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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6492-h.zip b/6492-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1c478ba --- /dev/null +++ b/6492-h.zip diff --git a/6492-h/6492-h.htm b/6492-h/6492-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..548369a --- /dev/null +++ b/6492-h/6492-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4962 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + Biographies of Working Men, by Grant Allen + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Biographies of Working Men, by Grant Allen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Biographies of Working Men + +Author: Grant Allen + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6492] +First Posted: December 22, 2002 +Last Updated: September 10, 2018 + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + + + + +Etext produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN + </h1> + <h2> + By Grant Allen + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> I. — THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> II. — GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> III. — JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> IV. — WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> V. — JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VI. — JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VII. — THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE. + </h2> + <p> + My acknowledgments are due to Dr. Smiles’s “Lives of the + Engineers,” “Life of the Stephensons,” and “Life + of a Scotch Naturalist;” to Lady Eastlake’s “Life of + Gibson;” to Mr. Holden’s “Life of Sir William Herschel;” + to M. Seusier’s “J. F. Millet, Sa Vie et Ses OEuvres;” + and to Mr. Thayer’s “Life of President Garfield;” from + which most of the facts here narrated have been derived. + </p> + <h3> + G. A. + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I. — THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON. + </h2> + <p> + High up among the heather-clad hills which form the broad dividing barrier + between England and Scotland, the little river Esk brawls and bickers over + its stony bed through a wild land of barren braesides and brown peat + mosses, forming altogether some of the gloomiest and most forbidding + scenery in the whole expanse of northern Britain. Almost the entire bulk + of the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Ayr is composed of just + such solemn desolate upland wolds, with only a few stray farms or solitary + cottages sprinkled at wide distances over their bare bleak surface, and + with scarcely any sign of life in any part save the little villages which + cluster here and there at long intervals around some stern and simple + Scottish church. Yet the hardy people who inhabit this wild and chilly + moorland country may well be considered to rank among the best raw + material of society in the whole of Britain; for from the peasant homes of + these southern Scotch Highlands have come forth, among a host of scarcely + less distinguished natives, three men, at least, who deserve to take their + place in the very front line of British thinkers or workers—Thomas + Telford, Robert Burns, and Thomas Carlyle. By origin, all three alike + belonged in the very strictest sense to the working classes; and the story + of each is full of lessons or of warnings for every one of us: but that of + Telford is perhaps the most encouraging and the most remarkable of all, as + showing how much may be accomplished by energy and perseverance, even + under the most absolutely adverse and difficult circumstances. + </p> + <p> + Near the upper end of Eskdale, in the tiny village of Westerkirk, a young + shepherd’s wife gave birth to a son on the 9th of August, 1757. Her + husband, John Telford, was employed in tending sheep on a neighbouring + farm, and he and his Janet occupied a small cottage close by, with mud + walls and rudely thatched roof, such as in southern England even the + humblest agricultural labourer would scarcely consent willingly to + inhabit. Before the child was three months old, his father died; and Janet + Telford was left alone in the world with her unweaned baby. But in remote + country districts, neighbours are often more neighbourly than in great + towns; and a poor widow can manage to eke out a livelihood for herself + with an occasional lift from the helping hands of friendly + fellow-villagers. Janet Telford had nothing to live upon save her own ten + fingers; but they were handy enough, after the sturdy Scotch fashion, and + they earned some sort of livelihood in a humble way for herself and her + fatherless boy. The farmers about found her work on their farms at + haymaking or milking, and their wives took the child home with them while + its mother was busy labouring in the harvest fields. Amid such small + beginnings did the greatest of English engineers before the railway era + receive his first hard lessons in the art of life. + </p> + <p> + After her husband’s death, the poor widow removed from her old + cottage to a still more tiny hut, which she shared with a neighbour—a + very small hut, with a single door for both families; and here young Tam + Telford spent most of his boyhood in the quiet honourable poverty of the + uncomplaining rural poor. As soon as he was big enough to herd sheep, he + was turned out upon the hillside in summer like any other ragged country + laddie, and in winter he tended cows, receiving for wages only his food + and money enough to cover the cost of his scanty clothing. He went to + school, too; how, nobody now knows: but he <i>did</i> go, to the parish + school of Westerkirk, and there he learnt with a will, in the winter + months, though he had to spend the summer on the more profitable task of + working in the fields. To a steady earnest boy like young Tam Telford, + however, it makes all the difference in the world that he should have been + to school, no matter how simply. Those twenty-six letters of the alphabet, + once fairly learnt, are the key, after all, to all the book-learning in + the whole world. Without them, the shepherd-boy might remain an ignorant, + unprogressive shepherd all his life long, even his undeniable native + energy using itself up on nothing better than a wattled hurdle or a + thatched roof; with them, the path is open before him which led Tam + Telford at last to the Menai Bridge and Westminster Abbey. + </p> + <p> + When Tam had gradually eaten his way through enough thin oatmeal porridge + (with very little milk, we fear) to make him into a hearty lad of fifteen, + it began to be high time for him to choose himself a final profession in + life, such as he was able. And here already the born tastes of the boy + began to show themselves: for he had no liking for the homely shepherd’s + trade; he felt a natural desire for a chisel and a hammer—the + engineer was there already in the grain—and he was accordingly + apprenticed to a stonemason in the little town of Lochmaben, beyond the + purple hills to eastward. But his master was a hard man; he had small + mercy for the raw lad; and after trying to manage with him for a few + months, Tam gave it up, took the law into his own hands, and ran away. + Probably the provocation was severe, for in after-life Telford always + showed himself duly respectful to constituted authority; and we know that + petty self-made master-workmen are often apt to be excessively severe to + their own hired helpers, and especially to helpless lads or young + apprentices. At any rate, Tam wouldn’t go back; and in the end, a + well-to-do cousin, who had risen to the proud position of steward at the + great hall of the parish, succeeded in getting another mason at Langholm, + the little capital of Eskdale, to take over the runaway for the remainder + of the term of his indentures. + </p> + <p> + At Langholm, a Scotch country town of the quietest and sleepiest + description, Tam Telford passed the next eight years of his uneventful + early life, first as an apprentice, and afterwards as a journeyman mason + of the humblest type. He had a good mother, and he was a good son. On + Saturday nights he generally managed to walk over to the cottage at + Westerkirk, and accompany the poor widow to the Sunday services at the + parish kirk. As long as she lived, indeed, he never forgot her; and one of + the first tasks he set himself when he was out of his indentures was to + cut a neat headstone with a simple but beautiful inscription for the grave + of that shepherd father whom he had practically never seen. At Langholm, + an old maiden lady, Miss Pasley, interested herself kindly in Janet + Telford’s rising boy. She lent him what of all things the eager lad + most needed—books; and the young mason applied himself to them in + all his spare moments with the vigorous ardour and perseverance of healthy + youth. The books he read were not merely those which bore directly or + indirectly upon his own craft: if they had been, Tam Telford might have + remained nothing more than a journeyman mason all the days of his life. It + is a great mistake, even from the point of view of mere worldly success, + for a young man to read or learn only what “pays” in his + particular calling; the more he reads and learns, the more will he find + that seemingly useless things “pay” in the end, and that what + apparently pays least, often really pays most in the long run. This is not + the only or the best reason why every man should aim at the highest + possible cultivation of his own talents, be they what they may; but it is + in itself a very good reason, and it is a sufficient answer for those who + would deter us from study of any high kind on the ground that it “does + no good.” Telford found in after-life that his early acquaintance + with sound English literature did do him a great deal of good: it opened + and expanded his mind; it trained his intelligence; it stored his brain + with images and ideas which were ever after to him a source of unmitigated + delight and unalloyed pleasure. He read whenever he had nothing else to + do. He read Milton with especial delight; and he also read the verses that + his fellow-countryman, Rob Burns, the Ayrshire ploughman, was then just + beginning to speak straight to the heart of every aspiring Scotch peasant + lad. With these things Tam Telford filled the upper stories of his brain + quite as much as with the trade details of his own particular useful + handicraft; and the result soon showed that therein Tam Telford had not + acted uncannily or unwisely. + </p> + <p> + Nor did he read only; he wrote too—verses, not very good, nor yet + very bad, but well expressed, in fairly well chosen language, and with due + regard to the nice laws of metre and of grammar, which is in itself a + great point. Writing verse is an occupation at which only very few even + among men of literary education ever really succeed; and nine-tenths of + published verse is mere mediocre twaddle, quite unworthy of being put into + the dignity of print. Yet Telford did well for all that in trying his + hand, with but poor result, at this most difficult and dangerous of all + the arts. His rhymes were worth nothing as rhymes; but they were worth a + great deal as discipline and training: they helped to form the man, and + that in itself is always something. Most men who have in them the power to + do any great thing pass in early life through a verse-making stage. The + verses never come to much; but they leave their stamp behind them; and the + man is all the better in the end for having thus taught himself the + restraint, the command of language, the careful choice of expressions, the + exercise of deliberate pains in composition, which even bad verse-making + necessarily implies. It is a common mistake of near-sighted minds to look + only at the immediate results of things, without considering their remoter + effects. When Tam Telford, stonemason of Langholm, began at twenty-two + years of age to pen poetical epistles to Robert Burns, most of his + fellow-workmen doubtless thought he was giving himself up to very foolish + and nonsensical practices; but he was really helping to educate Thomas + Telford, engineer of the Holyhead Road and the Caledonian Canal, for all + his future usefulness and greatness. + </p> + <p> + As soon as Tam was out of his indentures, he began work as a journeyman + mason at Langholm on his own account, at the not very magnificent wages of + eighteenpence a day. That isn’t much; but at any rate it is an + independence. Besides building many houses in his own town, Tam made here + his first small beginning in the matter of roads and highways, by helping + to build a bridge over the Esk at Langholm. He was very proud of his part + in this bridge, and to the end of his life he often referred to it as his + first serious engineering work. Many of the stones still bear his private + mark, hewn with the tool into their solid surface, with honest workmanship + which helps to explain his later success. But the young mason was + beginning to discover that Eskdale was hardly a wide enough field for his + budding ambition. He could carve the most careful headstones; he could cut + the most ornamental copings for doors or windows; he could even build a + bridge across the roaring flooded Esk; but he wanted to see a little of + the great world, and learn how men and masons went about their work in the + busy centres of the world’s activity. So, like a patriotic Scotchman + that he was, he betook himself straight to Edinburgh, tramping it on foot, + of course, for railways did not yet exist, and coaches were not for the + use of such as young Thomas Telford. + </p> + <p> + He arrived in the grey old capital of Scotland in the very nick of time. + The Old Town, a tangle of narrow alleys and close courtyards, surrounded + by tall houses with endless tiers of floors, was just being deserted by + the rich and fashionable world for the New Town, which lies beyond a broad + valley on the opposite hillside, and contains numerous streets of solid + and handsome stone houses, such as are hardly to be found in any other + town in Britain, except perhaps Bath and Aberdeen. Edinburgh is always, + indeed, an interesting place for an enthusiastic lover of building, be he + architect or stonemason; for instead of being built of brick like London + and so many other English centres, it is built partly of a fine hard local + sandstone and partly of basaltic greenstone; and besides its old churches + and palaces, many of the public buildings are particularly striking and + beautiful architectural works. But just at the moment when young Telford + walked wearily into Edinburgh at the end of his long tramp, there was + plenty for a stout strong mason to do in the long straight stone fronts of + the rising New Town. For two years, he worked away patiently at his trade + in “the grey metropolis of the North;” and he took advantage + of the special opportunities the place afforded him to learn drawing, and + to make minute sketches in detail of Holyrood Palace, Heriot’s + Hospital, Roslyn Chapel, and all the other principal old buildings in + which the neighbourhood of the capital is particularly rich. So anxious, + indeed, was the young mason to perfect himself by the study of the very + best models in his own craft, that when at the end of two years he walked + back to revisit his good mother in Eskdale, he took the opportunity of + making drawings of Melrose Abbey, the most exquisite and graceful building + that the artistic stone-cutters of the Middle Ages have handed down to our + time in all Scotland. + </p> + <p> + This visit to Eskdale was really Telford’s last farewell to his old + home, before setting out on a journey which was to form the turning-point + in his own history, and in the history of British engineering as well. In + Scotch phrase, he was going south. And after taking leave of his mother + (not quite for the last time) he went south in good earnest, doing this + journey on horseback; for his cousin the steward had lent him a horse to + make his way southward like a gentleman. Telford turned where all + enterprising young Scotchmen of his time always turned: towards the + unknown world of London—that world teeming with so many + possibilities of brilliant success or of miserable squalid failure. It was + the year 1782, and the young man was just twenty-five. No sooner had he + reached the great city than he began looking about him for suitable work. + He had a letter of introduction to the architect of Somerset House, whose + ornamental fronts were just then being erected, facing the Strand and the + river; and Telford was able to get a place at once on the job as a hewer + of the finer architectural details, for which both his taste and + experience well fitted him. He spent some two years in London at this + humble post as a stone-cutter; but already he began to aspire to something + better. He earned first-class mason’s wages now, and saved whatever + he did not need for daily expenses. In this respect, the improvidence of + his English fellow-workmen struck the cautious young Scotchman very + greatly. They lived, he said, from week to week entirely; any time beyond + a week seemed unfortunately to lie altogether outside the range of their + limited comprehension. + </p> + <p> + At the end of two years in London, Telford’s skill and study began + to bear good fruit. His next engagement was one which raised him for the + first time in his life above the rank of a mere journeyman mason. The + honest workman had attracted the attention of competent judges. He + obtained employment as foreman of works of some important buildings in + Portsmouth Dockyard. A proud man indeed was Thomas Telford at this change + of fortune, and very proudly he wrote to his old friends in Eskdale, with + almost boyish delight, about the trust reposed in him by the commissioners + and officers, and the pains he was taking with the task entrusted to him. + For he was above all things a good workman, and like all good workmen he + felt a pride and an interest in all the jobs he took in hand. His sense of + responsibility and his sensitiveness, indeed, were almost too great at + times for his own personal comfort. Things <i>will</i> go wrong now and + then, even with the greatest care; well-planned undertakings will not + always pay, and the best engineering does not necessarily succeed in + earning a dividend; but whenever such mishaps occurred to his employers, + Telford felt the disappointment much too keenly, as though he himself had + been to blame for their miscalculations or over-sanguine hopes. Still, it + is a good thing to put one’s heart in one’s work, and so much + Thomas Telford certainly did. + </p> + <p> + About this time, too, the rising young mason began to feel that he must + get a little more accurate scientific knowledge. The period for general + study had now passed by, and the period for special trade reading had set + in. This was well. A lad cannot do better than lay a good foundation of + general knowledge and general literature during the period when he is + engaged in forming his mind: a young man once fairly launched in life may + safely confine himself for a time to the studies that bear directly upon + his own special chosen subject. The thing that Telford began closely to + investigate was—lime. Now, lime makes mortar; and without lime, + accordingly, you can have no mason. But to know anything really about + lime, Telford found he must read some chemistry; and to know anything + really about chemistry he must work at it hard and unremittingly. A strict + attention to one’s own business, understood in this very broad and + liberal manner, is certainly no bad thing for any struggling + handicraftsman, whatever his trade or profession may happen to be. + </p> + <p> + In 1786, when Telford was nearly thirty, a piece of unexpected good luck + fell to his lot. And yet it was not so much good luck as due recognition + of his sterling qualities by a wealthy and appreciative person. Long + before, while he was still in Eskdale, one Mr. Pulteney, a man of social + importance, who had a large house in the bleak northern valley, had asked + his advice about the repairs of his own mansion. We may be sure that + Telford did his work on that occasion carefully and well; for now, when + Mr. Pulteney wished to restore the ruins of Shrewsbury Castle as a + dwelling-house, he sought out the young mason who had attended to his + Scotch property, and asked him to superintend the proposed alterations in + his Shropshire castle. Nor was that all: by Mr. Pulteney’s + influence, Telford was shortly afterwards appointed to be county surveyor + of public works, having under his care all the roads, bridges, gaols, and + public buildings in the whole of Shropshire. Thus the Eskdale shepherd-boy + rose at last from the rank of a working mason, and attained the + well-earned dignity of an engineer and a professional man. + </p> + <p> + Telford had now a fair opportunity of showing the real stuff of which he + was made. Those, of course, were the days when railroads had not yet been + dreamt of; when even roads were few and bad; when communications generally + were still in a very disorderly and unorganized condition. It is Telford’s + special glory that he reformed and altered this whole state of things; he + reduced the roads of half Britain to system and order; he made the finest + highways and bridges then ever constructed; and by his magnificent + engineering works, especially his aqueducts, he paved the way + unconsciously but surely for the future railways. If it had not been for + such great undertakings as Telford’s Holyhead Road, which + familiarized men’s minds with costly engineering operations, it is + probable that projectors would long have stood aghast at the alarming + expense of a nearly level iron road running through tall hills and over + broad rivers the whole way from London to Manchester. + </p> + <p> + At first, Telford’s work as county surveyor lay mostly in very small + things indeed—mere repairs of sidepaths or bridges, which gave him + little opportunity to develop his full talents as a born engineer. But in + time, being found faithful in small things, his employers, the county + magistrates, began to consult him more and more on matters of comparative + importance. First, it was a bridge to be built across the Severn; then a + church to be planned at Shrewsbury, and next, a second church in + Coalbrookdale. If he was thus to be made suddenly into an architect, + Telford thought, almost without being consulted in the matter, he must + certainly set out to study architecture. So, with characteristic vigour, + he went to work to visit London, Worcester, Gloucester, Bath, and Oxford, + at each place taking care to learn whatever was to be learned in the + practice of his new art. Fortunately, however, for Telford and for + England, it was not architecture in the strict sense that he was finally + to practise as a real profession. Another accident, as thoughtless people + might call it, led him to adopt engineering in the end as the path in life + he elected to follow. In 1793, he was appointed engineer to the projected + Ellesmere Canal. + </p> + <p> + In the days before railways, such a canal as this was an engineering work + of the very first importance. It was to connect the Mersey, the Dee, and + the Severn, and it passed over ground which rendered necessary some + immense aqueducts on a scale never before attempted by British engineers. + Even in our own time, every traveller by the Great Western line between + Chester and Shrewsbury must have observed on his right two magnificent + ranges as high arches, which are as noticeable now as ever for their + boldness, their magnitude, and their exquisite construction. The first of + these mighty archways is the Pont Cysylltau aqueduct which carries the + Ellesmere Canal across the wide valley of the Dee, known as the Vale of + Llangollen; the second is the Chirk aqueduct, which takes it over the + lesser glen of a minor tributary, the Ceriog. Both these beautiful works + were designed and carried out entirely by Telford. They differ from many + other great modern engineering achievements in the fact that, instead of + spoiling the lovely mountain scenery into whose midst they have been + thrown, they actually harmonize with it and heighten its natural beauty. + Both works, however, are splendid feats, regarded merely as efforts of + practical skill; and the larger one is particularly memorable for the + peculiarity that the trough for the water and the elegant parapet at the + side are both entirely composed of iron. Nowadays, of course, there would + be nothing remarkable in the use of such a material for such a purpose; + but Telford was the first engineer to see the value of iron in this + respect, and the Pont Cysylltau aqueduct was one of the earliest works in + which he applied the new material to these unwonted uses. Such a step is + all the more remarkable, because Telford’s own education had lain + entirely in what may fairly be called the “stone age” of + English engineering; while his natural predilections as a stonemason might + certainly have made him rather overlook the value of the novel material. + But Telford was a man who could rise superior to such little accidents of + habit or training; and as a matter of fact there is no other engineer to + whom the rise of the present “iron age” in engineering work is + more directly and immediately to be attributed than to himself. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, the Eskdale pioneer did not forget his mother. For years he had + constantly written to her, in <i>print hand</i>, so that the letters might + be more easily read by her aged eyes; he had sent her money in full + proportion to his means; and he had taken every possible care to let her + declining years be as comfortable as his altered circumstances could + readily make them. And now, in the midst of this great and responsible + work, he found time to “run down” to Eskdale (very different + “running down” from that which we ourselves can do by the + London and North Western Railway), to see his aged mother once more before + she died. What a meeting that must have been, between the poor old widow + of the Eskdale shepherd, and her successful son, the county surveyor of + Shropshire, and engineer of the great and important Ellesmere Canal! + </p> + <p> + While Telford was working busily upon his wonderful canal, he had many + other schemes to carry out of hardly less importance, in connection with + his appointment as county surveyor. His beautiful iron bridge across the + Severn at Build was was another application of his favourite metal to the + needs of the new world that was gradually growing up in industrial + England; and so satisfied was he with the result of his experiment (for + though not absolutely the first, it was one of the first iron bridges ever + built) that he proposed another magnificent idea, which unfortunately was + never carried into execution. Old London Bridge had begun to get a trifle + shaky; and instead of rebuilding it, Telford wished to span the whole + river by a single iron arch, whose splendid dimensions would have formed + one of the most remarkable engineering triumphs ever invented. The scheme, + for some good reason, doubtless, was not adopted; but it is impossible to + look at Telford’s grand drawing of the proposed bridge—a + single bold arch, curving across the Thames from side to side, with the + dome of St Paul’s rising majestically above it—without a + feeling of regret that such a noble piece of theoretical architecture was + never realized in actual fact. + </p> + <p> + Telford had now come to be regarded as the great practical authority upon + all that concerned roads or communications; and he was reaping the due + money-reward of his diligence and skill. Every day he was called upon to + design new bridges and other important structures in all parts of the + kingdom, but more especially in Scotland and on the Welsh border. Many of + the most picturesque bridges in Britain, which every tourist has admired, + often without inquiring or thinking of the hand that planned them, were + designed by his inventive brain. The exquisite stone arch which links the + two banks of the lesser Scotch Dee in its gorge at Tongueland is one of + the most picturesque; for Telford was a bit of an artist at heart, and, + unlike too many modern railway constructors, he always endeavoured to make + his bridges and aqueducts beautify rather than spoil the scenery in whose + midst they stood. Especially was he called in to lay out the great system + of roads by which the Scotch Highlands, then so lately reclaimed from a + state of comparative barbarism, were laid open for the great development + they have since undergone. In the earlier part of the century, it is true, + a few central highways had been run through the very heart of that great + solid block of mountains; but these were purely military roads, to enable + the king’s soldiers more easily to march against the revolted clans, + and they had hardly more connection with the life of the country than the + bare military posts, like Fort William and Fort Augustus, which guarded + their ends, had to do with the ordinary life of a commercial town. + Meanwhile, however, the Highlands had begun gradually to settle down; and + Telford’s roads were intended for the far higher and better purpose + of opening out the interior of northern Scotland to the humanizing + influences of trade and industry. + </p> + <p> + Fully to describe the great work which the mature engineer constructed in + the Highland region, would take up more space than could be allotted to + such a subject anywhere save in a complete industrial history of roads and + travelling in modern Britain. It must suffice to say that when Telford + took the matter in hand, the vast block of country north and west of the + Great Glen of Caledonia (which divides the Highlands in two between + Inverness and Ben Nevis)—a block comprising the counties of + Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, and half Inverness—had + literally nothing within it worthy of being called a road. Wheeled carts + or carriages were almost unknown, and all burdens were conveyed on + pack-horses, or, worse still, on the broad backs of Highland lassies. The + people lived in small scattered villages, and communications from one to + another were well-nigh impossible. Telford set to work to give the + country, not a road or two, but a main system of roads. First, he bridged + the broad river Tay at Dunkeld, so as to allow of a direct route straight + into the very jaws of the Highlands. Then, he also bridged over the Beauly + at Inverness, so as to connect the opposite sides of the Great Glen with + one another. Next, he laid out a number of trunk lines, running through + the country on both banks, to the very north of Caithness, and the very + west of the Isle of Skye. Whoever to this day travels on the main + thoroughfares in the greater Scottish Islands—in Arran, Islay, Jura, + Mull; or in the wild peninsula of Morvern, and the Land of Lorne; or + through the rugged regions of Inverness-shire and Ross-shire, where the + railway has not yet penetrated,—travels throughout on Telford’s + roads. The number of large bridges and other great engineering + masterpieces on this network of roads is enormous; among the most famous + and the most beautiful, are the exquisite single arch which spans the Spey + just beside the lofty rearing rocks of Craig Ellachie, and the bridge + across the Dee, beneath the purple heather-clad braes of Ballater. + Altogether, on Telford’s Highland roads alone, there are no fewer + than twelve hundred bridges. + </p> + <p> + Nor were these the only important labours by which Telford ministered to + the comfort and well-being of his Scotch fellow-countrymen. Scotland’s + debt to the Eskdale stonemason is indeed deep and lasting. While on land, + he improved her communications by his great lines of roads, which did on a + smaller scale for the Highland valleys what railways have since done for + the whole of the civilized world; he also laboured to improve her means of + transit at sea by constructing a series of harbours along that bare and + inhospitable eastern coast, once almost a desert, but now teeming with + great towns and prosperous industries. It was Telford who formed the + harbour of Wick, which has since grown from a miserable fishing village + into a large town, the capital of the North Sea herring fisheries. It was + he who enlarged the petty port of Peterhead into the chief station of the + flourishing whaling trade. It was he who secured prosperity for + Fraserburgh, and Banff, and many other less important centres; while even + Dundee and Aberdeen, the chief commercial cities of the east coast, owe to + him a large part of their present extraordinary wealth and industry. When + one thinks how large a number of human beings have been benefited by + Telford’s Scotch harbour works alone, it is impossible not to envy a + great engineer his almost unlimited power of permanent usefulness to + unborn thousands of his fellow-creatures. + </p> + <p> + As a canal-maker, Telford was hardly less successful than as a constructor + of roads and harbours. It is true, his greatest work in this direction was + in one sense a failure. He was employed by Government for many years as + the engineer of the Caledonian Canal, which runs up the Great Glen of + Caledonia, connecting the line of lakes whose basins occupy that deep + hollow in the Highland ranges, and so avoiding the difficult and dangerous + sea voyage round the stormy northern capes of Caithness. Unfortunately, + though the canal as an engineering work proved to be of the most + successful character, it has never succeeded as a commercial undertaking. + It was built just at the exact moment when steamboats were on the point of + revolutionizing ocean traffic; and so, though in itself a magnificent and + lordly undertaking, it failed to satisfy the sanguine hopes of its + projectors. But though Telford felt most bitterly the unavoidable ill + success of this great scheme, he might well have comforted himself by the + good results of his canal-building elsewhere. He went to Sweden to lay out + the Gotha Canal, which still forms the main high-road of commerce between + Stockholm and the sea; while in England itself some of his works in this + direction—such as the improvements on the Birmingham Canal, with its + immense tunnel—may fairly be considered as the direct precursors of + the great railway efforts of the succeeding generation. + </p> + <p> + The most remarkable of all Telford’s designs, however, and the one + which most immediately paved the way for the railway system, was his + magnificent Holyhead Road. This wonderful highway he carried through the + very midst of the Welsh mountains, at a comparatively level height for its + whole distance, in order to form a main road from London to Ireland. On + this road occurs Telford’s masterpiece of engineering, the Menai + suspension bridge, long regarded as one of the wonders of the world, and + still one of the most beautiful suspension bridges in all Europe. Hardly + less admirable, however, in its own way is the other suspension bridge + which he erected at Conway, to carry his road across the mouth of the + estuary, beside the grey old castle, with which its charming design + harmonizes so well. Even now it is impossible to drive or walk along this + famous and picturesque highway without being struck at every turn by the + splendid engineering triumphs which it displays throughout its entire + length. The contrast, indeed, between the noble grandeur of Telford’s + bridges, and the works on the neighbouring railways, is by no means + flattering in every respect to our too exclusively practical modern + civilization. + </p> + <p> + Telford was now growing an old man. The Menai bridge was begun in 1819 and + finished in 1826, when he was sixty-eight years of age; and though he + still continued to practise his profession, and to design many valuable + bridges, drainage cuts, and other small jobs, that great undertaking was + the last masterpiece of his long and useful life. His later days were + passed in deserved honour and comparative opulence; for though never an + avaricious man, and always anxious to rate his services at their lowest + worth, he had gathered together a considerable fortune by the way, almost + without seeking it. To the last, his happy cheerful disposition enabled + him to go on labouring at the numerous schemes by which he hoped to + benefit the world of workers; and so much cheerfulness was surely well + earned by a man who could himself look back upon so good a record of work + done for the welfare of humanity. At last, on the 2nd of September, 1834, + his quiet and valuable life came gently to a close, in the seventy-eighth + year of his age. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, and few of the men + who sleep within that great national temple more richly deserve the honour + than the Westerkirk shepherd-boy. For Thomas Telford’s life was not + merely one of worldly success; it was still more pre-eminently one of + noble ends and public usefulness. Many working men have raised themselves + by their own exertions to a position of wealth and dignity far surpassing + his; few indeed have conferred so many benefits upon untold thousands of + their fellow-men. It is impossible, even now, to travel in any part of + England, Wales, or Scotland, without coming across innumerable memorials + of Telford’s great and useful life; impossible to read the full + record of his labours without finding that numberless structures we have + long admired for their beauty or utility, owe their origin to the + honourable, upright, hardworking, thoroughgoing, journeyman mason of the + quiet little Eskdale village. Whether we go into the drained fens of + Lincolnshire, or traverse the broad roads of the rugged Snowdon region; + whether we turn to St. Katharine’s Docks in London, or to the wide + quays of Dundee and those of Aberdeen; whether we sail beneath the Menai + suspension bridge at Bangor, or drive over the lofty arches that rise + sheer from the precipitous river gorge at Cartland, we meet everywhere the + lasting traces of that inventive and ingenious brain. And yet, what lad + could ever have started in the world under apparently more hopeless + circumstances than widow Janet Telford’s penniless orphan + shepherd-boy Tam, in the bleakest and most remote of all the lonely border + valleys of southern Scotland? + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II. — GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN. + </h2> + <p> + Any time about the year 1786, a stranger in the streets of the grimy + colliery village of Wylam, near Newcastle, might have passed by without + notice a ragged, barefooted, chubby child of five years old, Geordie + Stephenson by name, playing merrily in the gutter and looking to the + outward eye in no way different from any of the other colliers’ + children who loitered about him. Nevertheless, that ragged boy was yet + destined in after-life to alter the whole face of England and the world by + those wonderful railways, which he more than any other man was + instrumental in first constructing; and the story of his life may rank + perhaps as one of the most marvellous in the whole marvellous history of + able and successful British working men. + </p> + <p> + George Stephenson was born in June, 1781, the son of a fireman who tended + the pumping engine of the neighbouring colliery, and one of a penniless + family of six children. So poor was his father, indeed, that the whole + household lived in a single room, with bare floor and mud wall; and little + Geordie grew up in his own unkempt fashion without any schooling whatever, + not even knowing A from B when he was a big lad of seventeen. At an age + when he ought to have been learning his letters, he was bird’s-nesting + in the fields or running errands to the Wylam shops; and as soon as he was + old enough to earn a few pence by light work, he was set to tend cows at + the magnificent wages of twopence a day, in the village of Dewley Burn, + close by, to which his father had then removed. It might have seemed at + first as though the future railway engineer was going to settle down + quietly to the useful but uneventful life of an agricultural labourer; for + from tending cows he proceeded in due time (with a splendid advance of + twopence) to leading the horses at the plough, spudding thistles, and + hoeing turnips on his employer’s farm. But the native bent of a + powerful mind usually shows itself very early; and even during the days + when Geordie was still stumbling across the freshly ploughed clods or + driving the cows to pasture with a bunch of hazel twigs, his taste for + mechanics already made itself felt in a very marked and practical fashion. + During all his leisure time, the future engineer and his chum Bill + Thirlwall occupied themselves with making clay models of engines, and + fitting up a winding machine with corks and twine like those which lifted + the colliery baskets. Though Geordie Stephenson didn’t go to school + at the village teacher’s, he was teaching himself in his own way by + close observation and keen comprehension of all the machines and engines + he could come across. + </p> + <p> + Naturally, to such a boy, the great ambition of his life was to be + released from the hoeing and spudding, and set to work at his father’s + colliery. Great was Geordie’s joy, therefore, when at last he was + taken on there in the capacity of a coal-picker, to clear the loads from + stones and rubbish. It wasn’t a very dignified position, to be sure, + but it was the first step that led the way to the construction of the + Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Geordie was now fairly free from the + uncongenial drudgery of farm life, and able to follow his own inclinations + in the direction of mechanical labour. Besides, was he not earning the + grand sum of sixpence a day as picker, increased to eightpence a little + later on, when he rose to the more responsible and serious work of driving + the gin-horse? A proud day indeed it was for him when, at fourteen, he was + finally permitted to aid his father in firing the colliery engine; though + he was still such a very small boy that he used to run away and hide when + the owner went his rounds of inspection, for fear he should be thought too + little to earn his untold wealth of a shilling a day in such a grown-up + occupation. Humbler beginnings were never any man’s who lived to + become the honoured guest, not of kings and princes only, but of the truly + greatest and noblest in the land. + </p> + <p> + A coal-miner’s life is often a very shifting one; for the coal in + particular collieries gets worked out from time to time; and he has to + remove, accordingly, to fresh quarters, wherever employment happens to be + found. This was very much the case with George Stephenson and his family; + all of them being obliged to remove several times over during his childish + days in search of new openings. Shortly after Geordie had attained to the + responsible position of assistant fireman, his father was compelled, by + the closing of Dewley Burn mine, to get a fresh situation hard by at + Newburn. George accompanied him, and found employment as full fireman at a + small working, whose little engine he undertook to manage in partnership + with a mate, each of them tending the fire night and day by twelve-hour + shifts. Two years later, his wages were raised to twelve shillings a week, + a sure mark of his diligent and honest work; so that George was not far + wrong in remarking to a fellow-workman at the time that he now considered + himself a made man for life. + </p> + <p> + During all this time, George Stephenson never for a moment ceased to study + and endeavour to understand the working of every part in the engine that + he tended. He was not satisfied, as too many workmen are, with merely + learning the routine work of his own trade; with merely knowing that he + must turn such and such a tap or valve in order to produce such and such a + desired result: he wanted to see for himself how and why the engine did + this or that, what was the use and object of piston and cylinder and crank + and joint and condenser—in short, fully to understand the underlying + principle of its construction. He took it to pieces for cleaning whenever + it was needful; he made working models of it after his old childish + pattern; he even ventured to tinker it up when out of order on his own + responsibility. Thus he learnt at last something of the theory of the + steam-engine, and learnt also by the way a great deal about the general + principles of mechanical science. Still, even now, incredible as it seems, + the future father of railways couldn’t yet read; and he found this + terrible drawback told fatally against his further progress. Whenever he + wanted to learn something that he didn’t quite understand, he was + always referred for information to a Book. Oh, those books; those + mysterious, unattainable, incomprehensible books; how they must have + bothered and worried poor intelligent and aspiring but still painfully + ignorant young George Stephenson! Though he was already trying singularly + valuable experiments in his own way, he hadn’t yet even begun to + learn his letters. + </p> + <p> + Under these circumstances, George Stephenson, eager and anxious for + further knowledge, took a really heroic resolution. He wasn’t + ashamed to go to school. Though now a full workman on his own account, + about eighteen years old, he began to attend the night school at the + neighbouring village of Walbottle, where he took lessons in reading three + evenings every week. It is a great thing when a man is not ashamed to + learn. Many men are; they consider themselves so immensely wise that they + look upon it as an impertinence in anybody to try to tell them anything + they don’t know already. Truly wise or truly great men—men + with the capability in them for doing anything worthy in their generation—never + feel this false and foolish shame. They know that most other people know + some things in some directions which they do not, and they are glad to be + instructed in them whenever opportunity offers. This wisdom George + Stephenson possessed in sufficient degree to make him feel more ashamed of + his ignorance than of the steps necessary in order to conquer it. Being a + diligent and willing scholar, he soon learnt to read, and by the time he + was nineteen he had learnt how to write also. At arithmetic, a science + closely allied to his native mechanical bent, he was particularly apt, and + beat all the other scholars at the village night school. This resolute + effort at education was the real turning-point in George Stephenson’s + remarkable career, the first step on the ladder whose topmost rung led him + so high that he himself must almost have felt giddy at the unwonted + elevation. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after, young Stephenson gained yet another promotion in being + raised to the rank of brakesman, whose duty it was to slacken the engine + when the full baskets of coal reached the top of the shaft. This was a + more serious and responsible post than any he had yet filled, and one for + which only the best and steadiest workmen were ever selected. His wages + now amounted to a pound a week, a very large sum in those days for a + skilled working-man. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, George, like most other young men, had fallen in love. His + sweetheart, Fanny Henderson, was servant at the small farmhouse where he + had taken lodgings since leaving his father’s home; and though but + little is known about her (for she unhappily died before George had begun + to rise to fame and fortune), what little we do know seems to show that + she was in every respect a fitting wife for the active young brakesman, + and a fitting mother for his equally celebrated son, Robert Stephenson. + Fired by the honourable desire to marry Fanny, with a proper regard for + prudence, George set himself to work to learn cobbling in his spare + moments; and so successfully did he cobble the worn shoes of his + fellow-colliers after working hours, that before long he contrived to save + a whole guinea out of his humble earnings. That guinea was the first step + towards an enormous fortune; a fortune, too, all accumulated by steady + toil and constant useful labour for the ultimate benefit of his + fellow-men. To make a fortune is the smallest and least noble of all + possible personal ambitions; but to save the first guinea which leads us + on at last to independence and modest comfort is indeed an important + turning-point in every prudent man’s career. Geordie Stephenson was + so justly proud of his achievement in this respect that he told a friend + in confidence he might now consider himself a rich man. + </p> + <p> + By the time George was twenty-one, he had saved up enough by constant care + to feel that he might safely embark on the sea of housekeeping. He was + able to take a small cottage lodging for himself and Fanny, at Willington + Quay, near his work at the moment, and to furnish it with the simple + comfort which was all that their existing needs demanded. He married Fanny + on the 28th of November, 1802; and the young couple proceeded at once to + their new home. Here George laboured harder than ever, as became the head + of a family. He was no more ashamed of odd jobs than he had been of + learning the alphabet. He worked overtime at emptying ballast from ships; + he continued to cobble, to cut lasts, and even to try his hand at regular + shoemaking; furthermore, he actually acquired the art of mending clocks, a + matter which lay strictly in his own line, and he thus earned a tidy penny + at odd hours by doctoring all the rusty or wheezy old timepieces of all + his neighbours. Nor did he neglect his mechanical education meanwhile; for + he was always at work upon various devices for inventing a perpetual + motion machine. Now perpetual motion is the most foolish will-o’-the-wisp + that ever engaged a sane man’s attention: the thing has been proved + to be impossible from every conceivable point of view, and the attempt to + achieve it, if pursued to the last point, can only end in disappointment + if not in ruin. Still, for all that, the work George Stephenson spent upon + this unpractical object did really help to give him an insight into + mechanical science which proved very useful to him at a later date. He + didn’t discover perpetual motion, but he did invent at last the real + means for making the locomotive engine a practical power in the matter of + travelling. + </p> + <p> + A year later, George’s only son Robert was born; and from that + moment the history of those two able and useful lives is almost + inseparable. During the whole of George Stephenson’s long upward + struggle, and during the hard battle he had afterwards to fight on behalf + of his grand design of railways, he met with truer sympathy, appreciation, + and comfort from his brave and gifted son than from any other person + whatsoever. Unhappily, his pleasure and delight in the up-bringing of his + boy was soon to be clouded for a while by the one great bereavement of an + otherwise singularly placid and happy existence. Some two years after her + marriage, Fanny Stephenson died, as yet a mere girl, leaving her lonely + husband to take care of their baby boy alone and unaided. Grief for this + irretrievable loss drove the young widower away for a while from his + accustomed field of work among the Tyneside coal-pits; he accepted an + invitation to go to Montrose in Scotland, to overlook the working of a + large engine in some important spinning-works. He remained in this + situation for one year only; but during that time he managed to give clear + evidence of his native mechanical insight by curing a defect in the pumps + which supplied water to his engine, and which had hitherto defied the best + endeavours of the local engineers. The young father was not unmindful, + either, of his duty to his boy, whom he had left behind with his + grandfather on Tyneside; for he saved so large a sum as L28 during his + engagement, which he carried back with him in his pocket on his return to + England. + </p> + <p> + A sad disappointment awaited him when at last he arrived at home. Old + Robert Stephenson, the father, had met with an accident during George’s + absence which made him quite blind, and incapacitated him for further + work. Helpless and poor, he had no resource to save him from the workhouse + except George; but George acted towards him exactly as all men who have in + them a possibility of any good thing always do act under similar + circumstances. He spent L15 of his hard-earned savings to pay the debts + the poor blind old engine-man had necessarily contracted during his + absence, and he took a comfortable cottage for his father and mother at + Killingworth, where he had worked before his removal to Scotland, and + where he now once more obtained employment, still as a brakesman. In that + cottage this good and brave son supported his aged parents till their + death, in all the simple luxury that his small means would then permit + him. + </p> + <p> + That, however, was not the end of George’s misfortunes. Shortly + after, he was drawn by lot as a militiaman; and according to the law of + that time (for this was in 1807, during the very height of the wars + against Napoleon) he must either serve in person or else pay heavily to + secure a substitute. George chose regretfully the latter course—the + only one open to him if he wished still to support his parents and his + infant son. But in order to do so, he had to pay away the whole remainder + of his carefully hoarded savings, and even to borrow L6 to make up the + payment for the substitute. It must have seemed very hard to him to do + this, and many men would have sunk under the blow, become hopeless, or + taken to careless rowdy drinking habits. George Stephenson felt it + bitterly, and gave way for a while to a natural despondency; he would + hardly have been human if he had not; but still, he lived over it, and in + the end worked on again with fuller resolution and vigour than ever. + </p> + <p> + For several years Geordie, as his fellow-colliers affectionately called + him, continued to live on at one or other of the Killingworth collieries. + In a short time, he entered into a small contract with his employers for + “brakeing” the engines; and in the course of this contract, he + invented certain improvements in the matter of saving wear and tear of + ropes, which were both profitable to himself and also in some small degree + pointed the way toward his future plans for the construction of railways. + It is true, the two subjects have not, apparently, much in common; but + they are connected in this way, that both proceed upon the principle of + reducing the friction to the smallest possible quantity. It was this + principle that Stephenson was gradually learning to appreciate more and + more at its proper value; and it was this which finally led him to the + very summit of a great and pre-eminently useful profession. The great + advantage, indeed, of a level railway over an up-and-down ordinary road is + simply that in the railway the resistance and friction are almost entirely + got rid of. + </p> + <p> + It was in 1810, when Stephenson was twenty-nine, that his first experiment + in serious engineering was made. A coal-pit had been sunk at Killingworth, + and a rude steam-engine of that time had been set to pump the water out of + its shaft; but, somehow, the engine made no headway against the rising + springs at the bottom of the mine. For nearly a year the engine worked + away in vain, till at last, one Saturday afternoon, Geordie Stephenson + went over to examine her. “Well, George,” said a pitman, + standing by, “what do you think of her?” “Man,” + said George, boldly, “I could alter her and make her draw. In a week + I could let you all go the bottom.” The pitman reported this + confident speech of the young brakesman to the manager; and the manager, + at his wits’ end for a remedy, determined to let this fellow + Stephenson try his hand at her. After all, if he did no good, he would be + much like all the others; and anyhow he seemed to have confidence in + himself, which, if well grounded, is always a good thing. + </p> + <p> + George’s confidence <i>was</i> well grounded. It was not the + confidence of ignorance, but that of knowledge. He <i>understood</i> the + engine now, and he saw at once the root of the evil. He picked the engine + to pieces, altered it to suit the requirements of the case, and set it to + work to pump without delay. Sure enough, he kept his word; and within the + week, the mine was dry, and the men were sent to the bottom. This was a + grand job for George’s future. The manager, a Mr. Dodds, not only + gave him ten pounds at once as a present, in acknowledgment of his + practical skill, but also appointed him engine-man of the new pit, another + rise in the social scale as well as in the matter of wages. Dodds kept him + in mind for the future, too; and a couple of years later, on a vacancy + occurring, he promoted the promising hand to be engine-wright of all the + collieries under his management, at a salary of L100 a year. When a man’s + income comes to be reckoned by the year, rather than by the week or month, + it is a sign that he is growing into a person of importance. George had + now a horse to ride upon, on his visits of inspection to the various + engines; and his work was rather one of mechanical engineering than of + mere ordinary labouring handicraft. + </p> + <p> + The next few years of George Stephenson’s life were mainly taken up + in providing for the education of his boy Robert. He had been a good son, + and he was now a good father. Feeling acutely how much he himself had + suffered, and how many years he had been put back, by his own want of a + good sound rudimentary education, he determined that Robert should not + suffer from a similar cause. Indeed, George Stephenson’s splendid + abilities were kept in the background far too long, owing to his early + want of regular instruction. So the good father worked hard to send his + boy to school; not to the village teacher’s only, but to a school + for gentlemen’s sons at Newcastle. By mending clocks and watches in + spare moments, and by rigid economy in all unnecessary expenses + (especially beer), Stephenson had again gathered together a little hoard, + which mounted up this time to a hundred guineas. A hundred guineas is a + fortune and a capital to a working man. He was therefore rich enough, not + only to send little Robert to school, but even to buy him a donkey, on + which the boy made the journey every day from Killingworth to Newcastle. + This was in 1815, when George was thirty-four, and Robert twelve. Perhaps + no man who ever climbed so high as George Stephenson, had ever reached so + little of the way at so comparatively late an age. For in spite of his + undoubted success, viewed from the point of view of his origin and early + prospects, he was as yet after all nothing more than the common + engine-wright of the Killingworth collieries—a long way off as yet + from the distinguished father of the railway system. + </p> + <p> + George Stephenson’s connection with the locomotive, however, was + even now beginning. Already, in 1816, he and his boy had tried a somewhat + higher flight of mechanical and scientific skill than usual, in the + construction of a sun-dial, which involves a considerable amount of + careful mathematical work; and now George found that the subject of + locomotive engines was being forced by circumstances upon his attention. + From the moment he was appointed engine-wright of the Killingworth + collieries, he began to think about all possible means of hauling coal at + cheaper rates from the pit’s mouth to the shipping place on the + river. For that humble object alone—an object that lay wholly within + the line of his own special business—did the great railway projector + set out upon his investigations into the possibilities of the locomotive. + Indeed, in its earliest origin, the locomotive was almost entirely + connected with coals and mining; its application to passenger traffic on + the large scale was quite a later and secondary consideration. It was only + by accident, so to speak, that the true capabilities of railways were + finally discovered in the actual course of their practical employment. + George Stephenson was not the first person to construct either a + locomotive or a tramway. Both were already in use, in more or less rude + forms, at several collieries. But he <i>was</i> the first person to bring + the two to such a pitch of perfection, that what had been at first a mere + clumsy mining contrivance, became developed into a smooth and easy iron + highway for the rapid and convenient conveyance of goods and passengers + over immense distances. Of course, this great invention, like all other + great inventions, was not the work of one day or one man. Many previous + heads had helped to prepare the way for George Stephenson; and George + Stephenson himself had been working at the subject for many years before + he even reached the first stage of realized endeavour. As early as 1814 he + constructed his first locomotive at Killingworth colliery; it was not + until 1822 that he laid the first rail of his first large line, the + Stockton and Darlington Railway. + </p> + <p> + Stephenson’s earliest important improvement in the locomotive + consisted in his invention of what is called the steam-blast, by which the + steam is made to increase the draught of the fire, and so largely add to + the effectiveness of the engine. It was this invention that enabled him at + last to make the railway into the great carrier of the world, and to begin + the greatest social and commercial upheaval that has ever occurred in the + whole history of the human race. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, however, George was not entirely occupied with the + consideration of his growing engine. He had the clocks and watches to + mend; he had Robert’s schooling to look after; and he had another + practical matter even nearer home than the locomotive on which to exercise + his inventive genius. One day, in 1814, the main gallery of the colliery + caught fire. Stephenson at once descended into the burning pit, with a + chosen band of volunteers, who displayed the usual heroic courage of + colliers in going to the rescue of their comrades; and, at the risk of + their lives, these brave men bricked up the burning portion, and so, by + excluding the air, put out the dangerous fire. Still, even so, several of + the workmen had been suffocated, and one of the pitmen asked Geordie in + dismay whether nothing could be done to prevent such terrible disasters in + future. “The price of coal-mining now,” he said, “is + pitmen’s lives.” Stephenson promised to think the matter over; + and he did think it over with good effect. The result of his thought was + the apparatus still affectionately known to the pitmen as “the + Geordie lamp.” It is a lamp so constructed that the flame cannot + pass out into the air outside, and so cause explosions in the dangerous + fire-damp which is always liable to occur abundantly in the galleries of + coal mines. By this invention alone George Stephenson’s name and + memory might have been kept green for ever; for his lamp has been the + means of saving thousands of lives from a sudden, a terrible, and a + pitiful death. Most accidents that now occur in mines are due to the + neglect of ordinary precautions, and to the perverse habit of carrying a + naked lighted candle in the hand (contrary to regulations) instead of a + carefully guarded safety lamp. Yet so culpably reckless of their own and + other men’s lives are a large number of people everywhere, that in + spite of the most stringent and salutary rules, explosions from this cause + (and, therefore, easily avoidable) take place constantly to the present + day, though far less frequently than before the invention of the Geordie + lamp. + </p> + <p> + Curiously enough, at the very time when George Stephenson was busy + inventing his lamp at Killingworth, Sir Humphrey Davy was working at just + the same matter in London; and the two lamps, though a little different in + minor points of construction, are practically the same in general + principle. Now, Sir Humphrey was then the great fashionable natural + philosopher of the day, the favourite of London society, and the popular + lecturer of the Royal Institution. His friends thought it a monstrous idea + that his splendid life-saving apparatus should have been independently + devised by “an engine-wright of Killingworth of the name of + Stephenson—a person not even possessing a knowledge of the elements + of chemistry.” This sounds very odd reading at the present day, when + the engine-wright of the name of Stephenson has altered the whole face of + the world, while Davy is chiefly remembered as a meritorious and able + chemist; but at the time, Stephenson’s claim to the invention met + with little courtesy from the great public of London, where a meeting was + held on purpose to denounce his right to the credit of the invention. What + the coal-owners and colliers of the North Country thought about the matter + was sufficiently shown by their subscription of L1000, as a Stephenson + testimonial fund. With part of the money, a silver tankard was presented + to the deserving engine-wright, while the remainder of the sum was handed + over to him in ready cash. A very acceptable present it was, and one which + George Stephenson remembered with pride down to his dying day. The Geordie + lamp continues in use to the present moment in the Tyneside collieries + with excellent effect. + </p> + <p> + For some years more, Mr. Stephenson (he is now fairly entitled to that + respectable prefix) went on still further experimenting on the question of + locomotives and railways. He was now beginning to learn that much + unnecessary wear and tear arose on the short lines of rail down from the + pit’s mouths to the loading-places on the river by the inequalities + and roughnesses of the joints; and he invented a method of overlapping the + rails which quite got over this source of loss—loss of speed, loss + of power, and loss of material at once. It was in 1819 that he laid down + his first considerable piece of road, the Hetton railway. The owners of a + colliery at the village of Hetton, in Durham, determined to replace their + waggon road by a locomotive line; and they invited the now locally famous + Killingworth engine-wright to act as their engineer. Stephenson gladly + undertook the post; and he laid down a railway of eight miles in length, + on the larger part of which the trucks were to be drawn by “the iron + horse,” as people now began to style the altered and improved + locomotive. The Hetton railway was opened in 1822, and the assembled crowd + were delighted at beholding a single engine draw seventeen loaded trucks + after it, at the extraordinary rate of four miles an hour—nearly as + fast as a man could walk. Whence it may be gathered that Stephenson’s + ideas upon the question of speed were still on a very humble scale indeed. + </p> + <p> + Before the Hetton railway was opened, however, George Stephenson had shown + one more proof of his excellence as a father by sending his boy Robert, + now nineteen, to Edinburgh University. It was a serious expense for a man + who was even now, after all, hardly more than a working man of the + superior grade; but George Stephenson was well repaid for the sacrifice he + thus made on behalf of his only son. He lived to see him the greatest + practical engineer of his own time, and to feel that his success was in + large measure due to the wider and more accurate scientific training the + lad had received from his Edinburgh teachers. + </p> + <p> + In 1819 George married again, his second wife being the daughter of a + farmer at Black Callerton. + </p> + <p> + The work which finally secured the position of George Stephenson and of + his dearly loved locomotive was the Stockton and Darlington railway. Like + all the other early railways, it was originally projected simply as a + mineral line. Darlington lies in the centre of a rich inland mining + district; but the impossibility of getting the coal carried to the sea by + cart or donkey long prevented the opening up of its immense natural + wealth. At last, as early as 1817, Edward Pease and a few other + enterprising Darlington Quakers determined to build a line of railway from + the mining region to Stockton, on the river Tees, where the coal could be + loaded into sea-going ships. It was a very long line, compared to any + railway that had yet been constructed; but it was still only to be worked + by horse-power—to be, in fact, what we now call a tramway, rather + than a railway in the modern sense. However, while the plan was still + undecided, George Stephenson, who had heard about the proposed scheme, + went over to Darlington one day, and boldly asked to see Mr. Pease. The + good Quaker received him kindly, and listened to his arguments in favour + of the locomotive. “Come over to Killingworth some day and see my + engine at work,” said Stephenson, confidently; “and if you do + you will never think of horses again.” Mr. Pease, with Quaker + caution, came and looked. George put the engine through its paces, and + showed off its marvellous capabilities to such good effect that Edward + Pease was immediately converted. Henceforth, he became a decided advocate + of locomotives, and greatly aided by his wealth and influence in securing + their final triumph. + </p> + <p> + Not only that, but Mr. Pease also aided Stephenson in carrying out a + design which George had long had upon his mind—the establishment of + a regular locomotive factory, where the work of engine-making for this + particular purpose might be carried on with all the necessary finish and + accuracy. George himself put into the concern his precious L1000, not one + penny of which he had yet touched; while Pease and a friend advanced as + much between them. A factory was forthwith started at Newcastle on a small + scale, and the hardworking engine-wright found himself now fully advanced + to the commercial dignity of Stephenson and Co. With the gradual growth of + railways, that humble Newcastle factory grew gradually into one of the + largest and wealthiest manufacturing establishments in all England. