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

322 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [chap, xxvii.
twelve continuous hours, until his secretary was ready to drop
off his chair from sheer exhaustion, and at length he pleaded for
a suspension of the labour. This great mass of correspondence,
although closely bearing upon the subjects under discussion, was
not, however, of a kind to supply the biographer with matter for
quotation, or to give that insight into the life and character of
the writer which the letters of literary men so often furnish.
They were, for the most part, letters of mere business, relating
to works in progress, parliamentary contests, new surveys, esti-
mates of cost, and railway policy,—curt, and to the point
in short, the letters of a man, every moment of whose time was
precious.
Hence, also, there is very little to record of Mr. Stephenson's
private life during this busy period. For he had scarcely a moment
that he could call his own. What with the business of
his colliery, his locomotive manufactory, and the various rail-
ways of which he was the principal engineer, there was little
time left for private intercourse. During the three years ending
in 1837— perhaps the busiest years of his life—his secretary
travelled with him by post-chaise alone upwards of twenty thou-
sand miles, and yet six months of the whole time were spent in
London. During this period he was engaged in the survey of
the North Midland, extending from Derby to Leeds ; the York
and North Midland, from Normanton to York ; the Manchester
and Leeds ; the Birmingham and Derby, and the Sheffield and
Eotherham Railways ; the whole of these, of which he was prin-
cipal engineer, having been authorized in 1836. Fortunately
Mr. Stephenson possessed a facility of sleeping, which enabled
him to pass through this enormous amount of fatigue and labour
without injury to his health. He had been trained in a hard
school, and could bear with ease conditions which, to men more
softly nurtured, would have been the extreme of physical dis-
comfort. Many, many nights he snatched his sleep while trav-
elling in his chaise ; and at break of day he would be at work,
surveying until dark, and this for weeks in succession. His
whole powers seemed to be under the control of his will, for he
could wake at any hour, and go to work at once. It was difficult
for secretaries and assistants to keep up with such a man.
;