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

378 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xx3c
Mr. Stephenson, in replying to Mr. Liddell's complimentary
speech, toolc occasion to deliver that memorable autobiography
to which we have already referred ; and, at the risk of
repetition, we venture to insert it here in a more complete form,
both on account of its extreme interest and because of the valu-
able practical lessons it contains. " As the honourable member,''
said he, " has referred to the engineering efforts of my early
days, it may not be amiss if I say a few words to you on that
subject, more especially for the encouragement of my younger
friends. Mr. Liddell has told you that in my early days I
worked at an engine at a coal-pit. I had then'to work early and
late, and my employment was a most laborious one. For about
twenty years I had often to rise to my labour at one and two
o'clock in the morning, and worked until late at night. Time
rolled on, and I had the happiness to make Some improvements .
in engine work. The company will be gratified when I tell
them that the first locomotive that I made was at Killingworth
colhery. The owners were pleased with what I had done in the
collieries ; and I then proposed to make an engine to work upon
the smooth rails. It was with Lord Ravensworth's money that
my first locomotive was built. Yes, Lord Ravensworth and his
partners were the first gentlemen to entrust me with money to
make a locomotive. That was more than thirty years ago ; and
we first called it ' My Lord.' I then stated to some of my friends,
now living, that those high velocities with which we are now so
familiar would, sooner or later, be attained, and that there was
no limit to the speed of such an engine, provided the works could
be made to stand ; but nobody would believe me at that time.
The engines could not perform the high velocities now reached,
when they were first invented; but, by their superior construc-
tion, an immense speed is now capable of being obtained. In
what has been done under my management, the merit is only in
part my own. Throughout, I have been most ably seconded
and assisted by my son. In the early period of my career, and
when he was a little boy, I felt how deficient I was in education,
and made up my mind that I would put him to a good school. I
determined that he should have as liberal a training as I could
afford to give him. I was, however, a poor man ; and how do