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Stephenson was eagerly pushing on the survey of the Stockton + and Darlington railway, all the more gladly now that he knew it was to be + worked by means of his own adopted child, the beloved locomotive. He + worked at his line early and late; he took the sights with the + spirit-level with his own eye; he was determined to make it a model + railway. It was a long and heavy work, for railway surveying was then a + new art, and the appliances were all fresh and experimental; but in the + end, Stephenson brought it to a happy conclusion, and struck at once the + death-blow of the old road-travelling system. The line was opened + successfully in 1825, and the engine started off on the inaugural ceremony + with a magnificent train of thirty-eight vehicles. “Such was its + velocity,” says a newspaper of the day, “that in some parts + the speed was frequently twelve miles an hour.” + </p> + <p> + The success of the Stockton and Darlington railway was so immense and + unexpected, the number of passengers who went by it was so great, and the + quantity of coal carried for shipment so far beyond anything the + projectors themselves could have anticipated, that a desire soon began to + be felt for similar works in other places. There are no two towns in + England which absolutely need a railway communication from one to the + other so much as Liverpool and Manchester. The first is the great port of + entry for cotton, the second is the great centre of its manufacture. The + Bridgewater canal had helped for a time to make up for the want of water + communication between those two closely connected towns; but as trade + developed, the canal became too small for the demands upon it, and the + need for an additional means of intercourse was deeply felt. A committee + was formed to build a railway in this busy district, and after a short + time George Stephenson was engaged to superintend its construction. + </p> + <p> + A long and severe fight was fought over the Liverpool and Manchester + railway, and it was at first doubtful whether the scheme would ever be + carried out. Many great landowners were strongly opposed to it, and tried + their best to keep the bill for authorizing it from passing through + Parliament. Stephenson himself was compelled to appear in London as a + witness before a parliamentary committee, and was closely cross-examined + as to the possibilities of his plan. In those days, even after the success + of the Stockton and Darlington line, his views about the future of + railways were still regarded by most sober persons as ridiculously wild + and enthusiastic; while the notion that trains might be made to travel + twice as fast as stage-coaches, was scouted as the most palpable and + ridiculous delusion. One of the members of the committee pressed + Stephenson very hard with questions. “Suppose,” he said, + “a cow were to get upon the line, and the engine were to come into + collision with it; wouldn’t that be very awkward, now?” George + looked up at him with a merry twinkle of the eye, and answered in his + broad North Country dialect, “Oo, ay, very awkward for the <i>coo</i>.” + </p> + <p> + In spite of all Stephenson’s earnestness and mother wit, however, + Parliament refused to pass the bill (in 1825), and for the moment the + engineer’s vexation was bitter to behold. He and his friends plucked + up heart, however; they were fighting the winning battle against prejudice + and obstruction, and they were sure to conquer in the long run. The line + was resurveyed by other engineers; the lands of the hostile owners were + avoided; the causes of offence were dexterously smoothed down; and after + another hard fight, in 1826, the bill authorizing the construction of the + Liverpool and Manchester railway was finally passed. The board at once + appointed Stephenson engineer for constructing the line, at a salary of + L1000 a year. George might now fairly consider himself entitled to the + honours of an Esquire. + </p> + <p> + The line was a difficult one to construct; but George Stephenson set about + it with the skill and knowledge acquired during many years of slow + experience; and he performed it with distinguished success. He was now + forty-four; and he had had more to do with the laying down of rails than + any other man then living. The great difficulty of the Liverpool and + Manchester line lay in the fact that it had to traverse a vast shaking bog + or morass, Chat Moss, which the best engineers had emphatically declared + it would be impossible to cross. George Stephenson, however, had a plan + for making the impossible possible. He simply floated his line on a broad + bottom, like a ship, on the top of the quaking quagmire; and proceeded to + lay down his rails on this seemingly fragile support without further + scruple. It answered admirably, and still answers to the present day. The + other works on the railway, especially the cuttings, were such as might + well have appalled the boldest heart in those experimental ages of railway + enterprise. It is easy enough for us now to undertake tunnelling great + hills or filling up wide valleys with long ranges of viaduct, because the + thing has been done so often, and the prospect of earning a fair return on + the money sunk can be calculated with so high a degree of reasonable + probability. But it required no little faith for George Stephenson and his + backers to drive a level road, for the first time, through solid rocks and + over trembling morasses, the whole way from Liverpool to Manchester. He + persevered, however, and in 1830, after four years’ toilsome and + ceaseless labour, during which he had worked far-harder than the sturdiest + navvy on the line, his railway was finally opened for regular traffic. + </p> + <p> + Before the completion of the railway, George Stephenson had taken part in + a great contest for the best locomotive at Liverpool, a prize of L500 + having been offered by the company to the successful competitor. + Stephenson sent in his improved model, the Rocket, constructed after plans + of his own and his son Robert’s, and it gained the prize against all + its rivals, travelling at what was then considered the incredible rate of + 35 miles an hour. It was thus satisfactorily settled that the locomotive + was the best power for drawing carriages on railways, and George + Stephenson’s long battle was thus at last practically won. The + opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway was an era in the history + of the world. From the moment that great undertaking was complete, there + could no longer be any doubt about the utility and desirability of + railways, and all opposition died away almost at once. New lines began + immediately to be laid out, and in an incredibly short time the face of + England was scarred by the main trunks in that network of iron roads with + which its whole surface is now so closely covered. The enormous + development of the railway system benefited the Stephenson family in more + than one way. Robert Stephenson became the engineer of the vast series of + lines now known as the London and North Western; and the increased demand + for locomotives caused George Stephenson’s small factory at + Newcastle to blossom out suddenly into an immense and flourishing + manufacturing concern. + </p> + <p> + The rest of George Stephenson’s life is one long story of unbroken + success. In 1831, the year after the opening of the Liverpool and + Manchester line, George, being now fifty, began to think of settling down + in a more permanent home. His son Robert, who was surveying the Leicester + and Swannington railway, observed on an estate called Snibston, near + Ashby-de-la-Zouch, what to his experienced geological eye looked like the + probable indications of coal beneath the surface. He wrote to his father + about it, and as the estate was at the time for sale, George, now a + comparatively wealthy man, bought it up on his son’s recommendation. + He also pitched his home close by at Alton Grange, and began to sink + shafts in search of coal. He found it in due time; and thus, in addition + to his Newcastle works he became a flourishing colliery proprietor. It is + pleasing to note that Stephenson, unlike too many other self-made men, + always treated his workmen with the greatest kindness and consideration, + erecting admirable cottages for their accommodation, and providing them + with church, chapel, and schools for their religious and social education. + </p> + <p> + While living at Alton Grange, Stephenson was engaged in laying out several + new lines in the middle and north of England, especially the Grand + Junction and the Midland, both of which he constructed with great boldness + and practical skill. As he grew older and more famous, he began to mix in + the truly best society of England; his acquaintance being sought by all + the most eminent men in literature, science, and political life. Though + but an uneducated working man by origin, George Stephenson had so improved + his mind by constant thought and expansive self-education, that he was + able to meet these able and distinguished friends of his later days on + terms of perfect intellectual and social equality. To the last, however, + he never forgot his older and poorer friends, nor was he ever ashamed of + their acquaintance. A pleasant trait is narrated by his genial biographer, + Dr. Smiles, who notices that on one occasion he stopped to speak to one of + his wealthy acquaintances in a fine carriage, and then turned to shake + hands with the coachman on the box, whom he had known and respected in his + earlier days. He enjoyed, too, the rare pleasure of feeling his greatness + recognized in his own time: and once, when he went over to Brussels on a + visit to the king of the Belgians, he was pleased and surprised, as the + royal party entered the ball-room at the Town Hall, to hear a general + murmur among the guests of “Which is Stephenson?” + </p> + <p> + George Stephenson continued to live for sixteen years, first at Alton + Grange, and afterwards at Tapton House, near Chesterfield, in comfort and + opulence; growing big pines and melons, keeping birds and dogs, and + indulging himself towards the end in the well-earned repose to which his + useful and laborious life fully entitled him. At last, on the 12th of + August, 1848, he died suddenly of intermittent fever, in his sixty-seventh + year, and was peacefully buried in Chesterfield church. Probably no one + man who ever lived did so much to change and renovate the whole aspect of + human life as George Stephenson; and, unlike many other authors of great + revolutions, he lived long enough to see the full result of his splendid + labours in the girdling of England by his iron roads. A grand and simple + man, he worked honestly and steadfastly throughout his days, and he found + his reward in the unprecedented benefits which his locomotive was even + then conferring upon his fellow-men. It is indeed wonderful to think how + very different is the England in which we live to-day, from that in which + we might possibly have been living were it not for the barefooted little + collier boy who made clay models of engines at Wylam, and who grew at last + into the great and famous engineer of the marvellous Liverpool and + Manchester railway. The main characteristic of George Stephenson was + perseverance; and it was that perseverance that enabled him at last to + carry out his magnificent schemes in the face of so much bitter and + violent opposition. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III. — JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR. + </h2> + <p> + In most cases, the working man who raises himself to wealth and position, + does so by means of trade, which is usually the natural outgrowth of his + own special handicraft or calling. If he attains, not only to riches, but + to distinction as well, it is in general by mechanical talent, the + direction of the mind being naturally biased by the course of one’s + own ordinary occupations. England has been exceptionally rich in great + engineers and inventive geniuses of such humble origin—working men + who have introduced great improvements in manufactures or communications; + and our modern English civilization has been immensely influenced by the + lives of these able and successful mechanical toilers. From Brindley, the + constructor of the earliest great canal, to Joseph Gillott, the inventor + of the very steel pen with which this book is written; from Arkwright the + barber who fashioned the first spinning-machine, to Crompton the weaver, + whose mule gave rise to the mighty Manchester cotton trade; from Newcomen, + who made the first rough attempt at a steam-engine, to Stephenson, who + sent the iron horse from end to end of the land,—the chief + mechanical improvements in the country have almost all been due to the + energy, intelligence, and skill of our labouring population. The English + mind is intensely practical, and the English working man, for the last two + centuries at least, has been mainly distinguished for his great mechanical + aptitude, bursting out, here and there, in exceptional persons, under the + form of exceedingly high inventive genius. + </p> + <p> + At our very doors, however, there is a small nation of largely different + blood and of wholly different speech from our own; a nation forming a part + of our own kingdom, even more closely than the Scotch or the Irish, and + yet in some respects further from us in mind and habit of life than + either; a nation marked rather by the poetical and artistic, than by the + mechanical and practical temperament—the ancient and noble Welsh + people. It would hardly be reasonable to expect from the Welsh exactly the + same kind of success in life which we often find in English workmen; the + aims and ideals of the two races are so distinct, and it must be frankly + confessed the advantage is not always on the side of the Englishman. The + Welsh peasants, living among their own romantic hills and valleys, + speaking their own soft and exquisite language, treasuring their own + plaintive and melodious poetry, have grown up with an intense love for + beauty and the beautiful closely intwined into the very warp and woof of + their inmost natures. They have almost always a natural refinement of + manner and delicacy of speech which is unfortunately too often wanting + amongst our rougher English labouring classes, especially in large towns. + They are intensely musical, producing a very large proportion of the best + English singers and composers. They are fond of literature, for which they + have generally some natural capacity, and in which they exercise + themselves to an extent unknown, probably, among people of their class in + any other country. At the local meetings of bards (as they call + themselves) in Wales, it is not at all uncommon to hear that the first + prize for Welsh poetry has been carried off by a shepherd, and the first + prize for Welsh prose composition by a domestic servant. In short, the + susceptibilities of the race run rather toward art and imagination, than + toward mere money-making and practical ingenuity. + </p> + <p> + John Gibson, sculptor, of Rome, as he loved to call himself, was a + remarkable embodiment, in many ways, of this self-respecting, artistic, + ideal Welsh peasant temperament. In a little village near Conway, in North + Wales, there lived at the end of the last century a petty labouring market + gardener of the name of Gibson, who knew and spoke no other tongue than + his native Welsh. In 1790, his wife gave birth to a son whom they + christened John, and who grew up, a workman’s child, under the + shadow of the great castle, and among the exquisite scenery of the placid + land-locked Conway river. John Gibson’s parents, like the mass of + labouring Welsh people, were honest, God-fearing folk, with a great + earnestness of principle, a profound love of truth, and a hatred of all + mean or dirty actions. They brought up the boy in these respects in the + way he should go; and when he was old he indeed did not depart from them. + Throughout his life, John Gibson was remarkable for his calm, earnest, + straightforward simplicity, a simplicity which seemed almost childish to + those who could not understand so grand and uncommon and noble a nature as + his. + </p> + <p> + From his babyhood, almost, the love of art was innate in the boy; and when + he was only seven years old, he began to draw upon a slate a scene that + particularly pleased him—a line of geese sailing upon the smooth + glassy surface of a neighbouring pond. He drew them as an ordinary child + almost always does draw—one goose after another, in profile, as + though they were in procession, without any attempt at grouping or + perspective in any way. His mother praised the first attempt, saying to + him in Welsh, “Indeed, Jack, this is very like the geese;” and + Jack, encouraged by her praise, decided immediately to try again. But not + being an ordinary child, he determined this time to do better; he drew the + geese one behind the other as one generally sees them in actual nature. + His mother then asked him to draw a horse; and “after gazing long + and often upon one,” he says, “I at last ventured to commit + him to the slate.” When he had done so, the good mother was even + more delighted. So, to try his childish art, she asked him to put a rider + on the horse’s back. Jack went out once more, “carefully + watched men on horseback,” and then returning, made his sketch + accordingly. In this childish reminiscence one can see already the first + workings of that spirit which made Gibson afterwards into the greatest + sculptor of all Europe. He didn’t try even then to draw horse or man + by mere guess-work; he went out and studied the subject at first hand. + There are in that single trait two great elements of success in no matter + what line of life—supreme carefulness, and perfect honesty of + workmanship. + </p> + <p> + When Jack was nine years old, his father determined to emigrate to + America, and for that purpose went to Liverpool to embark for the United + States. But when he had got as far as the docks, Mrs. Gibson, good soul, + frightened at the bigness of the ships (a queer cause of alarm), refused + plumply ever to put her foot on one of them. So her husband, a dutiful man + with a full sense of his wife’s government upon him, consented + unwillingly to stop in Liverpool, where he settled down to work again as a + gardener. Hitherto, Jack and his brothers had spoken nothing but Welsh; + but at Liverpool he was put to school, and soon learned to express himself + correctly and easily in English. Liverpool was a very different place for + young Jack Gibson from Conway: there were no hills and valleys there, to + be sure, but there were shops—such shops! all full of the most + beautiful and highly coloured prints and caricatures, after the fashion of + the days when George IV. was still Prince Regent. All his spare time he + now gave up to diligently copying the drawings which he saw spread out in + tempting array before him in the shop-windows. Flattening his little nose + against the glass panes, he used to look long and patiently at a single + figure, till he had got every detail of its execution fixed firmly on his + mind’s eye; and then he would go home hastily and sketch it out at + once while the picture was still quite fresh in his vivid memory. + Afterwards he would return to the shop-window, and correct his copy by the + original till it was completely finished. No doubt the boy did all this + purely for his own amusement; but at the same time he was quite + unconsciously teaching himself to draw under a very careful and accurate + master—himself. Already, however, he found his paintings had + patrons, for he sold them when finished to the other boys; and once he got + as much as sixpence for a coloured picture of Napoleon crossing the Alps—“the + largest sum,” he says brightly in his memoirs long after, “I + had yet received for a work of art.” + </p> + <p> + Opportunities always arise for those who know how to use them. Little Jack + Gibson used to buy his paper and colours at a stationer’s in + Liverpool, who one day said to him kindly, “My lad, you’re a + constant customer here: I suppose you’re a painter.” “Yes, + sir,” Jack answered, with childish self-complacency, “I do + paint.” The stationer, who had himself studied at the Royal Academy, + asked him to bring his pictures on view; and when Jack did so, his new + friend, Mr. Tourmeau, was so much pleased with them that he lent the boy + drawings to copy, and showed him how to draw for himself from plaster + casts. These first amateur lessons must have given the direction to all + Gibson’s later life: for when the time came for him to choose a + trade, he was not set to till the ground like his father, but was employed + at once on comparatively artistic and intelligent handicraft. + </p> + <p> + Jack was fourteen when his father apprenticed him to a firm of + cabinet-makers. For the first year, he worked away contentedly at legs and + mouldings; but as soon as he had learnt the rudiments of the trade he + persuaded his masters to change his indentures, and let him take the more + suitable employment of carving woodwork for ornamental furniture. He must + have been a good workman and a promising boy, one may be sure, or his + masters would never have countenanced such a revolutionary proceeding on + the part of a raw apprentice. Young Gibson was delighted with his new + occupation, and pursued it so eagerly that he carved even during his + leisure hours from plaster casts. But after another year, as ill-luck or + good fortune would have it, he happened to come across a London + marble-cutter, who had come down to Liverpool to carve flowers in marble + for a local firm. The boy was enchanted with his freer and more artistic + work; when the marble-cutter took him over a big yard, and showed him the + process of modelling and cutting, he began to feel a deep contempt for his + own stiff and lifeless occupation of wood-carving. Inspired with the + desire to learn this higher craft, he bought some clay, took it home, and + moulded it for himself after all the casts he could lay his hands on. Mr. + Francis, the proprietor of the marble works, had a German workman in his + employ of the name of Luge, who used to model small figures, chiefly, no + doubt, for monumental purposes. Young Gibson borrowed a head of Bacchus + that Luge had composed, and made a copy of it himself in clay. Mr. Francis + was well pleased with this early attempt, and also with a clever head of + Mercury in marble, which Gibson carved in his spare moments. + </p> + <p> + The more the lad saw of clay and marble, the greater grew his distaste for + mere woodwork. At last, he determined to ask Mr. Francis to buy out his + indentures from the cabinet-makers, and let him finish his apprenticeship + as a sculptor. But unfortunately the cabinet-makers found Gibson too + useful a person to be got rid of so easily: they said he was the most + industrious lad they had ever had; and so his very virtues seemed as it + were to turn against him. Not so, really: Mr. Francis thought so well of + the boy that he offered the masters L70 to be quit of their bargain; and + in the end, Gibson himself having made a very firm stand in the matter, he + was released from his indentures and handed over finally to Mr. Francis + and a sculptor’s life. + </p> + <p> + And now the eager boy was at last “truly happy.” He had to + model all day long, and he worked away at it with a will. Shortly after he + went to Mr. Francis’s yard, a visitor came upon business, a + magnificent-looking old man, with snowy hair and Roman features. It was + William Roscoe, the great Liverpool banker, himself a poor boy who had + risen, and who had found time not only to build up for himself an enormous + fortune, but also to become thoroughly well acquainted with literature and + art by the way. Mr. Roscoe had written biographies of Lorenzo de Medici, + the great Florentine, and of Leo X., the art-loving pope; and throughout + his whole life he was always deeply interested in painting and sculpture + and everything that related to them. He was a philanthropist, too, who had + borne his part bravely in the great struggle for the abolition of the + slave trade; and to befriend a struggling lad of genius like John Gibson + was the very thing that was nearest and dearest to his benevolent heart. + Mr. Francis showed Roscoe the boy’s drawings and models; and Roscoe’s + appreciative eye saw in them at once the visible promise of great things + to be. He had come to order a chimney-piece for his library at Allerton, + where his important historical works were all composed; and he determined + that the clever boy should have a chief hand in its production. A few days + later he returned again with a valuable old Italian print. “I want + you to make a bas-relief in baked clay,” he said to Gibson, “from + this print for the centre of my mantelpiece.” Gibson was overjoyed. + The print was taken from a fresco of Raphael’s in the Vatican at + Rome, and Gibson’s work was to reproduce it in clay in low relief, + as a sculpture picture. He did so entirely to his new patron’s + satisfaction, and this his first serious work is now duly preserved in the + Liverpool Institution which Mr. Roscoe had been mainly instrumental in + founding. + </p> + <p> + Roscoe had a splendid collection of prints and drawings at Allerton; and + he invited the clever Welsh lad over there frequently, and allowed him to + study them all to his heart’s content. To a lad like John Gibson, + such an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the works of Raphael and + Michael Angelo was a great and pure delight. Before he was nineteen, he + began to think of a big picture which he hoped to paint some day; and he + carried it out as well as he was able in his own self-taught fashion. For + as yet, it must be remembered, Gibson had had no regular artistic + instruction: there was none such, indeed, to be had at all in Liverpool in + his day; and there was no real art going on in the town in any way. Mr. + Francis, his master, was no artist; nor was there anybody at the works who + could teach him: for as soon as Mr. Francis found out the full measure of + Gibson’s abilities, he dismissed his German artist Luge, and put the + clever boy entirely in his place. At this time, Gibson was only receiving + six shillings a week as wages; but Mr. Francis got good prices for many of + his works, and was not ashamed even to put his own name upon the promising + lad’s artistic performances. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Roscoe did not merely encourage the young sculptor; he set him also on + the right road for ultimate success. He urged Gibson to study anatomy, + without which no sculpture worthy of the name is possible. Gibson gladly + complied, for he knew that Michael Angelo had been a great anatomist, and + Michael was just at that moment the budding sculptor’s idol and + ideal. But how could he learn? A certain Dr. Vose was then giving lectures + on anatomy to young surgeons at Liverpool, and on Roscoe’s + recommendation he kindly admitted the eager student gratis to his + dissecting-room. Gibson dissected there with a will in all his spare + moments, and as he put his mind into the work he soon became well versed + in the construction of the human body. + </p> + <p> + From the day that Gibson arrived at man’s estate, the great dream of + his life was to go to Rome. For Rome is to art what London is to industry—the + metropolis in its own way of the entire earth. But travelling in 1810 cost + a vast deal of money; and the poor Liverpool marble-cutter (for as yet he + was really nothing more) could hardly hope to earn the immense sum that + such an expedition would necessarily cost him. So for six years more he + went on working at Liverpool in his own native untaught fashion, doing his + best to perfect himself, but feeling sadly the lack of training and + competition. One of the last works he executed while still in Mr. Francis’s + service was a chimney-piece for Sir John Gladstone, father of the future + premier. Sir John was so pleased with the execution, that he gave the + young workman ten pounds as a present. But in spite of occasional + encouragement like this, Gibson felt himself at Liverpool, as he says, + “chained down by the leg, and panting for liberation.” + </p> + <p> + In 1817, when he was just twenty-seven, he determined to set off to + London. He took with him good introductions from Mr. Roscoe to Mr. + Brougham (afterwards Lord Chancellor), to Christie, the big + picture-dealer, and to several other influential people. Later on, Roscoe + recommended him to still more important leaders in the world of art—Flaxman + the great sculptor, Benjamin West, the Quaker painter and President of the + Royal Academy, and others of like magnitude. Mr. Watson Taylor, a wealthy + art patron, gave Gibson employment, and was anxious that he should stop in + London. But Gibson wanted more than employment; he wanted to <i>learn</i>, + to perfect himself, to become great in his art. He could do that nowhere + but at Rome, and to Rome therefore he was determined to go. Mr. Taylor + still begged him to wait a little. “Go to Rome I will,” Gibson + answered boldly, “even if I have to go there on foot.” + </p> + <p> + He was not quite reduced to this heroic measure, however, for his + Liverpool friends made up a purse of L150 for him (we may be sure it was + repaid later on); and with that comparatively large sum in his pocket the + young stone-cutter started off gaily on his continental tour, from which + he was not to return for twenty-seven years. He drove from Paris to Rome, + sharing a carriage with a Scotch gentleman; and when he arrived in the + Pope’s city (as it then was) he knew absolutely not a single word of + Italian, or of any other language on earth save Welsh and English. In + those days, Canova, the great Venetian sculptor, was the head of artistic + society in Rome; and as <i>all</i> society in Rome is more or less + artistic, he might almost be said to have led the whole life of the great + and lively city. Indeed, the position of such a man in Italy resembles far + more that of a duke in England than of an artist as we here are accustomed + to think of him. Gibson had letters of introduction to this prince of + sculptors from his London friends; and when he went to present them, he + found Canova in his studio, surrounded by his numerous scholars and + admirers. The Liverpool stone-cutter had brought a few of his drawings + with him, and Canova examined them with great attention. Instinctively he + recognized the touch of genius. When he had looked at them keenly for a + few minutes, he turned kindly to the trembling young man, and said at + once, “Come to me alone next week, for I want to have a talk with + you.” + </p> + <p> + On the appointed day, Gibson, quivering with excitement, presented himself + once more at the great master’s studio. Canova was surrounded as + before by artists and visitors; but in a short time he took Gibson into a + room by himself, and began to speak with him in his very broken English. + Many artists came to Rome, he said, with very small means, and that + perhaps might be Gibson’s case. “Let me have the + gratification, then,” he went on, “of assisting you to + prosecute your studies. I am rich. I am anxious to be of use to you. Let + me forward you in your art as long as you stay in Rome.” + </p> + <p> + Gibson replied, with many stammerings, that he hoped his slender means + would suffice for his personal needs, but that if Canova would only + condescend to give him instruction, to make him his pupil, to let him + model in his studio, he would be eternally grateful. Canova was one of the + most noble and lovable of men. He acceded at once to Gibson’s + request, and Gibson never forgot his kind and fatherly assistance. “Dear + generous master,” the Welsh sculptor wrote many years after, when + Canova had long passed away, “I see you before me now. I hear your + soft Venetian dialect, and your kindly words inspiring my efforts and + gently correcting my defects. My heart still swells with grateful + recollection of you.” + </p> + <p> + Canova told his new pupil to devote a few days first to seeing the sights + of Rome; but Gibson was impatient to begin at once. “I shall be at + your studio to-morrow morning,” the ardent Welshman said; and he + kept his word. Canova, pleased with so much earnestness and promptitude, + set him to work forthwith upon a clay model from his own statue of the + Pugilist. Gibson went to the task with a will, moulding the clay as best + he could into shape; but he still knew so little of the technical ways of + regular sculptors that he tried to model this work from the clay alone, + though its pose was such that it could not possibly hold together without + an iron framework. Canova saw his error and smiled, but let him go on so + that he might learn his business by experience. In a day or two the whole + thing, of course, collapsed by its own weight; and then Canova called in a + blacksmith and showed the eager beginner how the mechanical skeleton was + formed with iron bars, and interlacing crosses of wood and wire. This was + quite a new idea to Gibson, who had modelled hitherto only in his own + self-taught fashion with moist clay, letting it support its own weight as + best it might. Another pupil then fleshed out the iron skeleton with clay, + and roughly shaped it to the required figure, so that it stood as firm as + a rock for Gibson to work upon. The new hand turned to vigorously once + more; and, in spite of his seeming rawness, finished the copy so well that + Canova admitted him at once to the Academy to model from life. At this + Academy Canova himself, who loved art far more than money, used to attend + twice a week to give instruction to students without receiving any + remuneration whatsoever. It is of such noble men as this that the world of + art is largely made up—that world which we too-practical English + have always undervalued or even despised. + </p> + <p> + Gibson’s student period at Rome under Canova was a very happy + episode in a uniformly happy and beautiful life. His only trouble was that + he had not been able to come there earlier. Singularly free from every + taint of envy (like all the great sculptors of his time), he could not + help regretting when he saw other men turning out work of such great + excellence while he was still only a learner. “When I observed the + power and experience of youths much younger than myself,” he says in + his generous appreciative fashion, “their masterly manner of + sketching in the figure, and their excellent imitation of nature, my + spirits fell many degrees, and I felt humbled and unhappy.” He need + not have done so, for the man who thus distrusts his own work is always + the truest workman; it is only fools or poor creatures who are pleased and + self-satisfied with their own first bungling efforts. But the great + enjoyment of Rome to Gibson consisted in the free artistic society which + he found there. At Liverpool, he had felt almost isolated; there was + hardly anybody with whom he could talk on an equality about his artistic + interests; nobody but himself cared about the things that pleased and + engrossed his earnest soul the most. But at Rome, there was a great + society of artists; every man’s studio was open to his friends and + fellow-workers; and a lively running fire of criticism went on everywhere + about all new works completed or in progress. He was fortunate, too, in + the exact moment of his residence: Rome then contained at once, besides + himself, the two truest sculptors of the present century, Canova the + Venetian, and Thorwaldsen the Dane. Both these great masters were + singularly free from jealousy, rivalry, or vanity. In their perfect + disinterestedness and simplicity of character they closely resembled + Gibson himself. The ardent and pure-minded young Welshman, who kept + himself so unspotted from the world in his utter devotion to his chosen + art, could not fail to derive an elevated happiness from his daily + intercourse with these two noble and sympathetic souls. + </p> + <p> + After Gibson had been for some time in Canova’s studio, his + illustrious master told him that the sooner he took to modelling a + life-size figure of his own invention, the better. So Gibson hired a + studio (with what means he does not tell us in his short sketch of his own + life) close to Canova’s, so that the great Venetian was able to drop + in from time to time and assist him with his criticism and judgment. How + delightful is the friendly communion of work implied in all this graceful + artistic Roman life! How different from the keen competition and jealous + rivalry which too often distinguishes our busy money-getting English + existence! In 1819, two years after Gibson’s arrival at Rome, he + began to model his Mars and Cupid, a more than life-size group, on which + he worked patiently and lovingly for many months. When it was nearly + finished, one day a knock came at the studio door. After the knock, a + handsome young man entered, and announced himself brusquely as the Duke of + Devonshire. “Canova sent me,” he said, “to see what you + were doing.” Gibson wasn’t much accustomed to dukes in those + days—he grew more familiar with them later on—and we may be + sure the poor young artist’s heart beat a little more fiercely than + usual when the stranger asked him the price of his Mars and Cupid in + marble. The sculptor had never yet sold a statue, and didn’t know + how much he ought to ask; but after a few minutes’ consideration he + said, “Five hundred pounds. But, perhaps,” he added timidly, + “I have said too much.” “Oh no,” the duke + answered, “not at all too much;” and he forthwith ordered (or, + as sculptors prefer to say, commissioned) the statue to be executed for + him in marble. Gibson was delighted, and ran over at once to tell Canova, + thinking he had done a splendid stroke of business. Canova shared his + pleasure, till the young man came to the price; then the older sculptor’s + face fell ominously. “Five hundred pounds!” he cried in + dismay; “why, it won’t cover the cost of marble and + workmanship.” And so indeed it turned out; for when the work was + finished, it had stood Gibson in L520 for marble and expenses, and left + him twenty pounds out of pocket in the end. So he got less than nothing + after all for his many months of thought and labour over clay and marble + alike. + </p> + <p> + Discouraging as this beginning must have proved, it was nevertheless in + reality the first important step in a splendid and successful career. It + is something to have sold your first statue, even if you sell it at a + disadvantage. In 1821 Gibson modelled a group of Pysche and the Zephyrs. + That winter Sir George Beaumont, himself a distinguished amateur artist, + and a great patron of art, came to Rome; and Canova sent him to see the + young Welshman’s new composition. Sir George asked the price, and + Gibson, this time more cautious, asked for time to prepare an estimate, + and finally named L700. To his joy, Sir George immediately ordered it, and + also introduced many wealthy connoisseurs to the rising sculptor’s + studio. That same winter, also, the Duke of Devonshire came again, and + commissioned a bas-relief in marble (which is now at Chatsworth House, + with many other of Gibson’s works), at a paying price, too, which + was a great point for the young man’s scanty exchequer. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, Gibson has not left us any notice of how he managed to make + both ends meet during this long adult student period at Rome. Information + on that point would indeed be very interesting; but so absorbed was the + eager Welshman always in his art, that he seldom tells us anything at all + about such mere practical every-day matters as bread and butter. To say + the truth, he cared but little about them. Probably he had lived in a very + simple penurious style during his whole studenthood, taking his meals at a + <i>caffe</i> or eating-house, and centering all his affection and ideas + upon his beloved studio. But now wealth and fame began to crowd in upon + him, almost without the seeking. Visitors to Rome began to frequent the + Welshman’s rooms, and the death of “the great and good Canova,” + which occurred in 1822, while depriving Gibson of a dearly loved friend, + left him, as it were, that great master’s successor. Towards him and + Thorwaldsen, indeed, Gibson always cherished a most filial regard. “May + I not be proud,” he writes long after, “to have known such + men, to have conversed with them, watched all their proceedings, heard all + their great sentiments on art? Is it not a pleasure to be so deeply in + their debt for instruction?” And now the flood of visitors who used + to flock to Canova’s studio began to transfer their interest to + Gibson’s. Commission after commission was offered him, and he began + to make money faster than he could use it. His life had always been simple + and frugal—the life of a working man with high aims and grand + ideals: he hardly knew now how to alter it. People who did not understand + Gibson used to say in his later days that he loved money, because he made + much and spent little. Those who knew him better say rather that he worked + much for the love of art, and couldn’t find much to do with his + money when he had earned it. He was singularly indifferent to gain; he + cared not what he eat or drank; he spent little on clothes, and nothing on + entertainments; but he paid his workmen liberally or even lavishly; he + allowed one of his brothers more than he ever spent upon himself, and he + treated the other with uniform kindness and generosity. The fact is, + Gibson didn’t understand money, and when it poured in upon him in + large sums, he simply left it in the hands of friends, who paid him a very + small percentage on it, and whom he always regarded as being very kind to + take care of the troublesome stuff on his account. In matters of art, + Gibson was a great master; in matters of business, he was hardly more than + a simple-minded child. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes queer incidents occurred at Gibson’s studio from the + curious ignorance of our countrymen generally on the subject of art. One + day, a distinguished and wealthy Welsh gentleman called on the sculptor, + and said that, as a fellow Welshman, he was anxious to give him a + commission. As he spoke, he cast an admiring eye on Gibson’s group + of Psyche borne by the Winds. Gibson was pleased with his admiration, but + rather taken aback when the old gentleman said blandly, “If you were + to take away the Psyche and put a dial in the place, it’d make a + capital design for a clock.” Much later, the first Duke of + Wellington called upon him at Rome and ordered a statue of Pandora, in an + attitude which he described. Gibson at once saw that the Duke’s idea + was a bad one, and told him so. By-and-by, on a visit to England, Gibson + waited on the duke, and submitted photographs of the work he had modelled. + “But, Mr. Gibson,” said the old soldier, looking at them + curiously, “you haven’t followed my idea.” “No,” + answered the sculptor, “I have followed <i>my own</i>.” + “You are very stubborn,” said Wellington. “Duke,” + answered the sturdy sculptor, “I am a Welshman, and all the world + knows that we are a stubborn race.” The Iron Duke ought to have been + delighted to find another man as unbending as himself, but he wasn’t; + and in the end he refused the figure, which Gibson sold instead to Lady + Marian Alford. + </p> + <p> + For twenty-seven years Gibson remained at Rome, working assiduously at his + art, and rising gradually but surely to the very first place among then + living sculptors. His studio now became the great centre of all + fashionable visitors to Rome. Still, he made no effort to get rich, though + he got rich without wishing it; he worked on merely for art’s sake, + not for money. He would not do as many sculptors do, keep several copies + in marble of his more popular statues for sale; he preferred to devote all + his time to new works. “Gibson was always absorbed in one subject,” + says Lady Eastlake, “and that was the particular work or part of a + work—were it but the turn of a corner of drapery—which was + then under his modelling hands. Time was nothing to him; he was long and + fastidious.” His favourite pupil, Miss Hosmer, once expressed regret + to him that she had been so long about a piece of work on which she was + engaged. “Always try to do the best you can,” Gibson answered. + “Never mind how long you are upon a work—no. No one will ask + how long you have been, except fools. You don’t care what fools + think.” + </p> + <p> + During his long life at Rome, he was much cheered by the presence and + assistance of his younger brother, Mr. Ben, as he always called him, who + was also a sculptor, though of far less merit than John Gibson himself. + Mr. Ben came to Rome younger than John, and he learned to be a great + classical scholar, and to read those Greek and Latin books which John only + knew at second hand, but from whose beautiful fanciful stories of gods and + heroes he derived all the subjects for his works of statuary. His other + brother, Solomon, a strange, wild, odd man, in whom the family genius had + degenerated into mere eccentricity, never did anything for his own + livelihood, but lived always upon John Gibson’s generous bounty. In + John’s wealthy days, he and Mr. Ben used to escape every summer from + the heat and dust of Rome—which is unendurable in July and August—to + the delightfully cool air and magnificent mountain scenery of the Tyrol. + “I cannot tell you how well I am,” he writes on one of these + charming visits, “and so is Mr. Ben. Every morning we take our walks + in the woods here. I feel as if I were new modelled.” Another + passage in one of these summer tourist letters well deserves to be copied + here, as it shows the artist’s point of view of labours like Telford’s + and Stephenson’s. “From Bormio,” he says, “the + famous road begins which passes over the Stelvio into the Tyrol; the + highest carriage-road in the world. We began the ascent early in the + morning. It is magnificent and wonderful. Man shows his talents, his power + over great difficulties, in the construction of these roads. Behold the + cunning little workman—he comes, he explores, and he says, ‘Yes, + I will send a carriage and horses over these mighty mountains;’ and, + by Jove, you are drawn up among the eternal snows. I am a great admirer of + these roads.” + </p> + <p> + In 1844 Gibson paid his first visit to England, a very different England + indeed to the one he had left twenty-seven years earlier. His Liverpool + friends, now thoroughly proud of their stone-cutter, insisted upon giving + him a public banquet. Glasgow followed the same example; and the + simple-minded sculptor, unaccustomed to such honours, hardly knew how to + bear his blushes decorously upon him. During this visit, he received a + command to execute a statue of the queen. Gibson was at first quite + disconcerted at such an awful summons. “I don’t know how to + behave to queens,” he said. “Treat her like a lady,” + said a friend; and Gibson, following the advice, found it sufficiently + answered all the necessities of the situation. But when he went to arrange + with the Prince Consort about the statue, he was rather puzzled what he + should do about measuring the face, which he always did for portrait + sculpture with a pair of compasses. All these difficulties were at last + smoothed over; and Gibson was also permitted to drape the queen’s + statue in Greek costume, for in his artistic conscientiousness he + absolutely refused to degrade sculpture by representing women in the + fashionable gown of the day, or men in swallow-tail coats and high + collars. + </p> + <p> + Another work which Gibson designed during this visit possesses for us a + singular and exceptional interest. It was a statue of George Stephenson, + to be erected at Liverpool. Thus, by a curious coincidence, the Liverpool + stone-cutter was set to immortalize the features and figure of the + Killingworth engine-man. Did those two great men, as they sat together in + one room, sculptor and sitter, know one another’s early history and + strange struggles, we wonder? Perhaps not; but if they did, it must surely + have made a bond of union between them. At any rate, Gibson greatly + admired Stephenson, just as he had admired the Stelvio road. “I will + endeavour to give him a look capable of action and energy,” he said; + “but he must be contemplative, grave, simple. He is a good subject. + I wish to make him look like an Archimedes.” + </p> + <p> + If Gibson admired Stephenson, however, he did not wholly admire Stephenson’s + railways. The England he had left was the England of mail-coaches. In + Italy, he had learnt to travel by carriage, after the fashion of the + country; but these new whizzing locomotives, with their time-tables, and + their precision, and their inscrutable mysteries of shunts and junctions, + were quite too much for his simple, childish, old-world habits. He had a + knack of getting out too soon or too late, which often led him into great + confusion. Once, when he wanted to go to Chichester, he found himself + landed at Portsmouth, and only discovered his mistake when, on asking the + way to the cathedral, he was told there was no cathedral in the town at + all. Another story of how he tried to reach Wentworth, Lord Fitzwilliam’s + place, is best told in his own words. “The train soon stopped at a + small station, and, seeing some people get out, I also descended; when, in + a moment, the train moved on—faster and faster—and left me + standing on the platform. I walked a few paces backward and forward in + disagreeable meditation. ‘I wish to Heaven,’ thought I to + myself, ‘that I was on my way back to Rome with a postboy.’ + Then I observed a policeman darting his eyes upon me, as if he would look + me through. Said I to the fellow, ‘Where is that cursed train gone + to? It’s off with my luggage and here am I.’ The man asked me + the name of the place where I took my ticket. ‘I don’t + remember,’ said I. ‘How should I know the name of any of these + places?—it’s as long as my arm. I’ve got it written down + somewhere.’ ‘Pray, sir,’ said the man, after a little + pause, ‘are you a foreigner?’ ‘No,’ I replied, + ‘I am not a foreigner; I’m a sculptor.’” + </p> + <p> + The consequence of this almost childish carelessness was that Gibson had + always to be accompanied on his long journeys either by a friend or a + courier. While Mr. Ben lived, he usually took his brother in charge to + some extent; and the relation between them was mutual, for while John + Gibson found the sculpture, Mr. Ben found the learning, so that Gibson + used often to call him “my classical dictionary.” In 1847, + however, Mr. Ben was taken ill. He got a bad cold, and would have no + doctor, take no medicine. “I consider Mr. Ben,” his brother + writes, “as one of the most amiable of human beings—too good + for this world—but he will take no care against colds, and when ill + he is a stubborn animal.” That summer Gibson went again to England, + and when he came back found Mr. Ben no better. For four years the younger + brother lingered on, and in 1851 died suddenly from the effects of a fall + in walking. Gibson was thus left quite alone, but for his pupil Miss + Hosmer, who became to him more than a daughter. + </p> + <p> + During his later years Gibson took largely to tinting his statues—colouring + them faintly with flesh-tones and other hues like nature; and this + practice he advocated with all the strength of his single-minded nature. + All visitors to the great Exhibition of 1862 will remember his beautiful + tinted Venus, which occupied the place of honour in a light temple erected + for the purpose by another distinguished artistic Welshman, Mr. Owen + Jones, who did much towards raising the standard of taste in the English + people. + </p> + <p> + In January, 1866, John Gibson had a stroke of paralysis, from which he + never recovered. He died within the month, and was buried in the English + cemetery at Rome. Both his brothers had died before him; and he left the + whole of his considerable fortune to the Royal Academy in England. An + immense number of his works are in the possession of the Academy, and are + on view there throughout the year. + </p> + <p> + John Gibson’s life is very different in many respects from that of + most other great working men whose story is told in this volume. + Undoubtedly, he was deficient in several of those rugged and stern + qualities to which English working men have oftenest owed their final + success. But there was in him a simple grandeur of character, a purity of + soul, and an earnestness of aim which raised him at once far above the + heads of most among those who would have been the readiest to laugh at and + ridicule him. Besides his exquisite taste, his severe love of beauty, and + his marvellous power of expressing the highest ideals of pure form, he had + one thing which linked him to all the other great men whose lives we have + here recounted—his steadfast and unconquerable personal energy. In + one sense it may be said that he was not a practical man; and yet in + another and higher sense, what could possibly be more practical than this + accomplished resolve of the poor Liverpool stone-cutter to overcome all + obstacles, to go to Rome, and to make himself into a great sculptor? It is + indeed a pity that in writing for Englishmen of the present day such a + life should even seem for a moment to stand in need of a practical + apology. For purity, for guilelessness, for exquisite appreciation of the + true purpose of sculpture as the highest embodiment of beauty of form, + John Gibson’s art stands unsurpassed in all the annals of modern + statuary. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV. — WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN. + </h2> + <p> + Old Isaac Herschel, the oboe-player of the King’s Guard in Hanover, + had served with his regiment for many years in the chilly climate of North + Germany, and was left at last broken down in health and spirits by the + many hardships of several severe European campaigns. Isaac Herschel was a + man of tastes and education above his position; but he had married a + person in some respects quite unfitted for him. His good wife, Anna, + though an excellent housekeeper and an estimable woman in her way, had + never even learned to write; and when the pair finally settled down to old + age in Hanover, they were hampered by the cares of a large family of ten + children. Respectable poverty in Germany is even more pressing than in + England; the decent poor are accustomed to more frugal fare and greater + privations than with us; and the domestic life of the Herschel family + circle must needs have been of the most careful and penurious description. + Still, Isaac Herschel dearly loved his art, and in it he found many amends + and consolations for the sordid shifts and troubles of a straitened German + household. All his spare time was given to music, and in his later days he + was enabled to find sufficient pupils to eke out his little income with + comparative comfort. + </p> + <p> + William Herschel, the great astronomer (born in 1738), was the fourth + child of his mother, and with his brothers he was brought up at the + garrison school in Hanover, together with the sons of the other common + soldiers. There he learned, not only the three R’s, but also a + little French and English. Still, the boy was not content with these + ordinary studies; in his own playtime he took lessons in Latin and + mathematics privately with the regimental schoolmaster. The young + Herschels, indeed, were exceptionally fortunate in the possession of an + excellent and intelligent father, who was able to direct their minds into + channels which few people of their position in life have the opportunity + of entering. Isaac Herschel was partly of Jewish descent, and he inherited + in a marked degree two very striking Jewish gifts—a turn for music, + and a turn for philosophy. The Jews are probably the oldest civilized race + now remaining on earth; and their musical faculties have been continuously + exercised from a time long before the days of David, so that now they + produce undoubtedly a far larger proportion of musicians and composers + than any other class of the population whatsoever. They are also deeply + interested in the same profound theological and philosophical problems + which were discussed with so much acuteness and freedom in the Book of + Ecclesiastes and the subtle argument of Job and his friends. There has + never been a time when the Jewish mind has not exercised itself profoundly + on these deep and difficult questions; and the Hanover bandsman inherited + from his Jewish ancestry an unusual interest in similar philosophical + subjects. Thus, while the little ones were sleeping in the same common + room at night, William and his father were often heard discussing the + ideas of such abstruse thinkers as Newton and Leibnitz, whose names must + have sounded strange indeed to the ordinary frequenters of the Hanover + barracks. On such occasions good dame Herschel was often compelled to + interpose between them, lest the loudness of their logic should wake the + younger children in the crib hard by. + </p> + <p> + William, however, possessed yet another gift, which he is less likely to + have derived from the Jewish side of the house. He and his brother + Alexander were both distinguished by a natural taste for mechanics, and + early gave proof of their learning by turning neat globes with the equator + and ecliptic accurately engraved upon them, or by making model instruments + for their own amusement out of bits of pasteboard. Thus, in early + opportunities and educational advantages, the young Herschels certainly + started in life far better equipped than most working men’s sons; + and, considering their father’s doubtful position, it may seem at + first sight rather a stretch of language to describe him as a working man + at all. Nevertheless, when one remembers the humble grade of military + bandsmen in Germany, even at the present day, and the fact that most of + the Herschel family remained in that grade during all their lives, it is + clear that William Herschel’s life may be fairly included within the + scope of the present series. “In my fifteenth year,” he says + himself, “I enlisted in military service,” and he evidently + looked upon his enlistment in exactly the same light as that of any + ordinary soldier. + </p> + <p> + England and Hanover were, of course, very closely connected together at + the middle of the last century. The king moved about a great deal from one + country to the other; and in 1755 the regiment of Hanoverian Guards was + ordered on service to England for a year. William Herschel, then seventeen + years of age, and already a member of the band, went together with his + father; and it was in this modest capacity that he first made acquaintance + with the land where he was afterwards to attain the dignity of knighthood + and the post of the king’s astronomer. He played the oboe, like his + father before him, and no doubt underwent the usual severe military + discipline of that age of stiff stocks and stern punishments. His pay was + very scanty, and out of it he only saved enough to carry home one memento + of his English experiences. That memento was in itself a sufficient mark + of the stuff from which young Herschel was compounded. It was a copy of + “Locke on the Human Understanding.” Now, Locke’s famous + work, oftener named than read, is a very tough and serious bit of + philosophical exposition; and a boy of seventeen who buys such a book out + of his meagre earnings as a military bandsman is pretty sure not to end + his life within the four dismal bare walls of the barrack. It is indeed a + curious picture to imagine young William Herschel, among a group of rough + and boisterous German soldiers, discussing high mathematical problems with + his father, or sitting down quietly in a corner to read “Locke on + the Human Understanding.” + </p> + <p> + In 1757, during the Seven Years’ War, Herschel was sent with his + regiment to serve in the campaign of Rossbach against the French. He was + not physically strong, and the hardships of active service told terribly + upon the still growing lad. His parents were alarmed at his appearance + when he returned, and were very anxious to “remove” him from + the service. That, however, was by no means an easy matter for them to + accomplish. They had no money to buy his discharge, and so, not to call + the transaction by any other than its true name, William Herschel was + forced to run away from the army. We must not judge too harshly of this + desertion, for the times were hard, and the lives of men in Herschel’s + position were valued at very little by the constituted authorities. Long + after, it is said, when Herschel had distinguished himself by the + discovery of the planet Uranus, a pardon for this high military offence + was duly handed to him by the king in person on the occasion of his first + presentation. George III. was not a particularly wise or brilliant man; + but even he had sense enough to perceive that William Herschel could serve + the country far better by mapping out the stars of heaven than by playing + the oboe to the royal regiment of Hanoverian Guards. + </p> + <p> + William was nineteen when he ran away. His good mother packed his boxes + for him with such necessaries as she could manage, and sent them after him + to Hamburg, but, to the boy’s intense disgust, she forgot to send + the copy of “Locke on the Human Understanding.” What a sturdy + deserter we have here, to be sure! “She, dear woman,” he says + plaintively, “knew no other wants than good linen and clothing!” + So William Herschel the oboe player started off alone to earn his living + as best he might in the great world of England. It is strange he should + have chosen that, of all European countries; for there alone he was liable + to be arrested as a deserter: but perhaps his twelvemonth’s stay in + London may have given him a sense of being at home amongst us which he + would have lacked in any other part of Europe. At any rate, hither he + came, and for the next three years picked up a livelihood, we know not + how, as many other excellent German bandsmen have done before and since + him. Our information about his early life is very meagre, and at this + period we lose sight of him for a while altogether. + </p> + <p> + About the year 1760, however, we catch another incidental glimpse of the + young musician in his adopted country. By that time, he had found himself + once more a regular post as oboist to the Durham militia, then quartered + for its muster at Pontefract. A certain Dr. Miller, an organist at + Doncaster, was dining one evening at the officers’ mess; when his + host happened to speak to him in high praise of a young German they had in + their band, who was really, he said, a most remarkable and spirited + performer. Dr. Miller asked to see (or rather hear) this clever musician; + so Herschel was called up, and made to go through a solo for the visitor’s + gratification. The organist was surprised at his admirable execution, and + asked him on what terms he was engaged to the Durham militia. “Only + from month to month,” Herschel answered. “Then leave them at + the end of your month,” said Miller, “and come to live with + me. I’m a single man; I think we can manage together; and I’m + sure I can get you a better situation.” Herschel frankly accepted + the offer so kindly made, and seems to have lived for much of the next + five years with Miller in his little two-roomed cottage at Doncaster. Here + he took pupils and performed in the orchestra at public concerts, always + in a very quiet and modest fashion. He also lived for part of the time + with a Mr. Bulman at Leeds, for whom he afterwards generously provided a + place as clerk to the Octagon Chapel at Bath. Indeed, it is a very + pleasing trait in William Herschel’s character that to the end he + was constantly engaged in finding places for his early friends, as well as + for the less energetic or less fortunate members of his own family. + </p> + <p> + During these years, Herschel also seems to have given much attention to + the organ, which enabled him to make his next step in life in 1765, when + he was appointed organist at Halifax. Now, there is a great social + difference between the position of an oboe-player in a band and a church + organist; and it was through his organ-playing that Herschel was finally + enabled to leave his needy hand-to-mouth life in Yorkshire. A year later, + he obtained the post of organist to the Octagon Chapel at Bath, an + engagement which gave him new opportunities of turning his mind to the + studies for which he possessed a very marked natural inclination. Bath was + in those days not only the most fashionable watering-place in England, but + almost the only fashionable watering-place in the whole kingdom. It was, + to a certain extent, all that Brighton, Scarborough, Buxton, and Harrogate + are to-day, and something more. In our own time, when railways and + steamboats have so altered the face of the world, the most wealthy and + fashionable English society resorts a great deal to continental pleasure + towns like Cannes, Nice, Florence, Vichy, Baden, Ems, and Homburg; but in + the eighteenth century it resorted almost exclusively to Bath. The Octagon + Chapel was in one sense the centre of life in Bath; and through his + connection with it, Herschel was thrown into a far more intelligent and + learned society than that which he had left behind him in still rural + Yorkshire. New books came early to Bath, and were read and discussed in + the reading-rooms; famous men and women came there, and contributed + largely to the intellectual life of the place; the theatre was the finest + out of London; the Assembly Rooms were famous as the greatest resort of + wit and culture in the whole kingdom. Herschel here was far more in his + element than in the barracks of Hanover, or in the little two-roomed + cottage at rustic Doncaster. + </p> + <p> + He worked very hard indeed, and his work soon brought him comfort and + comparative wealth. Besides his chapel services, and his later engagement + in the orchestra of the Assembly Rooms, he had often as many as + thirty-eight private pupils in music every week; and he also composed a + few pieces, which were published in London with some modest success. + Still, in spite of all these numerous occupations, the eager young German + found a little leisure time to devote to self-education; so much so that, + after a fatiguing day of fourteen or sixteen hours spent in playing the + organ and teaching, he would “unbend his mind” by studying the + higher mathematics, or give himself a lesson in Greek and Italian. At the + same time, he was also working away at a line of study, seemingly useless + to him, but in which he was afterwards to earn so great and deserved a + reputation. Among the books he read during this Bath period were Smith’s + “Optics” and Lalande’s “Astronomy.” + Throughout all his own later writings, the influence of these two books, + thoroughly mastered by constant study in the intervals of his Bath music + lessons, makes itself everywhere distinctly felt. