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

412 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [chav. xxxiii.
passed. Of course he was fully alive to any important engineer-
ing works which came in his way. Thus, in crossing the river
Dordogne, on the road to Bordeaux, he was struck with the
construction of the stupendous chain bridge which had recently
been erected there. Not satisfied with his first inspection, he
walked back, and again crossed the bridge. On reaching the
shore he said : " This bridge cannot stand ; it is impossible that
it can sustain the necessary pressure. Supposing a large body
of troops to march over it, there would be so much oscillation as
to cause the greatest danger ; in fact, it could not stand." And
he determined to write to the public authorities, warning them
on the subject ; which he did. His judgment proved to be
quite correct, for only a few years after, no improvement having
been made in the bridge, a body of troops marching over it under
the precise circumstances which he had imagined, the chains
broke, the men were precipitated into the river, and many lives
were lost.
They soon reached the great chain of the Pyrenees, and
crossed over into Spain. It was on a Sunday evening, after a
long day's toilsome journey through the mountains, that the
party suddenly found themselves in one of those beautiful se-
cluded valleys lying amongst the Western Pyrenees. A small
hamlet lay before them, consisting of some thirty or forty houses
and a fine old church. The sun was low on the horizon, and,
under the wide porch, beneath the shadow of the church, were
seated nearly all the inhabitants of the place. They were
dressed in their holiday attire. The delightful bits of red and
rich amber colour of the women, and the gay sashes of the men,
formed a striking picture, on which the travellers gazed in silent
admiration. It was something entirely novel and unexpected.
Beside the villagers sat two venerable old men, whose canonical
hats indicated their quality of village pastors. Two groups of
young women and children were dancing outside the porch to the
accompaniment of a simple pipe ; and within a hundred yards of
them, some of the youths of the village were disporting them-
selves in athletic exercises ;
the whole being carried on beneath
the fostering care of the old church, and with the sanction of its
ministers. It was a beautiful scene, and deeply moved the