The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

CHAP. XX.] METHOD OF TRAINING HIS PUPILS. 243
devoted to conversation with his wife and those of his pupils who
lived under his roof, and constituted, as it were, part of the family.
He delighted to test the knowledge of his young compan-
ions, and to question them upon the principles of mechanics. If
they were not quite " up to the mark " on every point, there was
no escaping detection by any evasive or specious explanations on
their part. These always met with the verdict of, " Ah ! you
know naught about it now ; but think it over again, and tell me
the answer when you understand it." If there was even partial
success in the reply, it would at once be acknowledged, and a
full explanation was given, to which the master would add illus-
trative examples for the purpose of impressing the principle
more deeply upon the pupil's mind.
It was not so much his object and purpose to " cram " the
minds of the young men committed to his charge, with the results
of knowledge, as to stimulate them to educate themselves—to
induce them to develop their mental and moral powers by the
exercise of their own free energies, and thus acquire that habit
of self-thinking and self-reliance which is the spring of all true
manly action. In a word, he sought to bring out. and invigorate
the character of his pupils. He felt that he himself had been
made stronger and better through his encounters with difficulty ;
and he would not haye the road of knowledge made too smooth
and easy for them. " Learn for yourselves— ^think for your-
selves," he would say ;— " make yourselves masters of principles,
—persevere,—be industrious,—and there is then no fear of
you." And not the least emphatic proof of the soundness of this
system of education, as conducted by Mr. Stephenson, was af-
forded by the after history of these pupils themselves. There
was not one of those trained under his eye who did not rise to
eminent usefulness and distinction as engineers. He sent them
forth into the world braced with the spirit of manly self-help
inspired by his own noble example ;
—
and they repeated in their
after career the lessons of earnest effort and persistent industry
which his own daily life had taught them.
Mr. Stephenson's evenings at home were not, however, exclu-
sively devoted either to business or to the graver exercises above
referred to. He would often indulge in cheerful conversation