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, the family at Hanover had not been flourishing quite so greatly + as the son William was evidently doing in wealthy England. During all + those years, the young man had never forgotten to keep up a close + correspondence with his people in Germany. Already, in 1764, during his + Yorkshire days, William Herschel had managed out of his savings as an + oboe-player to make a short trip to his old home; and his sister Carolina, + afterwards his chief assistant in his astronomical labours, notes with + pleasure the delight she felt in having her beloved brother with her once + more, though she, poor girl, being cook to the household apparently, could + only enjoy his society when she was not employed “in the drudgery of + the scullery.” A year later, when William had returned to England + again, and had just received his appointment as organist at Halifax, his + father, Isaac, had a stroke of paralysis which ended his violin-playing + for ever, and forced him to rely thenceforth upon copying music for a + precarious livelihood. In 1767 he died, and poor Carolina saw before her + in prospect nothing but a life of that domestic drudgery which she so + disliked. “I could not bear the idea of being turned into a + housemaid,” she says; and she thought that if only she could take a + few lessons in music and fancy work she might get “a place as + governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of French would be + no objection.” But, unhappily, good dame Herschel, like many other + uneducated and narrow-minded persons, had a strange dread of too much + knowledge. She thought that “nothing further was needed,” says + Carolina, “than to send me two or three months to a sempstress to be + taught to make household linen; so all that my father could do was to + indulge me sometimes with a short lesson on the violin when my mother was + either in good humour or out of the way. It was her certain belief that my + brother William would have returned to his country, and my eldest brother + would not have looked so high, if they had had a little less learning.” + Poor, purblind, well-meaning, obstructive old dame Herschel! what a boon + to the world that children like yours are sometimes seized with this + incomprehensible fancy for “looking too high”! + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, Carolina managed by rising early to take a few lessons at + daybreak from a young woman whose parents lived in the same cottage with + hers; and so she got through a little work before the regular daily + business of the family began at seven. Imagine her delight then, just as + the difficulties after her father’s death are making that housemaid’s + place seem almost inevitable, when she gets a letter from William at Bath, + asking her to come over to England and join him at that gay and + fashionable city. He would try to prepare her for singing at his concerts; + but if after two years’ trial she didn’t succeed, he would + take her back again to Hanover himself. In 1772, indeed, William in person + came over to fetch her, and thenceforth the brother and sister worked + unceasingly together in all their undertakings to the day of the great + astronomer’s death. + </p> + <p> + About this time Herschel had been reading Ferguson’s “Astronomy,” + and felt very desirous of seeing for himself the objects in the heavens, + invisible to the naked eye, of which he there found descriptions. For this + purpose he must of course have a telescope. But how to obtain one? that + was the question. There was a small two-and-a-half foot instrument on hire + at one of the shops at Bath; and the ambitious organist borrowed this poor + little glass for a time, not merely to look through, but to use as a model + for constructing one on his own account. Buying was impossible, of course, + for telescopes cost much money: but making would not be difficult for a + determined mind. He had always been of a mechanical turn, and he was now + fired with a desire to build himself a telescope eighteen or twenty feet + long. He sent to London for the lenses, which could not be bought at Bath; + and Carolina amused herself by making a pasteboard tube to fit them in her + leisure hours. It was long before he reached twenty feet, indeed: his + first effort was a seven-foot, attained only “after many continuous + determined trials.” The amateur pasteboard frame did not fully + answer Herschel’s expectations, so he was obliged to go in + grudgingly for the expense of a tin tube. The reflecting mirror which he + ought to have had proved too dear for his still slender purse, and he thus + had to forego it with much regret. But he found a man at Bath who had once + been in the mirror-polishing line; and he bought from him for a bargain + all his rubbish of patterns, tools, unfinished mirrors and so forth, with + which he proceeded to experiment on the manufacture of a proper telescope. + In the summer, when the season was over, and all the great people had left + Bath, the house, as Carolina says ruefully, “was turned into a + workshop.” William’s younger brother Alexander was busy + putting up a big lathe in a bedroom, grinding glasses and turning + eyepieces while in the drawing-room itself, sacred to William’s + aristocratic pupils, a carpenter, sad to relate, was engaged in making a + tube and putting up stands for the future telescopes. Sad goings on, + indeed, in the family of a respectable music-master and organist! Many a + good solid shopkeeper in Bath must no doubt have shaken his grey head + solemnly as he passed the door, and muttered to himself that that young + German singer fellow was clearly going on the road to ruin with his + foolish good-for-nothing star-gazing. + </p> + <p> + In 1774, when William Herschel was thirty-six, he had at last constructed + himself a seven-foot telescope, and began for the first time in his life + to view the heavens in a systematic manner. From this he advanced to a + ten-foot, and then to one of twenty, for he meant to see stars that no + astronomer had ever yet dreamt of beholding. It was comparatively late in + life to begin, but Herschel had laid a solid foundation already, and he + was enabled therefore to do an immense deal in the second half of those + threescore years and ten which are the allotted average life of man, but + which he himself really overstepped by fourteen winters. As he said long + afterwards with his modest manner to the poet Campbell, “I have + looked further into space than ever human being did before me; I have + observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two + millions of years to reach this earth.” That would have been a grand + thing for any man to be able truthfully to say under any circumstances: it + was a marvellous thing for a man who had laboured under all the original + disadvantages of Herschel—a man who began life as a penniless German + bandsman, and up to the age of thirty-six had never even looked through a + telescope. + </p> + <p> + At this time, Herschel was engaged in playing the harpsichord in the + orchestra of the theatre; and it was during the interval between the acts + that he made his first general survey of the heavens. The moment his part + was finished, he would rush out to gaze through his telescope; and in + these short periods he managed to observe all the visible stars of what + are called the first, second, third, and fourth magnitudes. Henceforth he + went on building telescope after telescope, each one better than the last; + and now all his glasses were ground and polished either by his own hand or + by his brother Alexander’s. Carolina meanwhile took her part in the + workshop; but as she had also to sing at the oratorios, and her awkward + German manners might shock the sensitive nerves of the Bath aristocrats, + she took two lessons a week for a whole twelvemonth (she tells us in her + delightfully straightforward fashion) “from Miss Fleming, the + celebrated dancing mistress, to drill me for a gentlewoman.” Poor + Carolina, there she was mistaken: Miss Fleming could make her into no + gentlewoman, for she was born one already, and nothing proves it more than + the perfect absence of false shame with which in her memoirs she tells us + all these graphic little details of their early humble days. + </p> + <p> + While they were thus working at Bath an incident occurred which is worth + mentioning because it shows the very different directions in which the + presence or the want of steady persistence may lead the various members of + the very self-same family. William received a letter from his widowed + mother at Hanover to say, in deep distress, that Dietrich, the youngest + brother, had run away from home, it was supposed for the purpose of going + to India, “with a young idler no older than himself.” + Forthwith, the budding astronomer left the lathe where he was busy turning + an eye-piece from a cocoa-nut shell, and, like a good son and brother as + he always was, hurried off to Holland and thence to Hanover. No Dietrich + was anywhere to be found. But while he was away, Carolina at Bath received + a letter from Dietrich himself, to tell her ruefully he was “laid up + very ill” at a waterside tavern in Wapping—not the nicest or + most savoury East End sailor-suburb of London. Alexander immediately took + the coach to town, put the prodigal into a decent lodging, nursed him + carefully for a fortnight, and then took him down with him in triumph to + the family home at Bath. There brother William found him safe and sound on + his return, under the sisterly care of good Carolina. A pretty dance he + had led the two earnest and industrious astronomers; but they seem always + to have treated this black sheep of the family with uniform kindness, and + long afterwards Sir William remembered him favourably in his last will. + </p> + <p> + In 1779 and the succeeding years the three Herschels were engaged during + all their spare time in measuring the heights of about one hundred + mountains in the moon, which William gauged by three different methods. In + the same year, he made an acquaintance of some importance to him, as + forming his first introduction to the wider world of science in London and + elsewhere. Dr. Watson, a Fellow of the Royal Society, happened to see him + working at his telescope; and this led to a visit from the electrician to + the amateur astronomer. Dr. Watson was just then engaged in getting up a + Philosophical Society at Bath (a far rarer institution at that time in a + provincial town than now), and he invited William Herschel to join it. + Here Herschel learned for the first time to mix with those who were more + nearly his intellectual equals, and to measure his strength against other + men’s. + </p> + <p> + It was in 1781 that Herschel made the great discovery which immediately + established his fame as an astronomer, and enabled him to turn from + conducting concerts to the far higher work of professionally observing the + stars. On the night of Tuesday, March 13th, Herschel was engaged in his + usual systematic survey of the sky, a bit at a time, when his telescope + lighted among a group of small fixed stars upon what he at first imagined + to be a new comet. It proved to be no comet, however, but a true planet—a + veritable world, revolving like our own in a nearly circular path around + the sun as centre, though far more remote from it than the most distant + planet then known, Saturn. Herschel called his new world the <i>Georgium + Sidus</i> (King George’s star) in honour of the reigning monarch; + but it has since been known as Uranus. Astronomers all over Europe were + soon apprised of this wonderful discovery, and the path of the freshly + found planet was computed by calculation, its distance from the sun being + settled at nineteen times that of our own earth. + </p> + <p> + In order faintly to understand the importance attached at the time to + Herschel’s observation of this very remote and seemingly petty + world, we must remember that up to that date all the planets which circle + round our own sun had been familiarly known to everybody from time + immemorial. To suggest that there was yet another world belonging to our + system outside the path of the furthest known planet would have seemed to + most people like pure folly. Since then, we have grown quite accustomed to + the discovery of a fresh small world or two every year, and we have even + had another large planet (Neptune), still more remote than Herschel’s + Uranus, added to the list of known orbs in our own solar system. But in + Herschel’s day, nobody had ever heard of a new planet being + discovered since the beginning of all things. A hundred years before, an + Italian astronomer, it is true, had found out four small moons revolving + round Saturn, besides the big moon then already known; but for a whole + century, everybody believed that the solar system was now quite fully + explored, and that nothing fresh could be discovered about it. Hence + Herschel’s observation produced a very different effect from, say, + the discovery of the two moons which revolve round Mars, in our own day. + Even people who felt no interest in astronomy were aroused to attention. + Mr. Herschel’s new planet became the talk of the town and the + subject of much admiring discussion in the London newspapers. Strange, + indeed, that an amateur astronomer of Bath, a mere German music-master, + should have hit upon a planet which escaped the sight even of the king’s + own Astronomer Royal at Greenwich. + </p> + <p> + Of course there were not people wanting who ascribed this wonderful + discovery of Herschel’s to pure chance. If he hadn’t just + happened to turn his telescope in that particular direction on that + particular night, he wouldn’t have seen this <i>Georgium Sidus</i> + they made such a fuss about at all. Quite so. And if he hadn’t built + a twenty-foot telescope for himself, he wouldn’t have turned it + anywhere at any time. But Herschel himself knew better. “This was by + no means the result of chance,” he said; “but a simple + consequence of the position of the planet on that particular evening, + since it occupied precisely that spot in the heavens which came in the + order of the minute observations that I had previously mapped out for + myself. Had I not seen it just when I did, I must inevitably have come + upon it soon after, since my telescope was so perfect that I was able to + distinguish it from a fixed star in the first minute of observation.” + Indeed, when once Herschel’s twenty-foot telescope was made, he + could not well have failed in the long run to discover Uranus, as his own + description of his method clearly shows. “When I had carefully and + thoroughly perfected the great instrument in all its parts,” he + says, “I made a systematic use of it in my observation of the + heaven, first forming a determination never to pass by any, the smallest, + portion of them without due investigation. This habit, persisted in, led + to the discovery of the new planet (<i>Georgium Sidus</i>).” As well + might one say that a skilled mining surveyor, digging for coal, came upon + the seam by chance, as ascribe to chance the necessary result of such a + careful and methodical scrutiny as this. + </p> + <p> + Before the year was out, the ingenious Mr. Herschel of Bath was elected a + Fellow of the Royal Society, and was also presented with the Copley gold + medal. From this moment all the distinguished people in Bath were anxious + to be introduced to the philosophical music-master; and, indeed, they + intruded so much upon his time that the daily music lessons were now often + interrupted. He was soon, however, to give up lessons for ever, and devote + himself to his more congenial and natural work in astronomy. In May, 1782, + he went up to London, to be formally admitted to his Fellowship of the + Royal Society. There he stayed so long that poor Carolina was quite + frightened. It was “double the time which my brother could safely be + absent from his scholars.” The connection would be broken up, and + the astronomy would be the ruin of the family. (A little of good old dame + Herschel’s housewifely leaven here, perhaps.) But William’s + letters from London to “Dear Lina” must soon have quieted her + womanly fears. William had actually been presented to the king, and + “met with a very gracious reception.” He had explained the + solar system to the king and queen, and his telescope was to be put up + first at Greenwich and then at Richmond. The Greenwich authorities were + delighted with his instrument; they have seen what Herschel calls “<i>my</i> + fine double stars” with it. “All my papers are printing,” + he tells Lina with pardonable pride, “and are allowed to be very + valuable.” But he himself is far from satisfied as yet with the + results of his work. Evidently no small successes in the field of + knowledge will do for William Herschel. “Among opticians and + astronomers,” he writes to Lina, “nothing now is talked of but + <i>what they call</i> my great discoveries. Alas! this shows how far they + are behind, when such trifles as I have seen and done are called <i>great</i>. + Let me but get at it again! I will make such telescopes and see such + things!” Well, well, William Herschel, in that last sentence we get + the very keynote of true greatness and true genius. + </p> + <p> + But must he go back quietly to Bath and the toils of teaching? “An + intolerable waste of time,” he thought it. The king happily relieved + him from this intolerable waste. He offered Herschel a salary of L200 a + year if he would come and live at Datchet, and devote himself entirely to + astronomical observations. It was by no means a munificent sum for a king + to offer for such labour; but Herschel gladly accepted it, as it would + enable him to give up the interruption of teaching, and spend all his time + on his beloved astronomy. His Bath friend, Sir William Watson, exclaimed + when he heard of it, “Never bought monarch honour so cheap.” + Herschel was forty-three when he removed to Datchet, and from that day + forth he lived almost entirely in his observatory, wholly given up to his + astronomical pursuits. Even when he had to go to London to read his papers + before the Royal Society, he chose a moonlight night (when the stars would + be mostly invisible), so that it might not interfere with his regular + labours. + </p> + <p> + Poor Carolina was horrified at the house at Datchet, which seemed terribly + desolate and poor, even to her modest German ideas; but William declared + his willingness to live permanently and cheerfully upon “eggs and + bacon” now that he was at last free to do nothing on earth but + observe the heavens. Night after night he and Carolina worked together at + their silent task—he noting the small features with his big + telescope, she “sweeping for comets” with a smaller glass or + “finder.” Herschel could have had no more useful or devoted + assistant than his sister, who idolized him with all her heart. Alexander, + too, came to stay with them during the slack months at Bath, and then the + whole strength of the family was bent together on their labour of love in + gauging the heavens. + </p> + <p> + But what use was it all? Why should they wish to go star-gazing? Well, if + a man cannot see for himself what use it was, nobody else can put the + answer into him, any more than they could put into him a love for nature, + or for beauty, or for art, or for music, if he had it not to start with. + What is the good of a great picture, a splendid oratorio, a grand poem? To + the man who does not care for them, nothing; to the man who loves them, + infinite. It is just the same with science. The use of knowledge to a mind + like Herschel’s is the mere possession of it. With such as he, it is + a love, an object of desire, a thing to be sought after for its own sake; + and the mere act of finding it is in itself purely delightful. “Happy + is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. + For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and + the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies; and all + the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.” So, + to such a man as Herschel, that peaceful astronomer life at Datchet was + indeed, in the truest sense of those much-abused words, “success in + life.” If you had asked some vulgar-minded neighbour of the great + Sir William in his later days whether the astronomer had been a successful + man or not, he would doubtless have answered, after his kind, “Certainly. + He has been made a knight, has lands in two counties, and has saved + L35,000.” But if you had asked William Herschel himself, he would + probably have said, with his usual mixture of earnestness and humility, + “Yes, I have been a very fortunate man in life. I have discovered + Uranus, and I have gauged all the depths of heaven, as none before ever + gauged them, with my own great telescope.” + </p> + <p> + Still, those who cannot sympathize with the pure love of knowledge for its + own sake—one of the highest and noblest of human aims—should + remember that astronomy is also of immense practical importance to + mankind, and especially to navigation and commerce. Unless great + astronomical calculations were correctly performed at Greenwich and + elsewhere, it would be impossible for any ship or steamer to sail with + safety from England to Australia or America. Every defect in our + astronomical knowledge helps to wreck our vessels on doubtful coasts; + every advance helps to save the lives of many sailors and the cargoes of + many merchants. It is this practical utility of astronomy that justifies + the spending of national money on observatories and transits of Venus, and + it is the best apology for an astronomer’s life to those who do not + appreciate the use of knowledge for its own beauty. + </p> + <p> + At Datchet, Herschel not only made several large telescopes for sale, for + which he obtained large prices, but he also got a grant of L2000 from the + king to aid him in constructing his huge forty-foot instrument. It was + here, too, in 1783, that Herschel married. His wife was a widow lady of + scientific tastes like his own, and she was possessed of considerable + means, which enabled him henceforth to lay aside all anxiety on the score + of money. They had but one child, a son, afterwards Sir John Herschel, + almost as great an astronomer as his father had been before him. In 1785, + the family moved to Clay Hall, in Old Windsor, and in 1786 to Slough, + where Herschel lived for the remainder of his long life. How completely + his whole soul was bound up in his work is shown in the curious fact + recorded for us by Carolina Herschel. The last night at Clay Hall was + spent in sweeping the sky with the great glass till daylight; and by the + next evening the telescope stood ready for observations once more in the + new home at Slough. + </p> + <p> + To follow Herschel through the remainder of his life would be merely to + give a long catalogue of his endless observations and discoveries among + the stars. Such a catalogue would be interesting only to astronomers; yet + it would truly give the main facts of Herschel’s existence in his + happy home at Slough. Honoured by the world, dearly loved in his own + family, and engrossed with a passionate affection for his chosen science, + the great astronomer and philosopher grew grey in peace under his own + roof, in the course of a singularly placid and gentle old age. In 1802 he + laid before the Royal Society a list of five thousand new stars, + star-clusters, or other heavenly bodies which he had discovered, and which + formed the great body of his personal additions to astronomical knowledge. + The University of Oxford made him Doctor of Laws, and very late in life he + was knighted by the king—a too tardy acknowledgment of his immense + services to science. To the very last, however, he worked on with a will; + and, indeed, it is one of the great charms of scientific interest that it + thus enables a man to keep his faculties on the alert to an advanced old + age. In 1819, when Herschel was more than eighty, he writes to his sister + a short note—“Lina, there is a great comet. I want you to + assist me. Come to dine and spend the day here. If you can come soon after + one o’clock, we shall have time to prepare maps and telescopes. I + saw its situation last night. It has a long tail.” How delightful to + find such a living interest in life at the age of eighty! + </p> + <p> + On the 25th of August, 1822, this truly great and simple man passed away, + in his eighty-fifth year. It has been possible here only to sketch out the + chief personal points in his career, without dwelling much upon the + scientific importance of his later life-long labours; but it must suffice + to say briefly upon this point that Herschel’s work was no mere + mechanical star-finding; it was the most profoundly philosophical + astronomical work ever performed, except perhaps Newton’s and + Laplace’s. Among astronomers proper there has been none + distinguished by such breadth of grasp, such wide conceptions, and such + perfect clearness of view as the self-taught oboe-player of Hanover. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V. — JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER. + </h2> + <p> + There is no part of France so singularly like England, both in the aspect + of the country itself and in the features and character of the + inhabitants, as Normandy. The wooded hills and dales, the frequent copses + and apple orchards, the numerous thriving towns and villages, the towers + and steeples half hidden among the trees, recall at every step the very + similar scenery of our own beautiful and fruitful Devonshire. And as the + land is, so are the people. Ages ago, about the same time that the + Anglo-Saxon invaders first settled down in England, a band of similar + English pirates, from the old common English home by the cranberry marshes + of the Baltic, drove their long ships upon the long rocky peninsula of the + Cotentin, which juts out, like a French Cornwall, from the mainland of + Normandy up to the steep cliffs and beetling crags of busy Cherbourg. + There they built themselves little hamlets and villages of true English + type, whose very names to this day remind one of their ancient Saxon + origin. Later on, the Danes or Northmen conquered the country, which they + called after their own name, Normandy, that is to say, the Northmen’s + land. + </p> + <p> + Mixing with the early Saxon or English settlers, and with the still more + primitive Celtic inhabitants, the Northmen founded a race extremely like + that which now inhabits our own country. To this day, the Norman peasants + of the Cotentin retain many marks of their origin and their half-forgotten + kinship with the English race. While other Frenchmen are generally dark + and thick-set, the Norman is, as a rule, a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed + man, not unlike in build to our Yarmouth fisherman, or our Kentish + labourers. In body and mind, there is something about him even now which + makes him seem more nearly akin to us than the true Frenchmen who inhabit + almost all the rest of France. + </p> + <p> + In the village of Gruchy, near Greville, in this wild and beautiful region + of the Cotentin, there lived at the beginning of the present century a + sturdy peasant family of the name of Millet. The father of the family was + one of the petty village landholders so common in France; a labourer who + owned and tilled his own tiny patch of farm, with the aid of his wife and + children. We have now no class in England exactly answering to the French + peasant proprietors, who form so large and important an element in the + population just across the Channel. The small landholder in France belongs + by position to about the same level as our own agricultural labourer, and + in many ways is content with a style of dress and a mode of living against + which English labourers would certainly protest with horror. And yet, he + is a proprietor, with a proprietor’s sense of the dignity of his + position, and an ardent love of his own little much-subdivided corner of + agricultural land. On this he spends all his energies, and however many + children he may have, he will try to make a livelihood for all by their + united labour out of the soil, rather than let one of them go to seek his + fortune by any other means in the great cities. Thus the ground is often + tilled up to an almost ridiculous extent, the entire labour of the family + being sometimes expended in cultivating, manuring, weeding, and tending a + patch of land perhaps hardly an acre in size. It is quite touching to see + the care and solicitude with which these toilsome peasants will + laboriously lay out their bit of garden with fruits or vegetables, making + every line almost mathematically regular, planting every pea at a measured + distance, or putting a smooth flat pebble under every strawberry on the + evenly ridged-up vines. It is only in the very last resort that the + peasant proprietor will consent to let one of his daughters go out to + service, or send one of his sons adrift to seek his fortune as an artisan + in the big, unknown, outer world. + </p> + <p> + Millet the elder, however, had nine children, which is an unusually large + number for a French peasant family (where the women ordinarily marry late + in life); and his little son Jean Francois (the second child and eldest + boy), though set to weed and hoe upon the wee farm in his boyhood, was + destined by his father for some other life than that of a tiller of the + soil. He was born in the year before Waterloo—1814—and was + brought up on his father’s plot of land, in the hard rough way to + which peasant children in France are always accustomed. Bronzed by sun and + rain, poorly clad, and ill-fed, he acquired as a lad, from the open air + and the toilsome life he led, a vigour of constitution which enabled him + to bear up against the numerous hardships and struggles of his later days. + “A Norman Peasant,” he loved to call himself always, with a + certain proud humility; and happily he had the rude health of one all his + life long. + </p> + <p> + Hard as he worked, little Francois’ time was not entirely taken up + with attending to the fields or garden. He was a studious boy, and learned + not only to read and write in French, but also to try some higher flights, + rare indeed for a lad of his position. His family possessed remarkable + qualities as French peasants go; and one of his great-uncles, a man of + admirable strength of character, a priest in the days of the great + Revolution, had braved the godless republicans of his time, and though + deprived of his cure, and compelled to labour for his livelihood in the + fields, had yet guided the plough in his priestly garments. His + grandmother first taught him his letters; and when she had instructed him + to the length of reading any French book that was put before him, the + village priest took him in hand. In France, the priest comes often from + the peasant class, and remains in social position a member of that class + as long as he lives. But he always possesses a fair knowledge of Latin, + the language in which all his religious services are conducted; and this + knowledge serves as a key to much that his unlearned parishioners could + never dream of knowing. Young Millet’s parish priest taught him as + much Latin as he knew himself; and so the boy was not only able to read + the Bible in the Latin or Vulgate translation, but also to make + acquaintance with the works of Virgil and several others of the great + Roman poets. He read, too, the beautiful “Confessions” of St. + Augustine, and the “Lives of the Saints,” which he found in + his father’s scanty library, as well as the works of the great + French preachers, Bossuet and Fenelon. Such early acquaintance with these + and many other masterpieces of higher literature, we may be sure, helped + greatly to mould the lad’s mind into that grand and sober shape + which it finally acquired. + </p> + <p> + Jean Francois’ love of art was first aroused by the pictures in an + old illustrated Bible which belonged to his father, and which he was + permitted to look at on Sundays and festivals. The child admired these + pictures immensely, and asked leave to be permitted to copy them. The only + time he could find for the purpose, however, was that of the mid-day rest + or siesta. It is the custom in France, as in Southern Europe generally, + for labourers to cease from work for an hour or so in the middle of the + day; and during this “tired man’s holiday,” young + Millet, instead of resting, used to take out his pencil and paper, and try + his hand at reproducing the pictures in the big Bible. His father was not + without an undeveloped taste for art: “See,” he would say, + looking into some beautiful combe or glen on the hillside—“see + that little cottage half buried in the trees; how beautiful it is! I think + it ought to be drawn so—;” and then he would make a rough + sketch of it on some scrap of paper. At times he would model things with a + bit of clay, or cut the outline of a flower or an animal with his knife on + a flat piece of wood. This unexercised talent Francois inherited in a + still greater degree. As time went on, he progressed to making little + drawings on his own account; and we may be sure the priest and all the + good wives of Gruchy had quite settled in their own minds before long that + Jean Francois Millet’s hands would be able in time to paint quite a + beautiful altar-piece for the village church. + </p> + <p> + By-and-by, when the time came for Francois to choose a trade, he being + then a big lad of about nineteen, it was suggested to his father that + young Millet might really make a regular painter—that is to say, an + artist. In France, the general tastes of the people are far more artistic + than with us; and the number of painters who find work for their brushes + in Paris is something immensely greater than the number in our own smoky, + money-making London. So there was nothing very remarkable, from a French + point of view, in the idea of the young peasant turning for a livelihood + to the profession of an artist. But Millet’s father was a sober and + austere man, a person of great dignity and solemnity, who decided to put + his son’s powers to the test in a very regular and critical fashion. + He had often watched Francois drawing, and he thought well of the boy’s + work. If he had a real talent for painting, a painter he should be; if + not, he must take to some other craft, where he would have the chance of + making himself a decent livelihood. So he told Francois to prepare a + couple of drawings, which he would submit to the judgment of M. Mouchel, a + local painter at Cherbourg, the nearest large town, and capital of the + department. Francois duly prepared the drawings, and Millet the elder went + with his son to submit them in proper form for M. Mouchel’s opinion. + Happily, M. Mouchel had judgment enough to see at a glance that the + drawings possessed remarkable merit. “You must be playing me a + trick,” he said; “that lad could never have made these + drawings.” “I saw him do them with my own eyes,” + answered the father warmly. “Then,” said Mouchel, “all I + can say is this: he has in him the making of a great painter.” He + accepted Millet as his pupil; and the young man set off for Cherbourg + accordingly, to study with care and diligence under his new master. + </p> + <p> + Cherbourg, though not yet at that time a great naval port, as it + afterwards became, was a busy harbour and fishing town, where the young + artist saw a great deal of a kind of life with which he possessed an + immense sympathy. The hard work of the fishermen putting out to sea on + stormy evenings, or toiling with their nets ashore after a sleepless + night, made a living picture which stamped itself deeply on his receptive + mind. A man of the people himself, born to toil and inured to it from + babyhood, this constant scene of toiling and struggling humanity touched + the deepest chord in his whole nature, so that some of the most beautiful + and noble of his early pictures are really reminiscences of his first + student days at Cherbourg. But after he had spent a year in Mouchel’s + studio, sad news came to him from Gruchy. His father was dying, and + Francois was only just in time to see him before he passed away. If the + family was to be kept together at all, Francois must return from his easel + and palette, and take once more to guiding the plough. With that earnest + resolution which never forsook him, Millet decided to accept the + inevitable. He went back home once more, and gave up his longings for art + in order to till the ground for his fatherless sisters. + </p> + <p> + Luckily, however, his friends at Gruchy succeeded after awhile in sending + him back again to Cherbourg, where he began to study under another master, + Langlois, and to have hopes once more for his artistic future, now that he + was free at last to pursue it in his own way. At this time, he read a + great deal—Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Byron, Goethe’s “Faust,” + Victor Hugo and Chateaubriand; in fact, all the great works he could lay + his hands upon. Peasant as he was, he gave himself, half unconsciously, a + noble education. Very soon, it became apparent that the Cherbourg masters + could do nothing more for him, and that, if he really wished to perfect + himself in art, he must go to Paris. In France, the national interest felt + in painting is far greater and more general than in England. Nothing is + commoner than for towns or departments to grant pensions (or as we should + call them, scholarships) to promising lads who wish to study art in Paris. + Young Millet had attracted so much attention at Cherbourg, that the + Council General of the Department of the Manche voted him a present of six + hundred francs (about L24) to start him on the way; and the town of + Cherbourg promised him an annual grant of four hundred francs more (about + L16). So up to Paris Millet went, and there was duly enrolled as a student + at the Government “School of Fine Arts.” + </p> + <p> + Those student days in Paris were days of hunger and cold, very often, + which Millet bore with the steady endurance of a Norman peasant boy. But + they were also days of something worse to him—of effort misdirected, + and of constant struggling against a system for which he was not fitted. + In fact, Millet was an original genius, whereas the teachers at the School + of Fine Arts were careful and methodical rule-of-thumb martinets. They + wished to train Millet into the ordinary pattern, which he could not + follow; and in the end, he left the school, and attached himself to the + studio of Paul Delaroche, then the greatest painter of historical pictures + in all Paris. But even Delaroche, though an artist of deep feeling and + power, did not fully understand his young Norman pupil. He himself used to + paint historical pictures in the grand style, full of richness and beauty; + but his subjects were almost always chosen from the lives of kings or + queens, and treated with corresponding calmness and dignity. “The + Young Princes in the Tower,” “The Execution of Marie + Antoinette,” “The Death of Queen Elizabeth,” “Cromwell + viewing the Body of Charles I.”—these were the kind of + pictures on which Delaroche loved to employ himself. Millet, on the other + hand, though also full of dignity and pathos, together with an earnestness + far surpassing Delaroche’s, did not care for these lofty subjects. + It was the dignity and pathos of labour that moved him most; the silent, + weary, noble lives of the uncomplaining peasants, amongst whom his own + days had been mostly passed. Delaroche could not make him out at all; he + was such a curious, incomprehensible, odd young fellow! “There, go + your own way, if you will,” the great master said to him at last; + “for my part, I can make nothing of you.” + </p> + <p> + So, shortly after, Millet and his friend Marolle set up a studio for + themselves in the Rue de l’Est in Paris. The precise occasion of + their going was this. Millet was anxious to obtain the Grand Prize of Rome + annually offered to the younger artists, and Delaroche definitely told him + that his own influence would be used on behalf of another pupil. After + this, the young Norman felt that he could do better by following out his + own genius in his own fashion. At the Rue de l’Est, he continued to + study hard, but he also devoted a large part of his time to painting cheap + portraits—what artists call “pot-boilers;” mere hasty + works dashed off anyhow to earn his daily livelihood. For these pictures + he got about ten to fifteen francs apiece,—in English money from + eight to twelve shillings. They were painted in a theatrical style, which + Millet himself detested—all pink cheeks, and red lips, and blue + satin, and lace collars; whereas his own natural style was one of great + austerity and a certain earnest sombreness the exact reverse of the common + Parisian taste to which he ministered. However, he had to please his + patrons—and, like a sensible man, he went on producing these cheap + daubs to any extent required, for a living, while he endeavoured to + perfect himself meanwhile for the higher art he was meditating for the + future. In the great galleries of the Louvre at Paris he found abundant + models which he could study in the works of the old masters; and there, + poring over Michael Angelo and Mantegna, he could recompense himself a + little in his spare hours for the time he was obliged to waste on + pinky-white faces and taffeta gowns. To an artist by nature there is + nothing harder than working perforce against the bent of one’s own + innate and instinctive feelings. + </p> + <p> + In 1840, Millet found his life in Paris still so hard that he seemed for a + time inclined to give up the attempt, and returned to Greville, where he + painted a marine subject of the sort that was dearest to his heart—a + group of sailors mending a sail. Shortly after, however, he was back in + Paris—the record of these years of hard struggle is not very clear—with + his wife, a Cherbourg girl whom he had imprudently married while still + barely able to support himself in the utmost poverty. It was not till 1844 + that the hard-working painter at last achieved his first success. It was + with a picture of a milkwoman, one of his own favourite peasant subjects; + and the poetry and sympathy which he had thrown into so commonplace a + theme attracted the attention of many critics among the cultivated + Parisian world of art. The “Milkwoman” was exhibited at the + Salon (the great annual exhibition of works of art in Paris, like that of + the Royal Academy in London, but on a far larger scale); and several good + judges of art began immediately to inquire, “Who is Jean Francois + Millet?” Hunting his address out, a party of friendly critics + presented themselves at his lodgings, only to learn that Madame Millet had + just died, and that her husband, half in despair, had gone back again once + more to his native Norman hills and valleys. + </p> + <p> + But Millet was the last man on earth to sit down quietly with his hands + folded, waiting for something or other to turn up. At Cherbourg, he set to + work once more, no doubt painting more “pot-boilers” for the + respectable shop-keepers of the neighbourhood—complacent portraits, + perhaps, of a stout gentleman with a large watch-chain fully displayed, + and of a stout lady in a black silk dress and with a vacant smile; and by + hook or by crook he managed to scrape together a few hundred francs, with + which once more he might return to Paris. But before he did so, he married + again, this time more wisely. His wife, Catharine Lemaire, was a brave and + good woman, who knew how to appreciate her husband, and to second him well + in all his further struggles and endeavours. They went for a while to + Havre, where Millet, in despair of getting better work, and not ashamed of + doing anything honest to pay his way, actually took to painting + sign-boards. In this way he saved money enough to make a fresh start in + Paris. There, he continued his hard battle against the taste of the time; + for French art was then dominated by the influence of men like Delaroche, + or like Delacroix and Horace Vernet, who had accustomed the public to + pictures of a very lofty, a very romantic, or a very fiery sort; and there + were few indeed who cared for stern and sympathetic delineations of the + French peasant’s unlovely life of unremitting toil, such as Millet + loved to set before them. Yet, in spite of discouragement, he did well to + follow out this inner prompting of his own soul; for in that direction he + could do his best work—and the best work is always the best worth + doing in the long run. There are some minds, of which Franklin’s is + a good type, so versatile and so shifty that they can turn with advantage + to any opening that chances to offer, no matter in what direction; and + such minds do right in seizing every opportunity, wherever it occurs. But + there are other minds, of which Gibson and Millet are excellent examples, + naturally restricted to certain definite lines of thought or work; and + such minds do right in persistently following up their own native talent, + and refusing to be led aside by circumstances into any less natural or + less promising channel. + </p> + <p> + While living in Paris at this time, Millet painted several of his + favourite peasant pictures, amongst others “The Workman’s + Monday,” which is a sort of parallel in painting to Burns’s + “Cotter’s Saturday Night” in poetry. Indeed, there is a + great deal in Millet which strongly reminds one at every step of Burns. + Both were born of the agricultural labouring class; both remained peasants + at heart, in feelings and sympathies, all their lives long; neither was + ashamed of his origin, even in the days of his greatest fame; painter and + poet alike loved best to choose their themes from the simple life of the + poor whose trials and hardships they knew so well by bitter experience; + and in each case they succeeded best in touching the hearts of others when + they did not travel outside their own natural range of subjects. Only (if + Scotchmen will allow one to say so) there was in Millet a far deeper vein + of moral earnestness than in Burns; he was more profoundly impressed by + the dignity and nobility of labour; in his tender sympathy there was a + touch of solemn grandeur which was wanting in the too genial and + easy-going Ayrshire ploughman. + </p> + <p> + In 1848, the year of revolutions, Millet painted his famous picture of + “The Winnower,” since considered as one of his finest works. + Yet for a long time, though the critics praised it, it could not find a + purchaser; till at last M. Ledru Rollin, a well-known politician, bought + it for what Millet considered the capital price of five hundred francs + (about L20). It would now fetch a simply fabulous price, if offered for + sale. Soon after this comparative success Millet decided to leave Paris, + where the surroundings indeed were little fitted to a man of his + peculiarly rural and domestic tastes. He would go where he might see the + living models of his peasant friends for ever before him; where he could + watch them leaning over the plough pressed deep into the earth; cutting + the faggots with stout arms in the thick-grown copses; driving the cattle + home at milking time with weary feet, along the endless, straight white + high-roads of the French rural districts. At the same time, he must be + within easy reach of Paris; for though he had almost made up his mind not + to exhibit any more at the Salon—people didn’t care to see his + reapers or his fishermen—he must still manage to keep himself within + call of possible purchasers; and for this purpose he selected the little + village of Barbizon, on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau. + </p> + <p> + The woods of Fontainebleau stand to Paris in somewhat the same relation + that Windsor Great Park stands to London; only, the scenery is more + forest-like, and the trees are big and antique looking. By the outskirts + of this great wood stands the pretty hamlet of Barbizon, a single long + street of small peasant cottages, built with the usual French rural + disregard of beauty or cleanliness. At the top of the street, in a little + three-roomed house, the painter and his wife settled down quietly; and + here they lived for twenty-seven years, long after Millet’s name had + grown to be famous in the history of contemporary French painting. An + English critic, who visited the spot in the days of Millet’s + greatest celebrity, was astonished to find the painter, whom he had come + to see, strolling about the village in rustic clothes, and even wearing + the <i>sabots</i> or wooden shoes which are in France the social mark of + the working classes, much as the smock-frock used once to be in the + remoter country districts of England. Perhaps this was a little bit of + affectation on Millet’s part—a sort of proud declaration of + the fact that in spite of fame and honours he still insisted upon counting + himself a simple peasant; but if so, it was, after all, a very pretty and + harmless affectation indeed. Better to see a man sticking pertinaciously + to his wooden shoes, than turning his back upon old friends and old + associations in the days of his worldly prosperity. + </p> + <p> + At Barbizon Millet’s life moved on so quietly that there is nothing + to record in it almost, save a long list of pictures painted, and a + gradual growth, not in popularity (for that Millet never really attained + at all), but in the esteem of the best judges, which of course brought + with it at last, first ease, then comfort, and finally comparative riches. + Millet was able now to paint such subjects as pleased him best, and he + threw himself into his work with all the fervour of his intensely earnest + and poetical nature. Whatever might be the subject which he undertook, he + knew how to handle it so that it became instinct with his own fine feeling + for the life he saw around him. In 1852 he painted his “Man + spreading Manure.” In itself, that is not a very exalted or + beautiful occupation; but what Millet saw in it was the man not the manure—the + toiling, sorrowing, human fellow-being, whose labour and whose spirit he + knew so well how to appreciate. And in this view of the subject he makes + us all at once sympathize. Other pictures of this period are such as + “The Gleaners,” “The Reapers,” “A Peasant + grafting a Tree,” “The Potato Planters,” and so forth. + These were very different subjects indeed from the dignified kings and + queens painted by Delaroche, or the fiery battle-pieces of Delacroix; but + they touch a chord in our souls which those great painters fail to strike, + and his treatment of them is always truthful, tender, melancholy, and + exquisite. + </p> + <p> + Bit by bit, French artistic opinion began to recognize the real greatness + of the retiring painter at Barbizon. He came to be looked upon as a true + artist, and his pictures sold every year for increasingly large prices. + Still, he had not been officially recognized; and in France, where + everything, even to art and the theatre, is under governmental regulation, + this want of official countenance is always severely felt. At last, in + 1867, Millet was awarded the medal of the first class, and was appointed a + Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. The latter distinction carries with it + the right to wear that little tag of ribbon on the coat which all + Frenchmen prize so highly; for to be “decorated,” as it is + called, is in France a spur to ambition of something the same sort as a + knighthood or a peerage in England, though of course it lies within the + reach of a far greater number of citizens. There is something to our ideas + rather absurd in the notion of bestowing such a tag of ribbon on a man of + Millet’s aims and occupations; but all honours are honours just + according to the estimation of the man who receives them and the society + in which he lives; and Millet no doubt prized his admission to the Legion + of Honour all the more because it had been so long delayed and so little + truckled for. + </p> + <p> + To the end of his days, Millet never left his beloved Barbizon. He stopped + there, wandering about the fields, watching peasants at work, imprinting + their images firmly upon his eye and brain, and then going home again to + put the figures he had thus observed upon his vivid canvas. For, strange + to say, unlike almost every other great painter, Millet never painted from + a model. Instead of getting a man or woman to sit for him in the pose he + required, he would go out into the meadows and look at the men and women + at their actual daily occupations; and so keen and acute was his power of + observation, and so retentive was his inner eye, that he could then recall + almost every detail of action or manner as clearly as if he had the + original present in his studio before him. As a rule, such a practice is + not to be recommended to any one who wishes to draw with even moderate + accuracy; constant study of the actual object, and frequent comparison by + glancing from object to copy, are absolutely necessary for forming a + correct draughtsman. But Millet knew his own way best; and how wonderfully + minute and painstaking must his survey have been when it enabled him to + reproduce the picture of a person afterwards in every detail of dress or + movement. + </p> + <p> + He did not paint very fast. He preferred doing good work to much work—an + almost invariable trait of all the best workmen. During the thirty-one + years that he worked independently, he produced only eighty pictures—not + more, on an average, than two or three a year. Compared with the rate at + which most successful artists cover canvas to sell, this was very slow. + But then, Millet did not paint mainly to sell; he painted to satisfy his + own strict ideas of what constituted the highest art. His pictures are + usually very simple in their theme; take, for example, his “Angelus,” + painted at the height of his fame, in 1867. A man and a woman are working + in the fields—two poor, simple-minded, weather-beaten, devout French + peasants. It is nightfall; the bell called the “Angelus” rings + out from the church steeple, and the two poor souls, resting for a moment + from their labours, devote a few seconds to the silent prayers enjoined by + their church. That is all; and yet in that one picture the sorrows, the + toils, and the consolations of the needy French peasantry are summed up in + a single glimpse of a pair of working and praying partners. + </p> + <p> + Millet died somewhat suddenly in 1875. Strong and hearty as he was, even + the sturdy health of the Norman peasant had been undermined by the long + hardships of his early struggles, and his constitution gave way at last + with comparative rapidity. Still, he had lived long enough to see his fame + established, to enjoy ten years of ease and honour, and to find his work + cordially admired by all those for whose admiration he could have cared to + make an effort. After his death, the pictures and unfinished sketches in + his studio were sold for 321,000 francs, a little less than L13,000. The + peasant boy of Greville had at last conquered all the difficulties which + obstructed his path, and had fought his own way to fame and dignity. And + in so fighting, he had steadily resisted the temptation to pander to the + low and coarse taste in art of the men by whom he was surrounded. In spite + of cold, and hunger, and poverty, he had gone on trying to put upon his + canvas the purer, truer, and higher ideas with which his own beautiful + soul was profoundly animated. In that endeavour he nobly succeeded. While + too many contemporary French pictures are vicious and sensual in tone and + feeling, every one of Millet’s pictures is a sermon in colour—a + thing to make us sympathize more deeply with our kind, and to send us + away, saddened perhaps, yet ennobled and purified. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI. — JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY. + </h2> + <p> + At the present time, the neighbourhood of Cleveland, Ohio, the busiest + town along the southern shore of Lake Erie, may fairly rank as one of the + richest agricultural districts in all America. But when Abram Garfield + settled down in the township of Orange in 1830, it was one of the wildest + and most unpeopled woodland regions in the whole of the United States. + Pioneers from the older states had only just begun to make little + clearings for themselves in the unbroken forest; and land was still so + cheap that Abram Garfield was able to buy himself a tract of fifty acres + for no more than L20. His brother-in-law’s family removed there with + him; and the whole strength of the two households was immediately employed + in building a rough log hut for their common accommodation, where both the + Garfields and the Boyntons lived together during the early days of their + occupation. The hut consisted of a mere square box, made by piling logs on + top of one another, the spaces between being filled with mud, while the + roof was formed of loose stone slabs. Huts of that sort are everywhere + common among the isolation of the American backwoods; and isolated indeed + they were, for the Garfields’ nearest neighbours, when they first + set up house, lived as far as seven miles away, across the uncleared + forest. + </p> + <p> + When Abram Garfield came to this lonely lodge in the primaeval woodlands, + he had one son and one daughter. In 1831, the year after his removal to + his new home, a second boy was born into the family, whom his father named + James Abram. Before the baby was eighteen months old, the father died, and + was buried alone, after the only possible fashion among such solitary + settlers, in a corner of the wheat field which he himself had cleared of + its stumps. A widow’s life is always a hard one, but in such a + country and under such conditions it is even harder and more lonely than + elsewhere. Mrs. Garfield’s eldest boy, Thomas, was only eleven years + old; and with the aid of this one ineffectual helper, she managed herself + to carry on the farm for many years. Only those who know the hard toil of + a raw American township can have any idea what that really means. A farmer’s + work in America is not like a farmer’s work in England. The man who + occupies the soil is there at once his own landlord and his own labourer; + and he has to contend with nature as nobody in England has had to contend + with it for the last five centuries at least. He finds the land covered + with trees, which he has first to fell and sell as timber; then he must + dig or burn out the stumps; clear the plot of boulders and large stones; + drain it, fence it, plough it, and harrow it; build barns for the produce + and sheds for the cows; in short, <i>make</i> his farm, instead of merely + <i>taking</i> it. This is labour from which many strong men shrink in + dismay, especially those who have come out fresh from a civilized and + fully occupied land. For a woman and a boy, it is a task that seems almost + above their utmost powers. Nevertheless, Mrs. Garfield and her son did not + fail under it. With her own hands, the mother split up the young trees + into rude triangular rails to make the rough snake fences of the country—mere + zigzags of wood laid one bit above the other; while the lad worked away + bravely at sowing fall and spring wheat, hoeing Indian corn, and building + a little barn for the harvest before the arrival of the long cold Ohio + winter. To such a family did the future President originally belong; and + with them he must have shared those strong qualities of perseverance and + industry which more than anything else at length secured his ultimate + success in life. + </p> + <p> + For James Garfield’s history differs greatly in one point from that + of most other famous working men, whose stories have been told in this + volume. There is no reason to believe that he was a man of exceptional or + commanding intellect. On the contrary, his mental powers appear to have + been of a very respectable but quite ordinary and commonplace order. It + was not by brilliant genius that James Garfield made his way up in life; + it was rather by hard work, unceasing energy, high principle, and generous + enthusiasm for the cause of others. Some of the greatest geniuses among + working men, such as Burns, Tannahill, and Chatterton, though they + achieved fame, and though they have enriched the world with many touching + and beautiful works, must be considered to have missed success in life, so + far as their own happiness was concerned, by their unsteadiness, want of + self-control, or lack of fixed principle. Garfield, on the other hand, was + not a genius; but by his sterling good qualities he nevertheless achieved + what cannot but be regarded as a true success, and left an honourable name + behind him in the history of his country. + </p> + <p> + However poor an American township may be, it is seldom too poor to afford + its children a moderate and humble education. While James Garfield was + still very young, the settlers in the neighbourhood decided to import a + schoolmaster, whom they “boarded about” between them, after a + fashion very common in rural western districts. The school-house was only + a log hut; the master was a lad of twenty; and the textbooks were of the + very meagrest sort. But at least James Garfield was thus enabled to read + and write, which after all is the great first step on the road to all + possible promotion. The raw, uncouth Yankee lad who taught the Ohio boys, + slept at Widow Garfield’s, with Thomas and James; and the sons of + the neighbouring settlers worked on the farm during the summer months, but + took lessons when the long ice and snow of winter along the lake shore put + a stop almost entirely for the time to their usual labours. + </p> + <p> + James continued at school till he was twelve years old, and then, his + brother Thomas (being by that time twenty-one) went away by agreement + still further west to Michigan, leaving young Jim to take his place upon + the little farm. The fences were all completed by this time; the barn was + built, the ground was fairly brought under cultivation, and it required + comparatively little labour to keep the land cropped after the rough + fashion which amply satisfies American pioneers, with no rent to pay, and + only their bare living to make out of the soil. Thomas was going to fell + trees in Michigan, to clear land there for a farmer; and he proposed to + use his earnings (when he got them) for the purpose of building a “frame + house” (that is to say, a house built of planks) instead of the + existing log hut. It must be added, in fairness, that hard as were the + circumstances under which the young Garfields lived, they were yet lucky + in their situation in a new country, where wages were high, and where the + struggle for life is far less severe or competitive than in old settled + lands like France and England. Thomas, in fact; would get boarded for + nothing in Michigan, and so would be able easily to save almost all his + high wages for the purpose of building the frame house. + </p> + <p> + So James had to take to the farm in summer, while in the winter he began + to work as a sort of amateur carpenter in a small way. As yet he had lived + entirely in the backwoods, and had never seen a town or even a village; + but his education in practical work had begun from his very babyhood, and + he was handy after the usual fashion of American or colonial boys—ready + to turn his hand to anything that happened to present itself. In new + countries, where everybody has not got neighbours and workmen within call, + such rough-and-ready handiness is far more common than in old England. The + one carpenter of the neighbourhood asked James to help him, on the proud + day when Tom brought back his earnings from Michigan, and set about the + building of the frame house, for which he had already collected the unhewn + timber. From that first beginning, by the time he was thirteen, James was + promoted to assist in building a barn; and he might have taken permanently + to a carpenter’s life, had it not been that his boyish passion for + reading had inspired him with an equal passion for going to sea. He had + read Marryatt’s novels and other sailor tales—what boy has + not?—and he was fired with the usual childish desire to embark upon + that wonderful life of chasing buccaneers, fighting pirates, capturing + prizes, or hunting hidden treasure, which is a lad’s brilliantly + coloured fancy picture of an everyday sailor’s wet, cold, cheerless + occupation. + </p> + <p> + At last, when James was about fifteen, his longing for the sea grew so + strong that his mother, by way of a compromise, allowed him to go and try + his luck with the Lake Erie captains at Cleveland. Shipping on the great + lakes, where one can see neither bank from the middle of the wide blue + sheet of water, and where wrecks are unhappily as painfully frequent as on + our own coasts, was quite sufficiently like going to sea to suit the + adventurous young backwoodsman to the top of his bent. But when he got to + Cleveland, a fortunate disappointment awaited him. The Cleveland captains + declined his services in such vigorous seafaring language (not unmixed + with many unnecessary oaths), that he was glad enough to give up the idea + of sailoring, and take a place as driver of a canal boat from Cleveland to + Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, the boat being under the charge of one of his + own cousins. Copper ore was then largely mined on Lake Superior, where it + is very abundant, carried by ship to Cleveland, down the chain of lakes, + and there transferred to canal boats, which took it on to Pittsburg, the + centre of a great coal and manufacturing district in Pennsylvania, to be + smelted and employed in various local arts. Young Garfield stuck for a + little while to the canal business. He plodded along wearily upon the + bank, driving his still wearier horse before him, and carrying ore down to + Pittsburg with such grace as he best might; but it didn’t somehow + quite come up to his fancy picture of the seaman’s life. It was dull + and monotonous, and he didn’t care for it much. In genuine American + language, “he didn’t find it up to sample.” The sea + might be very well in its way; but a canal was a very different matter + indeed. So after a fair trial, James finally gave the business up, and + returned to his mother on the little homestead, ill and tired with his + long tramping. + </p> + <p> + While he was at home, the schoolmaster of the place, who saw that the lad + had abilities, was never tired of urging him to go to school, and do + himself justice by getting himself a first-rate education, or at least as + good a one as could be obtained in America. James was ready enough to take + this advice, if the means were forthcoming; but how was he to do so? + “Oh, that’s easy enough,” said young Bates, the master. + “You’ll only have to work out of hours as a carpenter, take + odd jobs in your vacations, live plainly, and there you are.” In + England there are few schools where such a plan would be practicable; but + in rough-and-ready America, where self-help is no disgrace, there are + many, and they are all well attended. In the neighbouring town of Chester, + a petty Baptist sect had started a young school which they named Geauga + Seminary (there are no plain schools in America—they are all “academies” + or “institutes”); and to this simple place young Garfield + went, to learn and work as best he might for his own advancement. A very + strange figure he must then have cut, indeed; for a person who saw him at + the time described him as wearing a pair of trousers he had long outworn, + rough cow-hide boots, a waistcoat much too short for him, and a + thread-bare coat, with sleeves that only reached a little below the + elbows. Of such stuff as that, with a stout heart and an eager brain, the + budding presidents of the United States are sometimes made. + </p> + <p> + James soon found himself humble lodgings at an old woman’s in + Chester, and he also found himself a stray place at a carpenter’s + shop in the town, where he was able to do three hours’ work out of + school time every day, besides giving up the whole of his Saturday holiday + to regular labour. It was hard work, this schooling and carpentering side + by side; but James throve upon it; and at the end of the first term he was + not only able to pay all his bill for board and lodging, but also to carry + home a few dollars in his pocket by way of savings. + </p> + <p> + James stopped three years at the “seminary” at Chester; and in + the holidays he employed himself by teaching in the little township + schools among the country districts. There is generally an opening for + young students to earn a little at such times by instructing younger boys + than themselves in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the surrounding + farmers, who want schooling for their boys, are glad enough to take the + master in on the “boarding round” system, for the sake of his + usefulness in overlooking the lads in the preparation of their home + lessons. It is a simple patriarchal life, very different from anything we + know in England; and though Ohio was by this time a far more settled and + populated place than when Abram Garfield first went there, it was still + quite possible to manage in this extremely primitive and family fashion. + The fact is, though luxuries were comparatively unknown, food was cheap + and abundant; and a young teacher who was willing to put his heart into + his work could easily earn more than enough to live upon in rough comfort. + Sometimes the school-house was a mere log hut, like that in which young + Garfield had been born; but, at any rate, it was work to do, and food to + eat, and that alone was a great thing for a lad who meant to make his own + way in the world by his own exertions. + </p> + <p> + Near the end of his third year at Chester, James met, quite accidentally, + with a young man who had come from a little embryo “college,” + of the sort so common in rising American towns, at a place called Hiram in + Ohio. American schools are almost as remarkable as American towns for the + oddity and ugliness of their names; and this “college” was + known by the queer and meaningless title of the “Eclectic Institute.” + It was conducted by an obscure sect who dub themselves “The + Disciples’ Church,” to which young Garfield’s father and + mother had both belonged. His casual acquaintance urged upon him strongly + the desirability of attending the institute; and James, who had already + begun to learn Latin, and wished to learn more, was easily persuaded to + try this particular school rather than any other. + </p> + <p> + In August, 1851, James Garfield, then aged nearly twenty, presented + himself at the “Eclectic Institute,” in the farm-labourer’s + clothes which were his only existing raiment. He asked to see the “president” + of the school, and told him plainly that he wished to come there for + education, but that he was poor, and if he came, he must work for his + living. “What can you do?” asked the president. “Sweep + the floors, light the fires, ring the bell, and make myself generally + useful,” answered the young backwoodsman. The president, pleased + with his eagerness, promised to try him for a fortnight; and at the end of + the fortnight, Garfield had earned his teaching so well that he was + excused from all further fees during the remainder of his stay at the + little institute. His post was by no mean an easy one, for he was + servant-of-all-work as well as student; but he cared very little for that + as long as he could gain the means for self-improvement. + </p> + <p> + Hiram was a small town, as ugly as its name. Twelve miles from a railway, + a mere agricultural centre, of the rough back-country sort, all brand new + and dreary looking, with a couple of wooden churches, half a dozen wooden + shops, two new intersecting streets with wooden sidewalks, and that was + all. The “institute” was a square brick block, planted + incongruously in the middle of an Indian-corn plantation; and the students + were the sons and daughters of the surrounding farmers, for (as in most + western schools) both sexes were here educated together. + </p> + <p> + But the place suited Garfield far better than an older and more dignified + university would have done. The other students knew no more than he did, + so that he did not feel himself at a disadvantage; they were dressed + almost as plainly as himself; and during the time he was at Hiram he + worked away with a will at Latin, Greek, and the higher mathematics, so as + to qualify himself for a better place hereafter. Meanwhile, the local + carpenter gave him plenty of planing to do, with which he managed to pay + his way; and as he had to rise before five every morning to ring the first + bell, he was under no danger of oversleeping himself. By 1853, he had made + so much progress in his studies that he was admitted as a sort of pupil + teacher, giving instruction himself in the English department and in + rudimentary Greek and Latin, while he went on with his own studies with + the aid of the other teachers. + </p> + <p> + James had now learnt as much as the little “Eclectic Institute” + could possibly teach him, and he began to think of going to some better + college in the older-settled and more cultivated eastern states, where he + might get an education somewhat higher than was afforded him by the raw + “seminaries” and “academies” of his native Ohio. + True, his own sect, the “Disciples’ Church,” had got up + a petty university of their own, “Bethany College”—such + self-styled colleges swarm all over the United States; but James didn’t + much care for the idea of going to it. “I was brought up among the + Disciples,” he said; “I have mixed chiefly among them; I know + little of other people; it will enlarge my views and give me more liberal + feelings if I try a college elsewhere, conducted otherwise; if I see a + little of the rest of the world.” Moreover, those were stirring + times in the States. The slavery question was beginning to come uppermost. + The men of the free states in the north and west were beginning to say + among themselves that they would no longer tolerate that terrible blot + upon American freedom—the enslavement of four million negroes in the + cotton-growing south. James Garfield felt all his soul stirred within him + by this great national problem—the greatest that any modern nation + has ever had to solve for itself. Now, his own sect, the Disciples, and + their college, Bethany, were strongly tinctured with a leaning in favour + of slavery, which young James Garfield utterly detested. So he made up his + mind to having nothing to do with the accursed thing, but to go east to + some New England college, where he would mix among men of culture, and + where he would probably find more congenial feelings on the slavery + question. + </p> + <p> + Before deciding, he wrote to three eastern colleges, amongst others to + Yale, the only American university which by its buildings and surroundings + can lay any claim to compare, even at a long distance, in beauty and + associations, with the least among European universities. The three + colleges gave him nearly similar answers; but one of them, in addition to + the formal statement of terms and so forth, added the short kindly + sentence, “If you come here, we shall be glad to do what we can for + you.” It was only a small polite phrase; but it took the heart of + the rough western boy. If other things were about the same, he said, he + would go to the college which offered him, as it were, a friendly grasp of + the hand. He had saved a little money at Hiram; and he proposed now to go + on working for his living, as he had hitherto done, side by side with his + regular studies. But his brother, who was always kind and thoughtful to + him, would not hear of this. Thomas had prospered meanwhile in his own + small way, and he insisted upon lending James such a sum as would cover + his necessary expenses for two years at an eastern university. James + insured his life for the amount, so that Thomas might not be a loser by + his brotherly generosity in case of his death before repayment could be + made; and then, with the money safe in his pocket, he started off for his + chosen goal, the Williams College, in one of the most beautiful and hilly + parts of Massachusetts. + </p> + <p> + During the three years that Garfield was at this place, he studied hard + and regularly, so much so that at one time his brain showed symptoms of + giving way under the constant strain. In the vacations, he took a trip + into Vermont, a romantic mountain state, where he opened a writing school + at a little country village; and another into the New York State, where he + engaged himself in a similar way at a small town on the banks of the + lovely Hudson river. At college, in spite of his rough western dress and + manners, he earned for himself the reputation of a thoroughly good fellow. + Indeed, geniality and warmth of manner, qualities always much prized by + the social American people, were very marked traits throughout of Garfield’s + character, and no doubt helped him greatly in after life in rising to the + high summit which he finally reached. It was here, too, that he first + openly identified himself with the anti-slavery party, which was then + engaged in fighting out the important question whether any new slave + states should be admitted to the Union. Charles Sumner, the real grand + central figure of that noble struggle, was at that moment thundering in + Congress against the iniquitous extension of the slave-holding area, and + was employing all his magnificent powers to assail the abominable Fugitive + Slave Bill, for the return of runaway negroes, who escaped north, into the + hands of their angry masters. The American colleges are always big + debating societies, where questions of politics are regularly argued out + among the students; and Garfield put himself at the head of the + anti-slavery movement at his own little university. He spoke upon the + subject frequently before the assembled students, and gained himself a + considerable reputation, not only as a zealous advocate of the rights of + the negro, but also as an eloquent orator and a powerful argumentative + debater. + </p> + <p> + In 1856, Garfield took his degree at Williams College, and had now + finished his formal education. By that time, he was a fair though not a + great scholar, competently read in the Greek and Latin literatures, and + with a good knowledge of French and German. He was now