Uncle Johnson + 11. The Debt is paid + 12. Please, Sir, will you Read it? + 13. Please, Father, Come Home Early + 14. Rees Pritchard and the Goat + 15. The Beaten Carpet + 16. Blue Cart with the Red Wheels + 17. Secret of England's Greatness + 18. Uncle Anthony + 19. Blind Mary + 20. Niff and his Dogs + 21. The Singing Cobbler of Hamburg + 22. Hunter's Home, &c. + 23. That Great Fountain + 24. Losses by Religion + 25. Officer and the Verse on the Wall + 26. What's This? + 27. The Infidel Officer + 28. The Singing Carpenter + 29. Alone with God + 30. Old Sailor and the Bible Reader + 31. A Lady and the Card Players + 32. The Windmill's Defect + 33. The Singing Pilgrim + 34. Thomas Brown + 35. Five "Wadmen" in Workhouse + 36. "There, you've gone over it!" + 37. "Father, don't go" + 38. "Hold! Fire if you dare!" + 39. The Great Spirit + 40. The Weekly Day of Rest + 41. Sailor's Funeral + 42. Aunt Bessy's Proverb + 43. Auction at Sea + 44. Gooseberry Basket + 45. Sea-boy's Story + 46. Sunday Morning's Dream + 47. Jack and the Yellow Boys + 48. Albatross and the Soldier + 49. Turning Point + 50. Scripture Patchwork Quilt + 51. Dark Without, Light Within + 52. Michael Donovan + 53. Old Deist + 54. Dr. Ely and the Old Negress + 55. How can these things be? + 56. Blind Cobbler + 57. The Reprieve + 58. A Little Child shall Lead Them + 59. Wilt thou Use or Abuse thy Trust? + 60. No Swearing Allowed + 61. The Soldier in the Cell + 62. A Prodigal's Return + 63. "Does you love God?" + 64. Jim Lineham's Happy Blunder + 65. Mr. Collins and the Smoker + 66. Yeddie's First and Last Communion + 67. Meeting of Chimney Sweepers + 68. How John Ross began to Kneel Down + 69. A Life for a Life + 70. Pull out the Staple! + 71. A Happy Change; or, Good for Trade + 72. John Brown, the Sensible Gravedigger + 73. Twopence a Day, and what it accomplished + 74. A Gentle Reproof + 75. "Will Father be a Goat, Mother?" + 76. The Collier's Widow + 77. Lost! Lost! + 78. The Five Steps + 79. The Door in the Heart + 80. The Richest Man in the Parish + 81. A Prodigal Restored + 82. The Lost Sheep + 83. John Morton's New Harmonium + 84. Losings Bank and Savings Bank + 85. Buy your own Cherries + 86. Harry's Pint; or, Threepence a Day + 87. A Plea for the Birds + 88. The False Pilot and the True One + 89. Swallowing a Yard of Land + 90. Sceptic and Welsh Girl + 91. The Logic of Life + 92. The Life Preserver + 93. The Lawyer's Son; or, the Changed Family + 94. The Plunge into the River + 95. The Sceptic and the Minister + 96. "I will Knock Again" + 97. Ned Stokes, the Man-o'-War's-Man + 98. The Two Gardeners + 99. The Weaver's Lamp + 100. The French Nobleman and Physician + 101. Herrings for Nothing + 102. The Heart made Captive + 103. Died at his Post + 104. Bob the Cabin Boy + 105. The Bible better than Pistols + 106. The Emperor's Proclamation + 107. The Reclaimed Sceptic + 108. "Have you got the Shilling?" + 109. The Man who Swallowed Three Brick Fields and Eight Houses + 110. "Thank you, Captain" + 111. The Speaking Tile + 112. Say your Prayers in Fair Weather + + These Illustrated Fly-Leaves may be had through any Bookseller, + or from 9, Paternoster-row, London, at the rate of 2s. 6d. per + 100, or in an assorted packet, 2s. 6d.; or in shilling packets; + in two volumes, cloth, 1s. 6d. each; gilt edges, 2s. 6d., + containing 40 assorted numbers in each, and complete volume 1 + to 100, cloth plain, 4s. 6d.; gilt edges, 6s. + + +ALMANACS. + + ANIMALS' FRIEND Almanac. With costly Engravings and + Letterpress. 1d. + + BAND OF HOPE ALMANAC. With costly Engravings and Letterpress. + 1d. + + BRITISH WORKMAN Almanac. With costly Engravings and + Letterpress. 1d. + + EVERYONE'S ALMANAC. 16 pages. 4to. With numerous Engravings. + 1d. + + NEW ENVELOPE Series. Packet A, containing Nos. 1 to 12, price + Sixpence. + + 1. "That's thee, Jem" + 2. Richest Man + 3. England's Greatness + 4. "The Debt is Paid" + 5. Patchwork Quilt + 6. The Life Preserver + 7. Gentle Reproof + 8. "Hold! Fire, if you Dare!" + 9. Blind Marv of the Mountain + 10. Tubb's Watch + 11. Conditions of Sale + 12. How to use Money + + +THE EARLHAM SERIES. + +16-page Illustrated Tracts, well printed on good paper, suitable for +presentation to both rich and poor. In assorted packets A, B, C, and +D, 6d. each. + +[Illustration: SPECIMEN OF ILLUSTRATIONS] + +CONTENTS OF PACKETS A, B, C, and D (12 Nos. each.) + + 1. The Singing Cobbler + 2. The French Nobleman + 3. "I will Knock Again" + 4. Michael Donovan + 5. The King's Messenger + 6. The Best Weapon + 7. 'Will Father be a Goat?' + 8. The Logic of the Life + 9. Eric the Slave + 10. Carletta + 11. The Two Voyages + 12. "Knock Off those Chains" + 13. "Herrings for Nothing" + 14. Astonished Infidel + 15. Old Moses + 16. Yeddie's First and Last Communion + 17. Life Preserver + 18. Singing Carpenter + 19. Sunday Morning's Dream + 20. "Hold! Fire, if you Dare!" + 21. Died at his Post + 22. Patchwork Quilt + 23. "The Debt is Paid." + 24. Bob, the Cabin-Boy + 25. "That's thee, Jim!" + 26. Richest Man in the Parish. + 27. Ransomed Slave + 28. Blind Mary of the Mountain. + 29. General Taylor + 30. Poor Joseph + 31. "Does you Love God?" + 32. Solomon's Quarry + 33. Speaking Tile + 34. Old Jack Sibley + 35. The Secret of England's Greatness + 36. "Have you got the Shilling?" + 37. The Emperor's Proclamation + 38. "Thank you, Captain" + 39. The Prophet's Warning + 40. The Conscript's Substitute + 41. The Snow Track + 42. The Empty Cradle + 43. The Reprieve + 44. Losses by Religion + 45. Donald's Success + 46. The Broken Buckle + 47. The Indian's Speech + 48. Two Strong Men + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + +Archaic and inconsistent spelling and punctuation retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Puffing Billy' and the Prize 'Rocket', by +Helen Cross Knight + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUFFING BILLY *** + +***** This file should be named 39926.txt or 39926.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/9/2/39926/ + +Produced by sp1nd, Mebyon, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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