104 MABEL STEPHENSON. [PART II. man, who came into England in the capacity of a gentleman's servant.* Mabel, his wife, was the second daughter of Robert Carr, a dyer at Ovingham. The Carrs were for several genera HIGH-STREET HOUSE, WYLAM. [By R. P. Leitch.] tions the owners of a house in that village adjoining the churchyard; and the family tomb-stone may still be seen standing against the east end of the chancel of the parish church, underneath the centre lancet window, as the tomb-stone of Thomas Bewick, the wood-engraver, occupies the western gable. Mabel Stephenson was a woman of somewhat delicate constitution, and troubled occasionally, as her neighbors said, with "the vapors." But those who remembered her concurred in describing her as "a real canny body;" and a woman of whom this is said by general consent in the Newcastle district may be pronounced a worthy person indeed, for it is about the highest praise of a woman which Northumbrians can express. *A tradition exists in the family that Robert Stephenson's father came across the Border on the loss of considerable property. Miss Stephenson, the daughter of Robert's third son, John, has stated that a suit was commenced for recovery of the property, but was dropped for want of the requisite means to prosecute it. CHAP. I.] THE STEPHENSON FAMILY. 105 For some time after their marriage, Robert resided with his wife at Walbottle, a village situated between Wylam and Newcastle, where he was employed as a laborer at the colliery; after which the family removed to Wylam, where he found employment as fireman of the old pumping-engine at that colliery. George Stephenson was the second of a family of six children.* It does not appear that the birth of any of the children was registered in the parish books, the author having made an unsuccessful search in the registers of Ovingham and Heddon-on-theWall to ascertain the fact. An old Wylam collier, who remembered George Stephenson's father, thus described him: "Geordie's fayther war like a peer o' deals nailed thegither, an' a bit o' flesh i̇' th' inside; he war as queer as Dick's hatband-went thrice aboot, an' wudn't tie, His wife Mabel war a delicat' boddie, an' varry flighty. They war an honest family, but sair hadden doon i' th' world." Indeed, the earnings of old Robert did not amount to more than twelve shillings a week; and, as there were six children to maintain, the family, during their stay at Wylam, were necessarily in very straitened circumstances. The father's wages being barely sufficient, even with the most rigid economy, for the sustenance of the household, there was little to spare for clothing, and nothing for education, so that none of the children were sent to school. Old Robert was a general favorite in the village, especially among the children, whom he was accustomed to draw about him while tending the engine-fire, and feast their young imaginations with tales of Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe, besides oth The family Bible of Robert and Mabel Stephenson, which seems to have come into their possession in November, 1790, contains the following record of the births of these children, evidently written by one hand and at one time: "A Rechester of the children belonging Robert and Mabel Stepheson- "George Stepheson Was Born June 9 day 1781 Of the two daughters, Eleanor married Stephen Liddell, afterward employed in the Locomotive Factory in Newcastle. Ann married John Nixon, with whom she emigrated to the United States; she died at Pittsburg in 1860. John Stephenson was accidentally killed at the Locomotive Factory in January, 1831. 106 GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EARLY YEARS. [PART II. ers of his own invention; so that "Bob's engine-fire" came to be the most popular resort in the village. Another feature in his character, by which he was long remembered, was his affection for birds and animals; and he had many tame favorites of both sorts, which were as fond of resorting to his engine-fire as the boys and girls themselves. In the winter time he had usually a flock of tame robins about him; and they would come hopping familiarly to his feet to pick up the crumbs which he had saved for them out of his humble dinner. At his cottage he was rarely without one or more tame blackbirds, which flew about the house, or in and out at the door. In summer time he would go birdnesting with his children; and one day he took his little boy George to see a blackbird's nest for the first time. Holding him up in his arms, he let the wondering boy peep down, through the branches held aside for the purpose, into a nest full of young birds-a sight which the boy never forgot, but used to speak of with delight to his intimate friends when he himself had grown an old man. The boy George led the ordinary life of working people's children. He played about the doors; went bird-nesting when he could; and ran errands to the village. He was also an eager listener, with the other children, to his father's curious tales, and he early imbibed from him his affection for birds and animals. In course of time he was promoted to the office of carrying his father's dinner to him while at work, and at home he helped to nurse his younger brothers and sisters. One of his earliest duties was to see that the other children were kept out of the way of the chaldron wagons, which were then dragged by horses along the wooden tram-road immediately in front of the cottage door. This wagon-way was the first in the northern district on which the experiment of a locomotive engine was tried. But, at the time of which we speak, the locomotive had scarcely been dreamt of in England as a practicable working power; horses only were used to haul the coal; and one of the first sights with which the boy was familiar was the coal-wagons dragged by them along the wooden railway at Wylam. Thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been worked out on the north side, the old engine, which had grown CHAP. I.] SISTER NELL'S BONNET. 