nearly twenty-five + years old; and his experience was large and varied enough to make him + already into a man of the world. He had been farmer, carpenter, canal + driver, and student; he had seen the primitive life of the forest, and the + more civilized society of the Atlantic shore; he had taught in schools in + many states; he had supported himself for years by his own labours; and + now, at an age when many young men are, as a rule, only just beginning + life on their own account, he had practically raised himself from his own + class into the class of educated and cultivated gentlemen. As soon as he + had taken his degree, his old friends, the trustees of the “Eclectic + Institute” at Hiram, proud of their former sweeper and bell-ringer, + called him back at a good salary as teacher of Greek and Latin. It was + then just ten years since he had toiled wearily along the tow-path of the + Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. + </p> + <p> + As a teacher, Garfield seems to have been eminently successful. His genial + character and good-natured way of explaining things made him a favourite + at once with the rough western lads he had to teach, who would perhaps + have thought a more formal teacher stiff and stuck-up. Garfield was one of + themselves; he knew their ways and their manners; he could make allowances + for their awkwardness and bluntness of speech; he could adopt towards them + the exact tone which put them at home at once with their easy-going + instructor. Certainly, he inspired all his pupils with an immense love and + devotion for him; and it is less easy to inspire those feelings in a + sturdy Ohio farmer than in most other varieties of the essentially + affectionate human species. + </p> + <p> + From 1857 to 1861, Garfield remained at Hiram, teaching and working very + hard. His salary, though a good one for the time and place, was still + humble according to our English notions; but it sufficed for his needs; + and as yet it would have seemed hardly credible that in only twenty years + the Ohio schoolmaster would rise to be President of the United States. + Indeed, it is only in America, that country of peculiarly unencumbered + political action, where every kind of talent is most rapidly recognized + and utilized, that this particular form of swift promotion is really + possible. But while Garfield was still at his Institute, he was taking a + vigorous part in local politics, especially on the slavery question. + Whenever there was a political meeting at Hiram, the young schoolmaster + was always called upon to take the anti-slavery side; and he delivered + himself so effectively upon this favourite topic that he began to be + looked upon as a rising political character. In America, politics are less + confined to any one class than in Europe; and there would be nothing + unusual in the selection of a schoolmaster who could talk to a seat in the + local or general legislature. The practice of paying members makes it + possible for comparatively poor men to offer themselves as candidates; and + politics are thus a career, in the sense of a livelihood, far more than in + any other country. + </p> + <p> + In 1858, Garfield married a lady who had been a fellow-student of his in + earlier days, and to whom he had been long engaged. In the succeeding + year, he got an invitation which greatly pleased and flattered him. The + authorities at Williams College asked him to deliver the “Master’s + Oration” at their annual festival; an unusual compliment to pay to + so young a man, and one who had so recently taken his degree. It was the + first opportunity he had ever had for a pleasure-trip, and taking his + young wife with him (proud indeed, we may be sure, at this earliest honour + of his life, the precursor of so many more) he went to Massachusetts by a + somewhat roundabout but very picturesque route, down the Great Lakes, + through the Thousand Islands, over the St. Lawrence rapids, and on to + Quebec, the only town in America which from its old-world look can lay + claim to the sort of beauty which so many ancient European cities + abundantly possess. He delivered his address with much applause and + returned to his Ohio home well satisfied with this pleasant outing. + </p> + <p> + Immediately on his return, the speech-making schoolmaster was met by a + very sudden and unexpected request that he would allow himself to be + nominated for the State legislature. Every state of the Union has its own + separate little legislative body, consisting of two houses; and it was to + the upper of these, the Senate of Ohio, that James Garfield was asked to + become a candidate. The schoolmaster consented; and as those were times of + very great excitement, when the South was threatening to secede if a + President hostile to the slave-owning interest was elected, the contest + was fought out almost entirely along those particular lines. Garfield was + returned as senator by a large majority, and took his seat in the Ohio + Senate in January, 1860. There, his voice was always raised against + slavery, and he was recognized at once as one of the ablest speakers in + the whole legislature. + </p> + <p> + In 1861, the great storm burst over the States. In the preceding November, + Abraham Lincoln had been elected President. Lincoln was himself, like + Garfield, a self-made man, who had risen from the very same pioneer + labourer class;—a wood-cutter and rail-splitter in the backwoods of + Illinois, he had become a common boatman on the Mississippi, and had there + improved his mind by reading eagerly in all his spare moments. With one of + those rapid rises so commonly made by self-taught lads in America, he had + pushed his way into the Illinois legislature by the time he was + twenty-five, and qualified himself to practise as a barrister at + Springfield. His shrewd original talents had raised him with wonderful + quickness into the front ranks of his own party; and when the question + between the North and South rose into the region of practical politics, + Lincoln was selected by the republicans (the anti-slavery group) as their + candidate for the Presidency of the United States. This selection was a + very significant one in several ways; Lincoln was a very strong opponent + of slavery, and his candidature showed the southern slaveowners that if + the Republicans were successful in the contest, a vigorous move against + the slave-holding oligarchy would at once be made. But it was also + significant in the fact that Lincoln was a western man; it was a sign that + the farmers and grangers of the agricultural west were beginning to wake + up politically and throw themselves into the full current of American + State affairs. On both these grounds, Lincoln’s nomination must have + been deeply interesting to Garfield, whose own life had been so closely + similar, and who was destined, twenty years later, to follow him to the + same goal. + </p> + <p> + Lincoln was duly elected, and the southern states began to secede. The + firing upon Fort Sumter by the South Carolina secessionists was the first + blow struck in that terrible war. Every man who was privileged to live in + America at that time (like the present writer) cannot recall without a + glow of recollection the memory of the wild eagerness with which the North + answered that note of defiance, and went forth with overpowering faith and + eagerness to fight the good fight on behalf of human freedom. Such a + spontaneous outburst of the enthusiasm of humanity has never been known, + before or since. President Lincoln immediately called for a supply of + seventy-five thousand men. In the Ohio Senate, his message was read amid + tumultuous applause; and the moment the sound of the cheers died away, + Garfield, as natural spokesman of the republican party, sprang to his + feet, and moved in a short and impassioned speech that the state of Ohio + should contribute twenty thousand men and three million dollars as its + share in the general preparations. The motion was immediately carried with + the wildest demonstrations of fervour, and Ohio, with all the rest of the + North, rose like one man to put down by the strong hand the hideous + traffic in human flesh and blood. + </p> + <p> + During those fiery and feverish days, every citizen of the loyal states + felt himself to be, in reserve at least, a possible soldier. It was + necessary to raise, drill, and render effective in an incredibly short + time a large army; and it would have been impossible to do so had it not + been for the eager enthusiasm with which civilians of every sort enlisted, + and threw themselves into their military duties with almost incredible + devotion. Garfield felt that he must bear his own part in the struggle by + fighting it out, not in the Senate but on the field; and his first move + was to obtain a large quantity of arms from the arsenal in the doubtfully + loyal state of Missouri. In this mission he was completely successful; and + he was next employed to raise and organize two new regiments of Ohio + infantry. Garfield, of course, knew absolutely nothing of military matters + at that time; but it was not a moment to stand upon questions of + precedence or experience; the born organizers came naturally to the front, + and Garfield was one of them. Indeed, the faculty for organization seems + innate in the American people, so that when it became necessary to raise + and equip so large a body of men at a few weeks’ notice, the task + was undertaken offhand by lawyers, doctors, shopkeepers, and + schoolmasters, without a minute’s hesitation, and was performed on + the whole with distinguished success. + </p> + <p> + When Garfield had organized his regiments, the Governor asked him to + accept the post of colonel to one of them. But Garfield at first + mistrusted his own powers in this direction. How should he, who had + hitherto been poring chiefly over the odes of Horace (his favourite poet), + now take so suddenly to leading a thousand men into actual battle? He + would accept only a subordinate position, he said, if a regular officer of + the United States army, trained at the great military academy at West + Point, was placed in command. So the Governor told him to go among his own + farmer friends in his native district, and recruit a third regiment, + promising to find him a West Point man as colonel, if one was available. + Garfield accepted the post of lieutenant-colonel, raised the 42nd Ohio + regiment, chiefly among his own old pupils at Hiram, and set off for the + seat of operations. At the last moment the Governor failed to find a + regular officer to lead these raw recruits, every available man being + already occupied, and Garfield found himself, against his will, compelled + to undertake the responsible task of commanding the regiment. He accepted + the task thus thrust upon him, and as if by magic transformed himself at + once from a schoolmaster into an able soldier. + </p> + <p> + In less than one month, Colonel Garfield took his raw troops into action + in the battle of Middle Creek, and drove the Confederate General Marshall, + with far larger numbers, out of his intrenchments, compelling him to + retreat into Virginia. This timely victory did much to secure the northern + advance along the line of the Mississippi. During the whole of the + succeeding campaign Garfield handled his regiment with such native skill + and marked success that the Government appointed him Brigadier-General for + his bravery and military talent. In spite of all his early disadvantages, + he had been the youngest member of the Ohio Senate, and now he was the + youngest general in the whole American army. + </p> + <p> + Shortly after, the important victory of Chickamauga was gained almost + entirely by the energy and sagacity of General Garfield. For this service, + he was raised one degree in dignity, receiving his commission as + Major-General. He served altogether only two years and three months in the + army. + </p> + <p> + But while Garfield was at the head of his victorious troops in Kentucky, + his friends in Ohio were arranging, without his consent or knowledge, to + call him away to a very different sphere of work. They nominated Garfield + as their candidate for the United States House of Representatives at + Washington. The General himself was unwilling to accede to their request, + when it reached him. He thought he could serve the country better in the + field than in Congress. Besides, he was still a comparatively poor man. + His salary as Major-General was double that of a member of the House; and + for his wife’s and children’s sake he hesitated to accept the + lesser position. Had he continued in the army to the end of the war, he + would doubtless have risen to the very highest honours of that stirring + epoch. But President Lincoln was very anxious that Garfield should come + into the Congress, where his presence would greatly strengthen the + President’s hands; and with a generous self-denial which well + bespeaks his thorough loyalty, Garfield gave up his military post and + accepted a place in the House of Representatives. He took his seat in + December, 1863. + </p> + <p> + For seventeen years, General Garfield sat in the general legislature of + the United States as one of the members for Ohio. During all that time, he + distinguished himself most honourably as the fearless advocate of honest + government, and the pronounced enemy of those underhand dodges and + wire-pulling machinery which are too often the disgrace of American + politics. He was opposed to all corruption and chicanery, especially to + the bad system of rewarding political supporters with places under + Government, which has long been the chief blot upon American republican + institutions. As a person of stalwart honesty and singleness of purpose, + he made himself respected by both sides alike. Politically speaking, + different men will judge very differently of Garfield’s acts in the + House of Representatives. Englishmen especially cannot fail to remark that + his attitude towards ourselves was almost always one of latent hostility; + but it is impossible for anybody to deny that his conduct was uniformly + guided by high principle, and a constant deference to what he regarded as + the right course of action. + </p> + <p> + In 1880, when General Garfield had already risen to be the acknowledged + leader of the House of Representatives, his Ohio supporters put him in + nomination for the upper chamber, the Senate. They wished Garfield to come + down to the state capital and canvas for support; but this the General + would not hear of. “I never asked for any place yet,” he said, + “except the post of bell-ringer and general sweeper at the Hiram + Institute, and I won’t ask for one now.” But at least, his + friends urged, he would be on the spot to encourage and confer with his + partisans. No, Garfield answered; if they wished to elect him they must + elect him in his absence; he would avoid all appearance, even, of angling + for office. The result was that all the other candidates withdrew, and + Garfield was elected by acclamation. + </p> + <p> + After the election he went down to Ohio and delivered a speech to his + constituents, a part of which strikingly illustrates the courage and + independence of the backwoods schoolmaster. “During the twenty years + that I have been in public life,” he said, “almost eighteen of + it in the Congress of the United States, I have tried to do one thing. + Whether I was mistaken or otherwise, it has been the plan of my life to + follow my conviction, at whatever personal cost to myself. I have + represented for many years a district in Congress whose approbation I + greatly desired; but though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotistical to + say it, I yet desired still more the approbation of one person, and his + name was Garfield. He is the only man that I am compelled to sleep with, + and eat with, and live with, and die with; and if I could not have his + approbation I should have bad companionship.” + </p> + <p> + Only one higher honour could now fall to the lot of a citizen of the + United States. The presidency was the single post to which Garfield’s + ambition could still aspire. That honour came upon him, like all the + others, without his seeking; and it came, too, quite unexpectedly. Five + months later, in the summer of 1880, the National Republican Convention + met to select a candidate for their party at the forthcoming presidential + election. Every four years, before the election, each party thus meets to + decide upon the man to whom its votes will be given at the final choice. + After one or two ineffectual attempts to secure unanimity in favour of + other and more prominent politicians, the Convention with one accord chose + James Garfield for its candidate—a nomination which was quite as + great a surprise to Garfield himself as to all the rest of the world. He + was elected President of the United States in November, 1880. + </p> + <p> + It was a marvellous rise for the poor canal boy, the struggling student, + the obscure schoolmaster, thus to find himself placed at the head of one + among the greatest nations of the earth. He was still less than fifty, and + he might reasonably have looked forward to many years of a happy, useful, + and honourable life. Nevertheless, it is impossible to feel that Garfield’s + death was other than a noble and enviable one. He was cut off suddenly in + the very moment of his brightest success, before the cares and + disappointments of office had begun to dim the pleasure of his first + unexpected triumph. He died a martyr to a good and honest cause, and his + death-bed was cheered and alleviated by the hushed sorrow and sympathy of + an entire nation—one might almost truthfully add, of the whole + civilized world. + </p> + <p> + From the first, President Garfield set his face sternly against the bad + practice of rewarding political adherents by allowing them to nominate + officials in the public service—a species of covert corruption + sanctioned by long usage in the United States. This honest and independent + conduct raised up for him at once a host of enemies among his own party. + The talk which they indulged in against the President produced a deep + effect upon a half-crazy and wildly egotistic French-Canadian of the name + of Guiteau, who had emigrated to the States and become an American + citizen. General Garfield had arranged a trip to New England in the summer + of 1881, to attend the annual festival at his old school, the Williams + College, Massachusetts; and for that purpose he left the White House (the + President’s official residence at Washington) on July 2. As he stood + in the station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railway, arm in arm with Mr. + Blaine, the Secretary of State, Guiteau approached him casually, and, + drawing out a pistol, fired two shots in rapid succession, one of which + took effect on the President above the third rib. The assassin was at once + secured, and the wounded President was carried back carefully to the White + House. + </p> + <p> + Almost everybody who reads this book will remember the long suspense, + while the President lay stretched upon his bed for weeks and weeks + together, with all Europe and America watching anxiously for any sign of + recovery, and sympathizing deeply with the wounded statesman and his + devoted wife. Every effort that was possible was made to save him, but the + wound was past all surgical skill. After lingering long with the stored-up + force of a good constitution, James Garfield passed away at last of + blood-poisoning, more deeply regretted perhaps than any other man whom the + present generation can remember. + </p> + <p> + It is only in America that precisely such a success as Garfield’s is + possible for people who spring, as he did, from the midst of the people. + In old-settled and wealthy countries we must be content, at best, with + slower and less lofty promotion. But the lesson of Garfield’s life + is not for America only, but for the whole world of workers everywhere. + The same qualities which procured his success there will produce a + different, but still a solid success, anywhere else. As Garfield himself + fittingly put it, with his usual keen American common sense, “There + is no more common thought among young people than the foolish one, that + by-and-by something will turn up by which they will suddenly achieve fame + or fortune. No, young gentlemen; things don’t turn up in this world + unless somebody turns them up.” + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII. — THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER. + </h2> + <p> + It is the object of this volume to set forth the lives of working men who + through industry, perseverance, and high principle have raised themselves + by their own exertions from humble beginnings. Raised themselves! Yes; but + to what? Not merely, let us hope, to wealth and position, not merely to + worldly respect and high office, but to some conspicuous field of real + usefulness to their fellow men. Those whose lives we have hitherto + examined did so raise themselves by their own strenuous energy and + self-education. Either, like Garfield and Franklin, they served the State + zealously in peace or war; or else, like Stephenson and Telford, they + improved human life by their inventions and engineering works; or, again, + like Herschel and Fraunhofer, they added to the wide field of scientific + knowledge; or finally, like Millet and Gibson, they beautified the world + with their noble and inspiring artistic productions. But in every one of + these cases, the men whose lives we have been here considering did + actually rise, sooner or later, from the class of labourers into some + other class socially and monetarily superior to it. Though they did great + good in other ways to others, they did still as a matter of fact succeed + themselves in quitting the rank in which they were born, and rising to + some other rank more or less completely above it. + </p> + <p> + Now, it will be clear to everybody that so long as our present social + arrangements exist, it must be impossible for the vast mass of labouring + men ever to do anything of the sort. It is to be desired, indeed, that + every labouring man should by industry and thrift secure independence in + the end for himself and his family; but however much that may be the case, + it will still rest certain that the vast mass of men will necessarily + remain workers to the last; and that no attempt to raise individual + working men above their own class into the professional or mercantile + classes can ever greatly benefit the working masses as a whole. What is + most of all desirable is that the condition, the aims; and the tastes of + working men, as working men, should be raised and bettered; that without + necessarily going outside their own ranks, they should become more + prudent, more thrifty, better educated, and wider-minded than many of + their predecessors have been in the past. Under such circumstances, it is + surely well to set before ourselves some examples of working men who, + while still remaining members of their own class, have in the truest and + best sense “raised themselves” so as to attain the respect and + admiration of others whether their equals or superiors in the artificial + scale. Dr. Smiles, who has done much to illustrate the history of the + picked men among the labouring orders, has chosen two or three lives of + such a sort for investigation, and from them we may select a single one as + an example of a working man’s career rendered conspicuous by + qualities other than those that usually secure external success. + </p> + <p> + Thomas Edward, associate of the Linnean Society, though a Scotchman all + his life long, was accidentally born (so to speak) at Gosport, near + Portsmouth, on Christmas Day, 1814. His father was in the Fifeshire + militia and in those warlike days, when almost all the regulars were on + the Continent, fighting Napoleon, militia regiments used to be ordered + about the country from one place to another, to watch the coast or mount + guard over the French prisoners, in the most unaccountable fashion. So it + happened, oddly enough, that Thomas Edward, a Scotchman of the Scotch, was + born close under the big forts of Portsmouth harbour. + </p> + <p> + After Waterloo, however, the Fifeshire regiment was sent home again; and + the militia being before long disbanded, John Edward, our hero’s + father, went to live at Aberdeen, where he plied his poor trade of a + hand-loom linen weaver for many years. It was on the green at Aberdeen, + surrounded by small labourers’ cottages, that Thomas Edward passed + his early days. From his babyhood, almost, the boy had a strong love for + all the beasties he saw everywhere around him; a fondness for birds and + animals, and a habit of taming them which can seldom be acquired, but + which seems with some people to come instinctively by nature. While Tam + was still quite a child, he loved to wander by himself out into the + country, along the green banks of the Dee, or among the tidal islands at + the mouth of the river, overgrown by waving seaweeds, and fringed with + great white bunches of blossoming scurvy-grass. He loved to hunt for crabs + and sea-anemones beside the ebbing channels, or to watch the jelly-fish + left high and dry upon the shore by the retreating water. Already, in his + simple way, the little ragged bare-footed Scotch laddie was at heart a + born naturalist. + </p> + <p> + Very soon, Tam was not content with looking at the “venomous beasts,” + as the neighbours called them, but he must needs begin to bring them home, + and set up a small aquarium and zoological garden on his own account. All + was fish that came to Tam’s net: tadpoles, newts, and stickleback + from the ponds, beetles from the dung-heaps, green crabs from the + sea-shore—nay, even in time such larger prizes as hedgehogs, moles, + and nestfuls of birds. Nothing delighted him so much as to be out in the + fields, hunting for and taming these his natural pets. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately, Tam’s father and mother did not share the boy’s + passion for nature, and instead of encouraging him in pursuing his inborn + taste, they scolded him and punished him bitterly for bringing home the + nasty creatures. But nothing could win away Tam from the love of the + beasties; and in the end, he had his own way, and lived all his life, as + he himself afterwards beautifully put it, “a fool to nature.” + Too often, unhappily, fathers and mothers thus try to check the best + impulses in their children, under mistaken notions of right, and + especially is this the case in many instances as regards the love of + nature. Children are constantly chidden for taking an interest in the + beautiful works of creation, and so have their first intelligent inquiries + and aspirations chilled at once; when a little care and sympathy would get + rid of the unpleasantness of having white mice or lizards crawling about + the house, without putting a stop to the young beginner’s longing + for more knowledge of the wonderful and beautiful world in whose midst he + lives. + </p> + <p> + When Tam was nearly five years old, he was sent to school, chiefly no + doubt to get him out of the way; but Scotch schools for the children of + the working classes were in those days very rough hard places, where the + taws or leather strap was still regarded as the chief instrument of + education. Little Edward was not a child to be restrained by that + particular form of discipline; and after he had had two or three serious + tussles with his instructors, he was at last so cruelly beaten by one of + his masters that he refused to return, and his parents, who were + themselves by no means lacking in old Scotch severity, upheld him in his + determination. He had picked up reading by this time, and now for a while + he was left alone to hunt about to his heart’s content among his + favourite fields and meadows. But by the time he was six years old, he + felt he ought to be going to work, brave little mortal that he was; and as + his father and mother thought so too, the poor wee mite was sent to join + his elder brother in working at a tobacco factory in the town, at the + wages of fourteen-pence a week. So, for the next two years, little Tam + waited upon a spinner (as the workers are called) and began life in + earnest as a working man. At the end of two years, however, the brothers + heard that better wages were being given, a couple of miles away, at + Grandholm, up the river Don. So off the lads tramped, one fast-day (a + recognized Scotch institution), to ask the manager of the Grandholm + factory if he could give them employment. They told nobody of their + intention, but trudged away on their own account; and when they came back + and told their parents what they had done, the father was not very well + satisfied with the proposal, because he thought it too far for so small a + boy as Tam to walk every day to and from his work. Tam, however, was very + anxious to go, not only on account of the increased wages, but also + (though this was a secret) because of the beautiful woods and crags round + Grandholm, through which he hoped to wander during the short dinner hour. + In the end, John Edward gave way, and the boys were allowed to follow + their own fancy in going to the new factory. + </p> + <p> + It was very hard work; the hours were from six in the morning till eight + at night, for there was no Factory Act then to guard the interest of + helpless children; so the boys had to be up at four in the morning, and + were seldom home again till nine at night. In winter, the snow lies long + and deep on those chilly Aberdeenshire roads, and the east winds from the + German Ocean blow cold and cutting up the narrow valley of the Don; and it + was dreary work toiling along them in the dark of morning or of night in + bleak and cheerless December weather. Still, Tam liked it on the whole + extremely well. His wages were now three shillings a week; and then, twice + a day in summer, there was the beautiful walk to and fro along the leafy + high-road. “People may say of factories what they please,” + Edward wrote much later, “but I liked this factory. It was a happy + time for me whilst I remained there. The woods were easy of access during + our meal-hours. What lots of nests! What insects, wild flowers, and + plants, the like of which I had never seen before.” The boy revelled + in the beauty of the birds and beasts he saw here, and he retained a + delightful recollection of them throughout his whole after life. + </p> + <p> + This happy time, however, was not to last for ever. When young Edward was + eleven years old, his father took him away from Grandholm, and apprenticed + him to a working shoemaker. The apprenticeship was to go on for six years; + the wages to begin at eighteen-pence a week; and the hours, too sadly + long, to be from six in the morning till nine at night. Tam’s + master, one Charles Begg, was a drunken London workman, who had wandered + gradually north; a good shoemaker, but a quarrelsome, rowdy fellow, loving + nothing on earth so much as a round with his fists on the slightest + provocation. From this unpromising teacher, Edward took his first lessons + in the useful art of shoemaking; and though he learned fast—for he + was not slothful in business—he would have learned faster, no doubt, + but for his employer’s very drunken and careless ways. When Begg + came home from the public-house, much the worse for whisky, he would first + beat Tam, and then proceed upstairs to beat his wife. For three years + young Edward lived under this intolerable tyranny, till he could stand it + no longer. At last, Begg beat and ill-treated him so terribly that Tam + refused outright to complete his apprenticeship. Begg was afraid to compel + him to do so—doubtless fearing to expose his ill-usage of the lad. + So Tam went to a new master, a kindly man, with whom he worked in future + far more happily. + </p> + <p> + The boy now began to make himself a little botanical garden in the back + yard of his mother’s house—a piece of waste ground covered + with rubbish, such as one often sees behind the poorer class of cottages + in towns. Tam determined to alter all that, so he piled up all the stones + into a small rockery, dug up the plot, manured it, and filled it with wild + and garden flowers. The wild flowers, of course, he found in the woods and + hedgerows around him; but the cultivated kinds he got in a very ingenious + fashion, by visiting all the rubbish heaps of the neighbourhood, on which + garden refuse was usually piled. A good many roots and plants can + generally be found in such places, and by digging them up, Tam was soon + able to make himself a number of bright and lively beds. Such self-help in + natural history always lay very much in Edward’s way. + </p> + <p> + At the same time, young Edward was now beginning to feel the desire for + knowing something more about the beasts and birds of which he was so fond. + He used to go in all his spare moments among the shops in the town, to + look at the pictures in the windows, especially the pictures of animals; + and though his earnings were still small, he bought a book whenever he was + able to afford one. In those days cheap papers for the people were only + just beginning to come into existence; and Tam, who was now eighteen, + bought the first number of the <i>Penny Magazine</i>, an excellent journal + of that time, which he liked so much that he continued to take in the + succeeding numbers. Some of the papers in it were about natural history, + and these, of course, particularly delighted the young man’s heart. + He also bought the <i>Weekly Visitor</i>, which he read through over and + over again. + </p> + <p> + In 1831, when Tam was still eighteen, he enlisted in the Aberdeenshire + militia, and during his brief period of service an amusing circumstance + occurred which well displays the almost irresistible character of Edward’s + love of nature. While he was drilling with the awkward squad one morning, + a butterfly of a kind that he had never seen before happened to flit in + front of him as he stood in the ranks. It was a beautiful large brown + butterfly, and Edward was so fascinated by its appearance that he entirely + forgot, in a moment, where he was and what he was doing. Without a second’s + thought, he darted wildly out of the ranks, and rushed after the + butterfly, cap in hand. It led him a pretty chase, over sandhills and + shore, for five minutes. He was just on the point of catching it at last, + when he suddenly felt a heavy hand laid upon his shoulder, and looking + round, he saw the corporal of the company and several soldiers come to + arrest him. Such a serious offence against military discipline might have + cost him dear indeed, for corporals have little sympathy with butterfly + hunting; but luckily for Edward, as he was crossing the parade ground + under arrest, he happened to meet an officer walking with some ladies. The + officer asked the nature of his offence, and when the ladies heard what it + was they were so much interested in such a strange creature as a + butterfly-loving militiaman, that they interceded for him, and finally + begged him off his expected punishment. The story shows us what sort of + stuff Edward was really made of. He felt so deep an interest in all the + beautiful living creatures around him for their own sake, that he could + hardly restrain his feelings even under the most untoward circumstances. + </p> + <p> + When Edward was twenty, he removed from Aberdeen to Banff, where he worked + as a journeyman for a new master. The hours were very long, but by taking + advantage of the summer evenings, he was still able to hunt for his + beloved birds, caterpillars, and butterflies. Still, the low wages in the + trade discouraged him much, and he almost made up his mind to save money + and emigrate to America. But one small accident alone prevented him from + carrying out this purpose. Like a good many other young men, the + naturalist shoemaker fell in love. Not only so, but his falling in love + took practical shape a little later in his getting married; and at + twenty-three, the lonely butterfly hunter brought back a suitable young + wife to his little home. The marriage was a very happy one. Mrs. Edward + not only loved her husband deeply, but showed him sympathy in his + favourite pursuits, and knew how to appreciate his sterling worth. Long + afterwards she said, that though many of her neighbours could not + understand her husband’s strange behaviour, she had always felt how + much better it was to have one who spent his spare time on the study of + nature than one who spent it on the public-house. + </p> + <p> + As soon as Edward got a home of his own, he began to make a regular + collection of all the animals and plants in Banffshire. This was a + difficult thing for him to do, for he knew little of books, and had access + to very few, so that he couldn’t even find out the names of all the + creatures he caught and preserved. But, though he didn’t always know + what they were called, he did know their natures and habits and all about + them; and such first-hand knowledge in natural history is really the + rarest and the most valuable of all. He saw little of his fellow-workmen. + They were usually a drunken, careless lot; Edward was sober and + thoughtful, and had other things to think of than those that they cared to + talk about with one another. But he went out much into the fields, with + invincible determination, having made up his mind that he would get to + know all about the plants and beasties, however much the knowledge might + cost him. + </p> + <p> + For this object, he bought a rusty old gun for four-and-sixpence, and + invested in a few boxes and bottles for catching insects. His working + hours were from six in the morning till nine at night, and for that long + day he always worked hard to support his wife, and (when they came) his + children. He had therefore only the night hours between nine and six to do + all his collecting. Any other man, almost, would have given up the attempt + as hopeless; but Edward resolved never to waste a single moment or a + single penny, and by care and indomitable energy he succeeded in making + his wished-for collection. Sometimes he was out tramping the whole night; + sometimes he slept anyhow, under a hedge or haystack; sometimes he took up + temporary quarters in a barn, an outhouse, or a ruined castle. But night + after night he went on collecting, whenever he was able; and he watched + the habits and manners of the fox, the badger, the otter, the weasel, the + stoat, the pole-cat, and many other regular night-roamers as no one else, + in all probability, had ever before watched them in the whole world. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes he suffered terrible disappointments, due directly or indirectly + to his great poverty. Once, he took all his cases of insects, containing + nine hundred and sixteen specimens, and representing the work of four + years, up to his garret to keep them there till he was able to glaze them. + When he came to take them down again he found to his horror that rats had + got at the boxes, eaten almost every insect in the whole collection, and + left nothing behind but the bare pins, with a few scattered legs, wings, + and bodies, sticking amongst them. Most men would have been so disgusted + with this miserable end to so much labour, that they would have given up + moth hunting for ever. But Edward was made of different stuff. He went to + work again as zealously as ever, and in four years more, he had got most + of the beetles, flies, and chafers as carefully collected as before. + </p> + <p> + By the year 1845, Edward had gathered together about two thousand + specimens of beasts, birds, and insects found in the neighbourhood of his + own town of Banff. He made the cases to hold them himself, and did it so + neatly that, in the case of his shells, each kind had even a separate + little compartment all of its own. And now he unfortunately began to think + of making money by exhibiting his small museum. If only he could get a few + pounds to help him in buying books, materials, perhaps even a microscope, + to help him in prosecuting his scientific work, what a magnificent thing + that would be for him! Filled with this grand idea, he took a room in the + Trades Hall at Banff, and exhibited his collection during a local fair. A + good many people came to see it, and the Banff paper congratulated the + poor shoemaker on his energy in gathering together such a museum of + curiosities “without aid, and under discouraging circumstances which + few would have successfully encountered.” He was so far lucky in + this first venture that he covered his expenses and was able even to put + away a little money for future needs. Encouraged by this small triumph, + the unwearied naturalist set to work during the next year, and added + several new attractions to his little show. At the succeeding fair he + again exhibited, and made still mere money out of his speculation. + Unhappily, the petty success thus secured led him to hope he might do even + better by moving his collection to Aberdeen. + </p> + <p> + To Aberdeen, accordingly, Edward went. He took a shop in the great gay + thoroughfare of that cold northern city—Union Street—and + prepared to receive the world at large, and to get the money for the + longed-for books and the much-desired microscope. Now, Aberdeen is a big, + busy, bustling town; it has plenty of amusements and recreations; it has + two colleges and many learned men of its own; and the people did not care + to come and see the working shoemaker’s poor small collection. If he + had been a president of the British Association for the Advancement of + Science, now—some learned knight or baronet come down by special + train from London—the Aberdeen doctors and professors might have + rushed to hear his address; or if he had been a famous music-hall singer + or an imitation negro minstrel, the public at large might have flocked to + be amused and degraded by his parrot-like buffoonery; but as he was only a + working shoemaker from Banff, with a heaven-born instinct for watching and + discovering all the strange beasts and birds of Scotland, and the ways and + thoughts of them, why, of course, respectable Aberdeen, high or low, would + have nothing in particular to say to him. Day after day went by, and + hardly anybody came, till at last poor Edward’s heart sank terribly + within him. Even the few who did come were loth to believe that a working + shoemaker could ever have gathered together such a large collection by his + own exertions. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say,” said one of the Aberdeen physicians to + Edward, “that you’ve maintained your wife and family by + working at your trade, all the while that you’ve been making this + collection?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I do,” Edward answered. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, nonsense!” the doctor said. “How is it possible you + could have done that?” + </p> + <p> + “By never losing a single minute or part of a minute,” was the + brave reply, “that I could by any means improve.” + </p> + <p> + It is wonderful indeed that when once Edward had begun to attract anybody’s + attention at all, he and his exhibition should ever have been allowed to + pass so unnoticed in a great, rich, learned city like Aberdeen. But it + only shows how very hard it is for unassuming merit to push its way; for + the Aberdeen people still went unheeding past the shop in Union Street, + till Edward at last began to fear and tremble as to how he should ever + meet the expenses of the exhibition. After the show had been open four + weeks, one black Friday came when Edward never took a penny the whole day. + As he sat there alone and despondent in the empty room, the postman + brought him a letter. It was from his master at Banff. “Return + immediately,” it said, “or you will be discharged.” What + on earth could he do? He couldn’t remove his collection; he couldn’t + pay his debt. A few more days passed, and he saw no way out of it. At + last, in blank despair, he offered the whole collection for sale. A + gentleman proposed to pay him the paltry sum of L20 10s for the entire + lot, the slow accumulations of ten long years. It was a miserable and + totally inadequate price, but Edward could get no more. In the depths of + his misery, he accepted it. The gentleman took the collection home, gave + it to his boy, and finally allowed it all, for want of care and attention, + to go to rack and ruin. And so that was the end of ten years of poor + Thomas Edward’s unremitting original work in natural history. A + sadder tale of unrequited labour in the cause of science has seldom been + written. + </p> + <p> + How he ever recovered from such a downfall to all his hopes and + expectations is extraordinary. But the man had a wonderful power of + bearing up against adverse circumstances; and when, after six weeks’ + absence, he returned to Banff, ruined and dispirited, he set to work once + more, as best he might, at the old, old trade of shoemaking. He was + obliged to leave his wife and children in Aberdeen, and to tramp himself + on foot to Banff, so that he might earn the necessary money to bring them + back; for the cash he had got for the collection had all gone in paying + expenses. It is almost too sad to relate; and no wonder poor Edward felt + crushed indeed when he got back once more to his lonely shoemaker’s + bench and fireless fireside. He was very lonely until his wife and + children came. But when the carrier generously brought them back free + (with that kindliness which the poor so often show to the poor), and the + home was occupied once more, and the fire lighted, he felt as if life + might still be worth living, at least for his wife and children. So he + went back to his trade as heartily as he might, and worked at it well and + successfully. For it is to be noted, that though Thomas Edward was so + assiduous a naturalist and collector, he was the best hand, too, at making + first-class shoes in all Banff. The good workman is generally the best man + at whatever he undertakes. Certainly the best man is almost always a good + workman at his own trade. + </p> + <p> + But of course he made no more natural history collections? Not a bit of + it. Once a naturalist, always a naturalist. Edward set to work once more, + nothing daunted, and by next spring he was out everywhere with his gun, + exactly as before, replacing the sold collection as fast as ever his hand + was able. + </p> + <p> + By this time Edward began to make a few good friends. Several magistrates + for the county signed a paper for him, stating that they knew him to be a + naturalist, and no poacher; and on presenting this paper to the + gamekeepers, he was generally allowed to pursue his researches wherever he + liked, and shoot any birds or animals he needed for his new museum. Soon + after his return from Aberdeen, too, he made the acquaintance of a + neighbouring Scotch minister, Mr. Smith of Monquhitter, who proved a very + kind and useful friend to him. Mr. Smith was a brother naturalist, and he + had books—those precious books—which he lent Edward, freely; + and there for the first time the shoemaker zoologist learned the + scientific names of many among the birds and animals with whose lives and + habits he had been so long familiar. Another thing the good minister did + for his shoemaker friend: he constantly begged him to write to scientific + journals the results of his observations in natural history. At first + Edward was very timid; he didn’t like to appear in print; thought + his grammar and style wouldn’t be good enough; fought shy of the + proposal altogether. But at last Edward made up his mind to contribute a + few notes to the <i>Banffshire Journal</i>, and from that he went on + slowly to other papers, until at last he came to be one of the most valued + occasional writers for several of the leading scientific periodicals in + England. Unfortunately, science doesn’t pay. All this work was done + for love only; and Edward’s only reward was the pleasure he himself + derived from thus jotting down the facts he had observed about the + beautiful creatures he loved so well. + </p> + <p> + Soon Mr. Smith induced the indefatigable shoemaker to send a few papers on + the birds and beasts to the <i>Zoologist</i>. Readers began to perceive + that these contributions were sent by a man of the right sort—a man + who didn’t merely read what other men had said about the creatures + in books, but who watched their ways on his own account, and knew all + about their habits and manners in their own homes. Other friends now began + to interest themselves in him; and Edward obtained at last, what to a man + of his tastes must have been almost as much as money or position—the + society of people who could appreciate him, and could sympathize in all + that interested him. Mr. Smith in particular always treated him, says Dr. + Smiles, “as one intelligent man treats another.” The paltry + distinctions of artificial rank were all forgotten between them, and the + two naturalists talked together with endless interest about all those + lovely creatures that surround us every one on every side, but that so + very few people comparatively have ever eyes to see or hearts to + understand. It was a very great loss to Edward when Mr. Smith died, in + 1854. + </p> + <p> + In the year 1858 the untiring shoemaker had gathered his third and last + collection, the finest and best of all. By this time he had become an + expert stuffer of birds, and a good preserver of fish and flowers. But his + health was now beginning to fail. He was forty-four, and he had used his + constitution very severely, going out at nights in cold and wet, and + cheating himself of sleep during the natural hours of rest and + recuperation. Happily, during all these years, he had resisted the advice + of his Scotch labouring friends, to take out whisky with him on his + nightly excursions. He never took a drop of it, at home or abroad. If he + had done so, he himself believed, he could not have stood the cold, the + damp, and the exposure in the way he did. His food was chiefly + oatmeal-cake; his drink was water. “Sometimes, when I could afford + it,” he says, “my wife boiled an egg or two, and these were my + only luxuries.” He had a large family, and the task of providing for + them was quite enough for his slender means, without leaving much margin + for beer or whisky. + </p> + <p> + But the best constitution won’t stand privation and exposure for + ever. By-and-by Edward fell ill, and had a fever. He was ill for a month, + and when he came round again the doctor told him that he must at once give + up his nightly wandering. This was a real and serious blow to poor Edward; + it was asking him to give up his one real pleasure and interest in life. + All the happiest moments he had ever known were those which he had spent + in the woods and fields, or among the lonely mountains with the falcons, + and the herons, and the pine-martens, and the ermines. All this delightful + life he was now told he must abandon for ever. Nor was that all. Illness + costs money. While a man is earning nothing, he is running up a doctor’s + bill. Edward now saw that he must at last fall back upon his savings bank, + as he rightly called it—his loved and cherished collection of + Banffshire animals. He had to draw upon it heavily. Forty cases of birds + were sold; and Edward now knew that he would never be able to replace the + specimens he had parted with. + </p> + <p> + Still, his endless patience wasn’t yet exhausted. No more of + wandering by night, to be sure, upon moor or fell, gun in hand, chasing + the merlin or the polecat to its hidden lair; no more of long watching + after the snowy owl or the long-tailed titmouse among the frozen winter + woods; but there remained one almost untried field on which Edward could + expend his remaining energy, and in which he was to do better work for + science than in all the rest—the sea. + </p> + <p> + This new field he began to cultivate in a novel and ingenious way. He got + together all the old broken pails, pots, pans, and kettles he could find + in the neighbourhood, filled them with straw or bits of rag, and then sank + them with a heavy stone into the rocky pools that abound along that + weather-beaten coast. A rope was tied to one end, by which he could raise + them again; and once a month he used to go his rounds to visit these very + primitive but effectual sea-traps. Lots of living things had meanwhile + congregated in the safe nests thus provided for them, and Edward sorted + them all over, taking home with him all the newer or more valuable + specimens. In this way he was enabled to make several additions to our + knowledge of the living things that inhabit the sea off the north-east + coast of Scotland. + </p> + <p> + The fishermen also helped him not a little, by giving him many rare kinds + of fish or refuse from their nets, which he duly examined and classified. + As a rule, the hardy men who go on the smacks have a profound contempt for + natural history, and will not be tempted, even by offers of money, to + assist those whom they consider as half-daft gentlefolk in what seems to + them a perfectly useless and almost childish amusement. But it was + different with Tam Edward, the strange shoemaker whom they all knew so + well; if <i>he</i> wanted fish or rubbish for his neat collection in the + home-made glass cases, why, of course he could have them, and welcome. So + they brought him rare sandsuckers, and blue-striped wrasse, and saury + pike, and gigantic cuttle-fish, four feet long, to his heart’s + content. Edward’s daughters were now also old enough to help him in + his scientific studies. They used to watch for the clearing of the nets, + and pick out of the refuse whatever they thought would interest or please + their father. But the fish themselves were Edward’s greatest helpers + and assistants. As Dr. Smiles quaintly puts it, they were the best of all + possible dredgers. His daughters used to secure him as many stomachs as + possible, and from their contents he picked out an immense number of + beautiful and valuable specimens. The bill of fare of the cod alone + comprised an incredible variety of small crabs, shells, shrimps, sea-mice, + star-fish, jelly-fish, sea anemones, eggs, and zoophytes. All these went + to swell Edward’s new collection of marine animals. + </p> + <p> + To identify and name so many small and little-known creatures was a very + difficult task for the poor shoemaker, with so few books, and no + opportunities for visiting museums and learned societies. But his industry + and ingenuity managed to surmount all obstacles. Naturalists everywhere + are very willing to aid and instruct one another; especially are the + highest authorities almost always eager to give every help and + encouragement in their power to local amateurs. Edward used to wait till + he had collected a batch of specimens of a single class or order, and then + he would send them by post to learned men in different parts of the + country, who named them for him, and sent them back with some information + as to their proper place in the classification of the group to which they + belonged. Mr. Spence Bate of Plymouth is the greatest living authority on + crustaceans, such as the lobsters, shrimps, sea-fleas, and hermit crabs; + and to him Edward sent all the queer crawling things of that description + that he found in his original sea-traps. Mr. Couch, of Polperro in + Cornwall, was equally versed in the true backboned fishes; and to him + Edward sent any doubtful midges, or gurnards, or gobies, or whiffs. So + numerous are the animals and plants of the sea-shore, even in the north of + Scotland alone, that if one were to make a complete list of all Edward’s + finds it would occupy an entire book almost as large as this volume. + </p> + <p> + Naturalists now began to help Edward in another way, the way that he most + needed, by kind presents of books, especially their own writings—a + kind of gift which cost them nothing, but was worth to him a very great + deal. Mr. Newman, the editor of the <i>Zoologist</i> paper, was one of his + most useful correspondents, and gave him several excellent books on + natural history. Mr. Bate made him a still more coveted present—a + microscope, with which he could examine several minute animals, too small + to be looked at by the naked eye. The same good friend also gave him a + little pocket-lens (or magnifying glass) for use on the sea-shore. + </p> + <p> + As Edward went on, his knowledge increased rapidly, and his discoveries + fully kept pace with it. The wretchedly paid Banff shoemaker was now + corresponding familiarly with half the most eminent men of science in the + kingdom, and was a valued contributor to all the most important scientific + journals. Several new animals which he had discovered were named in his + honour, and frequent references were made to him in printed works of the + first importance. It occurred to Mr. Couch and Mr. Bate, therefore, both + of whom were greatly indebted to the working-man naturalist for specimens + and information, that Edward ought to be elected a member of some leading + scientific society. There is no such body of greater distinction in the + world of science than the Linnean Society; and of this learned institution + Edward was duly elected an associate in 1866. The honour was one which he + had richly deserved, and which no doubt he fully appreciated. + </p> + <p> + And yet he was nothing more even now than a working shoemaker, who was + earning not more but less wages even than he once used to do. He had + brought up a large family honestly and respectably; he had paid his way + without running into debt; his children were all growing up; and he had + acquired a wide reputation among naturalists as a thoroughly trustworthy + observer and an original worker in many different fields of botany and + zoology. But his wages were now only eight shillings a week, and his + science had brought him, as many people would say, only the barren honour + of being an associate of the Linnean Society, or the respected friend of + many among the noblest and greatest men of his country. He began life as a + shoemaker, and he remained a shoemaker to the end. “Had I pursued + money,” he said, “with half the ardour and perseverance that I + have pursued nature, I have no hesitation in saying that by this time I + should have been a rich man.” + </p> + <p> + In 1876, Dr. Smiles, the historian of so many truly great working men, + attracted by Edward’s remarkable and self-sacrificing life, + determined to write the good shoemaker’s biography while he was + still alive. Edward himself gave Dr. Smiles full particulars as to his + early days and his later struggles; and that information the genial + biographer wove into a delightful book, from which all the facts here + related have been borrowed. The “Life of a Scotch Naturalist” + attracted an immense deal of attention when it was first published, and + led many people, scientific or otherwise, to feel a deep interest in the + man who had thus made himself poor for the love of nature. The result was + such a spontaneous expression of generous feeling towards Edward that he + was enabled to pass the evening of his days not only in honour, but also + in substantial ease and comfort. + </p> + <p> + And shall we call such a life as this a failure? Shall we speak of it + carelessly as unsuccessful? Surely not. Edward had lived his life happily, + usefully, and nobly; he had attained the end he set before himself; he had + conquered all his difficulties by his indomitable resolution; and he lived + to see his just reward in the respect and admiration of all those whose + good opinion was worth the having. If he had toiled and moiled all the + best days of his life, at some work, perhaps, which did not even benefit + in any way his fellow-men; if he had given up all his time to enriching + himself anyhow, by fair means or foul; if he had gathered up a great + business by crushing out competition and absorbing to himself the honest + livelihood of a dozen other men; if he had speculated in stocks and + shares, and piled up at last a vast fortune by doubtful transactions, all + the world would have said, in its unthinking fashion, that Mr. Edward was + a wonderfully successful man. But success in life does not consist in that + only, if in that at all. Edward lived for an aim, and that aim he amply + attained. He never neglected his home duties or his regular work; but in + his stray moments he found time to amass an amount of knowledge which + rendered him the intellectual equal of men whose opportunities and + education had been far more fortunate than his own. The pleasure he found + in his work was the real reward that science gave him. All his life long + he had that pleasure: he saw the fields grow green in spring, the birds + build nests in early summer, the insects flit before his eyes on autumn + evenings, the stoat and hare put on their snow-white coat to his delight + in winter weather. And shall we say that the riches he thus beheld spread + ever before him were any less real or less satisfying to a soul like his + than the mere worldly wealth that other men labour and strive for? Oh no. + Thomas Edward was one of those who work for higher and better ends than + outward show, and verily he had his reward. The monument raised up to that + simple and earnest working shoemaker in the “Life of a Scotch + Naturalist” is one of which any scientific worker in the whole world + might well be proud. In his old age, he had the meed of public + encouragement and public recognition, the one thing that the world at + large can add to a scientific worker’s happiness; and his name will + be long remembered hereafter, when those of more pretentious but less + useful labourers are altogether forgotten. How many men whom the world + calls successful might gladly have changed places with that “fool to + nature,” the Banffshire shoemaker! + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Biographies of Working Men, by Grant Allen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + +***** This file should be named 6492-h.htm or 6492-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/9/6492/ + +Etext produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Biographies of Working Men + +Author: Grant Allen + +Posting Date: May 24, 2013 [EBook #6492] +Release Date: September, 2004 +First Posted: December 22, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + + + + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file +was produced from images generously made available by the +Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + + + + + + + + +BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN + +BY + +GRANT ALLEN, B.A. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON + +II. GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN + +III. JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR + +IV. WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN + +V. JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER + +VI. JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY + +VII. THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER + + + + +PREFACE. + + +My acknowledgments are due to Dr. Smiles's "Lives of the Engineers," +"Life of the Stephensons," and "Life of a Scotch Naturalist;" to Lady +Eastlake's "Life of Gibson;" to Mr. Holden's "Life of Sir William +Herschel;" to M. Seusier's "J. F. Millet, Sa Vie et Ses OEuvres;" and +to Mr. Thayer's "Life of President Garfield;" from which most of the +facts here narrated have been derived. + +G. A. + + + + +I. + +THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON. + + +High up among the heather-clad hills which form the broad dividing +barrier between England and Scotland, the little river Esk brawls and +bickers over its stony bed through a wild land of barren braesides and +brown peat mosses, forming altogether some of the gloomiest and most +forbidding scenery in the whole expanse of northern Britain. Almost the +entire bulk of the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Ayr is +composed of just such solemn desolate upland wolds, with only a few +stray farms or solitary cottages sprinkled at wide distances over their +bare bleak surface, and with scarcely any sign of life in any part save +the little villages which cluster here and there at long intervals +around some stern and simple Scottish church. Yet the hardy people who +inhabit this wild and chilly moorland country may well be considered to +rank among the best raw material of society in the whole of Britain; +for from the peasant homes of these southern Scotch Highlands have come +forth, among a host of scarcely less distinguished natives, three men, +at least, who deserve to take their place in the very front line of +British thinkers or workers--Thomas Telford, Robert Burns, and Thomas +Carlyle. By origin, all three alike belonged in the very strictest +sense to the working classes; and the story of each is full of lessons +or of warnings for every one of us: but that of Telford is perhaps the +most encouraging and the most remarkable of all, as showing how much +may be accomplished by energy and perseverance, even under the most +absolutely adverse and difficult circumstances. + +Near the upper end of Eskdale, in the tiny village of Westerkirk, a +young shepherd's wife gave birth to a son on the 9th of August, 1757. +Her husband, John Telford, was employed in tending sheep on a +neighbouring farm, and he and his Janet occupied a small cottage close +by, with mud walls and rudely thatched roof, such as in southern +England even the humblest agricultural labourer would scarcely consent +willingly to inhabit. Before the child was three months old, his father +died; and Janet Telford was left alone in the world with her unweaned +baby. But in remote country districts, neighbours are often more +neighbourly than in great towns; and a poor widow can manage to eke out +a livelihood for herself with an occasional lift from the helping hands +of friendly fellow-villagers. Janet Telford had nothing to live upon +save her own ten fingers; but they were handy enough, after the sturdy +Scotch fashion, and they earned some sort of livelihood in a humble way +for herself and her fatherless boy. The farmers about found her work on +their farms at haymaking or milking, and their wives took the child +home with them while its mother was busy labouring in the harvest +fields. Amid such small beginnings did the greatest of English +engineers before the railway era receive his first hard lessons in the +art of life. + +After her husband's death, the poor widow removed from her old cottage +to a still more tiny hut, which she shared with a neighbour--a very +small hut, with a single door for both families; and here young Tam +Telford spent most of his boyhood in the quiet honourable poverty of +the uncomplaining rural poor. As soon as he was big enough to herd +sheep, he was turned out upon the hillside in summer like any other +ragged country laddie, and in winter he tended cows, receiving for +wages only his food and money enough to cover the cost of his scanty +clothing. He went to school, too; how, nobody now knows: but he _did_ +go, to the parish school of Westerkirk, and there he learnt with a +will, in the winter months, though he had to spend the summer on the +more profitable task of working in the fields. To a steady earnest boy +like young Tam Telford, however, it makes all the difference in the +world that he should have been to school, no matter how simply. Those +twenty-six letters of the alphabet, once fairly learnt, are the key, +after all, to all the book-learning in the whole world. Without them, +the shepherd-boy might remain an ignorant, unprogressive shepherd all +his life long, even his undeniable native energy using itself up on +nothing better than a wattled hurdle or a thatched roof; with them, the +path is open before him which led Tam Telford at last to the Menai +Bridge and Westminster Abbey. + +When Tam had gradually eaten his way through enough thin oatmeal +porridge (with very little milk, we fear) to make him into a hearty lad +of fifteen, it began to be high time for him to choose himself a final +profession in life, such as he was able. And here already the born +tastes of the boy began to show themselves: for he had no liking for +the homely shepherd's trade; he felt a natural desire for a chisel and +a hammer--the engineer was there already in the grain--and he was +accordingly apprenticed to a stonemason in the little town of +Lochmaben, beyond the purple hills to eastward. But his master was a +hard man; he had small mercy for the raw lad; and after trying to +manage with him for a few months, Tam gave it up, took the law into his +own hands, and ran away. Probably the provocation was severe, for in +after-life Telford always showed himself duly respectful to constituted +authority; and we know that petty self-made master-workmen are often +apt to be excessively severe to their own hired helpers, and especially +to helpless lads or young apprentices. At any rate, Tam wouldn't go +back; and in the end, a well-to-do cousin, who had risen to the proud +position of steward at the great hall of the parish, succeeded in +getting another mason at Langholm, the little capital of Eskdale, to +take over the runaway for the remainder of the term of his indentures. + +At Langholm, a Scotch country town of the quietest and sleepiest +description, Tam Telford passed the next eight years of his uneventful +early life, first as an apprentice, and afterwards as a journeyman +mason of the humblest type. He had a good mother, and he was a good +son. On Saturday nights he generally managed to walk over to the +cottage at Westerkirk, and accompany the poor widow to the Sunday +services at the parish kirk. As long as she lived, indeed, he never +forgot her; and one of the first tasks he set himself when he was out +of his indentures was to cut a neat headstone with a simple but +beautiful inscription for the grave of that shepherd father whom he had +practically never seen. At Langholm, an old maiden lady, Miss Pasley, +interested herself kindly in Janet Telford's rising boy. She lent him +what of all things the eager lad most needed--books; and the young +mason applied himself to them in all his spare moments with the +vigorous ardour and perseverance of healthy youth. The books he read +were not merely those which bore directly or indirectly upon his own +craft: if they had been, Tam Telford might have remained nothing more +than a journeyman mason all the days of his life. It is a great +mistake, even from the point of view of mere worldly success, for a +young man to read or learn only what "pays" in his particular calling; +the more he reads and learns, the more will he find that seemingly +useless things "pay" in the end, and that what apparently pays least, +often really pays most in the long run. This is not the only or the +best reason why every man should aim at the highest possible +cultivation of his own talents, be they what they may; but it is in +itself a very good reason, and it is a sufficient answer for those who +would deter us from study of any high kind on the ground that it "does +no good." Telford found in after-life that his early acquaintance with +sound English literature did do him a great deal of good: it opened and +expanded his mind; it trained his intelligence; it stored his brain +with images and ideas which were ever after to him a source of +unmitigated delight and unalloyed pleasure. He read whenever he had +nothing else to do. He read Milton with especial delight; and he also +read the verses that his fellow-countryman, Rob Burns, the Ayrshire +ploughman, was then just beginning to speak straight to the heart of +every aspiring Scotch peasant lad. With these things Tam Telford filled +the upper stories of his brain quite as much as with the trade details +of his own particular useful handicraft; and the result soon showed +that therein Tam Telford had not acted uncannily or unwisely. + +Nor did he read only; he wrote too--verses, not very good, nor yet very +bad, but well expressed, in fairly well chosen language, and with due +regard to the nice laws of metre and of grammar, which is in itself a +great point. Writing verse is an occupation at which only very few even +among men of literary education ever really succeed; and nine-tenths of +published verse is mere mediocre twaddle, quite unworthy of being put +into the dignity of print. Yet Telford did well for all that in trying +his hand, with but poor result, at this most difficult and dangerous of +all the arts. His rhymes were worth nothing as rhymes; but they were +worth a great deal as discipline and training: they helped to form the +man, and that in itself is always something. Most men who have in them +the power to do any great thing pass in early life through a +verse-making stage. The verses never come to much; but they leave their +stamp behind them; and the man is all the better in the end for having +thus taught himself the restraint, the command of language, the careful +choice of expressions, the exercise of deliberate pains in composition, +which even bad verse-making necessarily implies. It is a common mistake +of near-sighted minds to look only at the immediate results of things, +without considering their remoter effects. When Tam Telford, stonemason +of Langholm, began at twenty-two years of age to pen poetical epistles +to Robert Burns, most of his fellow-workmen doubtless thought he was +giving himself up to very foolish and nonsensical practices; but he was +really helping to educate Thomas Telford, engineer of the Holyhead Road +and the Caledonian Canal, for all his future usefulness and greatness. + +As soon as Tam was out of his indentures, he began work as a journeyman +mason at Langholm on his own account, at the not very magnificent wages +of eighteenpence a day. That isn't much; but at any rate it is an +independence. Besides building many houses in his own town, Tam made +here his first small beginning in the matter of roads and highways, by +helping to build a bridge over the Esk at Langholm. He was very proud +of his part in this bridge, and to the end of his life he often +referred to it as his first serious engineering work. Many of the +stones still bear his private mark, hewn with the tool into their solid +surface, with honest workmanship which helps to explain his later +success. But the young mason was beginning to discover that Eskdale was +hardly a wide enough field for his budding ambition. He could carve the +most careful headstones; he could cut the most ornamental copings for +doors or windows; he could even build a bridge across the roaring +flooded Esk; but he wanted to see a little of the great world, and +learn how men and masons went about their work in the busy centres of +the world's activity. So, like a patriotic Scotchman that he was, he +betook himself straight to Edinburgh, tramping it on foot, of course, +for railways did not yet exist, and coaches were not for the use of +such as young Thomas Telford. + +He arrived in the grey old capital of Scotland in the very nick of +time. The Old Town, a tangle of narrow alleys and close courtyards, +surrounded by tall houses with endless tiers of floors, was just being +deserted by the rich and fashionable world for the New Town, which lies +beyond a broad valley on the opposite hillside, and contains numerous +streets of solid and handsome stone houses, such as are hardly to be +found in any other town in Britain, except perhaps Bath and Aberdeen. +Edinburgh is always, indeed, an interesting place for an enthusiastic +lover of building, be he architect or stonemason; for instead of being +built of brick like London and so many other English centres, it is +built partly of a fine hard local sandstone and partly of basaltic +greenstone; and besides its old churches and palaces, many of the +public buildings are particularly striking and beautiful architectural +works. But just at the moment when young Telford walked wearily into +Edinburgh at the end of his long tramp, there was plenty for a stout +strong mason to do in the long straight stone fronts of the rising New +Town. For two years, he worked away patiently at his trade in "the grey +metropolis of the North;" and he took advantage of the special +opportunities the place afforded him to learn drawing, and to make +minute sketches in detail of Holyrood Palace, Heriot's Hospital, Roslyn +Chapel, and all the other principal old buildings in which the +neighbourhood of the capital is particularly rich. So anxious, indeed, +was the young mason to perfect himself by the study of the very best +models in his own craft, that when at the end of two years he walked +back to revisit his good mother in Eskdale, he took the opportunity of +making drawings of Melrose Abbey, the most exquisite and graceful +building that the artistic stone-cutters of the Middle Ages have handed +down to our time in all Scotland. + +This visit to Eskdale was really Telford's last farewell to his old +home, before setting out on a journey which was to form the +turning-point in his own history, and in the history of British +engineering as well. In Scotch phrase, he was going south. And after +taking leave of his mother (not quite for the last time) he went south +in good earnest, doing this journey on horseback; for his cousin the +steward had lent him a horse to make his way southward like a +gentleman. Telford turned where all enterprising young Scotchmen of his +time always turned: towards the unknown world of London--that world +teeming with so many possibilities of brilliant success or of miserable +squalid failure. It was the year 1782, and the young man was just +twenty-five. No sooner had he reached the great city than he began +looking about him for suitable work. He had a letter of introduction to +the architect of Somerset House, whose ornamental fronts were just then +being erected, facing the Strand and the river; and Telford was able to +get a place at once on the job as a hewer of the finer architectural +details, for which both his taste and experience well fitted him. He +spent some two years in London at this humble post as a stone-cutter; +but already he began to aspire to something better. He earned +first-class mason's wages now, and saved whatever he did not need for +daily expenses. In this respect, the improvidence of his English +fellow-workmen struck the cautious young Scotchman very greatly. They +lived, he said, from week to week entirely; any time beyond a week +seemed unfortunately to lie altogether outside the range of their +limited comprehension. + +At the end of two years in London, Telford's skill and study began to +bear good fruit. His next engagement was one which raised him for the +first time in his life above the rank of a mere journeyman mason. The +honest workman had attracted the attention of competent judges. He +obtained employment as foreman of works of some important buildings in +Portsmouth Dockyard. A proud man indeed was Thomas Telford at this +change of fortune, and very proudly he wrote to his old friends in +Eskdale, with almost boyish delight, about the trust reposed in him by +the commissioners and officers, and the pains he was taking with the +task entrusted to him. For he was above all things a good workman, and +like all good workmen he felt a pride and an interest in all the jobs +he took in hand. His sense of responsibility and his sensitiveness, +indeed, were almost too great at times for his own personal comfort. +Things _will_ go wrong now and then, even with the greatest care; +well-planned undertakings will not always pay, and the best engineering +does not necessarily succeed in earning a dividend; but whenever such +mishaps occurred to his employers, Telford felt the disappointment much +too keenly, as though he himself had been to blame for their +miscalculations or over-sanguine hopes. Still, it is a good thing to +put one's heart in one's work, and so much Thomas Telford certainly did. + +About this time, too, the rising young mason began to feel that he must +get a little more accurate scientific knowledge. The period for general +study had now passed by, and the period for special trade reading had +set in. This was well. A lad cannot do better than lay a good +foundation of general knowledge and general literature during the +period when he is engaged in forming his mind: a young man once fairly +launched in life may safely confine himself for a time to the studies +that bear directly upon his own special chosen subject. The thing that +Telford began closely to investigate was--lime. Now, lime makes mortar; +and without lime, accordingly, you can have no mason. But to know +anything really about lime, Telford found he must read some chemistry; +and to know anything really about chemistry he must work at it hard and +unremittingly. A strict attention to one's own business, understood in +this very broad and liberal manner, is certainly no bad thing for any +struggling handicraftsman, whatever his trade or profession may happen +to be. + +In 1786, when Telford was nearly thirty, a piece of unexpected good +luck fell to his lot. And yet it was not so much good luck as due +recognition of his sterling qualities by a wealthy and appreciative +person. Long before, while he was still in Eskdale, one Mr. Pulteney, a +man of social importance, who had a large house in the bleak northern +valley, had asked his advice about the repairs of his own mansion. We +may be sure that Telford did his work on that occasion carefully and +well; for now, when Mr. Pulteney wished to restore the ruins of +Shrewsbury Castle as a dwelling-house, he sought out the young mason +who had attended to his Scotch property, and asked him to superintend +the proposed alterations in his Shropshire castle. Nor was that all: by +Mr. Pulteney's influence, Telford was shortly afterwards appointed to +be county surveyor of public works, having under his care all the +roads, bridges, gaols, and public buildings in the whole of Shropshire. +Thus the Eskdale shepherd-boy rose at last from the rank of a working +mason, and attained the well-earned dignity of an engineer and a +professional man. + +Telford had now a fair opportunity of showing the real stuff of which +he was made. Those, of course, were the days when railroads had not yet +been dreamt of; when even roads were few and bad; when communications +generally were still in a very disorderly and unorganized condition. It +is Telford's special glory that he reformed and altered this whole +state of things; he reduced the roads of half Britain to system and +order; he made the finest highways and bridges then ever constructed; +and by his magnificent engineering works, especially his aqueducts, he +paved the way unconsciously but surely for the future railways. If it +had not been for such great undertakings as Telford's Holyhead Road, +which familiarized men's minds with costly engineering operations, it +is probable that projectors would long have stood aghast at the +alarming expense of a nearly level iron road running through tall hills +and over broad rivers the whole way from London to Manchester. + +At first, Telford's work as county surveyor lay mostly in very small +things indeed--mere repairs of sidepaths or bridges, which gave him +little opportunity to develop his full talents as a born engineer. But +in time, being found faithful in small things, his employers, the +county magistrates, began to consult him more and more on matters of +comparative importance. First, it was a bridge to be built across the +Severn; then a church to be planned at Shrewsbury, and next, a second +church in Coalbrookdale. If he was thus to be made suddenly into an +architect, Telford thought, almost without being consulted in the +matter, he must certainly set out to study architecture. So, with +characteristic vigour, he went to work to visit London, Worcester, +Gloucester, Bath, and Oxford, at each place taking care to learn +whatever was to be learned in the practice of his new art. Fortunately, +however, for Telford and for England, it was not architecture in the +strict sense that he was finally to practise as a real profession. +Another accident, as thoughtless people might call it, led him to adopt +engineering in the end as the path in life he elected to follow. In +1793, he was appointed engineer to the projected Ellesmere Canal. + +In the days before railways, such a canal as this was an engineering +work of the very first importance. It was to connect the Mersey, the +Dee, and the Severn, and it passed over ground which rendered necessary +some immense aqueducts on a scale never before attempted by British +engineers. Even in our own time, every traveller by the Great Western +line between Chester and Shrewsbury must have observed on his right two +magnificent ranges as high arches, which are as noticeable now as ever +for their boldness, their magnitude, and their exquisite construction. +The first of these mighty archways is the Pont Cysylltau aqueduct which +carries the Ellesmere Canal across the wide valley of the Dee, known as +the Vale of Llangollen; the second is the Chirk aqueduct, which takes +it over the lesser glen of a minor tributary, the Ceriog. Both these +beautiful works were designed and carried out entirely by Telford. They +differ from many other great modern engineering achievements in the +fact that, instead of spoiling the lovely mountain scenery into whose +midst they have been thrown, they actually harmonize with it and +heighten its natural beauty. Both works, however, are splendid feats, +regarded merely as efforts of practical skill; and the larger one is +particularly memorable for the peculiarity that the trough for the +water and the elegant parapet at the side are both entirely composed of +iron. Nowadays, of course, there would be nothing remarkable in the use +of such a material for such a purpose; but Telford was the first +engineer to see the value of iron in this respect, and the Pont +Cysylltau aqueduct was one of the earliest works in which he applied +the new material to these unwonted uses. Such a step is all the more +remarkable, because Telford's own education had lain entirely in what +may fairly be called the "stone age" of English engineering; while his +natural predilections as a stonemason might certainly have made him +rather overlook the value of the novel material. But Telford was a man +who could rise superior to such little accidents of habit or training; +and as a matter of fact there is no other engineer to whom the rise of +the present "iron age" in engineering work is more directly and +immediately to be attributed than to himself. + +Meanwhile, the Eskdale pioneer did not forget his mother. For years he +had constantly written to her, in _print hand_, so that the letters +might be more easily read by her aged eyes; he had sent her money in +full proportion to his means; and he had taken every possible care to +let her declining years be as comfortable as his altered circumstances +could readily make them. And now, in the midst of this great and +responsible work, he found time to "run down" to Eskdale (very +different "running down" from that which we ourselves can do by the +London and North Western Railway), to see his aged mother once more +before she died. What a meeting that must have been, between the poor +old widow of the Eskdale shepherd, and her successful son, the county +surveyor of Shropshire, and engineer of the great and important +Ellesmere Canal! + +While Telford was working busily upon his wonderful canal, he had many +other schemes to carry out of hardly less importance, in connection +with his appointment as county surveyor. His beautiful iron bridge +across the Severn at Build was was another application of his favourite +metal to the needs of the new world that was gradually growing up in +industrial England; and so satisfied was he with the result of his +experiment (for though not absolutely the first, it was one of the +first iron bridges ever built) that he proposed another magnificent +idea, which unfortunately was never carried into execution. Old London +Bridge had begun to get a trifle shaky; and instead of rebuilding it, +Telford wished to span the whole river by a single iron arch, whose +splendid dimensions would have formed one of the most remarkable +engineering triumphs ever invented. The scheme, for some good reason, +doubtless, was not adopted; but it is impossible to look at Telford's +grand drawing of the proposed bridge--a single bold arch, curving +across the Thames from side to side, with the dome of St Paul's rising +majestically above it--without a feeling of regret that such a noble +piece of theoretical architecture was never realized in actual fact. + +Telford had now come to be regarded as the great practical authority +upon all that concerned roads or communications; and he was reaping the +due money-reward of his diligence and skill. Every day he was called +upon to design new bridges and other important structures in all parts +of the kingdom, but more especially in Scotland and on the Welsh +border. Many of the most picturesque bridges in Britain, which every +tourist has admired, often without inquiring or thinking of the hand +that planned them, were designed by his inventive brain. The exquisite +stone arch which links the two banks of the lesser Scotch Dee in its +gorge at Tongueland is one of the most picturesque; for Telford was a +bit of an artist at heart, and, unlike too many modern railway +constructors, he always endeavoured to make his bridges and aqueducts +beautify rather than spoil the scenery in whose midst they stood. +Especially was he called in to lay out the great system of roads by +which the Scotch Highlands, then so lately reclaimed from a state of +comparative barbarism, were laid open for the great development they +have since undergone. In the earlier part of the century, it is true, a +few central highways had been run through the very heart of that great +solid block of mountains; but these were purely military roads, to +enable the king's soldiers more easily to march against the revolted +clans, and they had hardly more connection with the life of the country +than the bare military posts, like Fort William and Fort Augustus, +which guarded their ends, had to do with the ordinary life of a +commercial town. Meanwhile, however, the Highlands had begun gradually +to settle down; and Telford's roads were intended for the far higher +and better purpose of opening out the interior of northern Scotland to +the humanizing influences of trade and industry. + +Fully to describe the great work which the mature engineer constructed +in the Highland region, would take up more space than could be allotted +to such a subject anywhere save in a complete industrial history of +roads and travelling in modern Britain. It must suffice to say that +when Telford took the matter in hand, the vast block of country north +and west of the Great Glen of Caledonia (which divides the Highlands in +two between Inverness and Ben Nevis)--a block comprising the counties +of Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, and half Inverness--had +literally nothing within it worthy of being called a road. Wheeled +carts or carriages were almost unknown, and all burdens were conveyed +on pack-horses, or, worse still, on the broad backs of Highland +lassies. The people lived in small scattered villages, and +communications from one to another were well-nigh impossible. Telford +set to work to give the country, not a road or two, but a main system +of roads. First, he bridged the broad river Tay at Dunkeld, so as to +allow of a direct route straight into the very jaws of the Highlands. +Then, he also bridged over the Beauly at Inverness, so as to connect +the opposite sides of the Great Glen with one another. Next, he laid +out a number of trunk lines, running through the country on both banks, +to the very north of Caithness, and the very west of the Isle of Skye. +Whoever to this day travels on the main thoroughfares in the greater +Scottish Islands--in Arran, Islay, Jura, Mull; or in the wild peninsula +of Morvern, and the Land of Lorne; or through the rugged regions of +Inverness-shire and Ross-shire, where the railway has not yet +penetrated,--travels throughout on Telford's roads. The number of large +bridges and other great engineering masterpieces on this network of +roads is enormous; among the most famous and the most beautiful, are +the exquisite single arch which spans the Spey just beside the lofty +rearing rocks of Craig Ellachie, and the bridge across the Dee, beneath +the purple heather-clad braes of Ballater. Altogether, on Telford's +Highland roads alone, there are no fewer than twelve hundred bridges. + +Nor were these the only important labours by which Telford ministered +to the comfort and well-being of his Scotch fellow-countrymen. +Scotland's debt to the Eskdale stonemason is indeed deep and lasting. +While on land, he improved her communications by his great lines of +roads, which did on a smaller scale for the Highland valleys what +railways have since done for the whole of the civilized world; he also +laboured to improve her means of transit at sea by constructing a +series of harbours along that bare and inhospitable eastern coast, once +almost a desert, but now teeming with great towns and prosperous +industries. It was Telford who formed the harbour of Wick, which has +since grown from a miserable fishing village into a large town, the +capital of the North Sea herring fisheries. It was he who enlarged the +petty port of Peterhead into the chief station of the flourishing +whaling trade. It was he who secured prosperity for Fraserburgh, and +Banff, and many other less important centres; while even Dundee and +Aberdeen, the chief commercial cities of the east coast, owe to him a +large part of their present extraordinary wealth and industry. When one +thinks how large a number of human beings have been benefited by +Telford's Scotch harbour works alone, it is impossible not to envy a +great engineer his almost unlimited power of permanent usefulness to +unborn thousands of his fellow-creatures. + +As a canal-maker, Telford was hardly less successful than as a +constructor of roads and harbours. It is true, his greatest work in +this direction was in one sense a failure. He was employed by +Government for many years as the engineer of the Caledonian Canal, +which runs up the Great Glen of Caledonia, connecting the line of lakes +whose basins occupy that deep hollow in the Highland ranges, and so +avoiding the difficult and dangerous sea voyage round the stormy +northern capes of Caithness. Unfortunately, though the canal as an +engineering work proved to be of the most successful character, it has +never succeeded as a commercial undertaking. It was built just at the +exact moment when steamboats were on the point of revolutionizing ocean +traffic; and so, though in itself a magnificent and lordly undertaking, +it failed to satisfy the sanguine hopes of its projectors. But though +Telford felt most bitterly the unavoidable ill success of this great +scheme, he might well have comforted himself by the good results of his +canal-building elsewhere. He went to Sweden to lay out the Gotha Canal, +which still forms the main high-road of commerce between Stockholm and +the sea; while in England itself some of his works in this +direction--such as the improvements on the Birmingham Canal, with its +immense tunnel--may fairly be considered as the direct precursors of +the great railway efforts of the succeeding generation. + +The most remarkable of all Telford's designs, however, and the one +which most immediately paved the way for the railway system, was his +magnificent Holyhead Road. This wonderful highway he carried through +the very midst of the Welsh mountains, at a comparatively level height +for its whole distance, in order to form a main road from London to +Ireland. On this road occurs Telford's masterpiece of engineering, the +Menai suspension bridge, long regarded as one of the wonders of the +world, and still one of the most beautiful suspension bridges in all +Europe. Hardly less admirable, however, in its own way is the other +suspension bridge which he erected at Conway, to carry his road across +the mouth of the estuary, beside the grey old castle, with which its +charming design harmonizes so well. Even now it is impossible to drive +or walk along this famous and picturesque highway without being struck +at every turn by the splendid engineering triumphs which it displays +throughout its entire length. The contrast, indeed, between the noble +grandeur of Telford's bridges, and the works on the neighbouring +railways, is by no means flattering in every respect to our too +exclusively practical modern civilization. + +Telford was now growing an old man. The Menai bridge was begun in 1819 +and finished in 1826, when he was sixty-eight years of age; and though +he still continued to practise his profession, and to design many +valuable bridges, drainage cuts, and other small jobs, that great +undertaking was the last masterpiece of his long and useful life. His +later days were passed in deserved honour and comparative opulence; for +though never an avaricious man, and always anxious to rate his services +at their lowest worth, he had gathered together a considerable fortune +by the way, almost without seeking it. To the last, his happy cheerful +disposition enabled him to go on labouring at the numerous schemes by +which he hoped to benefit the world of workers; and so much +cheerfulness was surely well earned by a man who could himself look +back upon so good a record of work done for the welfare of humanity. At +last, on the 2nd of September, 1834, his quiet and valuable life came +gently to a close, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was buried +in Westminster Abbey, and few of the men who sleep within that great +national temple more richly deserve the honour than the Westerkirk +shepherd-boy. For Thomas Telford's life was not merely one of worldly +success; it was still more pre-eminently one of noble ends and public +usefulness. Many working men have raised themselves by their own +exertions to a position of wealth and dignity far surpassing his; few +indeed have conferred so many benefits upon untold thousands of their +fellow-men. It is impossible, even now, to travel in any part of +England, Wales, or Scotland, without coming across innumerable +memorials of Telford's great and useful life; impossible to read the +full record of his labours without finding that numberless structures +we have long admired for their beauty or utility, owe their origin to +the honourable, upright, hardworking, thoroughgoing, journeyman mason +of the quiet little Eskdale village. Whether we go into the drained +fens of Lincolnshire, or traverse the broad roads of the rugged Snowdon +region; whether we turn to St. Katharine's Docks in London, or to the +wide quays of Dundee and those of Aberdeen; whether we sail beneath the +Menai suspension bridge at Bangor, or drive over the lofty arches that +rise sheer from the precipitous river gorge at Cartland, we meet +everywhere the lasting traces of that inventive and ingenious brain. +And yet, what lad could ever have started in the world under apparently +more hopeless circumstances than widow Janet Telford's penniless orphan +shepherd-boy Tam, in the bleakest and most remote of all the lonely +border valleys of southern Scotland? + + + + +II. + +GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN. + + +Any time about the year 1786, a stranger in the streets of the grimy +colliery village of Wylam, near Newcastle, might have passed by without +notice a ragged, barefooted, chubby child of five years old, Geordie +Stephenson by name, playing merrily in the gutter and looking to the +outward eye in no way different from any of the other colliers' +children who loitered about him. Nevertheless, that ragged boy was yet +destined in after-life to alter the whole face of England and the world +by those wonderful railways, which he more than any other man was +instrumental in first constructing; and the story of his life may rank +perhaps as one of the most marvellous in the whole marvellous history +of able and successful British working men. + +George Stephenson was born in June, 1781, the son of a fireman who +tended the pumping engine of the neighbouring colliery, and one of a +penniless family of six children. So poor was his father, indeed, that +the whole household lived in a single room, with bare floor and mud +wall; and little Geordie grew up in his own unkempt fashion without any +schooling whatever, not even knowing A from B when he was a big lad of +seventeen. At an age when he ought to have been learning his letters, +he was bird's-nesting in the fields or running errands to the Wylam +shops; and as soon as he was old enough to earn a few pence by light +work, he was set to tend cows at the magnificent wages of twopence a +day, in the village of Dewley Burn, close by, to which his father had +then removed. It might have seemed at first as though the future +railway engineer was going to settle down quietly to the useful but +uneventful life of an agricultural labourer; for from tending cows he +proceeded in due time (with a splendid advance of twopence) to leading +the horses at the plough, spudding thistles, and hoeing turnips on his +employer's farm. But the native bent of a powerful mind usually shows +itself very early; and even during the days when Geordie was still +stumbling across the freshly ploughed clods or driving the cows to +pasture with a bunch of hazel twigs, his taste for mechanics already +made itself felt in a very marked and practical fashion. During all his +leisure time, the future engineer and his chum Bill Thirlwall occupied +themselves with making clay models of engines, and fitting up a winding +machine with corks and twine like those which lifted the colliery +baskets. Though Geordie Stephenson didn't go to school at the village +teacher's, he was teaching himself in his own way by close observation +and keen comprehension of all the machines and engines he could come +across. + +Naturally, to such a boy, the great ambition of his life was to be +released from the hoeing and spudding, and set to work at his father's +colliery. Great was Geordie's joy, therefore, when at last he was taken +on there in the capacity of a coal-picker, to clear the loads from +stones and rubbish. It wasn't a very dignified position, to be sure, +but it was the first step that led the way to the construction of the +Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Geordie was now fairly free from the +uncongenial drudgery of farm life, and able to follow his own +inclinations in the direction of mechanical labour. Besides, was he not +earning the grand sum of sixpence a day as picker, increased to +eightpence a little later on, when he rose to the more responsible and +serious work of driving the gin-horse? A proud day indeed it was for +him when, at fourteen, he was finally permitted to aid his father in +firing the colliery engine; though he was still such a very small boy +that he used to run away and hide when the owner went his rounds of +inspection, for fear he should be thought too little to earn his untold +wealth of a shilling a day in such a grown-up occupation. Humbler +beginnings were never any man's who lived to become the honoured guest, +not of kings and princes only, but of the truly greatest and noblest in +the land. + +A coal-miner's life is often a very shifting one; for the coal in +particular collieries gets worked out from time to time; and he has to +remove, accordingly, to fresh quarters, wherever employment happens to +be found. This was very much the case with George Stephenson and his +family; all of them being obliged to remove several times over during +his childish days in search of new openings. Shortly after Geordie had +attained to the responsible position of assistant fireman, his father +was compelled, by the closing of Dewley Burn mine, to get a fresh +situation hard by at Newburn. George accompanied him, and found +employment as full fireman at a small working, whose little engine he +undertook to manage in partnership with a mate, each of them tending +the fire night and day by twelve-hour shifts. Two years later, his +wages were raised to twelve shillings a week, a sure mark of his +diligent and honest work; so that George was not far wrong in remarking +to a fellow-workman at the time that he now considered himself a made +man for life. + +During all this time, George Stephenson never for a moment ceased to +study and endeavour to understand the working of every part in the +engine that he tended. He was not satisfied, as too many workmen are, +with merely learning the routine work of his own trade; with merely +knowing that he must turn such and such a tap or valve in order to +produce such and such a desired result: he wanted to see for himself +how and why the engine did this or that, what was the use and object of +piston and cylinder and crank and joint and condenser--in short, fully +to understand the underlying principle of its construction. He took it +to pieces for cleaning whenever it was needful; he made working models +of it after his old childish pattern; he even ventured to tinker it up +when out of order on his own responsibility. Thus he learnt at last +something of the theory of the steam-engine, and learnt also by the way +a great deal about the general principles of mechanical science. Still, +even now, incredible as it seems, the future father of railways +couldn't yet read; and he found this terrible drawback told fatally +against his further progress. Whenever he wanted to learn something +that he didn't quite understand, he was always referred for information +to a Book. Oh, those books; those mysterious, unattainable, +incomprehensible books; how they must have bothered and worried poor +intelligent and aspiring but still painfully ignorant young George +Stephenson! Though he was already trying singularly valuable +experiments in his own way, he hadn't yet even begun to learn his +letters. + +Under these circumstances, George Stephenson, eager and anxious for +further knowledge, took a really heroic resolution. He wasn't ashamed +to go to school. Though now a full workman on his own account, about +eighteen years old, he began to attend the night school at the +neighbouring village of Walbottle, where he took lessons in reading +three evenings every week. It is a great thing when a man is not +ashamed to learn. Many men are; they consider themselves so immensely +wise that they look upon it as an impertinence in anybody to try to +tell them anything they don't know already. Truly wise or truly great +men--men with the capability in them for doing anything worthy in their +generation--never feel this false and foolish shame. They know that +most other people know some things in some directions which they do +not, and they are glad to be instructed in them whenever opportunity +offers. This wisdom George Stephenson possessed in sufficient degree to +make him feel more ashamed of his ignorance than of the steps necessary +in order to conquer it. Being a diligent and willing scholar, he soon +learnt to read, and by the time he was nineteen he had learnt how to +write also. At arithmetic, a science closely allied to his native +mechanical bent, he was particularly apt, and beat all the other +scholars at the village night school. This resolute effort at education +was the real turning-point in George Stephenson's remarkable career, +the first step on the ladder whose topmost rung led him so high that he +himself must almost have felt giddy at the unwonted elevation. + +Shortly after, young Stephenson gained yet another promotion in being +raised to the rank of brakesman, whose duty it was to slacken the +engine when the full baskets of coal reached the top of the shaft. This +was a more serious and responsible post than any he had yet filled, and +one for which only the best and steadiest workmen were ever selected. +His wages now amounted to a pound a week, a very large sum in those +days for a skilled working-man. + +Meanwhile, George, like most other young men, had fallen in love. His +sweetheart, Fanny Henderson, was servant at the small farmhouse where +he had taken lodgings since leaving his father's home; and though but +little is known about her (for she unhappily died before George had +begun to rise to fame and fortune), what little we do know seems to +show that she was in every respect a fitting wife for the active young +brakesman, and a fitting mother for his equally celebrated son, Robert +Stephenson. Fired by the honourable desire to marry Fanny, with a +proper regard for prudence, George set himself to work to learn +cobbling in his spare moments; and so successfully did he cobble the +worn shoes of his fellow-colliers after working hours, that before long +he contrived to save a whole guinea out of his humble earnings. That +guinea was the first step towards an enormous fortune; a fortune, too, +all accumulated by steady toil and constant useful labour for the +ultimate benefit of his fellow-men. To make a fortune is the smallest +and least noble of all possible personal ambitions; but to save the +first guinea which leads us on at last to independence and modest +comfort is indeed an important turning-point in every prudent man's +career. Geordie Stephenson was so justly proud of his achievement in +this respect that he told a friend in confidence he might now consider +himself a rich man. + +By the time George was twenty-one, he had saved up enough by constant +care to feel that he might safely embark on the sea of housekeeping. He +was able to take a small cottage lodging for himself and Fanny, at +Willington Quay, near his work at the moment, and to furnish it with +the simple comfort which was all that their existing needs demanded. He +married Fanny on the 28th of November, 1802; and the young couple +proceeded at once to their new home. Here George laboured harder than +ever, as became the head of a family. He was no more ashamed of odd +jobs than he had been of learning the alphabet. He worked overtime at +emptying ballast from ships; he continued to cobble, to cut lasts, and +even to try his hand at regular shoemaking; furthermore, he actually +acquired the art of mending clocks, a matter which lay strictly in his +own line, and he thus earned a tidy penny at odd hours by doctoring all +the rusty or wheezy old timepieces of all his neighbours. Nor did he +neglect his mechanical education meanwhile; for he was always at work +upon various devices for inventing a perpetual motion machine. Now +perpetual motion is the most foolish will-o'-the-wisp that ever engaged +a sane man's attention: the thing has been proved to be impossible from +every conceivable point of view, and the attempt to achieve it, if +pursued to the last point, can only end in disappointment if not in +ruin. Still, for all that, the work George Stephenson spent upon this +unpractical object did really help to give him an insight into +mechanical science which proved very useful to him at a later date. He +didn't discover perpetual motion, but he did invent at last the real +means for making the locomotive engine a practical power in the matter +of travelling. + +A year later, George's only son Robert was born; and from that moment +the history of those two able and useful lives is almost inseparable. +During the whole of George Stephenson's long upward struggle, and +during the hard battle he had afterwards to fight on behalf of his +grand design of railways, he met with truer sympathy, appreciation, and +comfort from his brave and gifted son than from any other person +whatsoever. Unhappily, his pleasure and delight in the up-bringing of +his boy was soon to be clouded for a while by the one great bereavement +of an otherwise singularly placid and happy existence. Some two years +after her marriage, Fanny Stephenson died, as yet a mere girl, leaving +her lonely husband to take care of their baby boy alone and unaided. +Grief for this irretrievable loss drove the young widower away for a +while from his accustomed field of work among the Tyneside coal-pits; +he accepted an invitation to go to Montrose in Scotland, to overlook +the working of a large engine in some important spinning-works. He +remained in this situation for one year only; but during that time he +managed to give clear evidence of his native mechanical insight by +curing a defect in the pumps which supplied water to his engine, and +which had hitherto defied the best endeavours of the local engineers. +The young father was not unmindful, either, of his duty to his boy, +whom he had left behind with his grandfather on Tyneside; for he saved +so large a sum as L28 during his engagement, which he carried back with +him in his pocket on his return to England. + +A sad disappointment awaited him when at last he arrived at home. Old +Robert Stephenson, the father, had met with an accident during George's +absence which made him quite blind, and incapacitated him for further +work. Helpless and poor, he had no resource to save him from the +workhouse except George; but George acted towards him exactly as all +men who have in them a possibility of any good thing always do act +under similar circumstances. He spent L15 of his hard-earned savings to +pay the debts the poor blind old engine-man had necessarily contracted +during his absence, and he took a comfortable cottage for his father +and mother at Killingworth, where he had worked before his removal to +Scotland, and where he now once more obtained employment, still as a +brakesman. In that cottage this good and brave son supported his aged +parents till their death, in all the simple luxury that his small means +would then permit him. + +That, however, was not the end of George's misfortunes. Shortly after, +he was drawn by lot as a militiaman; and according to the law of that +time (for this was in 1807, during the very height of the wars against +Napoleon) he must either serve in person or else pay heavily to secure +a substitute. George chose regretfully the latter course--the only one +open to him if he wished still to support his parents and his infant +son. But in order to do so, he had to pay away the whole remainder of +his carefully hoarded savings, and even to borrow L6 to make up the +payment for the substitute. It must have seemed very hard to him to do +this, and many men would have sunk under the blow, become hopeless, or +taken to careless rowdy drinking habits. George Stephenson felt it +bitterly, and gave way for a while to a natural despondency; he would +hardly have been human if he had not; but still, he lived over it, and +in the end worked on again with fuller resolution and vigour than ever. + +For several years Geordie, as his fellow-colliers affectionately called +him, continued to live on at one or other of the Killingworth +collieries. In a short time, he entered into a small contract with his +employers for "brakeing" the engines; and in the course of this +contract, he invented certain improvements in the matter of saving wear +and tear of ropes, which were both profitable to himself and also in +some small degree pointed the way toward his future plans for the +construction of railways. It is true, the two subjects have not, +apparently, much in common; but they are connected in this way, that +both proceed upon the principle of reducing the friction to the +smallest possible quantity. It was this principle that Stephenson was +gradually learning to appreciate more and more at its proper value; and +it was this which finally led him to the very summit of a great and +pre-eminently useful profession. The great advantage, indeed, of a +level railway over an up-and-down ordinary road is simply that in the +railway the resistance and friction are almost entirely got rid of. + +It was in 1810, when Stephenson was twenty-nine, that his first +experiment in serious engineering was made. A coal-pit had been sunk at +Killingworth, and a rude steam-engine of that time had been set to pump +the water out of its shaft; but, somehow, the engine made no headway +against the rising springs at the bottom of the mine. For nearly a year +the engine worked away in vain, till at last, one Saturday afternoon, +Geordie Stephenson went over to examine her. "Well, George," said a +pitman, standing by, "what do you think of her?" "Man," said George, +boldly, "I could alter her and make her draw. In a week I could let you +all go the bottom." The pitman reported this confident speech of the +young brakesman to the manager; and the manager, at his wits' end for a +remedy, determined to let this fellow Stephenson try his hand at her. +After all, if he did no good, he would be much like all the others; and +anyhow he seemed to have confidence in himself, which, if well +grounded, is always a good thing. + +George's confidence _was_ well grounded. It was not the confidence of +ignorance, but that of knowledge. He _understood_ the engine now, and +he saw at once the root of the evil. He picked the engine to pieces, +altered it to suit the requirements of the case, and set it to work to +pump without delay. Sure enough, he kept his word; and within the week, +the mine was dry, and the men were sent to the bottom. This was a grand +job for George's future. The manager, a Mr. Dodds, not only gave him +ten pounds at once as a present, in acknowledgment of his practical +skill, but also appointed him engine-man of the new pit, another rise +in the social scale as well as in the matter of wages. Dodds kept him +in mind for the future, too; and a couple of years later, on a vacancy +occurring, he promoted the promising hand to be engine-wright of all +the collieries under his management, at a salary of L100 a year. When a +man's income comes to be reckoned by the year, rather than by the week +or month, it is a sign that he is growing into a person of importance. +George had now a horse to ride upon, on his visits of inspection to the +various engines; and his work was rather one of mechanical engineering +than of mere ordinary labouring handicraft. + +The next few years of George Stephenson's life were mainly taken up in +providing for the education of his boy Robert. He had been a good son, +and he was now a good father. Feeling acutely how much he himself had +suffered, and how many years he had been put back, by his own want of a +good sound rudimentary education, he determined that Robert should not +suffer from a similar cause. Indeed, George Stephenson's splendid +abilities were kept in the background far too long, owing to his early +want of regular instruction. So the good father worked hard to send his +boy to school; not to the village teacher's only, but to a school for +gentlemen's sons at Newcastle. By mending clocks and watches in spare +moments, and by rigid economy in all unnecessary expenses (especially +beer), Stephenson had again gathered together a little hoard, which +mounted up this time to a hundred guineas. A hundred guineas is a +fortune and a capital to a working man. He was therefore rich enough, +not only to send little Robert to school, but even to buy him a donkey, +on which the boy made the journey every day from Killingworth to +Newcastle. This was in 1815, when George was thirty-four, and Robert +twelve. Perhaps no man who ever climbed so high as George Stephenson, +had ever reached so little of the way at so comparatively late an age. +For in spite of his undoubted success, viewed from the point of view of +his origin and early prospects, he was as yet after all nothing more +than the common engine-wright of the Killingworth collieries--a long +way off as yet from the distinguished father of the railway system. + +George Stephenson's connection with the locomotive, however, was even +now beginning. Already, in 1816, he and his boy had tried a somewhat +higher flight of mechanical and scientific skill than usual, in the +construction of a sun-dial, which involves a considerable amount of +careful mathematical work; and now George found that the subject of +locomotive engines was being forced by circumstances upon his +attention. From the moment he was appointed engine-wright of the +Killingworth collieries, he began to think about all possible means of +hauling coal at cheaper rates from the pit's mouth to the shipping +place on the river. For that humble object alone--an object that lay +wholly within the line of his own special business--did the great +railway projector set out upon his investigations into the +possibilities of the locomotive. Indeed, in its earliest origin, the +locomotive was almost entirely connected with coals and mining; its +application to passenger traffic on the large scale was quite a later +and secondary consideration. It was only by accident, so to speak, that +the true capabilities of railways were finally discovered in the actual +course of their practical employment. George Stephenson was not the +first person to construct either a locomotive or a tramway. Both were +already in use, in more or less rude forms, at several collieries. But +he _was_ the first person to bring the two to such a pitch of +perfection, that what had been at first a mere clumsy mining +contrivance, became developed into a smooth and easy iron highway for +the rapid and convenient conveyance of goods and passengers over +immense distances. Of course, this great invention, like all other +great inventions, was not the work of one day or one man. Many previous +heads had helped to prepare the way for George Stephenson; and George +Stephenson himself had been working at the subject for many years +before he even reached the first stage of realized endeavour. As early +as 1814 he constructed his first locomotive at Killingworth colliery; +it was not until 1822 that he laid the first rail of his first large +line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. + +Stephenson's earliest important improvement in the locomotive consisted +in his invention of what is called the steam-blast, by which the steam +is made to increase the draught of the fire, and so largely add to the +effectiveness of the engine. It was this invention that enabled him at +last to make the railway into the great carrier of the world, and to +begin the greatest social and commercial upheaval that has ever +occurred in the whole history of the human race. + +Meanwhile, however, George was not entirely occupied with the +consideration of his growing engine. He had the clocks and watches to +mend; he had Robert's schooling to look after; and he had another +practical matter even nearer home than the locomotive on which to +exercise his inventive genius. One day, in 1814, the main gallery of +the colliery caught fire. Stephenson at once descended into the burning +pit, with a chosen band of volunteers, who displayed the usual heroic +courage of colliers in going to the rescue of their comrades; and, at +the risk of their lives, these brave men bricked up the burning +portion, and so, by excluding the air, put out the dangerous fire. +Still, even so, several of the workmen had been suffocated, and one of +the pitmen asked Geordie in dismay whether nothing could be done to +prevent such terrible disasters in future. "The price of coal-mining +now," he said, "is pitmen's lives." Stephenson promised to think the +matter over; and he did think it over with good effect. The result of +his thought was the apparatus still affectionately known to the pitmen +as "the Geordie lamp." It is a lamp so constructed that the flame +cannot pass out into the air outside, and so cause explosions in the +dangerous fire-damp which is always liable to occur abundantly in the +galleries of coal mines. By this invention alone George Stephenson's +name and memory might have been kept green for ever; for his lamp has +been the means of saving thousands of lives from a sudden, a terrible, +and a pitiful death. Most accidents that now occur in mines are due to +the neglect of ordinary precautions, and to the perverse habit of +carrying a naked lighted candle in the hand (contrary to regulations) +instead of a carefully guarded safety lamp. Yet so culpably reckless of +their own and other men's lives are a large number of people +everywhere, that in spite of the most stringent and salutary rules, +explosions from this cause (and, therefore, easily avoidable) take +place constantly to the present day, though far less frequently than +before the invention of the Geordie lamp. + +Curiously enough, at the very time when George Stephenson was busy +inventing his lamp at Killingworth, Sir Humphrey Davy was working at +just the same matter in London; and the two lamps, though a little +different in minor points of construction, are practically the same in +general principle. Now, Sir Humphrey was then the great fashionable +natural philosopher of the day, the favourite of London society, and +the popular lecturer of the Royal Institution. His friends thought it a +monstrous idea that his splendid life-saving apparatus should have been +independently devised by "an engine-wright of Killingworth of the name +of Stephenson--a person not even possessing a knowledge of the elements +of chemistry." This sounds very odd reading at the present day, when +the engine-wright of the name of Stephenson has altered the whole face +of the world, while Davy is chiefly remembered as a meritorious and +able chemist; but at the time, Stephenson's claim to the invention met +with little courtesy from the great public of London, where a meeting +was held on purpose to denounce his right to the credit of the +invention. What the coal-owners and colliers of the North Country +thought about the matter was sufficiently shown by their subscription +of L1000, as a Stephenson testimonial fund. With part of the money, a +silver tankard was presented to the deserving engine-wright, while the +remainder of the sum was handed over to him in ready cash. A very +acceptable present it was, and one which George Stephenson remembered +with pride down to his dying day. The Geordie lamp continues in use to +the present moment in the Tyneside collieries with excellent effect. + +For some years more, Mr. Stephenson (he is now fairly entitled to that +respectable prefix) went on still further experimenting on the question +of locomotives and railways. He was now beginning to learn that much +unnecessary wear and tear arose on the short lines of rail down from +the pit's mouths to the loading-places on the river by the inequalities +and roughnesses of the joints; and he invented a method of overlapping +the rails which quite got over this source of loss--loss of speed, loss +of power, and loss of material at once. It was in 1819 that he laid +down his first considerable piece of road, the Hetton railway. The +owners of a colliery at the village of Hetton, in Durham, determined to +replace their waggon road by a locomotive line; and they invited the +now locally famous Killingworth engine-wright to act as their engineer. +Stephenson gladly undertook the post; and he laid down a railway of +eight miles in length, on the larger part of which the trucks were to +be drawn by "the iron horse," as people now began to style the altered +and improved locomotive. The Hetton railway was opened in 1822, and the +assembled crowd were delighted at beholding a single engine draw +seventeen loaded trucks after it, at the extraordinary rate of four +miles an hour--nearly as fast as a man could walk. Whence it may be +gathered that Stephenson's ideas upon the question of speed were still +on a very humble scale indeed. + +Before the Hetton railway was opened, however, George Stephenson had +shown one more proof of his excellence as a father by sending his boy +Robert, now nineteen, to Edinburgh University. It was a serious expense +for a man who was even now, after all, hardly more than a working man +of the superior grade; but George Stephenson was well repaid for the +sacrifice he thus made on behalf of his only son. He lived to see him +the greatest practical engineer of his own time, and to feel that his +success was in large measure due to the wider and more accurate +scientific training the lad had received from his Edinburgh teachers. + +In 1819 George married again, his second wife being the daughter of a +farmer at Black Callerton. + +The work which finally secured the position of George Stephenson and of +his dearly loved locomotive was the Stockton and Darlington railway. +Like all the other early railways, it was originally projected simply +as a mineral line. Darlington lies in the centre of a rich inland +mining district; but the impossibility of getting the coal carried to +the sea by cart or donkey long prevented the opening up of its immense +natural wealth. At last, as early as 1817, Edward Pease and a few other +enterprising Darlington Quakers determined to build a line of railway +from the mining region to Stockton, on the river Tees, where the coal +could be loaded into sea-going ships. It was a very long line, compared +to any railway that had yet been constructed; but it was still only to +be worked by horse-power--to be, in fact, what we now call a tramway, +rather than a railway in the modern sense. However, while the plan was +still undecided, George Stephenson, who had heard about the proposed +scheme, went over to Darlington one day, and boldly asked to see Mr. +Pease. The good Quaker received him kindly, and listened to his +arguments in favour of the locomotive. "Come over to Killingworth some +day and see my engine at work," said Stephenson, confidently; "and if +you do you will never think of horses again." Mr. Pease, with Quaker +caution, came and looked. George put the engine through its paces, and +showed off its marvellous capabilities to such good effect that Edward +Pease was immediately converted. Henceforth, he became a decided +advocate of locomotives, and greatly aided by his wealth and influence +in securing their final triumph. + +Not only that, but Mr. Pease also aided Stephenson in carrying out a +design which George had long had upon his mind--the establishment of a +regular locomotive factory, where the work of engine-making for this +particular purpose might be carried on with all the necessary finish +and accuracy. George himself put into the concern his precious L1000, +not one penny of which he had yet touched; while Pease and a friend +advanced as much between them. A factory was forthwith started at +Newcastle on a small scale, and the hardworking engine-wright found +himself now fully advanced to the commercial dignity of Stephenson and +Co. With the gradual growth of railways, that humble Newcastle factory +grew gradually into one of the largest and wealthiest manufacturing +establishments in all England. + +Meanwhile, Stephenson was eagerly pushing on the survey of the Stockton +and Darlington railway, all the more gladly now that he knew it was to +be worked by means of his own adopted child, the beloved locomotive. He +worked at his line early and late; he took the sights with the +spirit-level with his own eye; he was determined to make it a model +railway. It was a long and heavy work, for railway surveying was then a +new art, and the appliances were all fresh and experimental; but in the +end, Stephenson brought it to a happy conclusion, and struck at once +the death-blow of the old road-travelling system. The line was opened +successfully in 1825, and the engine started off on the inaugural +ceremony with a magnificent train of thirty-eight vehicles. "Such was +its velocity," says a newspaper of the day, "that in some parts the +speed was frequently twelve miles an hour." + +The success of the Stockton and Darlington railway was so immense and +unexpected, the number of passengers who went by it was so great, and +the quantity of coal carried for shipment so far beyond anything the +projectors themselves could have anticipated, that a desire soon began +to be felt for similar works in other places. There are no two towns in +England which absolutely need a railway communication from one to the +other so much as Liverpool and Manchester. The first is the great port +of entry for cotton, the second is the great centre of its manufacture. +The Bridgewater canal had helped for a time to make up for the want of +water communication between those two closely connected towns; but as +trade developed, the canal became too small for the demands upon it, +and the need for an additional means of intercourse was deeply felt. A +committee was formed to build a railway in this busy district, and +after a short time George Stephenson was engaged to superintend its +construction. + +A long and severe fight was fought over the Liverpool and Manchester +railway, and it was at first doubtful whether the scheme would ever be +carried out. Many great landowners were strongly opposed to it, and +tried their best to keep the bill for authorizing it from passing +through Parliament. Stephenson himself was compelled to appear in +London as a witness before a parliamentary committee, and was closely +cross-examined as to the possibilities of his plan. In those days, even +after the success of the Stockton and Darlington line, his views about +the future of railways were still regarded by most sober persons as +ridiculously wild and enthusiastic; while the notion that trains might +be made to travel twice as fast as stage-coaches, was scouted as the +most palpable and ridiculous delusion. One of the members of the +committee pressed Stephenson very hard with questions. "Suppose," he +said, "a cow were to get upon the line, and the engine were to come +into collision with it; wouldn't that be very awkward, now?" George +looked up at him with a merry twinkle of the eye, and answered in his +broad North Country dialect, "Oo, ay, very awkward for the _coo_." + +In spite of all Stephenson's earnestness and mother wit, however, +Parliament refused to pass the bill (in 1825), and for the moment the +engineer's vexation was bitter to behold. He and his friends plucked up +heart, however; they were fighting the winning battle against prejudice +and obstruction, and they were sure to conquer in the long run. The +line was resurveyed by other engineers; the lands of the hostile owners +were avoided; the causes of offence were dexterously smoothed down; and +after another hard fight, in 1826, the bill authorizing the +construction of the Liverpool and Manchester railway was finally +passed. The board at once appointed Stephenson engineer for +constructing the line, at a salary of L1000 a year. George might now +fairly consider himself entitled to the honours of an Esquire. + +The line was a difficult one to construct; but George Stephenson set +about it with the skill and knowledge acquired during many years of +slow experience; and he performed it with distinguished success. He was +now forty-four; and he had had more to do with the laying down of rails +than any other man then living. The great difficulty of the Liverpool +and Manchester line lay in the fact that it had to traverse a vast +shaking bog or morass, Chat Moss, which the best engineers had +emphatically declared it would be impossible to cross. George +Stephenson, however, had a plan for making the impossible possible. He +simply floated his line on a broad bottom, like a ship, on the top of +the quaking quagmire; and proceeded to lay down his rails on this +seemingly fragile support without further scruple. It answered +admirably, and still answers to the present day. The other works on the +railway, especially the cuttings, were such as might well have appalled +the boldest heart in those experimental ages of railway enterprise. It +is easy enough for us now to undertake tunnelling great hills or +filling up wide valleys with long ranges of viaduct, because the thing +has been done so often, and the prospect of earning a fair return on +the money sunk can be calculated with so high a degree of reasonable +probability. But it required no little faith for George Stephenson and +his backers to drive a level road, for the first time, through solid +rocks and over trembling morasses, the whole way from Liverpool to +Manchester. He persevered, however, and in 1830, after four years' +toilsome and ceaseless labour, during which he had worked far-harder +than the sturdiest navvy on the line, his railway was finally opened +for regular traffic. + +Before the completion of the railway, George Stephenson had taken part +in a great contest for the best locomotive at Liverpool, a prize of +L500 having been offered by the company to the successful competitor. +Stephenson sent in his improved model, the Rocket, constructed after +plans of his own and his son Robert's, and it gained the prize against +all its rivals, travelling at what was then considered the incredible +rate of 35 miles an hour. It was thus satisfactorily settled that the +locomotive was the best power for drawing carriages on railways, and +George Stephenson's long battle was thus at last practically won. The +opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway was an era in the +history of the world. From the moment that great undertaking was +complete, there could no longer be any doubt about the utility and +desirability of railways, and all opposition died away almost at once. +New lines began immediately to be laid out, and in an incredibly short +time the face of England was scarred by the main trunks in that network +of iron roads with which its whole surface is now so closely covered. +The enormous development of the railway system benefited the Stephenson +family in more than one way. Robert Stephenson became the engineer of +the vast series of lines now known as the London and North Western; and +the increased demand for locomotives caused George Stephenson's small +factory at Newcastle to blossom out suddenly into an immense and +flourishing manufacturing concern. + +The rest of George Stephenson's life is one long story of unbroken +success. In 1831, the year after the opening of the Liverpool and +Manchester line, George, being now fifty, began to think of settling +down in a more permanent home. His son Robert, who was surveying the +Leicester and Swannington railway, observed on an estate called +Snibston, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, what to his experienced geological +eye looked like the probable indications of coal beneath the surface. +He wrote to his father about it, and as the estate was at the time for +sale, George, now a comparatively wealthy man, bought it up on his +son's recommendation. He also pitched his home close by at Alton +Grange, and began to sink shafts in search of coal. He found it in due +time; and thus, in addition to his Newcastle works he became a +flourishing colliery proprietor. It is pleasing to note that +Stephenson, unlike too many other self-made men, always treated his +workmen with the greatest kindness and consideration, erecting +admirable cottages for their accommodation, and providing them with +church, chapel, and schools for their religious and social education. + +While living at Alton Grange, Stephenson was engaged in laying out +several new lines in the middle and north of England, especially the +Grand Junction and the Midland, both of which he constructed with great +boldness and practical skill. As he grew older and more famous, he +began to mix in the truly best society of England; his acquaintance +being sought by all the most eminent men in literature, science, and +political life. Though but an uneducated working man by origin, George +Stephenson had so improved his mind by constant thought and expansive +self-education, that he was able to meet these able and distinguished +friends of his later days on terms of perfect intellectual and social +equality. To the last, however, he never forgot his older and poorer +friends, nor was he ever ashamed of their acquaintance. A pleasant +trait is narrated by his genial biographer, Dr. Smiles, who notices +that on one occasion he stopped to speak to one of his wealthy +acquaintances in a fine carriage, and then turned to shake hands with +the coachman on the box, whom he had known and respected in his earlier +days. He enjoyed, too, the rare pleasure of feeling his greatness +recognized in his own time: and once, when he went over to Brussels on +a visit to the king of the Belgians, he was pleased and surprised, as +the royal party entered the ball-room at the Town Hall, to hear a +general murmur among the guests of "Which is Stephenson?" + +George Stephenson continued to live for sixteen years, first at Alton +Grange, and afterwards at Tapton House, near Chesterfield, in comfort +and opulence; growing big pines and melons, keeping birds and dogs, and +indulging himself towards the end in the well-earned repose to which +his useful and laborious life fully entitled him. At last, on the 12th +of August, 1848, he died suddenly of intermittent fever, in his +sixty-seventh year, and was peacefully buried in Chesterfield church. +Probably no one man who ever lived did so much to change and renovate +the whole aspect of human life as George Stephenson; and, unlike many +other authors of great revolutions, he lived long enough to see the +full result of his splendid labours in the girdling of England by his +iron roads. A grand and simple man, he worked honestly and steadfastly +throughout his days, and he found his reward in the unprecedented +benefits which his locomotive was even then conferring upon his +fellow-men. It is indeed wonderful to think how very different is the +England in which we live to-day, from that in which we might possibly +have been living were it not for the barefooted little collier boy who +made clay models of engines at Wylam, and who grew at last into the +great and famous engineer of the marvellous Liverpool and Manchester +railway. The main characteristic of George Stephenson was perseverance; +and it was that perseverance that enabled him at last to carry out his +magnificent schemes in the face of so much bitter and violent +opposition. + + + + +III. + +JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR. + + +In most cases, the working man who raises himself to wealth and +position, does so by means of trade, which is usually the natural +outgrowth of his own special handicraft or calling. If he attains, not +only to riches, but to distinction as well, it is in general by +mechanical talent, the direction of the mind being naturally biased by +the course of one's own ordinary occupations. England has been +exceptionally rich in great engineers and inventive geniuses of such +humble origin--working men who have introduced great improvements in +manufactures or communications; and our modern English civilization has +been immensely influenced by the lives of these able and successful +mechanical toilers. From Brindley, the constructor of the earliest +great canal, to Joseph Gillott, the inventor of the very steel pen with +which this book is written; from Arkwright the barber who fashioned the +first spinning-machine, to Crompton the weaver, whose mule gave rise to +the mighty Manchester cotton trade; from Newcomen, who made the first +rough attempt at a steam-engine, to Stephenson, who sent the iron horse +from end to end of the land,--the chief mechanical improvements in the +country have almost all been due to the energy, intelligence, and skill +of our labouring population. The English mind is intensely practical, +and the English working man, for the last two centuries at least, has +been mainly distinguished for his great mechanical aptitude, bursting +out, here and there, in exceptional persons, under the form of +exceedingly high inventive genius. + +At our very doors, however, there is a small nation of largely +different blood and of wholly different speech from our own; a nation +forming a part of our own kingdom, even more closely than the Scotch or +the Irish, and yet in some respects further from us in mind and habit +of life than either; a nation marked rather by the poetical and +artistic, than by the mechanical and practical temperament--the ancient +and noble Welsh people. It would hardly be reasonable to expect from +the Welsh exactly the same kind of success in life which we often find +in English workmen; the aims and ideals of the two races are so +distinct, and it must be frankly confessed the advantage is not always +on the side of the Englishman. The Welsh peasants, living among their +own romantic hills and valleys, speaking their own soft and exquisite +language, treasuring their own plaintive and melodious poetry, have +grown up with an intense