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

CHAP. IV.] FANNY HENDERSON. 37
it in motion when required. Connected with the fly-wheel was
a powerful wooden brake, acting by pressure against its rim,
something like the brake of a railway, carriage against its wheels,
and the brakesman was enabled, by applying his foot to a foot-
step near him, on catching sight of the chain attached to the as-
cending corve cage, at once, and with great precision, to stop its
revolutions, and arrest the ascent of the corves at the pit mouth,
when they were forthwith landed on the " settle board." On the
full corves being replaced by empty ones, it was then the duty
of the brakesman to reverse the engine, and send the corves
down 'the pit to be filled again.
The monotony of George Stephenson's occupation as a brakesman
was somewhat varied by the change which he made, in his
turn, from the day to the night shift. This duty, during the lat-
ter stage, chiefly consisted in sending the men and materials into
the mine, and in drawing other men and materials out. Most of
the workmen enter the pit during the night shift, and leave it in
the latter part of the day, whilst coal-drawing is proceeding. The
requirements of the work at night are such, that the brakesman
has a good deal of spare time on his hands, which he is at liberty
to employ in his own way. From an early period, Stephenson
was accustomed to employ those vacant night hours in working
the sums set for him by Andrew Robertson upon his slate, in
practising writing in his copy-book, and also in mending the
shoes of his fellow-workmen. His wages while working at the
Dolly Pit amounted to from 11. 15s. to 21. in the fortnight;*
but he gradually added to them as he became more expert at
shoe-mending, and afterwards at shoe-making. Probably he
was stimulated to take in hand this extra work, by the attachment
which he had at this time formed for a respectable young
woman of the village, named Fanny Henderson. Fanny was
a servant m a neighbouring farm-house ; and George, having
* William Coe has furnished me with an abstract of the wages book of Black
Callerton, from which it appears that George Stephenson's earnings for the fort-
night were as follows :—On June 18th, 1801, he was paid 1/. 19s. id., and a ticket
for two shillings-worth of rye; on June 17th, 1802, he was paid 11. 15s. But
bread was so dear in those days, that the wages paid to workmen were not
really so high as they appear: in 1801, wheat was selling at 51. 18s. 3d. and rye
at al. 19«. 9rf. the quarter.