107 "dismal to look at," as an old workman described it, was pulled down; and then old Robert, having obtained employment as a fireman at the Dewley Burn Colliery, removed with his family to that place. Dewley Burn, at this day, consists of a few old-fashioned, lowroofed cottages standing on either side of a babbling little stream. They are connected by a rustic wooden bridge, which spans the rift in front of the doors. In the central one-roomed cottage of this group, on the right bank, Robert Stephenson lived for a time with his family, the pit at which he worked standing in the rear of the cottages. Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to contribute something toward the family maintenance; for, in a poor man's house, every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to profitable account. That the boy was shrewd and active, and possessed of a ready mother-wit, will be evident enough from the following incident. One day his sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet, and Geordie went with her "for company." At a draper's shop in the Bigg Market Nell found a "chip" quite to her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found to be fifteen pence beyond her means. Girl-like, she had set her mind upon that bonnet, and no other would please her. She accordingly left the shop very much dejected. But Geordie said, "Never heed, Nell; come wi' me, and I'll see if I canna win siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand ye there till I come back." Away ran the boy, and disappeared amid the throng of the market, leaving the girl to wait his return. Long and long she waited, until it grew dusk, and the market-people had nearly all left. She had begun to despair, and fears crossed her mind that Geordie must have been run over and killed, when at last up he came running, almost breathless. "I've gotten the siller for the bonnet, Nell!" cried he. "Eh, Geordie!" she said, "but hoo hae ye gotten it?" "Hauddin the gentlemen's horses!" was the exultant reply. The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to Dewley in triumph. George's first regular employment was of a very humble sort. A widow, named Grace Ainslie, then occupied the neighboring farm-house of Dewley. She kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along the wagon-ways. She needed a 108 GEORGE STEPHENSON'S EARLY YEARS. [PART II. boy to herd the cows, to keep them out of the way of the wagons, and prevent their straying or trespassing on the neighbors' "liberties;" the boy's duty was also to bar the gates at night after all the wagons had passed. George petitioned for this post, and, to his great joy, he was appointed, at the wage of twopence a day. It was light employment, and he had plenty of spare time on his hands, which he spent in bird-nesting, making whistles out of reeds and scrannel straws, and erecting Liliputian mills in the little water-streams that ran into the Dewley bog. But his favorite amusement at this early age was erecting clay engines in conjunction with his playmate, Bill Thirlwall. The place is still pointed out where the future engineers made their first essays in modeling. The boys found the clay for their engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlocks which grew about supplied them with imaginary steam-pipes. They even proceeded to make a miniature winding-machine in connection with their engine, and the apparatus was erected upon a bench in front of the Thirlwalls' cottage. Their corves were made out of hollowed corks; their ropes were supplied by twine; and a few bits of wood gleaned from the refuse of the carpenters' shop completed their materials. With this apparatus the boys made a show of sending the corves down the pit and drawing them up again, much to the marvel of the pitmen. But some mischievous person about the place seized the opportunity early one morning of smashing the fragile machinery, greatly to the grief of the young engineers. We may mention, in passing, that George's companion afterward became a workman of repute, and creditably held the office of engineer at Shilbottle, near Alnwick, for a period of nearly thirty years. As Stephenson grew older and abler to work, he was set to lead the horses when plowing, though scarce big enough to stride across the furrows; and he used afterward to say that he rode to his work in the mornings at an hour when most other children of his age were asleep in their beds. He was also employed to hoe turnips, and do similar farm-work, for which he was paid the advanced wage of fourpence a day. But his highest ambition was to be taken on at the colliery where his father worked; and he shortly joined his elder brother James there as a "corf-bitter," or "picker," to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross. His wages |