love for beauty and the beautiful closely +intwined into the very warp and woof of their inmost natures. They have +almost always a natural refinement of manner and delicacy of speech +which is unfortunately too often wanting amongst our rougher English +labouring classes, especially in large towns. They are intensely +musical, producing a very large proportion of the best English singers +and composers. They are fond of literature, for which they have +generally some natural capacity, and in which they exercise themselves +to an extent unknown, probably, among people of their class in any +other country. At the local meetings of bards (as they call themselves) +in Wales, it is not at all uncommon to hear that the first prize for +Welsh poetry has been carried off by a shepherd, and the first prize +for Welsh prose composition by a domestic servant. In short, the +susceptibilities of the race run rather toward art and imagination, +than toward mere money-making and practical ingenuity. + +John Gibson, sculptor, of Rome, as he loved to call himself, was a +remarkable embodiment, in many ways, of this self-respecting, artistic, +ideal Welsh peasant temperament. In a little village near Conway, in +North Wales, there lived at the end of the last century a petty +labouring market gardener of the name of Gibson, who knew and spoke no +other tongue than his native Welsh. In 1790, his wife gave birth to a +son whom they christened John, and who grew up, a workman's child, +under the shadow of the great castle, and among the exquisite scenery +of the placid land-locked Conway river. John Gibson's parents, like the +mass of labouring Welsh people, were honest, God-fearing folk, with a +great earnestness of principle, a profound love of truth, and a hatred +of all mean or dirty actions. They brought up the boy in these respects +in the way he should go; and when he was old he indeed did not depart +from them. Throughout his life, John Gibson was remarkable for his +calm, earnest, straightforward simplicity, a simplicity which seemed +almost childish to those who could not understand so grand and uncommon +and noble a nature as his. + +From his babyhood, almost, the love of art was innate in the boy; and +when he was only seven years old, he began to draw upon a slate a scene +that particularly pleased him--a line of geese sailing upon the smooth +glassy surface of a neighbouring pond. He drew them as an ordinary +child almost always does draw--one goose after another, in profile, as +though they were in procession, without any attempt at grouping or +perspective in any way. His mother praised the first attempt, saying to +him in Welsh, "Indeed, Jack, this is very like the geese;" and Jack, +encouraged by her praise, decided immediately to try again. But not +being an ordinary child, he determined this time to do better; he drew +the geese one behind the other as one generally sees them in actual +nature. His mother then asked him to draw a horse; and "after gazing +long and often upon one," he says, "I at last ventured to commit him to +the slate." When he had done so, the good mother was even more +delighted. So, to try his childish art, she asked him to put a rider on +the horse's back. Jack went out once more, "carefully watched men on +horseback," and then returning, made his sketch accordingly. In this +childish reminiscence one can see already the first workings of that +spirit which made Gibson afterwards into the greatest sculptor of all +Europe. He didn't try even then to draw horse or man by mere +guess-work; he went out and studied the subject at first hand. There +are in that single trait two great elements of success in no matter +what line of life--supreme carefulness, and perfect honesty of +workmanship. + +When Jack was nine years old, his father determined to emigrate to +America, and for that purpose went to Liverpool to embark for the +United States. But when he had got as far as the docks, Mrs. Gibson, +good soul, frightened at the bigness of the ships (a queer cause of +alarm), refused plumply ever to put her foot on one of them. So her +husband, a dutiful man with a full sense of his wife's government upon +him, consented unwillingly to stop in Liverpool, where he settled down +to work again as a gardener. Hitherto, Jack and his brothers had spoken +nothing but Welsh; but at Liverpool he was put to school, and soon +learned to express himself correctly and easily in English. Liverpool +was a very different place for young Jack Gibson from Conway: there +were no hills and valleys there, to be sure, but there were shops--such +shops! all full of the most beautiful and highly coloured prints and +caricatures, after the fashion of the days when George IV. was still +Prince Regent. All his spare time he now gave up to diligently copying +the drawings which he saw spread out in tempting array before him in +the shop-windows. Flattening his little nose against the glass panes, +he used to look long and patiently at a single figure, till he had got +every detail of its execution fixed firmly on his mind's eye; and then +he would go home hastily and sketch it out at once while the picture +was still quite fresh in his vivid memory. Afterwards he would return +to the shop-window, and correct his copy by the original till it was +completely finished. No doubt the boy did all this purely for his own +amusement; but at the same time he was quite unconsciously teaching +himself to draw under a very careful and accurate master--himself. +Already, however, he found his paintings had patrons, for he sold them +when finished to the other boys; and once he got as much as sixpence +for a coloured picture of Napoleon crossing the Alps--"the largest +sum," he says brightly in his memoirs long after, "I had yet received +for a work of art." + +Opportunities always arise for those who know how to use them. Little +Jack Gibson used to buy his paper and colours at a stationer's in +Liverpool, who one day said to him kindly, "My lad, you're a constant +customer here: I suppose you're a painter." "Yes, sir," Jack answered, +with childish self-complacency, "I do paint." The stationer, who had +himself studied at the Royal Academy, asked him to bring his pictures +on view; and when Jack did so, his new friend, Mr. Tourmeau, was so +much pleased with them that he lent the boy drawings to copy, and +showed him how to draw for himself from plaster casts. These first +amateur lessons must have given the direction to all Gibson's later +life: for when the time came for him to choose a trade, he was not set +to till the ground like his father, but was employed at once on +comparatively artistic and intelligent handicraft. + +Jack was fourteen when his father apprenticed him to a firm of +cabinet-makers. For the first year, he worked away contentedly at legs +and mouldings; but as soon as he had learnt the rudiments of the trade +he persuaded his masters to change his indentures, and let him take the +more suitable employment of carving woodwork for ornamental furniture. +He must have been a good workman and a promising boy, one may be sure, +or his masters would never have countenanced such a revolutionary +proceeding on the part of a raw apprentice. Young Gibson was delighted +with his new occupation, and pursued it so eagerly that he carved even +during his leisure hours from plaster casts. But after another year, as +ill-luck or good fortune would have it, he happened to come across a +London marble-cutter, who had come down to Liverpool to carve flowers +in marble for a local firm. The boy was enchanted with his freer and +more artistic work; when the marble-cutter took him over a big yard, +and showed him the process of modelling and cutting, he began to feel a +deep contempt for his own stiff and lifeless occupation of +wood-carving. Inspired with the desire to learn this higher craft, he +bought some clay, took it home, and moulded it for himself after all +the casts he could lay his hands on. Mr. Francis, the proprietor of the +marble works, had a German workman in his employ of the name of Luge, +who used to model small figures, chiefly, no doubt, for monumental +purposes. Young Gibson borrowed a head of Bacchus that Luge had +composed, and made a copy of it himself in clay. Mr. Francis was well +pleased with this early attempt, and also with a clever head of Mercury +in marble, which Gibson carved in his spare moments. + +The more the lad saw of clay and marble, the greater grew his distaste +for mere woodwork. At last, he determined to ask Mr. Francis to buy out +his indentures from the cabinet-makers, and let him finish his +apprenticeship as a sculptor. But unfortunately the cabinet-makers +found Gibson too useful a person to be got rid of so easily: they said +he was the most industrious lad they had ever had; and so his very +virtues seemed as it were to turn against him. Not so, really: Mr. +Francis thought so well of the boy that he offered the masters L70 to +be quit of their bargain; and in the end, Gibson himself having made a +very firm stand in the matter, he was released from his indentures and +handed over finally to Mr. Francis and a sculptor's life. + +And now the eager boy was at last "truly happy." He had to model all +day long, and he worked away at it with a will. Shortly after he went +to Mr. Francis's yard, a visitor came upon business, a +magnificent-looking old man, with snowy hair and Roman features. It was +William Roscoe, the great Liverpool banker, himself a poor boy who had +risen, and who had found time not only to build up for himself an +enormous fortune, but also to become thoroughly well acquainted with +literature and art by the way. Mr. Roscoe had written biographies of +Lorenzo de Medici, the great Florentine, and of Leo X., the art-loving +pope; and throughout his whole life he was always deeply interested in +painting and sculpture and everything that related to them. He was a +philanthropist, too, who had borne his part bravely in the great +struggle for the abolition of the slave trade; and to befriend a +struggling lad of genius like John Gibson was the very thing that was +nearest and dearest to his benevolent heart. Mr. Francis showed Roscoe +the boy's drawings and models; and Roscoe's appreciative eye saw in +them at once the visible promise of great things to be. He had come to +order a chimney-piece for his library at Allerton, where his important +historical works were all composed; and he determined that the clever +boy should have a chief hand in its production. A few days later he +returned again with a valuable old Italian print. "I want you to make a +bas-relief in baked clay," he said to Gibson, "from this print for the +centre of my mantelpiece." Gibson was overjoyed. The print was taken +from a fresco of Raphael's in the Vatican at Rome, and Gibson's work +was to reproduce it in clay in low relief, as a sculpture picture. He +did so entirely to his new patron's satisfaction, and this his first +serious work is now duly preserved in the Liverpool Institution which +Mr. Roscoe had been mainly instrumental in founding. + +Roscoe had a splendid collection of prints and drawings at Allerton; +and he invited the clever Welsh lad over there frequently, and allowed +him to study them all to his heart's content. To a lad like John +Gibson, such an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the works of +Raphael and Michael Angelo was a great and pure delight. Before he was +nineteen, he began to think of a big picture which he hoped to paint +some day; and he carried it out as well as he was able in his own +self-taught fashion. For as yet, it must be remembered, Gibson had had +no regular artistic instruction: there was none such, indeed, to be had +at all in Liverpool in his day; and there was no real art going on in +the town in any way. Mr. Francis, his master, was no artist; nor was +there anybody at the works who could teach him: for as soon as Mr. +Francis found out the full measure of Gibson's abilities, he dismissed +his German artist Luge, and put the clever boy entirely in his place. +At this time, Gibson was only receiving six shillings a week as wages; +but Mr. Francis got good prices for many of his works, and was not +ashamed even to put his own name upon the promising lad's artistic +performances. + +Mr. Roscoe did not merely encourage the young sculptor; he set him also +on the right road for ultimate success. He urged Gibson to study +anatomy, without which no sculpture worthy of the name is possible. +Gibson gladly complied, for he knew that Michael Angelo had been a +great anatomist, and Michael was just at that moment the budding +sculptor's idol and ideal. But how could he learn? A certain Dr. Vose +was then giving lectures on anatomy to young surgeons at Liverpool, and +on Roscoe's recommendation he kindly admitted the eager student gratis +to his dissecting-room. Gibson dissected there with a will in all his +spare moments, and as he put his mind into the work he soon became well +versed in the construction of the human body. + +From the day that Gibson arrived at man's estate, the great dream of +his life was to go to Rome. For Rome is to art what London is to +industry--the metropolis in its own way of the entire earth. But +travelling in 1810 cost a vast deal of money; and the poor Liverpool +marble-cutter (for as yet he was really nothing more) could hardly hope +to earn the immense sum that such an expedition would necessarily cost +him. So for six years more he went on working at Liverpool in his own +native untaught fashion, doing his best to perfect himself, but feeling +sadly the lack of training and competition. One of the last works he +executed while still in Mr. Francis's service was a chimney-piece for +Sir John Gladstone, father of the future premier. Sir John was so +pleased with the execution, that he gave the young workman ten pounds +as a present. But in spite of occasional encouragement like this, +Gibson felt himself at Liverpool, as he says, "chained down by the leg, +and panting for liberation." + +In 1817, when he was just twenty-seven, he determined to set off to +London. He took with him good introductions from Mr. Roscoe to Mr. +Brougham (afterwards Lord Chancellor), to Christie, the big +picture-dealer, and to several other influential people. Later on, +Roscoe recommended him to still more important leaders in the world of +art--Flaxman the great sculptor, Benjamin West, the Quaker painter and +President of the Royal Academy, and others of like magnitude. Mr. +Watson Taylor, a wealthy art patron, gave Gibson employment, and was +anxious that he should stop in London. But Gibson wanted more than +employment; he wanted to _learn_, to perfect himself, to become great +in his art. He could do that nowhere but at Rome, and to Rome therefore +he was determined to go. Mr. Taylor still begged him to wait a little. +"Go to Rome I will," Gibson answered boldly, "even if I have to go +there on foot." + +He was not quite reduced to this heroic measure, however, for his +Liverpool friends made up a purse of L150 for him (we may be sure it +was repaid later on); and with that comparatively large sum in his +pocket the young stone-cutter started off gaily on his continental +tour, from which he was not to return for twenty-seven years. He drove +from Paris to Rome, sharing a carriage with a Scotch gentleman; and +when he arrived in the Pope's city (as it then was) he knew absolutely +not a single word of Italian, or of any other language on earth save +Welsh and English. In those days, Canova, the great Venetian sculptor, +was the head of artistic society in Rome; and as _all_ society in Rome +is more or less artistic, he might almost be said to have led the whole +life of the great and lively city. Indeed, the position of such a man +in Italy resembles far more that of a duke in England than of an artist +as we here are accustomed to think of him. Gibson had letters of +introduction to this prince of sculptors from his London friends; and +when he went to present them, he found Canova in his studio, surrounded +by his numerous scholars and admirers. The Liverpool stone-cutter had +brought a few of his drawings with him, and Canova examined them with +great attention. Instinctively he recognized the touch of genius. When +he had looked at them keenly for a few minutes, he turned kindly to the +trembling young man, and said at once, "Come to me alone next week, for +I want to have a talk with you." + +On the appointed day, Gibson, quivering with excitement, presented +himself once more at the great master's studio. Canova was surrounded +as before by artists and visitors; but in a short time he took Gibson +into a room by himself, and began to speak with him in his very broken +English. Many artists came to Rome, he said, with very small means, and +that perhaps might be Gibson's case. "Let me have the gratification, +then," he went on, "of assisting you to prosecute your studies. I am +rich. I am anxious to be of use to you. Let me forward you in your art +as long as you stay in Rome." + +Gibson replied, with many stammerings, that he hoped his slender means +would suffice for his personal needs, but that if Canova would only +condescend to give him instruction, to make him his pupil, to let him +model in his studio, he would be eternally grateful. Canova was one of +the most noble and lovable of men. He acceded at once to Gibson's +request, and Gibson never forgot his kind and fatherly assistance. +"Dear generous master," the Welsh sculptor wrote many years after, when +Canova had long passed away, "I see you before me now. I hear your soft +Venetian dialect, and your kindly words inspiring my efforts and gently +correcting my defects. My heart still swells with grateful recollection +of you." + +Canova told his new pupil to devote a few days first to seeing the +sights of Rome; but Gibson was impatient to begin at once. "I shall be +at your studio to-morrow morning," the ardent Welshman said; and he +kept his word. Canova, pleased with so much earnestness and +promptitude, set him to work forthwith upon a clay model from his own +statue of the Pugilist. Gibson went to the task with a will, moulding +the clay as best he could into shape; but he still knew so little of +the technical ways of regular sculptors that he tried to model this +work from the clay alone, though its pose was such that it could not +possibly hold together without an iron framework. Canova saw his error +and smiled, but let him go on so that he might learn his business by +experience. In a day or two the whole thing, of course, collapsed by +its own weight; and then Canova called in a blacksmith and showed the +eager beginner how the mechanical skeleton was formed with iron bars, +and interlacing crosses of wood and wire. This was quite a new idea to +Gibson, who had modelled hitherto only in his own self-taught fashion +with moist clay, letting it support its own weight as best it might. +Another pupil then fleshed out the iron skeleton with clay, and roughly +shaped it to the required figure, so that it stood as firm as a rock +for Gibson to work upon. The new hand turned to vigorously once more; +and, in spite of his seeming rawness, finished the copy so well that +Canova admitted him at once to the Academy to model from life. At this +Academy Canova himself, who loved art far more than money, used to +attend twice a week to give instruction to students without receiving +any remuneration whatsoever. It is of such noble men as this that the +world of art is largely made up--that world which we too-practical +English have always undervalued or even despised. + +Gibson's student period at Rome under Canova was a very happy episode +in a uniformly happy and beautiful life. His only trouble was that he +had not been able to come there earlier. Singularly free from every +taint of envy (like all the great sculptors of his time), he could not +help regretting when he saw other men turning out work of such great +excellence while he was still only a learner. "When I observed the +power and experience of youths much younger than myself," he says in +his generous appreciative fashion, "their masterly manner of sketching +in the figure, and their excellent imitation of nature, my spirits fell +many degrees, and I felt humbled and unhappy." He need not have done +so, for the man who thus distrusts his own work is always the truest +workman; it is only fools or poor creatures who are pleased and +self-satisfied with their own first bungling efforts. But the great +enjoyment of Rome to Gibson consisted in the free artistic society +which he found there. At Liverpool, he had felt almost isolated; there +was hardly anybody with whom he could talk on an equality about his +artistic interests; nobody but himself cared about the things that +pleased and engrossed his earnest soul the most. But at Rome, there was +a great society of artists; every man's studio was open to his friends +and fellow-workers; and a lively running fire of criticism went on +everywhere about all new works completed or in progress. He was +fortunate, too, in the exact moment of his residence: Rome then +contained at once, besides himself, the two truest sculptors of the +present century, Canova the Venetian, and Thorwaldsen the Dane. Both +these great masters were singularly free from jealousy, rivalry, or +vanity. In their perfect disinterestedness and simplicity of character +they closely resembled Gibson himself. The ardent and pure-minded young +Welshman, who kept himself so unspotted from the world in his utter +devotion to his chosen art, could not fail to derive an elevated +happiness from his daily intercourse with these two noble and +sympathetic souls. + +After Gibson had been for some time in Canova's studio, his illustrious +master told him that the sooner he took to modelling a life-size figure +of his own invention, the better. So Gibson hired a studio (with what +means he does not tell us in his short sketch of his own life) close to +Canova's, so that the great Venetian was able to drop in from time to +time and assist him with his criticism and judgment. How delightful is +the friendly communion of work implied in all this graceful artistic +Roman life! How different from the keen competition and jealous rivalry +which too often distinguishes our busy money-getting English existence! +In 1819, two years after Gibson's arrival at Rome, he began to model +his Mars and Cupid, a more than life-size group, on which he worked +patiently and lovingly for many months. When it was nearly finished, +one day a knock came at the studio door. After the knock, a handsome +young man entered, and announced himself brusquely as the Duke of +Devonshire. "Canova sent me," he said, "to see what you were doing." +Gibson wasn't much accustomed to dukes in those days--he grew more +familiar with them later on--and we may be sure the poor young artist's +heart beat a little more fiercely than usual when the stranger asked +him the price of his Mars and Cupid in marble. The sculptor had never +yet sold a statue, and didn't know how much he ought to ask; but after +a few minutes' consideration he said, "Five hundred pounds. But, +perhaps," he added timidly, "I have said too much." "Oh no," the duke +answered, "not at all too much;" and he forthwith ordered (or, as +sculptors prefer to say, commissioned) the statue to be executed for +him in marble. Gibson was delighted, and ran over at once to tell +Canova, thinking he had done a splendid stroke of business. Canova +shared his pleasure, till the young man came to the price; then the +older sculptor's face fell ominously. "Five hundred pounds!" he cried +in dismay; "why, it won't cover the cost of marble and workmanship." +And so indeed it turned out; for when the work was finished, it had +stood Gibson in L520 for marble and expenses, and left him twenty +pounds out of pocket in the end. So he got less than nothing after all +for his many months of thought and labour over clay and marble alike. + +Discouraging as this beginning must have proved, it was nevertheless in +reality the first important step in a splendid and successful career. +It is something to have sold your first statue, even if you sell it at +a disadvantage. In 1821 Gibson modelled a group of Pysche and the +Zephyrs. That winter Sir George Beaumont, himself a distinguished +amateur artist, and a great patron of art, came to Rome; and Canova +sent him to see the young Welshman's new composition. Sir George asked +the price, and Gibson, this time more cautious, asked for time to +prepare an estimate, and finally named L700. To his joy, Sir George +immediately ordered it, and also introduced many wealthy connoisseurs +to the rising sculptor's studio. That same winter, also, the Duke of +Devonshire came again, and commissioned a bas-relief in marble (which +is now at Chatsworth House, with many other of Gibson's works), at a +paying price, too, which was a great point for the young man's scanty +exchequer. + +Unfortunately, Gibson has not left us any notice of how he managed to +make both ends meet during this long adult student period at Rome. +Information on that point would indeed be very interesting; but so +absorbed was the eager Welshman always in his art, that he seldom tells +us anything at all about such mere practical every-day matters as bread +and butter. To say the truth, he cared but little about them. Probably +he had lived in a very simple penurious style during his whole +studenthood, taking his meals at a _caffe_ or eating-house, and +centering all his affection and ideas upon his beloved studio. But now +wealth and fame began to crowd in upon him, almost without the seeking. +Visitors to Rome began to frequent the Welshman's rooms, and the death +of "the great and good Canova," which occurred in 1822, while depriving +Gibson of a dearly loved friend, left him, as it were, that great +master's successor. Towards him and Thorwaldsen, indeed, Gibson always +cherished a most filial regard. "May I not be proud," he writes long +after, "to have known such men, to have conversed with them, watched +all their proceedings, heard all their great sentiments on art? Is it +not a pleasure to be so deeply in their debt for instruction?" And now +the flood of visitors who used to flock to Canova's studio began to +transfer their interest to Gibson's. Commission after commission was +offered him, and he began to make money faster than he could use it. +His life had always been simple and frugal--the life of a working man +with high aims and grand ideals: he hardly knew now how to alter it. +People who did not understand Gibson used to say in his later days that +he loved money, because he made much and spent little. Those who knew +him better say rather that he worked much for the love of art, and +couldn't find much to do with his money when he had earned it. He was +singularly indifferent to gain; he cared not what he eat or drank; he +spent little on clothes, and nothing on entertainments; but he paid his +workmen liberally or even lavishly; he allowed one of his brothers more +than he ever spent upon himself, and he treated the other with uniform +kindness and generosity. The fact is, Gibson didn't understand money, +and when it poured in upon him in large sums, he simply left it in the +hands of friends, who paid him a very small percentage on it, and whom +he always regarded as being very kind to take care of the troublesome +stuff on his account. In matters of art, Gibson was a great master; in +matters of business, he was hardly more than a simple-minded child. + +Sometimes queer incidents occurred at Gibson's studio from the curious +ignorance of our countrymen generally on the subject of art. One day, a +distinguished and wealthy Welsh gentleman called on the sculptor, and +said that, as a fellow Welshman, he was anxious to give him a +commission. As he spoke, he cast an admiring eye on Gibson's group of +Psyche borne by the Winds. Gibson was pleased with his admiration, but +rather taken aback when the old gentleman said blandly, "If you were to +take away the Psyche and put a dial in the place, it'd make a capital +design for a clock." Much later, the first Duke of Wellington called +upon him at Rome and ordered a statue of Pandora, in an attitude which +he described. Gibson at once saw that the Duke's idea was a bad one, +and told him so. By-and-by, on a visit to England, Gibson waited on the +duke, and submitted photographs of the work he had modelled. "But, Mr. +Gibson," said the old soldier, looking at them curiously, "you haven't +followed my idea." "No," answered the sculptor, "I have followed _my +own_." "You are very stubborn," said Wellington. "Duke," answered the +sturdy sculptor, "I am a Welshman, and all the world knows that we are +a stubborn race." The Iron Duke ought to have been delighted to find +another man as unbending as himself, but he wasn't; and in the end he +refused the figure, which Gibson sold instead to Lady Marian Alford. + +For twenty-seven years Gibson remained at Rome, working assiduously at +his art, and rising gradually but surely to the very first place among +then living sculptors. His studio now became the great centre of all +fashionable visitors to Rome. Still, he made no effort to get rich, +though he got rich without wishing it; he worked on merely for art's +sake, not for money. He would not do as many sculptors do, keep several +copies in marble of his more popular statues for sale; he preferred to +devote all his time to new works. "Gibson was always absorbed in one +subject," says Lady Eastlake, "and that was the particular work or part +of a work--were it but the turn of a corner of drapery--which was then +under his modelling hands. Time was nothing to him; he was long and +fastidious." His favourite pupil, Miss Hosmer, once expressed regret to +him that she had been so long about a piece of work on which she was +engaged. "Always try to do the best you can," Gibson answered. "Never +mind how long you are upon a work--no. No one will ask how long you +have been, except fools. You don't care what fools think." + +During his long life at Rome, he was much cheered by the presence and +assistance of his younger brother, Mr. Ben, as he always called him, +who was also a sculptor, though of far less merit than John Gibson +himself. Mr. Ben came to Rome younger than John, and he learned to be a +great classical scholar, and to read those Greek and Latin books which +John only knew at second hand, but from whose beautiful fanciful +stories of gods and heroes he derived all the subjects for his works of +statuary. His other brother, Solomon, a strange, wild, odd man, in whom +the family genius had degenerated into mere eccentricity, never did +anything for his own livelihood, but lived always upon John Gibson's +generous bounty. In John's wealthy days, he and Mr. Ben used to escape +every summer from the heat and dust of Rome--which is unendurable in +July and August--to the delightfully cool air and magnificent mountain +scenery of the Tyrol. "I cannot tell you how well I am," he writes on +one of these charming visits, "and so is Mr. Ben. Every morning we take +our walks in the woods here. I feel as if I were new modelled." Another +passage in one of these summer tourist letters well deserves to be +copied here, as it shows the artist's point of view of labours like +Telford's and Stephenson's. "From Bormio," he says, "the famous road +begins which passes over the Stelvio into the Tyrol; the highest +carriage-road in the world. We began the ascent early in the morning. +It is magnificent and wonderful. Man shows his talents, his power over +great difficulties, in the construction of these roads. Behold the +cunning little workman--he comes, he explores, and he says, 'Yes, I +will send a carriage and horses over these mighty mountains;' and, by +Jove, you are drawn up among the eternal snows. I am a great admirer of +these roads." + +In 1844 Gibson paid his first visit to England, a very different +England indeed to the one he had left twenty-seven years earlier. His +Liverpool friends, now thoroughly proud of their stone-cutter, insisted +upon giving him a public banquet. Glasgow followed the same example; +and the simple-minded sculptor, unaccustomed to such honours, hardly +knew how to bear his blushes decorously upon him. During this visit, he +received a command to execute a statue of the queen. Gibson was at +first quite disconcerted at such an awful summons. "I don't know how to +behave to queens," he said. "Treat her like a lady," said a friend; and +Gibson, following the advice, found it sufficiently answered all the +necessities of the situation. But when he went to arrange with the +Prince Consort about the statue, he was rather puzzled what he should +do about measuring the face, which he always did for portrait sculpture +with a pair of compasses. All these difficulties were at last smoothed +over; and Gibson was also permitted to drape the queen's statue in +Greek costume, for in his artistic conscientiousness he absolutely +refused to degrade sculpture by representing women in the fashionable +gown of the day, or men in swallow-tail coats and high collars. + +Another work which Gibson designed during this visit possesses for us a +singular and exceptional interest. It was a statue of George +Stephenson, to be erected at Liverpool. Thus, by a curious coincidence, +the Liverpool stone-cutter was set to immortalize the features and +figure of the Killingworth engine-man. Did those two great men, as they +sat together in one room, sculptor and sitter, know one another's early +history and strange struggles, we wonder? Perhaps not; but if they did, +it must surely have made a bond of union between them. At any rate, +Gibson greatly admired Stephenson, just as he had admired the Stelvio +road. "I will endeavour to give him a look capable of action and +energy," he said; "but he must be contemplative, grave, simple. He is a +good subject. I wish to make him look like an Archimedes." + +If Gibson admired Stephenson, however, he did not wholly admire +Stephenson's railways. The England he had left was the England of +mail-coaches. In Italy, he had learnt to travel by carriage, after the +fashion of the country; but these new whizzing locomotives, with their +time-tables, and their precision, and their inscrutable mysteries of +shunts and junctions, were quite too much for his simple, childish, +old-world habits. He had a knack of getting out too soon or too late, +which often led him into great confusion. Once, when he wanted to go to +Chichester, he found himself landed at Portsmouth, and only discovered +his mistake when, on asking the way to the cathedral, he was told there +was no cathedral in the town at all. Another story of how he tried to +reach Wentworth, Lord Fitzwilliam's place, is best told in his own +words. "The train soon stopped at a small station, and, seeing some +people get out, I also descended; when, in a moment, the train moved +on--faster and faster--and left me standing on the platform. I walked a +few paces backward and forward in disagreeable meditation. 'I wish to +Heaven,' thought I to myself, 'that I was on my way back to Rome with a +postboy.' Then I observed a policeman darting his eyes upon me, as if +he would look me through. Said I to the fellow, 'Where is that cursed +train gone to? It's off with my luggage and here am I.' The man asked +me the name of the place where I took my ticket. 'I don't remember,' +said I. 'How should I know the name of any of these places?--it's as +long as my arm. I've got it written down somewhere.' 'Pray, sir,' said +the man, after a little pause, 'are you a foreigner?' 'No,' I replied, +'I am not a foreigner; I'm a sculptor.'" + +The consequence of this almost childish carelessness was that Gibson +had always to be accompanied on his long journeys either by a friend or +a courier. While Mr. Ben lived, he usually took his brother in charge +to some extent; and the relation between them was mutual, for while +John Gibson found the sculpture, Mr. Ben found the learning, so that +Gibson used often to call him "my classical dictionary." In 1847, +however, Mr. Ben was taken ill. He got a bad cold, and would have no +doctor, take no medicine. "I consider Mr. Ben," his brother writes, "as +one of the most amiable of human beings--too good for this world--but +he will take no care against colds, and when ill he is a stubborn +animal." That summer Gibson went again to England, and when he came +back found Mr. Ben no better. For four years the younger brother +lingered on, and in 1851 died suddenly from the effects of a fall in +walking. Gibson was thus left quite alone, but for his pupil Miss +Hosmer, who became to him more than a daughter. + +During his later years Gibson took largely to tinting his +statues--colouring them faintly with flesh-tones and other hues like +nature; and this practice he advocated with all the strength of his +single-minded nature. All visitors to the great Exhibition of 1862 will +remember his beautiful tinted Venus, which occupied the place of honour +in a light temple erected for the purpose by another distinguished +artistic Welshman, Mr. Owen Jones, who did much towards raising the +standard of taste in the English people. + +In January, 1866, John Gibson had a stroke of paralysis, from which he +never recovered. He died within the month, and was buried in the +English cemetery at Rome. Both his brothers had died before him; and he +left the whole of his considerable fortune to the Royal Academy in +England. An immense number of his works are in the possession of the +Academy, and are on view there throughout the year. + +John Gibson's life is very different in many respects from that of most +other great working men whose story is told in this volume. +Undoubtedly, he was deficient in several of those rugged and stern +qualities to which English working men have oftenest owed their final +success. But there was in him a simple grandeur of character, a purity +of soul, and an earnestness of aim which raised him at once far above +the heads of most among those who would have been the readiest to laugh +at and ridicule him. Besides his exquisite taste, his severe love of +beauty, and his marvellous power of expressing the highest ideals of +pure form, he had one thing which linked him to all the other great men +whose lives we have here recounted--his steadfast and unconquerable +personal energy. In one sense it may be said that he was not a +practical man; and yet in another and higher sense, what could possibly +be more practical than this accomplished resolve of the poor Liverpool +stone-cutter to overcome all obstacles, to go to Rome, and to make +himself into a great sculptor? It is indeed a pity that in writing for +Englishmen of the present day such a life should even seem for a moment +to stand in need of a practical apology. For purity, for guilelessness, +for exquisite appreciation of the true purpose of sculpture as the +highest embodiment of beauty of form, John Gibson's art stands +unsurpassed in all the annals of modern statuary. + + + + +IV. + +WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN. + + +Old Isaac Herschel, the oboe-player of the King's Guard in Hanover, had +served with his regiment for many years in the chilly climate of North +Germany, and was left at last broken down in health and spirits by the +many hardships of several severe European campaigns. Isaac Herschel was +a man of tastes and education above his position; but he had married a +person in some respects quite unfitted for him. His good wife, Anna, +though an excellent housekeeper and an estimable woman in her way, had +never even learned to write; and when the pair finally settled down to +old age in Hanover, they were hampered by the cares of a large family +of ten children. Respectable poverty in Germany is even more pressing +than in England; the decent poor are accustomed to more frugal fare and +greater privations than with us; and the domestic life of the Herschel +family circle must needs have been of the most careful and penurious +description. Still, Isaac Herschel dearly loved his art, and in it he +found many amends and consolations for the sordid shifts and troubles +of a straitened German household. All his spare time was given to +music, and in his later days he was enabled to find sufficient pupils +to eke out his little income with comparative comfort. + +William Herschel, the great astronomer (born in 1738), was the fourth +child of his mother, and with his brothers he was brought up at the +garrison school in Hanover, together with the sons of the other common +soldiers. There he learned, not only the three R's, but also a little +French and English. Still, the boy was not content with these ordinary +studies; in his own playtime he took lessons in Latin and mathematics +privately with the regimental schoolmaster. The young Herschels, +indeed, were exceptionally fortunate in the possession of an excellent +and intelligent father, who was able to direct their minds into +channels which few people of their position in life have the +opportunity of entering. Isaac Herschel was partly of Jewish descent, +and he inherited in a marked degree two very striking Jewish gifts--a +turn for music, and a turn for philosophy. The Jews are probably the +oldest civilized race now remaining on earth; and their musical +faculties have been continuously exercised from a time long before the +days of David, so that now they produce undoubtedly a far larger +proportion of musicians and composers than any other class of the +population whatsoever. They are also deeply interested in the same +profound theological and philosophical problems which were discussed +with so much acuteness and freedom in the Book of Ecclesiastes and the +subtle argument of Job and his friends. There has never been a time +when the Jewish mind has not exercised itself profoundly on these deep +and difficult questions; and the Hanover bandsman inherited from his +Jewish ancestry an unusual interest in similar philosophical subjects. +Thus, while the little ones were sleeping in the same common room at +night, William and his father were often heard discussing the ideas of +such abstruse thinkers as Newton and Leibnitz, whose names must have +sounded strange indeed to the ordinary frequenters of the Hanover +barracks. On such occasions good dame Herschel was often compelled to +interpose between them, lest the loudness of their logic should wake +the younger children in the crib hard by. + +William, however, possessed yet another gift, which he is less likely +to have derived from the Jewish side of the house. He and his brother +Alexander were both distinguished by a natural taste for mechanics, and +early gave proof of their learning by turning neat globes with the +equator and ecliptic accurately engraved upon them, or by making model +instruments for their own amusement out of bits of pasteboard. Thus, in +early opportunities and educational advantages, the young Herschels +certainly started in life far better equipped than most working men's +sons; and, considering their father's doubtful position, it may seem at +first sight rather a stretch of language to describe him as a working +man at all. Nevertheless, when one remembers the humble grade of +military bandsmen in Germany, even at the present day, and the fact +that most of the Herschel family remained in that grade during all +their lives, it is clear that William Herschel's life may be fairly +included within the scope of the present series. "In my fifteenth +year," he says himself, "I enlisted in military service," and he +evidently looked upon his enlistment in exactly the same light as that +of any ordinary soldier. + +England and Hanover were, of course, very closely connected together at +the middle of the last century. The king moved about a great deal from +one country to the other; and in 1755 the regiment of Hanoverian Guards +was ordered on service to England for a year. William Herschel, then +seventeen years of age, and already a member of the band, went together +with his father; and it was in this modest capacity that he first made +acquaintance with the land where he was afterwards to attain the +dignity of knighthood and the post of the king's astronomer. He played +the oboe, like his father before him, and no doubt underwent the usual +severe military discipline of that age of stiff stocks and stern +punishments. His pay was very scanty, and out of it he only saved +enough to carry home one memento of his English experiences. That +memento was in itself a sufficient mark of the stuff from which young +Herschel was compounded. It was a copy of "Locke on the Human +Understanding." Now, Locke's famous work, oftener named than read, is a +very tough and serious bit of philosophical exposition; and a boy of +seventeen who buys such a book out of his meagre earnings as a military +bandsman is pretty sure not to end his life within the four dismal bare +walls of the barrack. It is indeed a curious picture to imagine young +William Herschel, among a group of rough and boisterous German +soldiers, discussing high mathematical problems with his father, or +sitting down quietly in a corner to read "Locke on the Human +Understanding." + +In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, Herschel was sent with his +regiment to serve in the campaign of Rossbach against the French. He +was not physically strong, and the hardships of active service told +terribly upon the still growing lad. His parents were alarmed at his +appearance when he returned, and were very anxious to "remove" him from +the service. That, however, was by no means an easy matter for them to +accomplish. They had no money to buy his discharge, and so, not to call +the transaction by any other than its true name, William Herschel was +forced to run away from the army. We must not judge too harshly of this +desertion, for the times were hard, and the lives of men in Herschel's +position were valued at very little by the constituted authorities. +Long after, it is said, when Herschel had distinguished himself by the +discovery of the planet Uranus, a pardon for this high military offence +was duly handed to him by the king in person on the occasion of his +first presentation. George III. was not a particularly wise or +brilliant man; but even he had sense enough to perceive that William +Herschel could serve the country far better by mapping out the stars of +heaven than by playing the oboe to the royal regiment of Hanoverian +Guards. + +William was nineteen when he ran away. His good mother packed his boxes +for him with such necessaries as she could manage, and sent them after +him to Hamburg, but, to the boy's intense disgust, she forgot to send +the copy of "Locke on the Human Understanding." What a sturdy deserter +we have here, to be sure! "She, dear woman," he says plaintively, "knew +no other wants than good linen and clothing!" So William Herschel the +oboe player started off alone to earn his living as best he might in +the great world of England. It is strange he should have chosen that, +of all European countries; for there alone he was liable to be arrested +as a deserter: but perhaps his twelvemonth's stay in London may have +given him a sense of being at home amongst us which he would have +lacked in any other part of Europe. At any rate, hither he came, and +for the next three years picked up a livelihood, we know not how, as +many other excellent German bandsmen have done before and since him. +Our information about his early life is very meagre, and at this period +we lose sight of him for a while altogether. + +About the year 1760, however, we catch another incidental glimpse of +the young musician in his adopted country. By that time, he had found +himself once more a regular post as oboist to the Durham militia, then +quartered for its muster at Pontefract. A certain Dr. Miller, an +organist at Doncaster, was dining one evening at the officers' mess; +when his host happened to speak to him in high praise of a young German +they had in their band, who was really, he said, a most remarkable and +spirited performer. Dr. Miller asked to see (or rather hear) this +clever musician; so Herschel was called up, and made to go through a +solo for the visitor's gratification. The organist was surprised at his +admirable execution, and asked him on what terms he was engaged to the +Durham militia. "Only from month to month," Herschel answered. "Then +leave them at the end of your month," said Miller, "and come to live +with me. I'm a single man; I think we can manage together; and I'm sure +I can get you a better situation." Herschel frankly accepted the offer +so kindly made, and seems to have lived for much of the next five years +with Miller in his little two-roomed cottage at Doncaster. Here he took +pupils and performed in the orchestra at public concerts, always in a +very quiet and modest fashion. He also lived for part of the time with +a Mr. Bulman at Leeds, for whom he afterwards generously provided a +place as clerk to the Octagon Chapel at Bath. Indeed, it is a very +pleasing trait in William Herschel's character that to the end he was +constantly engaged in finding places for his early friends, as well as +for the less energetic or less fortunate members of his own family. + +During these years, Herschel also seems to have given much attention to +the organ, which enabled him to make his next step in life in 1765, +when he was appointed organist at Halifax. Now, there is a great social +difference between the position of an oboe-player in a band and a +church organist; and it was through his organ-playing that Herschel was +finally enabled to leave his needy hand-to-mouth life in Yorkshire. A +year later, he obtained the post of organist to the Octagon Chapel at +Bath, an engagement which gave him new opportunities of turning his +mind to the studies for which he possessed a very marked natural +inclination. Bath was in those days not only the most fashionable +watering-place in England, but almost the only fashionable +watering-place in the whole kingdom. It was, to a certain extent, all +that Brighton, Scarborough, Buxton, and Harrogate are to-day, and +something more. In our own time, when railways and steamboats have so +altered the face of the world, the most wealthy and fashionable English +society resorts a great deal to continental pleasure towns like Cannes, +Nice, Florence, Vichy, Baden, Ems, and Homburg; but in the eighteenth +century it resorted almost exclusively to Bath. The Octagon Chapel was +in one sense the centre of life in Bath; and through his connection +with it, Herschel was thrown into a far more intelligent and learned +society than that which he had left behind him in still rural +Yorkshire. New books came early to Bath, and were read and discussed in +the reading-rooms; famous men and women came there, and contributed +largely to the intellectual life of the place; the theatre was the +finest out of London; the Assembly Rooms were famous as the greatest +resort of wit and culture in the whole kingdom. Herschel here was far +more in his element than in the barracks of Hanover, or in the little +two-roomed cottage at rustic Doncaster. + +He worked very hard indeed, and his work soon brought him comfort and +comparative wealth. Besides his chapel services, and his later +engagement in the orchestra of the Assembly Rooms, he had often as many +as thirty-eight private pupils in music every week; and he also +composed a few pieces, which were published in London with some modest +success. Still, in spite of all these numerous occupations, the eager +young German found a little leisure time to devote to self-education; +so much so that, after a fatiguing day of fourteen or sixteen hours +spent in playing the organ and teaching, he would "unbend his mind" by +studying the higher mathematics, or give himself a lesson in Greek and +Italian. At the same time, he was also working away at a line of study, +seemingly useless to him, but in which he was afterwards to earn so +great and deserved a reputation. Among the books he read during this +Bath period were Smith's "Optics" and Lalande's "Astronomy." Throughout +all his own later writings, the influence of these two books, +thoroughly mastered by constant study in the intervals of his Bath +music lessons, makes itself everywhere distinctly felt. + +Meanwhile, the family at Hanover had not been flourishing quite so +greatly as the son William was evidently doing in wealthy England. +During all those years, the young man had never forgotten to keep up a +close correspondence with his people in Germany. Already, in 1764, +during his Yorkshire days, William Herschel had managed out of his +savings as an oboe-player to make a short trip to his old home; and his +sister Carolina, afterwards his chief assistant in his astronomical +labours, notes with pleasure the delight she felt in having her beloved +brother with her once more, though she, poor girl, being cook to the +household apparently, could only enjoy his society when she was not +employed "in the drudgery of the scullery." A year later, when William +had returned to England again, and had just received his appointment as +organist at Halifax, his father, Isaac, had a stroke of paralysis which +ended his violin-playing for ever, and forced him to rely thenceforth +upon copying music for a precarious livelihood. In 1767 he died, and +poor Carolina saw before her in prospect nothing but a life of that +domestic drudgery which she so disliked. "I could not bear the idea of +being turned into a housemaid," she says; and she thought that if only +she could take a few lessons in music and fancy work she might get "a +place as governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of +French would be no objection." But, unhappily, good dame Herschel, like +many other uneducated and narrow-minded persons, had a strange dread of +too much knowledge. She thought that "nothing further was needed," says +Carolina, "than to send me two or three months to a sempstress to be +taught to make household linen; so all that my father could do was to +indulge me sometimes with a short lesson on the violin when my mother +was either in good humour or out of the way. It was her certain belief +that my brother William would have returned to his country, and my +eldest brother would not have looked so high, if they had had a little +less learning." Poor, purblind, well-meaning, obstructive old dame +Herschel! what a boon to the world that children like yours are +sometimes seized with this incomprehensible fancy for "looking too +high"! + +Nevertheless, Carolina managed by rising early to take a few lessons at +daybreak from a young woman whose parents lived in the same cottage +with hers; and so she got through a little work before the regular +daily business of the family began at seven. Imagine her delight then, +just as the difficulties after her father's death are making that +housemaid's place seem almost inevitable, when she gets a letter from +William at Bath, asking her to come over to England and join him at +that gay and fashionable city. He would try to prepare her for singing +at his concerts; but if after two years' trial she didn't succeed, he +would take her back again to Hanover himself. In 1772, indeed, William +in person came over to fetch her, and thenceforth the brother and +sister worked unceasingly together in all their undertakings to the day +of the great astronomer's death. + +About this time Herschel had been reading Ferguson's "Astronomy," and +felt very desirous of seeing for himself the objects in the heavens, +invisible to the naked eye, of which he there found descriptions. For +this purpose he must of course have a telescope. But how to obtain one? +that was the question. There was a small two-and-a-half foot instrument +on hire at one of the shops at Bath; and the ambitious organist +borrowed this poor little glass for a time, not merely to look through, +but to use as a model for constructing one on his own account. Buying +was impossible, of course, for telescopes cost much money: but making +would not be difficult for a determined mind. He had always been of a +mechanical turn, and he was now fired with a desire to build himself a +telescope eighteen or twenty feet long. He sent to London for the +lenses, which could not be bought at Bath; and Carolina amused herself +by making a pasteboard tube to fit them in her leisure hours. It was +long before he reached twenty feet, indeed: his first effort was a +seven-foot, attained only "after many continuous determined trials." +The amateur pasteboard frame did not fully answer Herschel's +expectations, so he was obliged to go in grudgingly for the expense of +a tin tube. The reflecting mirror which he ought to have had proved too +dear for his still slender purse, and he thus had to forego it with +much regret. But he found a man at Bath who had once been in the +mirror-polishing line; and he bought from him for a bargain all his +rubbish of patterns, tools, unfinished mirrors and so forth, with which +he proceeded to experiment on the manufacture of a proper telescope. In +the summer, when the season was over, and all the great people had left +Bath, the house, as Carolina says ruefully, "was turned into a +workshop." William's younger brother Alexander was busy putting up a +big lathe in a bedroom, grinding glasses and turning eyepieces while in +the drawing-room itself, sacred to William's aristocratic pupils, a +carpenter, sad to relate, was engaged in making a tube and putting up +stands for the future telescopes. Sad goings on, indeed, in the family +of a respectable music-master and organist! Many a good solid +shopkeeper in Bath must no doubt have shaken his grey head solemnly as +he passed the door, and muttered to himself that that young German +singer fellow was clearly going on the road to ruin with his foolish +good-for-nothing star-gazing. + +In 1774, when William Herschel was thirty-six, he had at last +constructed himself a seven-foot telescope, and began for the first +time in his life to view the heavens in a systematic manner. From this +he advanced to a ten-foot, and then to one of twenty, for he meant to +see stars that no astronomer had ever yet dreamt of beholding. It was +comparatively late in life to begin, but Herschel had laid a solid +foundation already, and he was enabled therefore to do an immense deal +in the second half of those threescore years and ten which are the +allotted average life of man, but which he himself really overstepped +by fourteen winters. As he said long afterwards with his modest manner +to the poet Campbell, "I have looked further into space than ever human +being did before me; I have observed stars of which the light, it can +be proved, must take two millions of years to reach this earth." That +would have been a grand thing for any man to be able truthfully to say +under any circumstances: it was a marvellous thing for a man who had +laboured under all the original disadvantages of Herschel--a man who +began life as a penniless German bandsman, and up to the age of +thirty-six had never even looked through a telescope. + +At this time, Herschel was engaged in playing the harpsichord in the +orchestra of the theatre; and it was during the interval between the +acts that he made his first general survey of the heavens. The moment +his part was finished, he would rush out to gaze through his telescope; +and in these short periods he managed to observe all the visible stars +of what are called the first, second, third, and fourth magnitudes. +Henceforth he went on building telescope after telescope, each one +better than the last; and now all his glasses were ground and polished +either by his own hand or by his brother Alexander's. Carolina +meanwhile took her part in the workshop; but as she had also to sing at +the oratorios, and her awkward German manners might shock the sensitive +nerves of the Bath aristocrats, she took two lessons a week for a whole +twelvemonth (she tells us in her delightfully straightforward fashion) +"from Miss Fleming, the celebrated dancing mistress, to drill me for a +gentlewoman." Poor Carolina, there she was mistaken: Miss Fleming could +make her into no gentlewoman, for she was born one already, and nothing +proves it more than the perfect absence of false shame with which in +her memoirs she tells us all these graphic little details of their +early humble days. + +While they were thus working at Bath an incident occurred which is +worth mentioning because it shows the very different directions in +which the presence or the want of steady persistence may lead the +various members of the very self-same family. William received a letter +from his widowed mother at Hanover to say, in deep distress, that +Dietrich, the youngest brother, had run away from home, it was supposed +for the purpose of going to India, "with a young idler no older than +himself." Forthwith, the budding astronomer left the lathe where he was +busy turning an eye-piece from a cocoa-nut shell, and, like a good son +and brother as he always was, hurried off to Holland and thence to +Hanover. No Dietrich was anywhere to be found. But while he was away, +Carolina at Bath received a letter from Dietrich himself, to tell her +ruefully he was "laid up very ill" at a waterside tavern in +Wapping--not the nicest or most savoury East End sailor-suburb of +London. Alexander immediately took the coach to town, put the prodigal +into a decent lodging, nursed him carefully for a fortnight, and then +took him down with him in triumph to the family home at Bath. There +brother William found him safe and sound on his return, under the +sisterly care of good Carolina. A pretty dance he had led the two +earnest and industrious astronomers; but they seem always to have +treated this black sheep of the family with uniform kindness, and long +afterwards Sir William remembered him favourably in his last will. + +In 1779 and the succeeding years the three Herschels were engaged +during all their spare time in measuring the heights of about one +hundred mountains in the moon, which William gauged by three different +methods. In the same year, he made an acquaintance of some importance +to him, as forming his first introduction to the wider world of science +in London and elsewhere. Dr. Watson, a Fellow of the Royal Society, +happened to see him working at his telescope; and this led to a visit +from the electrician to the amateur astronomer. Dr. Watson was just +then engaged in getting up a Philosophical Society at Bath (a far rarer +institution at that time in a provincial town than now), and he invited +William Herschel to join it. Here Herschel learned for the first time +to mix with those who were more nearly his intellectual equals, and to +measure his strength against other men's. + +It was in 1781 that Herschel made the great discovery which immediately +established his fame as an astronomer, and enabled him to turn from +conducting concerts to the far higher work of professionally observing +the stars. On the night of Tuesday, March 13th, Herschel was engaged in +his usual systematic survey of the sky, a bit at a time, when his +telescope lighted among a group of small fixed stars upon what he at +first imagined to be a new comet. It proved to be no comet, however, +but a true planet--a veritable world, revolving like our own in a +nearly circular path around the sun as centre, though far more remote +from it than the most distant planet then known, Saturn. Herschel +called his new world the _Georgium Sidus_ (King George's star) in +honour of the reigning monarch; but it has since been known as Uranus. +Astronomers all over Europe were soon apprised of this wonderful +discovery, and the path of the freshly found planet was computed by +calculation, its distance from the sun being settled at nineteen times +that of our own earth. + +In order faintly to understand the importance attached at the time to +Herschel's observation of this very remote and seemingly petty world, +we must remember that up to that date all the planets which circle +round our own sun had been familiarly known to everybody from time +immemorial. To suggest that there was yet another world belonging to +our system outside the path of the furthest known planet would have +seemed to most people like pure folly. Since then, we have grown quite +accustomed to the discovery of a fresh small world or two every year, +and we have even had another large planet (Neptune), still more remote +than Herschel's Uranus, added to the list of known orbs in our own +solar system. But in Herschel's day, nobody had ever heard of a new +planet being discovered since the beginning of all things. A hundred +years before, an Italian astronomer, it is true, had found out four +small moons revolving round Saturn, besides the big moon then already +known; but for a whole century, everybody believed that the solar +system was now quite fully explored, and that nothing fresh could be +discovered about it. Hence Herschel's observation produced a very +different effect from, say, the discovery of the two moons which +revolve round Mars, in our own day. Even people who felt no interest in +astronomy were aroused to attention. Mr. Herschel's new planet became +the talk of the town and the subject of much admiring discussion in the +London newspapers. Strange, indeed, that an amateur astronomer of Bath, +a mere German music-master, should have hit upon a planet which escaped +the sight even of the king's own Astronomer Royal at Greenwich. + +Of course there were not people wanting who ascribed this wonderful +discovery of Herschel's to pure chance. If he hadn't just happened to +turn his telescope in that particular direction on that particular +night, he wouldn't have seen this _Georgium Sidus_ they made such a +fuss about at all. Quite so. And if he hadn't built a twenty-foot +telescope for himself, he wouldn't have turned it anywhere at any time. +But Herschel himself knew better. "This was by no means the result of +chance," he said; "but a simple consequence of the position of the +planet on that particular evening, since it occupied precisely that +spot in the heavens which came in the order of the minute observations +that I had previously mapped out for myself. Had I not seen it just +when I did, I must inevitably have come upon it soon after, since my +telescope was so perfect that I was able to distinguish it from a fixed +star in the first minute of observation." Indeed, when once Herschel's +twenty-foot telescope was made, he could not well have failed in the +long run to discover Uranus, as his own description of his method +clearly shows. "When I had carefully and thoroughly perfected the great +instrument in all its parts," he says, "I made a systematic use of it +in my observation of the heaven, first forming a determination never to +pass by any, the smallest, portion of them without due investigation. +This habit, persisted in, led to the discovery of the new planet +(_Georgium Sidus_)." As well might one say that a skilled mining +surveyor, digging for coal, came upon the seam by chance, as ascribe to +chance the necessary result of such a careful and methodical scrutiny +as this. + +Before the year was out, the ingenious Mr. Herschel of Bath was elected +a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was also presented with the Copley +gold medal. From this moment all the distinguished people in Bath were +anxious to be introduced to the philosophical music-master; and, +indeed, they intruded so much upon his time that the daily music +lessons were now often interrupted. He was soon, however, to give up +lessons for ever, and devote himself to his more congenial and natural +work in astronomy. In May, 1782, he went up to London, to be formally +admitted to his Fellowship of the Royal Society. There he stayed so +long that poor Carolina was quite frightened. It was "double the time +which my brother could safely be absent from his scholars." The +connection would be broken up, and the astronomy would be the ruin of +the family. (A little of good old dame Herschel's housewifely leaven +here, perhaps.) But William's letters from London to "Dear Lina" must +soon have quieted her womanly fears. William had actually been +presented to the king, and "met with a very gracious reception." He had +explained the solar system to the king and queen, and his telescope was +to be put up first at Greenwich and then at Richmond. The Greenwich +authorities were delighted with his instrument; they have seen what +Herschel calls "_my_ fine double stars" with it. "All my papers are +printing," he tells Lina with pardonable pride, "and are allowed to be +very valuable." But he himself is far from satisfied as yet with the +results of his work. Evidently no small successes in the field of +knowledge will do for William Herschel. "Among opticians and +astronomers," he writes to Lina, "nothing now is talked of but _what +they call_ my great discoveries. Alas! this shows how far they are +behind, when such trifles as I have seen and done are called _great_. +Let me but get at it again! I will make such telescopes and see such +things!" Well, well, William Herschel, in that last sentence we get the +very keynote of true greatness and true genius. + +But must he go back quietly to Bath and the toils of teaching? "An +intolerable waste of time," he thought it. The king happily relieved +him from this intolerable waste. He offered Herschel a salary of L200 a +year if he would come and live at Datchet, and devote himself entirely +to astronomical observations. It was by no means a munificent sum for a +king to offer for such labour; but Herschel gladly accepted it, as it +would enable him to give up the interruption of teaching, and spend all +his time on his beloved astronomy. His Bath friend, Sir William Watson, +exclaimed when he heard of it, "Never bought monarch honour so cheap." +Herschel was forty-three when he removed to Datchet, and from that day +forth he lived almost entirely in his observatory, wholly given up to +his astronomical pursuits. Even when he had to go to London to read his +papers before the Royal Society, he chose a moonlight night (when the +stars would be mostly invisible), so that it might not interfere with +his regular labours. + +Poor Carolina was horrified at the house at Datchet, which seemed +terribly desolate and poor, even to her modest German ideas; but +William declared his willingness to live permanently and cheerfully +upon "eggs and bacon" now that he was at last free to do nothing on +earth but observe the heavens. Night after night he and Carolina worked +together at their silent task--he noting the small features with his +big telescope, she "sweeping for comets" with a smaller glass or +"finder." Herschel could have had no more useful or devoted assistant +than his sister, who idolized him with all her heart. Alexander, too, +came to stay with them during the slack months at Bath, and then the +whole strength of the family was bent together on their labour of love +in gauging the heavens. + +But what use was it all? Why should they wish to go star-gazing? Well, +if a man cannot see for himself what use it was, nobody else can put +the answer into him, any more than they could put into him a love for +nature, or for beauty, or for art, or for music, if he had it not to +start with. What is the good of a great picture, a splendid oratorio, a +grand poem? To the man who does not care for them, nothing; to the man +who loves them, infinite. It is just the same with science. The use of +knowledge to a mind like Herschel's is the mere possession of it. With +such as he, it is a love, an object of desire, a thing to be sought +after for its own sake; and the mere act of finding it is in itself +purely delightful. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man +that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than +the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is +more precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not +to be compared unto her." So, to such a man as Herschel, that peaceful +astronomer life at Datchet was indeed, in the truest sense of those +much-abused words, "success in life." If you had asked some +vulgar-minded neighbour of the great Sir William in his later days +whether the astronomer had been a successful man or not, he would +doubtless have answered, after his kind, "Certainly. He has been made a +knight, has lands in two counties, and has saved L35,000." But if you +had asked William Herschel himself, he would probably have said, with +his usual mixture of earnestness and humility, "Yes, I have been a very +fortunate man in life. I have discovered Uranus, and I have gauged all +the depths of heaven, as none before ever gauged them, with my own +great telescope." + +Still, those who cannot sympathize with the pure love of knowledge for +its own sake--one of the highest and noblest of human aims--should +remember that astronomy is also of immense practical importance to +mankind, and especially to navigation and commerce. Unless great +astronomical calculations were correctly performed at Greenwich and +elsewhere, it would be impossible for any ship or steamer to sail with +safety from England to Australia or America. Every defect in our +astronomical knowledge helps to wreck our vessels on doubtful coasts; +every advance helps to save the lives of many sailors and the cargoes +of many merchants. It is this practical utility of astronomy that +justifies the spending of national money on observatories and transits +of Venus, and it is the best apology for an astronomer's life to those +who do not appreciate the use of knowledge for its own beauty. + +At Datchet, Herschel not only made several large telescopes for sale, +for which he obtained large prices, but he also got a grant of L2000 +from the king to aid him in constructing his huge forty-foot +instrument. It was here, too, in 1783, that Herschel married. His wife +was a widow lady of scientific tastes like his own, and she was +possessed of considerable means, which enabled him henceforth to lay +aside all anxiety on the score of money. They had but one child, a son, +afterwards Sir John Herschel, almost as great an astronomer as his +father had been before him. In 1785, the family moved to Clay Hall, in +Old Windsor, and in 1786 to Slough, where Herschel lived for the +remainder of his long life. How completely his whole soul was bound up +in his work is shown in the curious fact recorded for us by Carolina +Herschel. The last night at Clay Hall was spent in sweeping the sky +with the great glass till daylight; and by the next evening the +telescope stood ready for observations once more in the new home at +Slough. + +To follow Herschel through the remainder of his life would be merely to +give a long catalogue of his endless observations and discoveries among +the stars. Such a catalogue would be interesting only to astronomers; +yet it would truly give the main facts of Herschel's existence in his +happy home at Slough. Honoured by the world, dearly loved in his own +family, and engrossed with a passionate affection for his chosen +science, the great astronomer and philosopher grew grey in peace under +his own roof, in the course of a singularly placid and gentle old age. +In 1802 he laid before the Royal Society a list of five thousand new +stars, star-clusters, or other heavenly bodies which he had discovered, +and which formed the great body of his personal additions to +astronomical knowledge. The University of Oxford made him Doctor of +Laws, and very late in life he was knighted by the king--a too tardy +acknowledgment of his immense services to science. To the very last, +however, he worked on with a will; and, indeed, it is one of the great +charms of scientific interest that it thus enables a man to keep his +faculties on the alert to an advanced old age. In 1819, when Herschel +was more than eighty, he writes to his sister a short note--"Lina, +there is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come to dine and spend +the day here. If you can come soon after one o'clock, we shall have +time to prepare maps and telescopes. I saw its situation last night. It +has a long tail." How delightful to find such a living interest in life +at the age of eighty! + +On the 25th of August, 1822, this truly great and simple man passed +away, in his eighty-fifth year. It has been possible here only to +sketch out the chief personal points in his career, without dwelling +much upon the scientific importance of his later life-long labours; but +it must suffice to say briefly upon this point that Herschel's work was +no mere mechanical star-finding; it was the most profoundly +philosophical astronomical work ever performed, except perhaps Newton's +and Laplace's. Among astronomers proper there has been none +distinguished by such breadth of grasp, such wide conceptions, and such +perfect clearness of view as the self-taught oboe-player of Hanover. + + + + +V. + +JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER. + + +There is no part of France so singularly like England, both in the +aspect of the country itself and in the features and character of the +inhabitants, as Normandy. The wooded hills and dales, the frequent +copses and apple orchards, the numerous thriving towns and villages, +the towers and steeples half hidden among the trees, recall at every +step the very similar scenery of our own beautiful and fruitful +Devonshire. And as the land is, so are the people. Ages ago, about the +same time that the Anglo-Saxon invaders first settled down in England, +a band of similar English pirates, from the old common English home by +the cranberry marshes of the Baltic, drove their long ships upon the +long rocky peninsula of the Cotentin, which juts out, like a French +Cornwall, from the mainland of Normandy up to the steep cliffs and +beetling crags of busy Cherbourg. There they built themselves little +hamlets and villages of true English type, whose very names to this day +remind one of their ancient Saxon origin. Later on, the Danes or +Northmen conquered the country, which they called after their own name, +Normandy, that is to say, the Northmen's land. + +Mixing with the early Saxon or English settlers, and with the still +more primitive Celtic inhabitants, the Northmen founded a race +extremely like that which now inhabits our own country. To this day, +the Norman peasants of the Cotentin retain many marks of their origin +and their half-forgotten kinship with the English race. While other +Frenchmen are generally dark and thick-set, the Norman is, as a rule, a +tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed man, not unlike in build to our Yarmouth +fisherman, or our Kentish labourers. In body and mind, there is +something about him even now which makes him seem more nearly akin to +us than the true Frenchmen who inhabit almost all the rest of France. + +In the village of Gruchy, near Greville, in this wild and beautiful +region of the Cotentin, there lived at the beginning of the present +century a sturdy peasant family of the name of Millet. The father of +the family was one of the petty village landholders so common in +France; a labourer who owned and tilled his own tiny patch of farm, +with the aid of his wife and children. We have now no class in England +exactly answering to the French peasant proprietors, who form so large +and important an element in the population just across the Channel. The +small landholder in France belongs by position to about the same level +as our own agricultural labourer, and in many ways is content with a +style of dress and a mode of living against which English labourers +would certainly protest with horror. And yet, he is a proprietor, with +a proprietor's sense of the dignity of his position, and an ardent love +of his own little much-subdivided corner of agricultural land. On this +he spends all his energies, and however many children he may have, he +will try to make a livelihood for all by their united labour out of the +soil, rather than let one of them go to seek his fortune by any other +means in the great cities. Thus the ground is often tilled up to an +almost ridiculous extent, the entire labour of the family being +sometimes expended in cultivating, manuring, weeding, and tending a +patch of land perhaps hardly an acre in size. It is quite touching to +see the care and solicitude with which these toilsome peasants will +laboriously lay out their bit of garden with fruits or vegetables, +making every line almost mathematically regular, planting every pea at +a measured distance, or putting a smooth flat pebble under every +strawberry on the evenly ridged-up vines. It is only in the very last +resort that the peasant proprietor will consent to let one of his +daughters go out to service, or send one of his sons adrift to seek his +fortune as an artisan in the big, unknown, outer world. + +Millet the elder, however, had nine children, which is an unusually +large number for a French peasant family (where the women ordinarily +marry late in life); and his little son Jean Francois (the second child +and eldest boy), though set to weed and hoe upon the wee farm in his +boyhood, was destined by his father for some other life than that of a +tiller of the soil. He was born in the year before Waterloo--1814--and +was brought up on his father's plot of land, in the hard rough way to +which peasant children in France are always accustomed. Bronzed by sun +and rain, poorly clad, and ill-fed, he acquired as a lad, from the open +air and the toilsome life he led, a vigour of constitution which +enabled him to bear up against the numerous hardships and struggles of +his later days. "A Norman Peasant," he loved to call himself always, +with a certain proud humility; and happily he had the rude health of +one all his life long. + +Hard as he worked, little Francois' time was not entirely taken up with +attending to the fields or garden. He was a studious boy, and learned +not only to read and write in French, but also to try some higher +flights, rare indeed for a lad of his position. His family possessed +remarkable qualities as French peasants go; and one of his +great-uncles, a man of admirable strength of character, a priest in the +days of the great Revolution, had braved the godless republicans of his +time, and though deprived of his cure, and compelled to labour for his +livelihood in the fields, had yet guided the plough in his priestly +garments. His grandmother first taught him his letters; and when she +had instructed him to the length of reading any French book that was +put before him, the village priest took him in hand. In France, the +priest comes often from the peasant class, and remains in social +position a member of that class as long as he lives. But he always +possesses a fair knowledge of Latin, the language in which all his +religious services are conducted; and this knowledge serves as a key to +much that his unlearned parishioners could never dream of knowing. +Young Millet's parish priest taught him as much Latin as he knew +himself; and so the boy was not only able to read the Bible in the +Latin or Vulgate translation, but also to make acquaintance with the +works of Virgil and several others of the great Roman poets. He read, +too, the beautiful "Confessions" of St. Augustine, and the "Lives of +the Saints," which he found in his father's scanty library, as well as +the works of the great French preachers, Bossuet and Fenelon. Such +early acquaintance with these and many other masterpieces of higher +literature, we may be sure, helped greatly to mould the lad's mind into +that grand and sober shape which it finally acquired. + +Jean Francois' love of art was first aroused by the pictures in an old +illustrated Bible which belonged to his father, and which he was +permitted to look at on Sundays and festivals. The child admired these +pictures immensely, and asked leave to be permitted to copy them. The +only time he could find for the purpose, however, was that of the +mid-day rest or siesta. It is the custom in France, as in Southern +Europe generally, for labourers to cease from work for an hour or so in +the middle of the day; and during this "tired man's holiday," young +Millet, instead of resting, used to take out his pencil and paper, and +try his hand at reproducing the pictures in the big Bible. His father +was not without an undeveloped taste for art: "See," he would say, +looking into some beautiful combe or glen on the hillside--"see that +little cottage half buried in the trees; how beautiful it is! I think +it ought to be drawn so--;" and then he would make a rough sketch of it +on some scrap of paper. At times he would model things with a bit of +clay, or cut the outline of a flower or an animal with his knife on a +flat piece of wood. This unexercised talent Francois inherited in a +still greater degree. As time went on, he progressed to making little +drawings on his own account; and we may be sure the priest and all the +good wives of Gruchy had quite settled in their own minds before long +that Jean Francois Millet's hands would be able in time to paint quite +a beautiful altar-piece for the village church. + +By-and-by, when the time came for Francois to choose a trade, he being +then a big lad of about nineteen, it was suggested to his father that +young Millet might really make a regular painter--that is to say, an +artist. In France, the general tastes of the people are far more +artistic than with us; and the number of painters who find work for +their brushes in Paris is something immensely greater than the number +in our own smoky, money-making London. So there was nothing very +remarkable, from a French point of view, in the idea of the young +peasant turning for a livelihood to the profession of an artist. But +Millet's father was a sober and austere man, a person of great dignity +and solemnity, who decided to put his son's powers to the test in a +very regular and critical fashion. He had often watched Francois +drawing, and he thought well of the boy's work. If he had a real talent +for painting, a painter he should be; if not, he must take to some +other craft, where he would have the chance of making himself a decent +livelihood. So he told Francois to prepare a couple of drawings, which +he would submit to the judgment of M. Mouchel, a local painter at +Cherbourg, the nearest large town, and capital of the department. +Francois duly prepared the drawings, and Millet the elder went with his +son to submit them in proper form for M. Mouchel's opinion. Happily, M. +Mouchel had judgment enough to see at a glance that the drawings +possessed remarkable merit. "You must be playing me a trick," he said; +"that lad could never have made these drawings." "I saw him do them +with my own eyes," answered the father warmly. "Then," said Mouchel, +"all I can say is this: he has in him the making of a great painter." +He accepted Millet as his pupil; and the young man set off for +Cherbourg accordingly, to study with care and diligence under his new +master. + +Cherbourg, though not yet at that time a great naval port, as it +afterwards became, was a busy harbour and fishing town, where the young +artist saw a great deal of a kind of life with which he possessed an +immense sympathy. The hard work of the fishermen putting out to sea on +stormy evenings, or toiling with their nets ashore after a sleepless +night, made a living picture which stamped itself deeply on his +receptive mind. A man of the people himself, born to toil and inured to +it from babyhood, this constant scene of toiling and struggling +humanity touched the deepest chord in his whole nature, so that some of +the most beautiful and noble of his early pictures are really +reminiscences of his first student days at Cherbourg. But after he had +spent a year in Mouchel's studio, sad news came to him from Gruchy. His +father was dying, and Francois was only just in time to see him before +he passed away. If the family was to be kept together at all, Francois +must return from his easel and palette, and take once more to guiding +the plough. With that earnest resolution which never forsook him, +Millet decided to accept the inevitable. He went back home once more, +and gave up his longings for art in order to till the ground for his +fatherless sisters. + +Luckily, however, his friends at Gruchy succeeded after awhile in +sending him back again to Cherbourg, where he began to study under +another master, Langlois, and to have hopes once more for his artistic +future, now that he was free at last to pursue it in his own way. At +this time, he read a great deal--Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Byron, +Goethe's "Faust," Victor Hugo and Chateaubriand; in fact, all the great +works he could lay his hands upon. Peasant as he was, he gave himself, +half unconsciously, a noble education. Very soon, it became apparent +that the Cherbourg masters could do nothing more for him, and that, if +he really wished to perfect himself in art, he must go to Paris. In +France, the national interest felt in painting is far greater and more +general than in England. Nothing is commoner than for towns or +departments to grant pensions (or as we should call them, scholarships) +to promising lads who wish to study art in Paris. Young Millet had +attracted so much attention at Cherbourg, that the Council General of +the Department of the Manche voted him a present of six hundred francs +(about L24) to start him on the way; and the town of Cherbourg promised +him an annual grant of four hundred francs more (about L16). So up to +Paris Millet went, and there was duly enrolled as a student at the +Government "School of Fine Arts." + +Those student days in Paris were days of hunger and cold, very often, +which Millet bore with the steady endurance of a Norman peasant boy. +But they were also days of something worse to him--of effort +misdirected, and of constant struggling against a system for which he +was not fitted. In fact, Millet was an original genius, whereas the +teachers at the School of Fine Arts were careful and methodical +rule-of-thumb martinets. They wished to train Millet into the ordinary +pattern, which he could not follow; and in the end, he left the school, +and attached himself to the studio of Paul Delaroche, then the greatest +painter of historical pictures in all Paris. But even Delaroche, though +an artist of deep feeling and power, did not fully understand his young +Norman pupil. He himself used to paint historical pictures in the grand +style, full of richness and beauty; but his subjects were almost always +chosen from the lives of kings or queens, and treated with +corresponding calmness and dignity. "The Young Princes in the Tower," +"The Execution of Marie Antoinette," "The Death of Queen Elizabeth," +"Cromwell viewing the Body of Charles I."--these were the kind of +pictures on which Delaroche loved to employ himself. Millet, on the +other hand, though also full of dignity and pathos, together with an +earnestness far surpassing Delaroche's, did not care for these lofty +subjects. It was the dignity and pathos of labour that moved him most; +the silent, weary, noble lives of the uncomplaining peasants, amongst +whom his own days had been mostly passed. Delaroche could not make him +out at all; he was such a curious, incomprehensible, odd young fellow! +"There, go your own way, if you will," the great master said to him at +last; "for my part, I can make nothing of you." + +So, shortly after, Millet and his friend Marolle set up a studio for +themselves in the Rue de l'Est in Paris. The precise occasion of their +going was this. Millet was anxious to obtain the Grand Prize of Rome +annually offered to the younger artists, and Delaroche definitely told +him that his own influence would be used on behalf of another pupil. +After this, the young Norman felt that he could do better by following +out his own genius in his own fashion. At the Rue de l'Est, he +continued to study hard, but he also devoted a large part of his time +to painting cheap portraits--what artists call "pot-boilers;" mere +hasty works dashed off anyhow to earn his daily livelihood. For these +pictures he got about ten to fifteen francs apiece,--in English money +from eight to twelve shillings. They were painted in a theatrical +style, which Millet himself detested--all pink cheeks, and red lips, +and blue satin, and lace collars; whereas his own natural style was one +of great austerity and a certain earnest sombreness the exact reverse +of the common Parisian taste to which he ministered. However, he had to +please his patrons--and, like a sensible man, he went on producing +these cheap daubs to any extent required, for a living, while he +endeavoured to perfect himself meanwhile for the higher art he was +meditating for the future. In the great galleries of the Louvre at +Paris he found abundant models which he could study in the works of the +old masters; and there, poring over Michael Angelo and Mantegna, he +could recompense himself a little in his spare hours for the time he +was obliged to waste on pinky-white faces and taffeta gowns. To an +artist by nature there is nothing harder than working perforce against +the bent of one's own innate and instinctive feelings. + +In 1840, Millet found his life in Paris still so hard that he seemed +for a time inclined to give up the attempt, and returned to Greville, +where he painted a marine subject of the sort that was dearest to his +heart--a group of sailors mending a sail. Shortly after, however, he +was back in Paris--the record of these years of hard struggle is not +very clear--with his wife, a Cherbourg girl whom he had imprudently +married while still barely able to support himself in the utmost +poverty. It was not till 1844 that the hard-working painter at last +achieved his first success. It was with a picture of a milkwoman, one +of his own favourite peasant subjects; and the poetry and sympathy +which he had thrown into so commonplace a theme attracted the attention +of many critics among the cultivated Parisian world of art. The +"Milkwoman" was exhibited at the Salon (the great annual exhibition of +works of art in Paris, like that of the Royal Academy in London, but on +a far larger scale); and several good judges of art began immediately +to inquire, "Who is Jean Francois Millet?" Hunting his address out, a +party of friendly critics presented themselves at his lodgings, only to +learn that Madame Millet had just died, and that her husband, half in +despair, had gone back again once more to his native Norman hills and +valleys. + +But Millet was the last man on earth to sit down quietly with his hands +folded, waiting for something or other to turn up. At Cherbourg, he set +to work once more, no doubt painting more "pot-boilers" for the +respectable shop-keepers of the neighbourhood--complacent portraits, +perhaps, of a stout gentleman with a large watch-chain fully displayed, +and of a stout lady in a black silk dress and with a vacant smile; and +by hook or by crook he managed to scrape together a few hundred francs, +with which once more he might return to Paris. But before he did so, he +married again, this time more wisely. His wife, Catharine Lemaire, was +a brave and good woman, who knew how to appreciate her husband, and to +second him well in all his further struggles and endeavours. They went +for a while to Havre, where Millet, in despair of getting better work, +and not ashamed of doing anything honest to pay his way, actually took +to painting sign-boards. In this way he saved money enough to make a +fresh start in Paris. There, he continued his hard battle against the +taste of the time; for French art was then dominated by the influence +of men like Delaroche, or like Delacroix and Horace Vernet, who had +accustomed the public to pictures of a very lofty, a very romantic, or +a very fiery sort; and there were few indeed who cared for stern and +sympathetic delineations of the French peasant's unlovely life of +unremitting toil, such as Millet loved to set before them. Yet, in +spite of discouragement, he did well to follow out this inner prompting +of his own soul; for in that direction he could do his best work--and +the best work is always the best worth doing in the long run. There are +some minds, of which Franklin's is a good type, so versatile and so +shifty that they can turn with advantage to any opening that chances to +offer, no matter in what direction; and such minds do right in seizing +every opportunity, wherever it occurs. But there are other minds, of +which Gibson and Millet are excellent examples, naturally restricted to +certain definite lines of thought or work; and such minds do right in +persistently following up their own native talent, and refusing to be +led aside by circumstances into any less natural or less promising +channel. + +While living in Paris at this time, Millet painted several of his +favourite peasant pictures, amongst others "The Workman's Monday," +which is a sort of parallel in painting to Burns's "Cotter's Saturday +Night" in poetry. Indeed, there is a great deal in Millet which +strongly reminds one at every step of Burns. Both were born of the +agricultural labouring class; both remained peasants at heart, in +feelings and sympathies, all their lives long; neither was ashamed of +his origin, even in the days of his greatest fame; painter and poet +alike loved best to choose their themes from the simple life of the +poor whose trials and hardships they knew so well by bitter experience; +and in each case they succeeded best in touching the hearts of others +when they did not travel outside their own natural range of subjects. +Only (if Scotchmen will allow one to say so) there was in Millet a far +deeper vein of moral earnestness than in Burns; he was more profoundly +impressed by the dignity and nobility of labour; in his tender sympathy +there was a touch of solemn grandeur which was wanting in the too +genial and easy-going Ayrshire ploughman. + +In 1848, the year of revolutions, Millet painted his famous picture of +"The Winnower," since considered as one of his finest works. Yet for a +long time, though the critics praised it, it could not find a +purchaser; till at last M. Ledru Rollin, a well-known politician, +bought it for what Millet considered the capital price of five hundred +francs (about L20). It would now fetch a simply fabulous price, if +offered for sale. Soon after this comparative success Millet decided to +leave Paris, where the surroundings indeed were little fitted to a man +of his peculiarly rural and domestic tastes. He would go where he might +see the living models of his peasant friends for ever before him; where +he could watch them leaning over the plough pressed deep into the +earth; cutting the faggots with stout arms in the thick-grown copses; +driving the cattle home at milking time with weary feet, along the +endless, straight white high-roads of the French rural districts. At +the same time, he must be within easy reach of Paris; for though he had +almost made up his mind not to exhibit any more at the Salon--people +didn't care to see his reapers or his fishermen--he must still manage +to keep himself within call of possible purchasers; and for this +purpose he selected the little village of Barbizon, on the edge of the +forest of Fontainebleau. + +The woods of Fontainebleau stand to Paris in somewhat the same relation +that Windsor Great Park stands to London; only, the scenery is more +forest-like, and the trees are big and antique looking. By the +outskirts of this great wood stands the pretty hamlet of Barbizon, a +single long street of small peasant cottages, built with the usual +French rural disregard of beauty or cleanliness. At the top of the +street, in a little three-roomed house, the painter and his wife +settled down quietly; and here they lived for twenty-seven years, long +after Millet's name had grown to be famous in the history of +contemporary French painting. An English critic, who visited the spot +in the days of Millet's greatest celebrity, was astonished to find the +painter, whom he had come to see, strolling about the village in rustic +clothes, and even wearing the _sabots_ or wooden shoes which are in +France the social mark of the working classes, much as the smock-frock +used once to be in the remoter country districts of England. Perhaps +this was a little bit of affectation on Millet's part--a sort of proud +declaration of the fact that in spite of fame and honours he still +insisted upon counting himself a simple peasant; but if so, it was, +after all, a very pretty and harmless affectation indeed. Better to see +a man sticking pertinaciously to his wooden shoes, than turning his +back upon old friends and old associations in the days of his worldly +prosperity. + +At Barbizon Millet's life moved on so quietly that there is nothing to +record in it almost, save a long list of pictures painted, and a +gradual growth, not in popularity (for that Millet never really +attained at all), but in the esteem of the best judges, which of course +brought with it at last, first ease, then comfort, and finally +comparative riches. Millet was able now to paint such subjects as +pleased him best, and he threw himself into his work with all the +fervour of his intensely earnest and poetical nature. Whatever might be +the subject which he undertook, he knew how to handle it so that it +became instinct with his own fine feeling for the life he saw around +him. In 1852 he painted his "Man spreading Manure." In itself, that is +not a very exalted or beautiful occupation; but what Millet saw in it +was the man not the manure--the toiling, sorrowing, human fellow-being, +whose labour and whose spirit he knew so well how to appreciate. And in +this view of the subject he makes us all at once sympathize. Other +pictures of this period are such as "The Gleaners," "The Reapers," "A +Peasant grafting a Tree," "The Potato Planters," and so forth. These +were very different subjects indeed from the dignified kings and queens +painted by Delaroche, or the fiery battle-pieces of Delacroix; but they +touch a chord in our souls which those great painters fail to strike, +and his treatment of them is always truthful, tender, melancholy, and +exquisite. + +Bit by bit, French artistic opinion began to recognize the real +greatness of the retiring painter at Barbizon. He came to be looked +upon as a true artist, and his pictures sold every year for +increasingly large prices. Still, he had not been officially +recognized; and in France, where everything, even to art and the +theatre, is under governmental regulation, this want of official +countenance is always severely felt. At last, in 1867, Millet was +awarded the medal of the first class, and was appointed a Chevalier of +the Legion of Honour. The latter distinction carries with it the right +to wear that little tag of ribbon on the coat which all Frenchmen prize +so highly; for to be "decorated," as it is called, is in France a spur +to ambition of something the same sort as a knighthood or a peerage in +England, though of course it lies within the reach of a far greater +number of citizens. There is something to our ideas rather absurd in +the notion of bestowing such a tag of ribbon on a man of Millet's aims +and occupations; but all honours are honours just according to the +estimation of the man who receives them and the society in which he +lives; and Millet no doubt prized his admission to the Legion of Honour +all the more because it had been so long delayed and so little truckled +for. + +To the end of his days, Millet never left his beloved Barbizon. He +stopped there, wandering about the fields, watching peasants at work, +imprinting their images firmly upon his eye and brain, and then going +home again to put the figures he had thus observed upon his vivid +canvas. For, strange to say, unlike almost every other great painter, +Millet never painted from a model. Instead of getting a man or woman to +sit for him in the pose he required, he would go out into the meadows +and look at the men and women at their actual daily occupations; and so +keen and acute was his power of observation, and so retentive was his +inner eye, that he could then recall almost every detail of action or +manner as clearly as if he had the original present in his studio +before him. As a rule, such a practice is not to be recommended to any +one who wishes to draw with even moderate accuracy; constant study of +the actual object, and frequent comparison by glancing from object to +copy, are absolutely necessary for forming a correct draughtsman. But +Millet knew his own way best; and how wonderfully minute and +painstaking must his survey have been when it enabled him to reproduce +the picture of a person afterwards in every detail of dress or movement. + +He did not paint very fast. He preferred doing good work to much +work--an almost invariable trait of all the best workmen. During the +thirty-one years that he worked independently, he produced only eighty +pictures--not more, on an average, than two or three a year. Compared +with the rate at which most successful artists cover canvas to sell, +this was very slow. But then, Millet did not paint mainly to sell; he +painted to satisfy his own strict ideas of what constituted the highest +art. His pictures are usually very simple in their theme; take, for +example, his "Angelus," painted at the height of his fame, in 1867. A +man and a woman are working in the fields--two poor, simple-minded, +weather-beaten, devout French peasants. It is nightfall; the bell +called the "Angelus" rings out from the church steeple, and the two +poor souls, resting for a moment from their labours, devote a few +seconds to the silent prayers enjoined by their church. That is all; +and yet in that one picture the sorrows, the toils, and the +consolations of the needy French peasantry are summed up in a single +glimpse of a pair of working and praying partners. + +Millet died somewhat suddenly in 1875. Strong and hearty as he was, +even the sturdy health of the Norman peasant had been undermined by the +long hardships of his early struggles, and his constitution gave way at +last with comparative rapidity. Still, he had lived long enough to see +his fame established, to enjoy ten years of ease and honour, and to +find his work cordially admired by all those for whose admiration he +could have cared to make an effort. After his death, the pictures and +unfinished sketches in his studio were sold for 321,000 francs, a +little less than L13,000. The peasant boy of Greville had at last +conquered all the difficulties which obstructed his path, and had +fought his own way to fame and dignity. And in so fighting, he had +steadily resisted the temptation to pander to the low and coarse taste +in art of the men by whom he was surrounded. In spite of cold, and +hunger, and poverty, he had gone on trying to put upon his canvas the +purer, truer, and higher ideas with which his own beautiful soul was +profoundly animated. In that endeavour he nobly succeeded. While too +many contemporary French pictures are vicious and sensual in tone and +feeling, every one of Millet's pictures is a sermon in colour--a thing +to make us sympathize more deeply with our kind, and to send us away, +saddened perhaps, yet ennobled and purified. + + + + +VI. + +JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY. + + +At the present time, the neighbourhood of Cleveland, Ohio, the busiest +town along the southern shore of Lake Erie, may fairly rank as one of +the richest agricultural districts in all America. But when Abram +Garfield settled down in the township of Orange in 1830, it was one of +the wildest and most unpeopled woodland regions in the whole of the +United States. Pioneers from the older states had only just begun to +make little clearings for themselves in the unbroken forest; and land +was still so cheap that Abram Garfield was able to buy himself a tract +of fifty acres for no more than L20. His brother-in-law's family +removed there with him; and the whole strength of the two households +was immediately employed in building a rough log hut for their common +accommodation, where both the Garfields and the Boyntons lived together +during the early days of their occupation. The hut consisted of a mere +square box, made by piling logs on top of one another, the spaces +between being filled with mud, while the roof was formed of loose stone +slabs. Huts of that sort are everywhere common among the isolation of +the American backwoods; and isolated indeed they were, for the +Garfields' nearest neighbours, when they first set up house, lived as +far as seven miles away, across the uncleared forest. + +When Abram Garfield came to this lonely lodge in the primaeval +woodlands, he had one son and one daughter. In 1831, the year after his +removal to his new home, a second boy was born into the family, whom +his father named James Abram. Before the baby was eighteen months old, +the father died, and was buried alone, after the only possible fashion +among such solitary settlers, in a corner of the wheat field which he +himself had cleared of its stumps. A widow's life is always a hard one, +but in such a country and under such conditions it is even harder and +more lonely than elsewhere. Mrs. Garfield's eldest boy, Thomas, was +only eleven years old; and with the aid of this one ineffectual helper, +she managed herself to carry on the farm for many years. Only those who +know the hard toil of a raw American township can have any idea what +that really means. A farmer's work in America is not like a farmer's +work in England. The man who occupies the soil is there at once his own +landlord and his own labourer; and he has to contend with nature as +nobody in England has had to contend with it for the last five +centuries at least. He finds the land covered with trees, which he has +first to fell and sell as timber; then he must dig or burn out the +stumps; clear the plot of boulders and large stones; drain it, fence +it, plough it, and harrow it; build barns for the produce and sheds for +the cows; in short, _make_ his farm, instead of merely _taking_ it. +This is labour from which many strong men shrink in dismay, especially +those who have come out fresh from a civilized and fully occupied land. +For a woman and a boy, it is a task that seems almost above their +utmost powers. Nevertheless, Mrs. Garfield and her son did not fail +under it. With her own hands, the mother split up the young trees into +rude triangular rails to make the rough snake fences of the +country--mere zigzags of wood laid one bit above the other; while the +lad worked away bravely at sowing fall and spring wheat, hoeing Indian +corn, and building a little barn for the harvest before the arrival of +the long cold Ohio winter. To such a family did the future President +originally belong; and with them he must have shared those strong +qualities of perseverance and industry which more than anything else at +length secured his ultimate success in life. + +For James Garfield's history differs greatly in one point from that of +most other famous working men, whose stories have been told in this +volume. There is no reason to believe that he was a man of exceptional +or commanding intellect. On the contrary, his mental powers appear to +have been of a very respectable but quite ordinary and commonplace +order. It was not by brilliant genius that James Garfield made his way +up in life; it was rather by hard work, unceasing energy, high +principle, and generous enthusiasm for the cause of others. Some of the +greatest geniuses among working men, such as Burns, Tannahill, and +Chatterton, though they achieved fame, and though they have enriched +the world with many touching and beautiful works, must be considered to +have missed success in life, so far as their own happiness was +concerned, by their unsteadiness, want of self-control, or lack of +fixed principle. Garfield, on the other hand, was not a genius; but by +his sterling good qualities he nevertheless achieved what cannot but be +regarded as a true success, and left an honourable name behind him in +the history of his country. + +However poor an American township may be, it is seldom too poor to +afford its children a moderate and humble education. While James +Garfield was still very young, the settlers in the neighbourhood +decided to import a schoolmaster, whom they "boarded about" between +them, after a fashion very common in rural western districts. The +school-house was only a log hut; the master was a lad of twenty; and +the textbooks were of the very meagrest sort. But at least James +Garfield was thus enabled to read and write, which after all is the +great first step on the road to all possible promotion. The raw, +uncouth Yankee lad who taught the Ohio boys, slept at Widow Garfield's, +with Thomas and James; and the sons of the neighbouring settlers worked +on the farm during the summer months, but took lessons when the long +ice and snow of winter along the lake shore put a stop almost entirely +for the time to their usual labours. + +James continued at school till he was twelve years old, and then, his +brother Thomas (being by that time twenty-one) went away by agreement +still further west to Michigan, leaving young Jim to take his place +upon the little farm. The fences were all completed by this time; the +barn was built, the ground was fairly brought under cultivation, and it +required comparatively little labour to keep the land cropped after the +rough fashion which amply satisfies American pioneers, with no rent to +pay, and only their bare living to make out of the soil. Thomas was +going to fell trees in Michigan, to clear land there for a farmer; and +he proposed to use his earnings (when he got them) for the purpose of +building a "frame house" (that is to say, a house built of planks) +instead of the existing log hut. It must be added, in fairness, that +hard as were the circumstances under which the young Garfields lived, +they were yet lucky in their situation in a new country, where wages +were high, and where the struggle for life is far less severe or +competitive than in old settled lands like France and England. Thomas, +in fact; would get boarded for nothing in Michigan, and so would be +able easily to save almost all his high wages for the purpose of +building the frame house. + +So James had to take to the farm in summer, while in the winter he +began to work as a sort of amateur carpenter in a small way. As yet he +had lived entirely in the backwoods, and had never seen a town or even +a village; but his education in practical work had begun from his very +babyhood, and he was handy after the usual fashion of American or +colonial boys--ready to turn his hand to anything that happened to +present itself. In new countries, where everybody has not got +neighbours and workmen within call, such rough-and-ready handiness is +far more common than in old England. The one carpenter of the +neighbourhood asked James to help him, on the proud day when Tom +brought back his earnings from Michigan, and set about the building of +the frame house, for which he had already collected the unhewn timber. +From that first beginning, by the time he was thirteen, James was +promoted to assist in building a barn; and he might have taken +permanently to a carpenter's life, had it not been that his boyish +passion for reading had inspired him with an equal passion for going to +sea. He had read Marryatt's novels and other sailor tales--what boy has +not?--and he was fired with the usual childish desire to embark upon +that wonderful life of chasing buccaneers, fighting pirates, capturing +prizes, or hunting hidden treasure, which is a lad's brilliantly +coloured fancy picture of an everyday sailor's wet, cold, cheerless +occupation. + +At last, when James was about fifteen, his longing for the sea grew so +strong that his mother, by way of a compromise, allowed him to go and +try his luck with the Lake Erie captains at Cleveland. Shipping on the +great lakes, where one can see neither bank from the middle of the wide +blue sheet of water, and where wrecks are unhappily as painfully +frequent as on our own coasts, was quite sufficiently like going to sea +to suit the adventurous young backwoodsman to the top of his bent. But +when he got to Cleveland, a fortunate disappointment awaited him. The +Cleveland captains declined his services in such vigorous seafaring +language (not unmixed with many unnecessary oaths), that he was glad +enough to give up the idea of sailoring, and take a place as driver of +a canal boat from Cleveland to Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, the boat +being under the charge of one of his own cousins. Copper ore was then +largely mined on Lake Superior, where it is very abundant, carried by +ship to Cleveland, down the chain of lakes, and there transferred to +canal boats, which took it on to Pittsburg, the centre of a great coal +and manufacturing district in Pennsylvania, to be smelted and employed +in various local arts. Young Garfield stuck for a little while to the +canal business. He plodded along wearily upon the bank, driving his +still wearier horse before him, and carrying ore down to Pittsburg with +such grace as he best might; but it didn't somehow quite come up to his +fancy picture of the seaman's life. It was dull and monotonous, and he +didn't care for it much. In genuine American language, "he didn't find +it up to sample." The sea might be very well in its way; but a canal +was a very different matter indeed. So after a fair trial, James +finally gave the business up, and returned to his mother on the little +homestead, ill and tired with his long tramping. + +While he was at home, the schoolmaster of the place, who saw that the +lad had abilities, was never tired of urging him to go to school, and +do himself justice by getting himself a first-rate education, or at +least as good a one as could be obtained in America. James was ready +enough to take this advice, if the means were forthcoming; but how was +he to do so? "Oh, that's easy enough," said young Bates, the master. +"You'll only have to work out of hours as a carpenter, take odd jobs in +your vacations, live plainly, and there you are." In England there are +few schools where such a plan would be practicable; but in +rough-and-ready America, where self-help is no disgrace, there are +many, and they are all well attended. In the neighbouring town of +Chester, a petty Baptist sect had started a young school which they +named Geauga Seminary (there are no plain schools in America--they are +all "academies" or "institutes"); and to this simple place young +Garfield went, to learn and work as best he might for his own +advancement. A very strange figure he must then have cut, indeed; for a +person who saw him at the time described him as wearing a pair of +trousers he had long outworn, rough cow-hide boots, a waistcoat much +too short for him, and a thread-bare coat, with sleeves that only +reached a little below the elbows. Of such stuff as that, with a stout +heart and an eager brain, the budding presidents of the United States +are sometimes made. + +James soon found himself humble lodgings at an old woman's in Chester, +and he also found himself a stray place at a carpenter's shop in the +town, where he was able to do three hours' work out of school time +every day, besides giving up the whole of his Saturday holiday to +regular labour. It was hard work, this schooling and carpentering side +by side; but James throve upon it; and at the end of the first term he +was not only able to pay all his bill for board and lodging, but also +to carry home a few dollars in his pocket by way of savings. + +James stopped three years at the "seminary" at Chester; and in the +holidays he employed himself by teaching in the little township schools +among the country districts. There is generally an opening for young +students to earn a little at such times by instructing younger boys +than themselves in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the +surrounding farmers, who want schooling for their boys, are glad enough +to take the master in on the "boarding round" system, for the sake of +his usefulness in overlooking the lads in the preparation of their home +lessons. It is a simple patriarchal life, very different from anything +we know in England; and though Ohio was by this time a far more settled +and populated place than when Abram Garfield first went there, it was +still quite possible to manage in this extremely primitive and family +fashion. The fact is, though luxuries were comparatively unknown, food +was cheap and abundant; and a young teacher who was willing to put his +heart into his work could easily earn more than enough to live upon in +rough comfort. Sometimes the school-house was a mere log hut, like that +in which young Garfield had been born; but, at any rate, it was work to +do, and food to eat, and that alone was a great thing for a lad who +meant to make his own way in the world by his own exertions. + +Near the end of his third year at Chester, James met, quite +accidentally, with a young man who had come from a little embryo +"college," of the sort so common in rising American towns, at a place +called Hiram in Ohio. American schools are almost as remarkable as +American towns for the oddity and ugliness of their names; and this +"college" was known by the queer and meaningless title of the "Eclectic +Institute." It was conducted by an obscure sect who dub themselves "The +Disciples' Church," to which young Garfield's father and mother had +both belonged. His casual acquaintance urged upon him strongly the +desirability of attending the institute; and James, who had already +begun to learn Latin, and wished to learn more, was easily persuaded to +try this particular school rather than any other. + +In August, 1851, James Garfield, then aged nearly twenty, presented +himself at the "Eclectic Institute," in the farm-labourer's clothes +which were his only existing raiment. He asked to see the "president" +of the school, and told him plainly that he wished to come there for +education, but that he was poor, and if he came, he must work for his +living. "What can you do?" asked the president. "Sweep the floors, +light the fires, ring the bell, and make myself generally useful," +answered the young backwoodsman. The president, pleased with his +eagerness, promised to try him for a fortnight; and at the end of the +fortnight, Garfield had earned his teaching so well that he was excused +from all further fees during the remainder of his stay at the little +institute. His post was by no mean an easy one, for he was +servant-of-all-work as well as student; but he cared very little for +that as long as he could gain the means for self-improvement. + +Hiram was a small town, as ugly as its name. Twelve miles from a +railway, a mere agricultural centre, of the rough back-country sort, +all brand new and dreary looking, with a couple of wooden churches, +half a dozen wooden shops, two new intersecting streets with wooden +sidewalks, and that was all. The "institute" was a square brick block, +planted incongruously in the middle of an Indian-corn plantation; and +the students were the sons and daughters of the surrounding farmers, +for (as in most western schools) both sexes were here educated together. + +But the place suited Garfield far better than an older and more +dignified university would have done. The other students knew no more +than he did, so that he did not feel himself at a disadvantage; they +were dressed almost as plainly as himself; and during the time he was +at Hiram he worked away with a will at Latin, Greek, and the higher +mathematics, so as to qualify himself for a better place hereafter. +Meanwhile, the local carpenter gave him plenty of planing to do, with +which he managed to pay his way; and as he had to rise before five +every morning to ring the first bell, he was under no danger of +oversleeping himself. By 1853, he had made so much progress in his +studies that he was admitted as a sort of pupil teacher, giving +instruction himself in the English department and in rudimentary Greek +and Latin, while he went on with his own studies with the aid of the +other teachers. + +James had now learnt as much as the little "Eclectic Institute" could +possibly teach him, and he began to think of going to some better +college in the older-settled and more cultivated eastern states, where +he might get an education somewhat higher than was afforded him by the +raw "seminaries" and "academies" of his native Ohio. True, his own +sect, the "Disciples' Church," had got up a petty university of their +own, "Bethany College"--such self-styled colleges swarm all over the +United States; but James didn't much care for the idea of going to it. +"I was brought up among the Disciples," he said; "I have mixed chiefly +among them; I know little of other people; it will enlarge my views and +give me more liberal feelings if I try a college elsewhere, conducted +otherwise; if I see a little of the rest of the world." Moreover, those +were stirring times in the States. The slavery question was beginning +to come uppermost. The men of the free states in the north and west +were beginning to say among themselves that they would no longer +tolerate that terrible blot upon American freedom--the enslavement of +four million negroes in the cotton-growing south. James Garfield felt +all his soul stirred within him by this great national problem--the +greatest that any modern nation has ever had to solve for itself. Now, +his own sect, the Disciples, and their college, Bethany, were strongly +tinctured with a leaning in favour of slavery, which young James +Garfield utterly detested. So he made up his mind to having nothing to +do with the accursed thing, but to go east to some New England college, +where he would mix among men of culture, and where he would probably +find more congenial feelings on the slavery question. + +Before deciding, he wrote to three eastern colleges, amongst others to +Yale, the only American university which by its buildings and +surroundings can lay any claim to compare, even at a long distance, in +beauty and associations, with the least among European universities. +The three colleges gave him nearly similar answers; but one of them, in +addition to the formal statement of terms and so forth, added the short +kindly sentence, "If you come here, we shall be glad to do what we can +for you." It was only a small polite phrase; but it took the heart of +the rough western boy. If other things were about the same, he said, he +would go to the college which offered him, as it were, a friendly grasp +of the hand. He had saved a little money at Hiram; and he proposed now +to go on working for his living, as he had hitherto done, side by side +with his regular studies. But his brother, who was always kind and +thoughtful to him, would not hear of this. Thomas had prospered +meanwhile in his own small way, and he insisted upon lending James such +a sum as would cover his necessary expenses for two years at an eastern +university. James insured his life for the amount, so that Thomas might +not be a loser by his brotherly generosity in case of his death before +repayment could be made; and then, with the money safe in his pocket, +he started off for his chosen goal, the Williams College, in one of the +most beautiful and hilly parts of Massachusetts. + +During the three years that Garfield was at this place, he studied hard +and regularly, so much so that at one time his brain showed symptoms of +giving way under the constant strain. In the vacations, he took a trip +into Vermont, a romantic mountain state, where he opened a writing +school at a little country village; and another into the New York +State, where he engaged himself in a similar way at a small town on the +banks of the lovely Hudson river. At college, in spite of his rough +western dress and manners, he earned for himself the reputation of a +thoroughly good fellow. Indeed, geniality and warmth of manner, +qualities always much prized by the social American people, were very +marked traits throughout of Garfield's character, and no doubt helped +him greatly in after life in rising to the high summit which he finally +reached. It was here, too, that he first openly identified himself with +the anti-slavery party, which was then engaged in fighting out the +important question whether any new slave states should be admitted to +the Union. Charles Sumner, the real grand central figure of that noble +struggle, was at that moment thundering in Congress against the +iniquitous extension of the slave-holding area, and was employing all +his magnificent powers to assail the abominable Fugitive Slave Bill, +for the return of runaway negroes, who escaped north, into the hands of +their angry masters. The American colleges are always big debating +societies, where questions of politics are regularly argued out among +the students; and Garfield put himself at the head of the anti-slavery +movement at his own little university. He spoke upon the subject +frequently before the assembled students, and gained himself a +considerable reputation, not only as a zealous advocate of the rights +of the negro, but also as an eloquent orator and a powerful +argumentative debater. + +In 1856, Garfield took his degree at Williams College, and had now +finished his formal education. By that time, he was a fair though not a +great scholar, competently read in the Greek and Latin literatures, and +with a good knowledge of French and German. He was now nearly +twenty-five years old; and his experience was large and varied enough +to make him already into a man of the world. He had been farmer, +carpenter, canal driver, and student; he had seen the primitive life of +the forest, and the more civilized society of the Atlantic shore; he +had taught in schools in many states; he had supported himself for +years by his own labours; and now, at an age when many young men are, +as a rule, only just beginning life on their own account, he had +practically raised himself from his own class into the class of +educated and cultivated gentlemen. As soon as he had taken his degree, +his old friends, the trustees of the "Eclectic Institute" at Hiram, +proud of their former sweeper and bell-ringer, called him back at a +good salary as teacher of Greek and Latin. It was then just ten years +since he had toiled wearily along the tow-path of the Ohio and +Pennsylvania Canal. + +As a teacher, Garfield seems to have been eminently successful. His +genial character and good-natured way of explaining things made him a +favourite at once with the rough western lads he had to teach, who +would perhaps have thought a more formal teacher stiff and stuck-up. +Garfield was one of themselves; he knew their ways and their manners; +he could make allowances for their awkwardness and bluntness of speech; +he could adopt towards them the exact tone which put them at home at +once with their easy-going instructor. Certainly, he inspired all his +pupils with an immense love and devotion for him; and it is less easy +to inspire those feelings in a sturdy Ohio farmer than in most other +varieties of the essentially affectionate human species. + +From 1857 to 1861, Garfield remained at Hiram, teaching and working +very hard. His salary, though a good one for the time and place, was +still humble according to our English notions; but it sufficed for his +needs; and as yet it would have seemed hardly credible that in only +twenty years the Ohio schoolmaster would rise to be President of the +United States. Indeed, it is only in America, that country of +peculiarly unencumbered political action, where every kind of talent is +most rapidly recognized and utilized, that this particular form of +swift promotion is really possible. But while Garfield was still at his +Institute, he was taking a vigorous part in local politics, especially +on the slavery question. Whenever there was a political meeting at +Hiram, the young schoolmaster was always called upon to take the +anti-slavery side; and he delivered himself so effectively upon this +favourite topic that he began to be looked upon as a rising political +character. In America, politics are less confined to any one class than +in Europe; and there would be nothing unusual in the selection of a +schoolmaster who could talk to a seat in the local or general +legislature. The practice of paying members makes it possible for +comparatively poor men to offer themselves as candidates; and politics +are thus a career, in the sense of a livelihood, far more than in any +other country. + +In 1858, Garfield married a lady who had been a fellow-student of his +in earlier days, and to whom he had been long engaged. In the +succeeding year, he got an invitation which greatly pleased and +flattered him. The authorities at Williams College asked him to deliver +the "Master's Oration" at their annual festival; an unusual compliment +to pay to so young a man, and one who had so recently taken his degree. +It was the first opportunity he had ever had for a pleasure-trip, and +taking his young wife with him (proud indeed, we may be sure, at this +earliest honour of his life, the precursor of so many more) he went to +Massachusetts by a somewhat roundabout but very picturesque route, down +the Great Lakes, through the Thousand Islands, over the St. Lawrence +rapids, and on to Quebec, the only town in America which from its +old-world look can lay claim to the sort of beauty which so many +ancient European cities abundantly possess. He delivered his address +with much applause and returned to his Ohio home well satisfied with +this pleasant outing. + +Immediately on his return, the speech-making schoolmaster was met by a +very sudden and unexpected request that he would allow himself to be +nominated for the State legislature. Every state of the Union has its +own separate little legislative body, consisting of two houses; and it +was to the upper of these, the Senate of Ohio, that James Garfield was +asked to become a candidate. The schoolmaster consented; and as those +were times of very great excitement, when the South was threatening to +secede if a President hostile to the slave-owning interest was elected, +the contest was fought out almost entirely along those particular +lines. Garfield was returned as senator by a large majority, and took +his seat in the Ohio Senate in January, 1860. There, his voice was +always raised against slavery, and he was recognized at once as one of +the ablest speakers in the whole legislature. + +In 1861, the great storm burst over the States. In the preceding +November, Abraham Lincoln had been elected President. Lincoln was +himself, like Garfield, a self-made man, who had risen from the very +same pioneer labourer class;--a wood-cutter and rail-splitter in the +backwoods of Illinois, he had become a common boatman on the +Mississippi, and had there improved his mind by reading eagerly in all +his spare moments. With one of those rapid rises so commonly made by +self-taught lads in America, he had pushed his way into the Illinois +legislature by the time he was twenty-five, and qualified himself to +practise as a barrister at Springfield. His shrewd original talents had +raised him with wonderful quickness into the front ranks of his own +party; and when the question between the North and South rose into the +region of practical politics, Lincoln was selected by the republicans +(the anti-slavery group) as their candidate for the Presidency of the +United States. This selection was a very significant one in several +ways; Lincoln was a very strong opponent of slavery, and his +candidature showed the southern slaveowners that if the Republicans +were successful in the contest, a vigorous move against the +slave-holding oligarchy would at once be made. But it was also +significant in the fact that Lincoln was a western man; it was a sign +that the farmers and grangers of the agricultural west were beginning +to wake up politically and throw themselves into the full current of +American State affairs. On both these grounds, Lincoln's nomination +must have been deeply interesting to Garfield, whose own life had been +so closely similar, and who was destined, twenty years later, to follow +him to the same goal. + +Lincoln was duly elected, and the southern states began to secede. The +firing upon Fort Sumter by the South Carolina secessionists was the +first blow struck in that terrible war. Every man who was privileged to +live in America at that time (like the present writer) cannot recall +without a glow of recollection the memory of the wild eagerness with +which the North answered that note of defiance, and went forth with +overpowering faith and eagerness to fight the good fight on behalf of +human freedom. Such a spontaneous outburst of the enthusiasm of +humanity has never been known, before or since. President Lincoln +immediately called for a supply of seventy-five thousand men. In the +Ohio Senate, his message was read amid tumultuous applause; and the +moment the sound of the cheers died away, Garfield, as natural +spokesman of the republican party, sprang to his feet, and moved in a +short and impassioned speech that the state of Ohio should contribute +twenty thousand men and three million dollars as its share in the +general preparations. The motion was immediately carried with the +wildest demonstrations of fervour, and Ohio, with all the rest of the +North, rose like one man to put down by the strong hand the hideous +traffic in human flesh and blood. + +During those fiery and feverish days, every citizen of the loyal states +felt himself to be, in reserve at least, a possible soldier. It was +necessary to raise, drill, and render effective in an incredibly short +time a large army; and it would have been impossible to do so had it +not been for the eager enthusiasm with which civilians of every sort +enlisted, and threw themselves into their military duties with almost +incredible devotion. Garfield felt that he must bear his own part in +the struggle by fighting it out, not in the Senate but on the field; +and his first move was to obtain a large quantity of arms from the +arsenal in the doubtfully loyal state of Missouri. In this mission he +was completely successful; and he was next employed to raise and +organize two new regiments of Ohio infantry. Garfield, of course, knew +absolutely nothing of military matters at that time; but it was not a +moment to stand upon questions of precedence or experience; the born +organizers came naturally to the front, and Garfield was one of them. +Indeed, the faculty for organization seems innate in the American +people, so that when it became necessary to raise and equip so large a +body of men at a few weeks' notice, the task was undertaken offhand by +lawyers, doctors, shopkeepers, and schoolmasters, without a minute's +hesitation, and was performed on the whole with distinguished success. + +When Garfield had organized his regiments, the Governor asked him to +accept the post of colonel to one of them. But Garfield at first +mistrusted his own powers in this direction. How should he, who had +hitherto been poring chiefly over the odes of Horace (his favourite +poet), now take so suddenly to leading a thousand men into actual +battle? He would accept only a subordinate position, he said, if a +regular officer of the United States army, trained at the great +military academy at West Point, was placed in command. So the Governor +told him to go among his own farmer friends in his native district, and +recruit a third regiment, promising to find him a West Point man as +colonel, if one was available. Garfield accepted the post of +lieutenant-colonel, raised the 42nd Ohio regiment, chiefly among his +own old pupils at Hiram, and set off for the seat of operations. At the +last moment the Governor failed to find a regular officer to lead these +raw recruits, every available man being already occupied, and Garfield +found himself, against his will, compelled to undertake the responsible +task of commanding the regiment. He accepted the task thus thrust upon +him, and as if by magic transformed himself at once from a schoolmaster +into an able soldier. + +In less than one month, Colonel Garfield took his raw troops into +action in the battle of Middle Creek, and drove the Confederate General +Marshall, with far larger numbers, out of his intrenchments, compelling +him to retreat into Virginia. This timely victory did much to secure +the northern advance along the line of the Mississippi. During the +whole of the succeeding campaign Garfield handled his regiment with +such native skill and marked success that the Government appointed him +Brigadier-General for his bravery and military talent. In spite of all +his early disadvantages, he had been the youngest member of the Ohio +Senate, and now he was the youngest general in the whole American army. + +Shortly after, the important victory of Chickamauga was gained almost +entirely by the energy and sagacity of General Garfield. For this +service, he was raised one degree in dignity, receiving his commission +as Major-General. He served altogether only two years and three months +in the army. + +But while Garfield was at the head of his victorious troops in +Kentucky, his friends in Ohio were arranging, without his consent or +knowledge, to call him away to a very different sphere of work. They +nominated Garfield as their candidate for the United States House of +Representatives at Washington. The General himself was unwilling to +accede to their request, when it reached him. He thought he could serve +the country better in the field than in Congress. Besides, he was still +a comparatively poor man. His salary as Major-General was double that +of a member of the House; and for his wife's and children's sake he +hesitated to accept the lesser position. Had he continued in the army +to the end of the war, he would doubtless have risen to the very +highest honours of that stirring epoch. But President Lincoln was very +anxious that Garfield should come into the Congress, where his presence +would greatly strengthen the President's hands; and with a generous +self-denial which well bespeaks his thorough loyalty, Garfield gave up +his military post and accepted a place in the House of Representatives. +He took his seat in December, 1863. + +For seventeen years, General Garfield sat in the general legislature of +the United States as one of the members for Ohio. During all that time, +he distinguished himself most honourably as the fearless advocate of +honest government, and the pronounced enemy of those underhand dodges +and wire-pulling machinery which are too often the disgrace of American +politics. He was opposed to all corruption and chicanery, especially to +the bad system of rewarding political supporters with places under +Government, which has long been the chief blot upon American republican +institutions. As a person of stalwart honesty and singleness of +purpose, he made himself respected by both sides alike. Politically +speaking, different men will judge very differently of Garfield's acts +in the House of Representatives. Englishmen especially cannot fail to +remark that his attitude towards ourselves was almost always one of +latent hostility; but it is impossible for anybody to deny that his +conduct was uniformly guided by high principle, and a constant +deference to what he regarded as the right course of action. + +In 1880, when General Garfield had already risen to be the acknowledged +leader of the House of Representatives, his Ohio supporters put him in +nomination for the upper chamber, the Senate. They wished Garfield to +come down to the state capital and canvas for support; but this the +General would not hear of. "I never asked for any place yet," he said, +"except the post of bell-ringer and general sweeper at the Hiram +Institute, and I won't ask for one now." But at least, his friends +urged, he would be on the spot to encourage and confer with his +partisans. No, Garfield answered; if they wished to elect him they must +elect him in his absence; he would avoid all appearance, even, of +angling for office. The result was that all the other candidates +withdrew, and Garfield was elected by acclamation. + +After the election he went down to Ohio and delivered a speech to his +constituents, a part of which strikingly illustrates the courage and +independence of the backwoods schoolmaster. "During the twenty years +that I have been in public life," he said, "almost eighteen of it in +the Congress of the United States, I have tried to do one thing. +Whether I was mistaken or otherwise, it has been the plan of my life to +follow my conviction, at whatever personal cost to myself. I have +represented for many years a district in Congress whose approbation I +greatly desired; but though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotistical +to say it, I yet desired still more the approbation of one person, and +his name was Garfield. He is the only man that I am compelled to sleep +with, and eat with, and live with, and die with; and if I could not +have his approbation I should have bad companionship." + +Only one higher honour could now fall to the lot of a citizen of the +United States. The presidency was the single post to which Garfield's +ambition could still aspire. That honour came upon him, like all the +others, without his seeking; and it came, too, quite unexpectedly. Five +months later, in the summer of 1880, the National Republican Convention +met to select a candidate for their party at the forthcoming +presidential election. Every four years, before the election, each +party thus meets to decide upon the man to whom its votes will be given +at the final choice. After one or two ineffectual attempts to secure +unanimity in favour of other and more prominent politicians, the +Convention with one accord chose James Garfield for its candidate--a +nomination which was quite as great a surprise to Garfield himself as +to all the rest of the world. He was elected President of the United +States in November, 1880. + +It was a marvellous rise for the poor canal boy, the struggling +student, the obscure schoolmaster, thus to find himself placed at the +head of one among the greatest nations of the earth. He was still less +than fifty, and he might reasonably have looked forward to many years +of a happy, useful, and honourable life. Nevertheless, it is impossible +to feel that Garfield's death was other than a noble and enviable one. +He was cut off suddenly in the very moment of his brightest success, +before the cares and disappointments of office had begun to dim the +pleasure of his first unexpected triumph. He died a martyr to a good +and honest cause, and his death-bed was cheered and alleviated by the +hushed sorrow and sympathy of an entire nation--one might almost +truthfully add, of the whole civilized world. + +From the first, President Garfield set his face sternly against the bad +practice of rewarding political adherents by allowing them to nominate +officials in the public service--a species of covert corruption +sanctioned by long usage in the United States. This honest and +independent conduct raised up for him at once a host of enemies among +his own party. The talk which they indulged in against the President +produced a deep effect upon a half-crazy and wildly egotistic +French-Canadian of the name of Guiteau, who had emigrated to the States +and become an American citizen. General Garfield had arranged a trip to +New England in the summer of 1881, to attend the annual festival at his +old school, the Williams College, Massachusetts; and for that purpose +he left the White House (the President's official residence at +Washington) on July 2. As he stood in the station of the Baltimore and +Potomac Railway, arm in arm with Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, +Guiteau approached him casually, and, drawing out a pistol, fired two +shots in rapid succession, one of which took effect on the President +above the third rib. The assassin was at once secured, and the wounded +President was carried back carefully to the White House. + +Almost everybody who reads this book will remember the long suspense, +while the President lay stretched upon his bed for weeks and weeks +together, with all Europe and America watching anxiously for any sign +of recovery, and sympathizing deeply with the wounded statesman and his +devoted wife. Every effort that was possible was made to save him, but +the wound was past all surgical skill. After lingering long with the +stored-up force of a good constitution, James Garfield passed away at +last of blood-poisoning, more deeply regretted perhaps than any other +man whom the present generation can remember. + +It is only in America that precisely such a success as Garfield's is +possible for people who spring, as he did, from the midst of the +people. In old-settled and wealthy countries we must be content, at +best, with slower and less lofty promotion. But the lesson of +Garfield's life is not for America only, but for the whole world of +workers everywhere. The same qualities which procured his success there +will produce a different, but still a solid success, anywhere else. As +Garfield himself fittingly put it, with his usual keen American common +sense, "There is no more common thought among young people than the +foolish one, that by-and-by something will turn up by which they will +suddenly achieve fame or fortune. No, young gentlemen; things don't +turn up in this world unless somebody turns them up." + + + + +VII. + +THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER. + + +It is the object of this volume to set forth the lives of working men +who through industry, perseverance, and high principle have raised +themselves by their own exertions from humble beginnings. Raised +themselves! Yes; but to what? Not merely, let us hope, to wealth and +position, not merely to worldly respect and high office, but to some +conspicuous field of real usefulness to their fellow men. Those whose +lives we have hitherto examined did so raise themselves by their own +strenuous energy and self-education. Either, like Garfield and +Franklin, they served the State zealously in peace or war; or else, +like Stephenson and Telford, they improved human life by their +inventions and engineering works; or, again, like Herschel and +Fraunhofer, they added to the wide field of scientific knowledge; or +finally, like Millet and Gibson, they beautified the world with their +noble and inspiring artistic productions. But in every one of these +cases, the men whose lives we have been here considering did actually +rise, sooner or later, from the class of labourers into some other +class socially and monetarily superior to it. Though they did great +good in other ways to others, they did still as a matter of fact +succeed themselves in quitting the rank in which they were born, and +rising to some other rank more or less completely above it. + +Now, it will be clear to everybody that so long as our present social +arrangements exist, it must be impossible for the vast mass of +labouring men ever to do anything of the sort. It is to be desired, +indeed, that every labouring man should by industry and thrift secure +independence in the end for himself and his family; but however much +that may be the case, it will still rest certain that the vast mass of +men will necessarily remain workers to the last; and that no attempt to +raise individual working men above their own class into the +professional or mercantile classes can ever greatly benefit the working +masses as a whole. What is most of all desirable is that the condition, +the aims; and the tastes of working men, as working men, should be +raised and bettered; that without necessarily going outside their own +ranks, they should become more prudent, more thrifty, better educated, +and wider-minded than many of their predecessors have been in the past. +Under such circumstances, it is surely well to set before ourselves +some examples of working men who, while still remaining members of +their own class, have in the truest and best sense "raised themselves" +so as to attain the respect and admiration of others whether their +equals or superiors in the artificial scale. Dr. Smiles, who has done +much to illustrate the history of the picked men among the labouring +orders, has chosen two or three lives of such a sort for investigation, +and from them we may select a single one as an example of a working +man's career rendered conspicuous by qualities other than those that +usually secure external success. + +Thomas Edward, associate of the Linnean Society, though a Scotchman all +his life long, was accidentally born (so to speak) at Gosport, near +Portsmouth, on Christmas Day, 1814. His father was in the Fifeshire +militia and in those warlike days, when almost all the regulars were on +the Continent, fighting Napoleon, militia regiments used to be ordered +about the country from one place to another, to watch the coast or +mount guard over the French prisoners, in the most unaccountable +fashion. So it happened, oddly enough, that Thomas Edward, a Scotchman +of the Scotch, was born close under the big forts of Portsmouth harbour. + +After Waterloo, however, the Fifeshire regiment was sent home again; +and the militia being before long disbanded, John Edward, our hero's +father, went to live at Aberdeen, where he plied his poor trade of a +hand-loom linen weaver for many years. It was on the green at Aberdeen, +surrounded by small labourers' cottages, that Thomas Edward passed his +early days. From his babyhood, almost, the boy had a strong love for +all the beasties he saw everywhere around him; a fondness for birds and +animals, and a habit of taming them which can seldom be acquired, but +which seems with some people to come instinctively by nature. While Tam +was still quite a child, he loved to wander by himself out into the +country, along the green banks of the Dee, or among the tidal islands +at the mouth of the river, overgrown by waving seaweeds, and fringed +with great white bunches of blossoming scurvy-grass. He loved to hunt +for crabs and sea-anemones beside the ebbing channels, or to watch the +jelly-fish left high and dry upon the shore by the retreating water. +Already, in his simple way, the little ragged bare-footed Scotch laddie +was at heart a born naturalist. + +Very soon, Tam was not content with looking at the "venomous beasts," +as the neighbours called them, but he must needs begin to bring them +home, and set up a small aquarium and zoological garden on his own +account. All was fish that came to Tam's net: tadpoles, newts, and +stickleback from the ponds, beetles from the dung-heaps, green crabs +from the sea-shore--nay, even in time such larger prizes as hedgehogs, +moles, and nestfuls of birds. Nothing delighted him so much as to be +out in the fields, hunting for and taming these his natural pets. + +Unfortunately, Tam's father and mother did not share the boy's passion +for nature, and instead of encouraging him in pursuing his inborn +taste, they scolded him and punished him bitterly for bringing home the +nasty creatures. But nothing could win away Tam from the love of the +beasties; and in the end, he had his own way, and lived all his life, +as he himself afterwards beautifully put it, "a fool to nature." Too +often, unhappily, fathers and mothers thus try to check the best +impulses in their children, under mistaken notions of right, and +especially is this the case in many instances as regards the love of +nature. Children are constantly chidden for taking an interest in the +beautiful works of creation, and so have their first intelligent +inquiries and aspirations chilled at once; when a little care and +sympathy would get rid of the unpleasantness of having white mice or +lizards crawling about the house, without putting a stop to the young +beginner's longing for more knowledge of the wonderful and beautiful +world in whose midst he lives. + +When Tam was nearly five years old, he was sent to school, chiefly no +doubt to get him out of the way; but Scotch schools for the children of +the working classes were in those days very rough hard places, where +the taws or leather strap was still regarded as the chief instrument of +education. Little Edward was not a child to be restrained by that +particular form of discipline; and after he had had two or three +serious tussles with his instructors, he was at last so cruelly beaten +by one of his masters that he refused to return, and his parents, who +were themselves by no means lacking in old Scotch severity, upheld him +in his determination. He had picked up reading by this time, and now +for a while he was left alone to hunt about to his heart's content +among his favourite fields and meadows. But by the time he was six +years old, he felt he ought to be going to work, brave little mortal +that he was; and as his father and mother thought so too, the poor wee +mite was sent to join his elder brother in working at a tobacco factory +in the town, at the wages of fourteen-pence a week. So, for the next +two years, little Tam waited upon a spinner (as the workers are called) +and began life in earnest as a working man. At the end of two years, +however, the brothers heard that better wages were being given, a +couple of miles away, at Grandholm, up the river Don. So off the lads +tramped, one fast-day (a recognized Scotch institution), to ask the +manager of the Grandholm factory if he could give them employment. They +told nobody of their intention, but trudged away on their own account; +and when they came back and told their parents what they had done, the +father was not very well satisfied with the proposal, because he +thought it too far for so small a boy as Tam to walk every day to and +from his work. Tam, however, was very anxious to go, not only on +account of the increased wages, but also (though this was a secret) +because of the beautiful woods and crags round Grandholm, through which +he hoped to wander during the short dinner hour. In the end, John +Edward gave way, and the boys were allowed to follow their own fancy in +going to the new factory. + +It was very hard work; the hours were from six in the morning till +eight at night, for there was no Factory Act then to guard the interest +of helpless children; so the boys had to be up at four in the morning, +and were seldom home again till nine at night. In winter, the snow lies +long and deep on those chilly Aberdeenshire roads, and the east winds +from the German Ocean blow cold and cutting up the narrow valley of the +Don; and it was dreary work toiling along them in the dark of morning +or of night in bleak and cheerless December weather. Still, Tam liked +it on the whole extremely well. His wages were now three shillings a +week; and then, twice a day in summer, there was the beautiful walk to +and fro along the leafy high-road. "People may say of factories what +they please," Edward wrote much later, "but I liked this factory. It +was a happy time for me whilst I remained there. The woods were easy of +access during our meal-hours. What lots of nests! What insects, wild +flowers, and plants, the like of which I had never seen before." The +boy revelled in the beauty of the birds and beasts he saw here, and he +retained a delightful recollection of them throughout his whole after +life. + +This happy time, however, was not to last for ever. When young Edward +was eleven years old, his father took him away from Grandholm, and +apprenticed him to a working shoemaker. The apprenticeship was to go on +for six years; the wages to begin at eighteen-pence a week; and the +hours, too sadly long, to be from six in the morning till nine at +night. Tam's master, one Charles Begg, was a drunken London workman, +who had wandered gradually north; a good shoemaker, but a quarrelsome, +rowdy fellow, loving nothing on earth so much as a round with his fists +on the slightest provocation. From this unpromising teacher, Edward +took his first lessons in the useful art of shoemaking; and though he +learned fast--for he was not slothful in business--he would have +learned faster, no doubt, but for his employer's very drunken and +careless ways. When Begg came home from the public-house, much the +worse for whisky, he would first beat Tam, and then proceed upstairs to +beat his wife. For three years young Edward lived under this +intolerable tyranny, till he could stand it no longer. At last, Begg +beat and ill-treated him so terribly that Tam refused outright to +complete his apprenticeship. Begg was afraid to compel him to do +so--doubtless fearing to expose his ill-usage of the lad. So Tam went +to a new master, a kindly man, with whom he worked in future far more +happily. + +The boy now began to make himself a little botanical garden in the back +yard of his mother's house--a piece of waste ground covered with +rubbish, such as one often sees behind the poorer class of cottages in +towns. Tam determined to alter all that, so he piled up all the stones +into a small rockery, dug up the plot, manured it, and filled it with +wild and garden flowers. The wild flowers, of course, he found in the +woods and hedgerows around him; but the cultivated kinds he got in a +very ingenious fashion, by visiting all the rubbish heaps of the +neighbourhood, on which garden refuse was usually piled. A good many +roots and plants can generally be found in such places, and by digging +them up, Tam was soon able to make himself a number of bright and +lively beds. Such self-help in natural history always lay very much in +Edward's way. + +At the same time, young Edward was now beginning to feel the desire for +knowing something more about the beasts and birds of which he was so +fond. He used to go in all his spare moments among the shops in the +town, to look at the pictures in the windows, especially the pictures +of animals; and though his earnings were still small, he bought a book +whenever he was able to afford one. In those days cheap papers for the +people were only just beginning to come into existence; and Tam, who +was now eighteen, bought the first number of the _Penny Magazine_, an +excellent journal of that time, which he liked so much that he +continued to take in the succeeding numbers. Some of the papers in it +were about natural history, and these, of course, particularly +delighted the young man's heart. He also bought the _Weekly Visitor_, +which he read through over and over again. + +In 1831, when Tam was still eighteen, he enlisted in the Aberdeenshire +militia, and during his brief period of service an amusing circumstance +occurred which well displays the almost irresistible character of +Edward's love of nature. While he was drilling with the awkward squad +one morning, a butterfly of a kind that he had never seen before +happened to flit in front of him as he stood in the ranks. It was a +beautiful large brown butterfly, and Edward was so fascinated by its +appearance that he entirely forgot, in a moment, where he was and what +he was doing. Without a second's thought, he darted wildly out of the +ranks, and rushed after the butterfly, cap in hand. It led him a pretty +chase, over sandhills and shore, for five minutes. He was just on the +point of catching it at last, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand laid +upon his shoulder, and looking round, he saw the corporal of the +company and several soldiers come to arrest him. Such a serious offence +against military discipline might have cost him dear indeed, for +corporals have little sympathy with butterfly hunting; but luckily for +Edward, as he was crossing the parade ground under arrest, he happened +to meet an officer walking with some ladies. The officer asked the +nature of his offence, and when the ladies heard what it was they were +so much interested in such a strange creature as a butterfly-loving +militiaman, that they interceded for him, and finally begged him off +his expected punishment. The story shows us what sort of stuff Edward +was really made of. He felt so deep an interest in all the beautiful +living creatures around him for their own sake, that he could hardly +restrain his feelings even under the most untoward circumstances. + +When Edward was twenty, he removed from Aberdeen to Banff, where he +worked as a journeyman for a new master. The hours were very long, but +by taking advantage of the summer evenings, he was still able to hunt +for his beloved birds, caterpillars, and butterflies. Still, the low +wages in the trade discouraged him much, and he almost made up his mind +to save money and emigrate to America. But one small accident alone +prevented him from carrying out this purpose. Like a good many other +young men, the naturalist shoemaker fell in love. Not only so, but his +falling in love took practical shape a little later in his getting +married; and at twenty-three, the lonely butterfly hunter brought back +a suitable young wife to his little home. The marriage was a very happy +one. Mrs. Edward not only loved her husband deeply, but showed him +sympathy in his favourite pursuits, and knew how to appreciate his +sterling worth. Long afterwards she said, that though many of her +neighbours could not understand her husband's strange behaviour, she +had always felt how much better it was to have one who spent his spare +time on the study of nature than one who spent it on the public-house. + +As soon as Edward got a home of his own, he began to make a regular +collection of all the animals and plants in Banffshire. This was a +difficult thing for him to do, for he knew little of books, and had +access to very few, so that he couldn't even find out the names of all +the creatures he caught and preserved. But, though he didn't always +know what they were called, he did know their natures and habits and +all about them; and such first-hand knowledge in natural history is +really the rarest and the most valuable of all. He saw little of his +fellow-workmen. They were usually a drunken, careless lot; Edward was +sober and thoughtful, and had other things to think of than those that +they cared to talk about with one another. But he went out much into +the fields, with invincible determination, having made up his mind that +he would get to know all about the plants and beasties, however much +the knowledge might cost him. + +For this object, he bought a rusty old gun for four-and-sixpence, and +invested in a few boxes and bottles for catching insects. His working +hours were from six in the morning till nine at night, and for that +long day he always worked hard to support his wife, and (when they +came) his children. He had therefore only the night hours between nine +and six to do all his collecting. Any other man, almost, would have +given up the attempt as hopeless; but Edward resolved never to waste a +single moment or a single penny, and by care and indomitable energy he +succeeded in making his wished-for collection. Sometimes he was out +tramping the whole night; sometimes he slept anyhow, under a hedge or +haystack; sometimes he took up temporary quarters in a barn, an +outhouse, or a ruined castle. But night after night he went on +collecting, whenever he was able; and he watched the habits and manners +of the fox, the badger, the otter, the weasel, the stoat, the pole-cat, +and many other regular night-roamers as no one else, in all +probability, had ever before watched them in the whole world. + +Sometimes he suffered terrible disappointments, due directly or +indirectly to his great poverty. Once, he took all his cases of +insects, containing nine hundred and sixteen specimens, and +representing the work of four years, up to his garret to keep them +there till he was able to glaze them. When he came to take them down +again he found to his horror that rats had got at the boxes, eaten +almost every insect in the whole collection, and left nothing behind +but the bare pins, with a few scattered legs, wings, and bodies, +sticking amongst them. Most men would have been so disgusted with this +miserable end to so much labour, that they would have given up moth +hunting for ever. But Edward was made of different stuff. He went to +work again as zealously as ever, and in four years more, he had got +most of the beetles, flies, and chafers as carefully collected as +before. + +By the year 1845, Edward had gathered together about two thousand +specimens of beasts, birds, and insects found in the neighbourhood of +his own town of Banff. He made the cases to hold them himself, and did +it so neatly that, in the case of his shells, each kind had even a +separate little compartment all of its own. And now he unfortunately +began to think of making money by exhibiting his small museum. If only +he could get a few pounds to help him in buying books, materials, +perhaps even a microscope, to help him in prosecuting his scientific +work, what a magnificent thing that would be for him! Filled with this +grand idea, he took a room in the Trades Hall at Banff, and exhibited +his collection during a local fair. A good many people came to see it, +and the Banff paper congratulated the poor shoemaker on his energy in +gathering together such a museum of curiosities "without aid, and under +discouraging circumstances which few would have successfully +encountered." He was so far lucky in this first venture that he covered +his expenses and was able even to put away a little money for future +needs. Encouraged by this small triumph, the unwearied naturalist set +to work during the next year, and added several new attractions to his +little show. At the succeeding fair he again exhibited, and made still +mere money out of his speculation. Unhappily, the petty success thus +secured led him to hope he might do even better by moving his +collection to Aberdeen. + +To Aberdeen, accordingly, Edward went. He took a shop in the great gay +thoroughfare of that cold northern city--Union Street--and prepared to +receive the world at large, and to get the money for the longed-for +books and the much-desired microscope. Now, Aberdeen is a big, busy, +bustling town; it has plenty of amusements and recreations; it has two +colleges and many learned men of its own; and the people did not care +to come and see the working shoemaker's poor small collection. If he +had been a president of the British Association for the Advancement of +Science, now--some learned knight or baronet come down by special train +from London--the Aberdeen doctors and professors might have rushed to +hear his address; or if he had been a famous music-hall singer or an +imitation negro minstrel, the public at large might have flocked to be +amused and degraded by his parrot-like buffoonery; but as he was only a +working shoemaker from Banff, with a heaven-born instinct for watching +and discovering all the strange beasts and birds of Scotland, and the +ways and thoughts of them, why, of course, respectable Aberdeen, high +or low, would have nothing in particular to say to him. Day after day +went by, and hardly anybody came, till at last poor Edward's heart sank +terribly within him. Even the few who did come were loth to believe +that a working shoemaker could ever have gathered together such a large +collection by his own exertions. + +"Do you mean to say," said one of the Aberdeen physicians to Edward, +"that you've maintained your wife and family by working at your trade, +all the while that you've been making this collection?" + +"Yes, I do," Edward answered. + +"Oh, nonsense!" the doctor said. "How is it possible you could have +done that?" + +"By never losing a single minute or part of a minute," was the brave +reply, "that I could by any means improve." + +It is wonderful indeed that when once Edward had begun to attract +anybody's attention at all, he and his exhibition should ever have been +allowed to pass so unnoticed in a great, rich, learned city like +Aberdeen. But it only shows how very hard it is for unassuming merit to +push its way; for the Aberdeen people still went unheeding past the +shop in Union Street, till Edward at last began to fear and tremble as +to how he should ever meet the expenses of the exhibition. After the +show had been open four weeks, one black Friday came when Edward never +took a penny the whole day. As he sat there alone and despondent in the +empty room, the postman brought him a letter. It was from his master at +Banff. "Return immediately," it said, "or you will be discharged." What +on earth could he do? He couldn't remove his collection; he couldn't +pay his debt. A few more days passed, and he saw no way out of it. At +last, in blank despair, he offered the whole collection for sale. A +gentleman proposed to pay him the paltry sum of L20 10s for the entire +lot, the slow accumulations of ten long years. It was a miserable and +totally inadequate price, but Edward could get no more. In the depths +of his misery, he accepted it. The gentleman took the collection home, +gave it to his boy, and finally allowed it all, for want of care and +attention, to go to rack and ruin. And so that was the end of ten years +of poor Thomas Edward's unremitting original work in natural history. A +sadder tale of unrequited labour in the cause of science has seldom +been written. + +How he ever recovered from such a downfall to all his hopes and +expectations is extraordinary. But the man had a wonderful power of +bearing up against adverse circumstances; and when, after six weeks' +absence, he returned to Banff, ruined and dispirited, he set to work +once more, as best he might, at the old, old trade of shoemaking. He +was obliged to leave his wife and children in Aberdeen, and to tramp +himself on foot to Banff, so that he might earn the necessary money to +bring them back; for the cash he had got for the collection had all +gone in paying expenses. It is almost too sad to relate; and no wonder +poor Edward felt crushed indeed when he got back once more to his +lonely shoemaker's bench and fireless fireside. He was very lonely +until his wife and children came. But when the carrier generously +brought them back free (with that kindliness which the poor so often +show to the poor), and the home was occupied once more, and the fire +lighted, he felt as if life might still be worth living, at least for +his wife and children. So he went back to his trade as heartily as he +might, and worked at it well and successfully. For it is to be noted, +that though Thomas Edward was so assiduous a naturalist and collector, +he was the best hand, too, at making first-class shoes in all Banff. +The good workman is generally the best man at whatever he undertakes. +Certainly the best man is almost always a good workman at his own trade. + +But of course he made no more natural history collections? Not a bit of +it. Once a naturalist, always a naturalist. Edward set to work once +more, nothing daunted, and by next spring he was out everywhere with +his gun, exactly as before, replacing the sold collection as fast as +ever his hand was able. + +By this time Edward began to make a few good friends. Several +magistrates for the county signed a paper for him, stating that they +knew him to be a naturalist, and no poacher; and on presenting this +paper to the gamekeepers, he was generally allowed to pursue his +researches wherever he liked, and shoot any birds or animals he needed +for his new museum. Soon after his return from Aberdeen, too, he made +the acquaintance of a neighbouring Scotch minister, Mr. Smith of +Monquhitter, who proved a very kind and useful friend to him. Mr. Smith +was a brother naturalist, and he had books--those precious books--which +he lent Edward, freely; and there for the first time the shoemaker +zoologist learned the scientific names of many among the birds and +animals with whose lives and habits he had been so long familiar. +Another thing the good minister did for his shoemaker friend: he +constantly begged him to write to scientific journals the results of +his observations in natural history. At first Edward was very timid; he +didn't like to appear in print; thought his grammar and style wouldn't +be good enough; fought shy of the proposal altogether. But at last +Edward made up his mind to contribute a few notes to the _Banffshire +Journal_, and from that he went on slowly to other papers, until at +last he came to be one of the most valued occasional writers for +several of the leading scientific periodicals in England. +Unfortunately, science doesn't pay. All this work was done for love +only; and Edward's only reward was the pleasure he himself derived from +thus jotting down the facts he had observed about the beautiful +creatures he loved so well. + +Soon Mr. Smith induced the indefatigable shoemaker to send a few papers +on the birds and beasts to the _Zoologist_. Readers began to perceive +that these contributions were sent by a man of the right sort--a man +who didn't merely read what other men had said about the creatures in +books, but who watched their ways on his own account, and knew all +about their habits and manners in their own homes. Other friends now +began to interest themselves in him; and Edward obtained at last, what +to a man of his tastes must have been almost as much as money or +position--the society of people who could appreciate him, and could +sympathize in all that interested him. Mr. Smith in particular always +treated him, says Dr. Smiles, "as one intelligent man treats another." +The paltry distinctions of artificial rank were all forgotten between +them, and the two naturalists talked together with endless interest +about all those lovely creatures that surround us every one on every +side, but that so very few people comparatively have ever eyes to see +or hearts to understand. It was a very great loss to Edward when Mr. +Smith died, in 1854. + +In the year 1858 the untiring shoemaker had gathered his third and last +collection, the finest and best of all. By this time he had become an +expert stuffer of birds, and a good preserver of fish and flowers. But +his health was now beginning to fail. He was forty-four, and he had +used his constitution very severely, going out at nights in cold and +wet, and cheating himself of sleep during the natural hours of rest and +recuperation. Happily, during all these years, he had resisted the +advice of his Scotch labouring friends, to take out whisky with him on +his nightly excursions. He never took a drop of it, at home or abroad. +If he had done so, he himself believed, he could not have stood the +cold, the damp, and the exposure in the way he did. His food was +chiefly oatmeal-cake; his drink was water. "Sometimes, when I could +afford it," he says, "my wife boiled an egg or two, and these were my +only luxuries." He had a large family, and the task of providing for +them was quite enough for his slender means, without leaving much +margin for beer or whisky. + +But the best constitution won't stand privation and exposure for ever. +By-and-by Edward fell ill, and had a fever. He was ill for a month, and +when he came round again the doctor told him that he must at once give +up his nightly wandering. This was a real and serious blow to poor +Edward; it was asking him to give up his one real pleasure and interest +in life. All the happiest moments he had ever known were those which he +had spent in the woods and fields, or among the lonely mountains with +the falcons, and the herons, and the pine-martens, and the ermines. All +this delightful life he was now told he must abandon for ever. Nor was +that all. Illness costs money. While a man is earning nothing, he is +running up a doctor's bill. Edward now saw that he must at last fall +back upon his savings bank, as he rightly called it--his loved and +cherished collection of Banffshire animals. He had to draw upon it +heavily. Forty cases of birds were sold; and Edward now knew that he +would never be able to replace the specimens he had parted with. + +Still, his endless patience wasn't yet exhausted. No more of wandering +by night, to be sure, upon moor or fell, gun in hand, chasing the +merlin or the polecat to its hidden lair; no more of long watching +after the snowy owl or the long-tailed titmouse among the frozen winter +woods; but there remained one almost untried field on which Edward +could expend his remaining energy, and in which he was to do better +work for science than in all the rest--the sea. + +This new field he began to cultivate in a novel and ingenious way. He +got together all the old broken pails, pots, pans, and kettles he could +find in the neighbourhood, filled them with straw or bits of rag, and +then sank them with a heavy stone into the rocky pools that abound +along that weather-beaten coast. A rope was tied to one end, by which +he could raise them again; and once a month he used to go his rounds to +visit these very primitive but effectual sea-traps. Lots of living +things had meanwhile congregated in the safe nests thus provided for +them, and Edward sorted them all over, taking home with him all the +newer or more valuable specimens. In this way he was enabled to make +several additions to our knowledge of the living things that inhabit +the sea off the north-east coast of Scotland. + +The fishermen also helped him not a little, by giving him many rare +kinds of fish or refuse from their nets, which he duly examined and +classified. As a rule, the hardy men who go on the smacks have a +profound contempt for natural history, and will not be tempted, even by +offers of money, to assist those whom they consider as half-daft +gentlefolk in what seems to them a perfectly useless and almost +childish amusement. But it was different with Tam Edward, the strange +shoemaker whom they all knew so well; if _he_ wanted fish or rubbish +for his neat collection in the home-made glass cases, why, of course he +could have them, and welcome. So they brought him rare sandsuckers, and +blue-striped wrasse, and saury pike, and gigantic cuttle-fish, four +feet long, to his heart's content. Edward's daughters were now also old +enough to help him in his scientific studies. They used to watch for +the clearing of the nets, and pick out of the refuse whatever they +thought would interest or please their father. But the fish themselves +were Edward's greatest helpers and assistants. As Dr. Smiles quaintly +puts it, they were the best of all possible dredgers. His daughters +used to secure him as many stomachs as possible, and from their +contents he picked out an immense number of beautiful and valuable +specimens. The bill of fare of the cod alone comprised an incredible +variety of small crabs, shells, shrimps, sea-mice, star-fish, +jelly-fish, sea anemones, eggs, and zoophytes. All these went to swell +Edward's new collection of marine animals. + +To identify and name so many small and little-known creatures was a +very difficult task for the poor shoemaker, with so few books, and no +opportunities for visiting museums and learned societies. But his +industry and ingenuity managed to surmount all obstacles. Naturalists +everywhere are very willing to aid and instruct one another; especially +are the highest authorities almost always eager to give every help and +encouragement in their power to local amateurs. Edward used to wait +till he had collected a batch of specimens of a single class or order, +and then he would send them by post to learned men in different parts +of the country, who named them for him, and sent them back with some +information as to their proper place in the classification of the group +to which they belonged. Mr. Spence Bate of Plymouth is the greatest +living authority on crustaceans, such as the lobsters, shrimps, +sea-fleas, and hermit crabs; and to him Edward sent all the queer +crawling things of that description that he found in his original +sea-traps. Mr. Couch, of Polperro in Cornwall, was equally versed in +the true backboned fishes; and to him Edward sent any doubtful midges, +or gurnards, or gobies, or whiffs. So numerous are the animals and +plants of the sea-shore, even in the north of Scotland alone, that if +one were to make a complete list of all Edward's finds it would occupy +an entire book almost as large as this volume. + +Naturalists now began to help Edward in another way, the way that he +most needed, by kind presents of books, especially their own +writings--a kind of gift which cost them nothing, but was worth to him +a very great deal. Mr. Newman, the editor of the _Zoologist_ paper, was +one of his most useful correspondents, and gave him several excellent +books on natural history. Mr. Bate made him a still more coveted +present--a microscope, with which he could examine several minute +animals, too small to be looked at by the naked eye. The same good +friend also gave him a little pocket-lens (or magnifying glass) for use +on the sea-shore. + +As Edward went on, his knowledge increased rapidly, and his discoveries +fully kept pace with it. The wretchedly paid Banff shoemaker was now +corresponding familiarly with half the most eminent men of science in +the kingdom, and was a valued contributor to all the most important +scientific journals. Several new animals which he had discovered were +named in his honour, and frequent references were made to him in +printed works of the first importance. It occurred to Mr. Couch and Mr. +Bate, therefore, both of whom were greatly indebted to the working-man +naturalist for specimens and information, that Edward ought to be +elected a member of some leading scientific society. There is no such +body of greater distinction in the world of science than the Linnean +Society; and of this learned institution Edward was duly elected an +associate in 1866. The honour was one which he had richly deserved, and +which no doubt he fully appreciated. + +And yet he was nothing more even now than a working shoemaker, who was +earning not more but less wages even than he once used to do. He had +brought up a large family honestly and respectably; he had paid his way +without running into debt; his children were all growing up; and he had +acquired a wide reputation among naturalists as a thoroughly +trustworthy observer and an original worker in many different fields of +botany and zoology. But his wages were now only eight shillings a week, +and his science had brought him, as many people would say, only the +barren honour of being an associate of the Linnean Society, or the +respected friend of many among the noblest and greatest men of his +country. He began life as a shoemaker, and he remained a shoemaker to +the end. "Had I pursued money," he said, "with half the ardour and +perseverance that I have pursued nature, I have no hesitation in saying +that by this time I should have been a rich man." + +In 1876, Dr. Smiles, the historian of so many truly great working men, +attracted by Edward's remarkable and self-sacrificing life, determined +to write the good shoemaker's biography while he was still alive. +Edward himself gave Dr. Smiles full particulars as to his early days +and his later struggles; and that information the genial biographer +wove into a delightful book, from which all the facts here related have +been borrowed. The "Life of a Scotch Naturalist" attracted an immense +deal of attention when it was first published, and led many people, +scientific or otherwise, to feel a deep interest in the man who had +thus made himself poor for the love of nature. The result was such a +spontaneous expression of generous feeling towards Edward that he was +enabled to pass the evening of his days not only in honour, but also in +substantial ease and comfort. + +And shall we call such a life as this a failure? Shall we speak of it +carelessly as unsuccessful? Surely not. Edward had lived his life +happily, usefully, and nobly; he had attained the end he set before +himself; he had conquered all his difficulties by his indomitable +resolution; and he lived to see his just reward in the respect and +admiration of all those whose good opinion was worth the having. If he +had toiled and moiled all the best days of his life, at some work, +perhaps, which did not even benefit in any way his fellow-men; if he +had given up all his time to enriching himself anyhow, by fair means or +foul; if he had gathered up a great business by crushing out +competition and absorbing to himself the honest livelihood of a dozen +other men; if he had speculated in stocks and shares, and piled up at +last a vast fortune by doubtful transactions, all the world would have +said, in its unthinking fashion, that Mr. Edward was a wonderfully +successful man. But success in life does not consist in that only, if +in that at all. Edward lived for an aim, and that aim he amply +attained. He never neglected his home duties or his regular work; but +in his stray moments he found time to amass an amount of knowledge +which rendered him the intellectual equal of men whose opportunities +and education had been far more fortunate than his own. The pleasure he +found in his work was the real reward that science gave him. All his +life long he had that pleasure: he saw the fields grow green in spring, +the birds build nests in early summer, the insects flit before his eyes +on autumn evenings, the stoat and hare put on their snow-white coat to +his delight in winter weather. And shall we say that the riches he thus +beheld spread ever before him were any less real or less satisfying to +a soul like his than the mere worldly wealth that other men labour and +strive for? Oh no. Thomas Edward was one of those who work for higher +and better ends than outward show, and verily he had his reward. The +monument raised up to that simple and earnest working shoemaker in the +"Life of a Scotch Naturalist" is one of which any scientific worker in +the whole world might well be proud. In his old age, he had the meed of +public encouragement and public recognition, the one thing that the +world at large can add to a scientific worker's happiness; and his name +will be long remembered hereafter, when those of more pretentious but +less useful labourers are altogether forgotten. How many men whom the +world calls successful might gladly have changed places with that "fool +to nature," the Banffshire shoemaker! + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Biographies of Working Men, by Grant Allen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + +***** This file should be named 6492.txt or 6492.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/9/6492/ + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Biographies of Working Men + +Author: Grant Allen + +Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6492] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 22, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + + + + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available +by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + + + + +BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN + +BY + +GRANT ALLEN, B.A. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +I. THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON + +II. GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN + +III. JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR + +IV. WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN + +V. JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER + +VI. JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY + +VII. THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER + + + + +PREFACE. + + +My acknowledgments are due to Dr. Smiles's "Lives of the Engineers," +"Life of the Stephensons," and "Life of a Scotch Naturalist;" to Lady +Eastlake's "Life of Gibson;" to Mr. Holden's "Life of Sir William +Herschel;" to M. Seusier's "J. F. Millet, Sa Vie et Ses OEuvres;" and to +Mr. Thayer's "Life of President Garfield;" from which most of the facts +here narrated have been derived. + +G. A. + + + + +I. + +THOMAS TELFORD, STONEMASON. + + +High up among the heather-clad hills which form the broad dividing +barrier between England and Scotland, the little river Esk brawls and +bickers over its stony bed through a wild land of barren braesides and +brown peat mosses, forming altogether some of the gloomiest and most +forbidding scenery in the whole expanse of northern Britain. Almost the +entire bulk of the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Ayr is +composed of just such solemn desolate upland wolds, with only a few +stray farms or solitary cottages sprinkled at wide distances over their +bare bleak surface, and with scarcely any sign of life in any part save +the little villages which cluster here and there at long intervals +around some stern and simple Scottish church. Yet the hardy people who +inhabit this wild and chilly moorland country may well be considered to +rank among the best raw material of society in the whole of Britain; for +from the peasant homes of these southern Scotch Highlands have come +forth, among a host of scarcely less distinguished natives, three men, +at least, who deserve to take their place in the very front line of +British thinkers or workers--Thomas Telford, Robert Burns, and Thomas +Carlyle. By origin, all three alike belonged in the very strictest sense +to the working classes; and the story of each is full of lessons or of +warnings for every one of us: but that of Telford is perhaps the most +encouraging and the most remarkable of all, as showing how much may be +accomplished by energy and perseverance, even under the most absolutely +adverse and difficult circumstances. + +Near the upper end of Eskdale, in the tiny village of Westerkirk, a +young shepherd's wife gave birth to a son on the 9th of August, 1757. +Her husband, John Telford, was employed in tending sheep on a +neighbouring farm, and he and his Janet occupied a small cottage close +by, with mud walls and rudely thatched roof, such as in southern England +even the humblest agricultural labourer would scarcely consent willingly +to inhabit. Before the child was three months old, his father died; and +Janet Telford was left alone in the world with her unweaned baby. But in +remote country districts, neighbours are often more neighbourly than in +great towns; and a poor widow can manage to eke out a livelihood for +herself with an occasional lift from the helping hands of friendly +fellow-villagers. Janet Telford had nothing to live upon save her own +ten fingers; but they were handy enough, after the sturdy Scotch +fashion, and they earned some sort of livelihood in a humble way for +herself and her fatherless boy. The farmers about found her work on +their farms at haymaking or milking, and their wives took the child home +with them while its mother was busy labouring in the harvest fields. +Amid such small beginnings did the greatest of English engineers before +the railway era receive his first hard lessons in the art of life. + +After her husband's death, the poor widow removed from her old cottage +to a still more tiny hut, which she shared with a neighbour--a very +small hut, with a single door for both families; and here young Tam +Telford spent most of his boyhood in the quiet honourable poverty of the +uncomplaining rural poor. As soon as he was big enough to herd sheep, he +was turned out upon the hillside in summer like any other ragged country +laddie, and in winter he tended cows, receiving for wages only his food +and money enough to cover the cost of his scanty clothing. He went to +school, too; how, nobody now knows: but he _did_ go, to the parish +school of Westerkirk, and there he learnt with a will, in the winter +months, though he had to spend the summer on the more profitable task of +working in the fields. To a steady earnest boy like young Tam Telford, +however, it makes all the difference in the world that he should have +been to school, no matter how simply. Those twenty-six letters of the +alphabet, once fairly learnt, are the key, after all, to all the book- +learning in the whole world. Without them, the shepherd-boy might remain +an ignorant, unprogressive shepherd all his life long, even his +undeniable native energy using itself up on nothing better than a +wattled hurdle or a thatched roof; with them, the path is open before +him which led Tam Telford at last to the Menai Bridge and Westminster +Abbey. + +When Tam had gradually eaten his way through enough thin oatmeal +porridge (with very little milk, we fear) to make him into a hearty lad +of fifteen, it began to be high time for him to choose himself a final +profession in life, such as he was able. And here already the born +tastes of the boy began to show themselves: for he had no liking for the +homely shepherd's trade; he felt a natural desire for a chisel and a +hammer--the engineer was there already in the grain--and he was +accordingly apprenticed to a stonemason in the little town of Lochmaben, +beyond the purple hills to eastward. But his master was a hard man; he +had small mercy for the raw lad; and after trying to manage with him for +a few months, Tam gave it up, took the law into his own hands, and ran +away. Probably the provocation was severe, for in after-life Telford +always showed himself duly respectful to constituted authority; and we +know that petty self-made master-workmen are often apt to be excessively +severe to their own hired helpers, and especially to helpless lads or +young apprentices. At any rate, Tam wouldn't go back; and in the end, a +well-to-do cousin, who had risen to the proud position of steward at the +great hall of the parish, succeeded in getting another mason at +Langholm, the little capital of Eskdale, to take over the runaway for +the remainder of the term of his indentures. + +At Langholm, a Scotch country town of the quietest and sleepiest +description, Tam Telford passed the next eight years of his uneventful +early life, first as an apprentice, and afterwards as a journeyman mason +of the humblest type. He had a good mother, and he was a good son. On +Saturday nights he generally managed to walk over to the cottage at +Westerkirk, and accompany the poor widow to the Sunday services at the +parish kirk. As long as she lived, indeed, he never forgot her; and one +of the first tasks he set himself when he was out of his indentures was +to cut a neat headstone with a simple but beautiful inscription for the +grave of that shepherd father whom he had practically never seen. At +Langholm, an old maiden lady, Miss Pasley, interested herself kindly in +Janet Telford's rising boy. She lent him what of all things the eager +lad most needed--books; and the young mason applied himself to them in +all his spare moments with the vigorous ardour and perseverance of +healthy youth. The books he read were not merely those which bore +directly or indirectly upon his own craft: if they had been, Tam Telford +might have remained nothing more than a journeyman mason all the days of +his life. It is a great mistake, even from the point of view of mere +worldly success, for a young man to read or learn only what "pays" in +his particular calling; the more he reads and learns, the more will he +find that seemingly useless things "pay" in the end, and that what +apparently pays least, often really pays most in the long run. This is +not the only or the best reason why every man should aim at the highest +possible cultivation of his own talents, be they what they may; but it +is in itself a very good reason, and it is a sufficient answer for those +who would deter us from study of any high kind on the ground that it +"does no good." Telford found in after-life that his early acquaintance +with sound English literature did do him a great deal of good: it opened +and expanded his mind; it trained his intelligence; it stored his brain +with images and ideas which were ever after to him a source of +unmitigated delight and unalloyed pleasure. He read whenever he had +nothing else to do. He read Milton with especial delight; and he also +read the verses that his fellow-countryman, Rob Burns, the Ayrshire +ploughman, was then just beginning to speak straight to the heart of +every aspiring Scotch peasant lad. With these things Tam Telford filled +the upper stories of his brain quite as much as with the trade details +of his own particular useful handicraft; and the result soon showed that +therein Tam Telford had not acted uncannily or unwisely. + +Nor did he read only; he wrote too--verses, not very good, nor yet very +bad, but well expressed, in fairly well chosen language, and with due +regard to the nice laws of metre and of grammar, which is in itself a +great point. Writing verse is an occupation at which only very few even +among men of literary education ever really succeed; and nine-tenths of +published verse is mere mediocre twaddle, quite unworthy of being put +into the dignity of print. Yet Telford did well for all that in trying +his hand, with but poor result, at this most difficult and dangerous of +all the arts. His rhymes were worth nothing as rhymes; but they were +worth a great deal as discipline and training: they helped to form the +man, and that in itself is always something. Most men who have in them +the power to do any great thing pass in early life through a verse- +making stage. The verses never come to much; but they leave their stamp +behind them; and the man is all the better in the end for having thus +taught himself the restraint, the command of language, the careful +choice of expressions, the exercise of deliberate pains in composition, +which even bad verse-making necessarily implies. It is a common mistake +of near-sighted minds to look only at the immediate results of things, +without considering their remoter effects. When Tam Telford, stonemason +of Langholm, began at twenty-two years of age to pen poetical epistles +to Robert Burns, most of his fellow-workmen doubtless thought he was +giving himself up to very foolish and nonsensical practices; but he was +really helping to educate Thomas Telford, engineer of the Holyhead Road +and the Caledonian Canal, for all his future usefulness and greatness. + +As soon as Tam was out of his indentures, he began work as a journeyman +mason at Langholm on his own account, at the not very magnificent wages +of eighteenpence a day. That isn't much; but at any rate it is an +independence. Besides building many houses in his own town, Tam made +here his first small beginning in the matter of roads and highways, by +helping to build a bridge over the Esk at Langholm. He was very proud of +his part in this bridge, and to the end of his life he often referred to +it as his first serious engineering work. Many of the stones still bear +his private mark, hewn with the tool into their solid surface, with +honest workmanship which helps to explain his later success. But the +young mason was beginning to discover that Eskdale was hardly a wide +enough field for his budding ambition. He could carve the most careful +headstones; he could cut the most ornamental copings for doors or +windows; he could even build a bridge across the roaring flooded Esk; +but he wanted to see a little of the great world, and learn how men and +masons went about their work in the busy centres of the world's +activity. So, like a patriotic Scotchman that he was, he betook himself +straight to Edinburgh, tramping it on foot, of course, for railways did +not yet exist, and coaches were not for the use of such as young Thomas +Telford. + +He arrived in the grey old capital of Scotland in the very nick of time. +The Old Town, a tangle of narrow alleys and close courtyards, surrounded +by tall houses with endless tiers of floors, was just being deserted by +the rich and fashionable world for the New Town, which lies beyond a +broad valley on the opposite hillside, and contains numerous streets of +solid and handsome stone houses, such as are hardly to be found in any +other town in Britain, except perhaps Bath and Aberdeen. Edinburgh is +always, indeed, an interesting place for an enthusiastic lover of +building, be he architect or stonemason; for instead of being built of +brick like London and so many other English centres, it is built partly +of a fine hard local sandstone and partly of basaltic greenstone; and +besides its old churches and palaces, many of the public buildings are +particularly striking and beautiful architectural works. But just at the +moment when young Telford walked wearily into Edinburgh at the end of +his long tramp, there was plenty for a stout strong mason to do in the +long straight stone fronts of the rising New Town. For two years, he +worked away patiently at his trade in "the grey metropolis of the +North;" and he took advantage of the special opportunities the place +afforded him to learn drawing, and to make minute sketches in detail of +Holyrood Palace, Heriot's Hospital, Roslyn Chapel, and all the other +principal old buildings in which the neighbourhood of the capital is +particularly rich. So anxious, indeed, was the young mason to perfect +himself by the study of the very best models in his own craft, that when +at the end of two years he walked back to revisit his good mother in +Eskdale, he took the opportunity of making drawings of Melrose Abbey, +the most exquisite and graceful building that the artistic stone-cutters +of the Middle Ages have handed down to our time in all Scotland. + +This visit to Eskdale was really Telford's last farewell to his old +home, before setting out on a journey which was to form the turning- +point in his own history, and in the history of British engineering as +well. In Scotch phrase, he was going south. And after taking leave of +his mother (not quite for the last time) he went south in good earnest, +doing this journey on horseback; for his cousin the steward had lent him +a horse to make his way southward like a gentleman. Telford turned where +all enterprising young Scotchmen of his time always turned: towards the +unknown world of London--that world teeming with so many possibilities +of brilliant success or of miserable squalid failure. It was the year +1782, and the young man was just twenty-five. No sooner had he reached +the great city than he began looking about him for suitable work. He had +a letter of introduction to the architect of Somerset House, whose +ornamental fronts were just then being erected, facing the Strand and +the river; and Telford was able to get a place at once on the job as a +hewer of the finer architectural details, for which both his taste and +experience well fitted him. He spent some two years in London at this +humble post as a stone-cutter; but already he began to aspire to +something better. He earned first-class mason's wages now, and saved +whatever he did not need for daily expenses. In this respect, the +improvidence of his English fellow-workmen struck the cautious young +Scotchman very greatly. They lived, he said, from week to week entirely; +any time beyond a week seemed unfortunately to lie altogether outside +the range of their limited comprehension. + +At the end of two years in London, Telford's skill and study began to +bear good fruit. His next engagement was one which raised him for the +first time in his life above the rank of a mere journeyman mason. The +honest workman had attracted the attention of competent judges. He +obtained employment as foreman of works of some important buildings in +Portsmouth Dockyard. A proud man indeed was Thomas Telford at this +change of fortune, and very proudly he wrote to his old friends in +Eskdale, with almost boyish delight, about the trust reposed in him by +the commissioners and officers, and the pains he was taking with the +task entrusted to him. For he was above all things a good workman, and +like all good workmen he felt a pride and an interest in all the jobs he +took in hand. His sense of responsibility and his sensitiveness, indeed, +were almost too great at times for his own personal comfort. Things +_will_ go wrong now and then, even with the greatest care; well- +planned undertakings will not always pay, and the best engineering does +not necessarily succeed in earning a dividend; but whenever such mishaps +occurred to his employers, Telford felt the disappointment much too +keenly, as though he himself had been to blame for their miscalculations +or over-sanguine hopes. Still, it is a good thing to put one's heart in +one's work, and so much Thomas Telford certainly did. + +About this time, too, the rising young mason began to feel that he must +get a little more accurate scientific knowledge. The period for general +study had now passed by, and the period for special trade reading had +set in. This was well. A lad cannot do better than lay a good foundation +of general knowledge and general literature during the period when he is +engaged in forming his mind: a young man once fairly launched in life +may safely confine himself for a time to the studies that bear directly +upon his own special chosen subject. The thing that Telford began +closely to investigate was--lime. Now, lime makes mortar; and without +lime, accordingly, you can have no mason. But to know anything really +about lime, Telford found he must read some chemistry; and to know +anything really about chemistry he must work at it hard and +unremittingly. A strict attention to one's own business, understood in +this very broad and liberal manner, is certainly no bad thing for any +struggling handicraftsman, whatever his trade or profession may happen +to be. + +In 1786, when Telford was nearly thirty, a piece of unexpected good luck +fell to his lot. And yet it was not so much good luck as due recognition +of his sterling qualities by a wealthy and appreciative person. Long +before, while he was still in Eskdale, one Mr. Pulteney, a man of social +importance, who had a large house in the bleak northern valley, had +asked his advice about the repairs of his own mansion. We may be sure +that Telford did his work on that occasion carefully and well; for now, +when Mr. Pulteney wished to restore the ruins of Shrewsbury Castle as a +dwelling-house, he sought out the young mason who had attended to his +Scotch property, and asked him to superintend the proposed alterations +in his Shropshire castle. Nor was that all: by Mr. Pulteney's influence, +Telford was shortly afterwards appointed to be county surveyor of public +works, having under his care all the roads, bridges, gaols, and public +buildings in the whole of Shropshire. Thus the Eskdale shepherd-boy rose +at last from the rank of a working mason, and attained the well-earned +dignity of an engineer and a professional man. + +Telford had now a fair opportunity of showing the real stuff of which he +was made. Those, of course, were the days when railroads had not yet +been dreamt of; when even roads were few and bad; when communications +generally were still in a very disorderly and unorganized condition. It +is Telford's special glory that he reformed and altered this whole state +of things; he reduced the roads of half Britain to system and order; he +made the finest highways and bridges then ever constructed; and by his +magnificent engineering works, especially his aqueducts, he paved the +way unconsciously but surely for the future railways. If it had not been +for such great undertakings as Telford's Holyhead Road, which +familiarized men's minds with costly engineering operations, it is +probable that projectors would long have stood aghast at the alarming +expense of a nearly level iron road running through tall hills and over +broad rivers the whole way from London to Manchester. + +At first, Telford's work as county surveyor lay mostly in very small +things indeed--mere repairs of sidepaths or bridges, which gave him +little opportunity to develop his full talents as a born engineer. But +in time, being found faithful in small things, his employers, the county +magistrates, began to consult him more and more on matters of +comparative importance. First, it was a bridge to be built across the +Severn; then a church to be planned at Shrewsbury, and next, a second +church in Coalbrookdale. If he was thus to be made suddenly into an +architect, Telford thought, almost without being consulted in the +matter, he must certainly set out to study architecture. So, with +characteristic vigour, he went to work to visit London, Worcester, +Gloucester, Bath, and Oxford, at each place taking care to learn +whatever was to be learned in the practice of his new art. Fortunately, +however, for Telford and for England, it was not architecture in the +strict sense that he was finally to practise as a real profession. +Another accident, as thoughtless people might call it, led him to adopt +engineering in the end as the path in life he elected to follow. In +1793, he was appointed engineer to the projected Ellesmere Canal. + +In the days before railways, such a canal as this was an engineering +work of the very first importance. It was to connect the Mersey, the +Dee, and the Severn, and it passed over ground which rendered necessary +some immense aqueducts on a scale never before attempted by British +engineers. Even in our own time, every traveller by the Great Western +line between Chester and Shrewsbury must have observed on his right two +magnificent ranges as high arches, which are as noticeable now as ever +for their boldness, their magnitude, and their exquisite construction. +The first of these mighty archways is the Pont Cysylltau aqueduct which +carries the Ellesmere Canal across the wide valley of the Dee, known as +the Vale of Llangollen; the second is the Chirk aqueduct, which takes it +over the lesser glen of a minor tributary, the Ceriog. Both these +beautiful works were designed and carried out entirely by Telford. They +differ from many other great modern engineering achievements in the fact +that, instead of spoiling the lovely mountain scenery into whose midst +they have been thrown, they actually harmonize with it and heighten its +natural beauty. Both works, however, are splendid feats, regarded merely +as efforts of practical skill; and the larger one is particularly +memorable for the peculiarity that the trough for the water and the +elegant parapet at the side are both entirely composed of iron. +Nowadays, of course, there would be nothing remarkable in the use of +such a material for such a purpose; but Telford was the first engineer +to see the value of iron in this respect, and the Pont Cysylltau +aqueduct was one of the earliest works in which he applied the new +material to these unwonted uses. Such a step is all the more remarkable, +because Telford's own education had lain entirely in what may fairly be +called the "stone age" of English engineering; while his natural +predilections as a stonemason might certainly have made him rather +overlook the value of the novel material. But Telford was a man who +could rise superior to such little accidents of habit or training; and +as a matter of fact there is no other engineer to whom the rise of the +present "iron age" in engineering work is more directly and immediately +to be attributed than to himself. + +Meanwhile, the Eskdale pioneer did not forget his mother. For years he +had constantly written to her, in _print hand_, so that the letters +might be more easily read by her aged eyes; he had sent her money in +full proportion to his means; and he had taken every possible care to +let her declining years be as comfortable as his altered circumstances +could readily make them. And now, in the midst of this great and +responsible work, he found time to "run down" to Eskdale (very different +"running down" from that which we ourselves can do by the London and +North Western Railway), to see his aged mother once more before she +died. What a meeting that must have been, between the poor old widow of +the Eskdale shepherd, and her successful son, the county surveyor of +Shropshire, and engineer of the great and important Ellesmere Canal! + +While Telford was working busily upon his wonderful canal, he had many +other schemes to carry out of hardly less importance, in connection with +his appointment as county surveyor. His beautiful iron bridge across the +Severn at Build was was another application of his favourite metal to the +needs of the new world that was gradually growing up in industrial +England; and so satisfied was he with the result of his experiment (for +though not absolutely the first, it was one of the first iron bridges +ever built) that he proposed another magnificent idea, which +unfortunately was never carried into execution. Old London Bridge had +begun to get a trifle shaky; and instead of rebuilding it, Telford +wished to span the whole river by a single iron arch, whose splendid +dimensions would have formed one of the most remarkable engineering +triumphs ever invented. The scheme, for some good reason, doubtless, was +not adopted; but it is impossible to look at Telford's grand drawing of +the proposed bridge--a single bold arch, curving across the Thames from +side to side, with the dome of St Paul's rising majestically above it-- +without a feeling of regret that such a noble piece of theoretical +architecture was never realized in actual fact. + +Telford had now come to be regarded as the great practical authority +upon all that concerned roads or communications; and he was reaping the +due money-reward of his diligence and skill. Every day he was called +upon to design new bridges and other important structures in all parts +of the kingdom, but more especially in Scotland and on the Welsh border. +Many of the most picturesque bridges in Britain, which every tourist has +admired, often without inquiring or thinking of the hand that planned +them, were designed by his inventive brain. The exquisite stone arch +which links the two banks of the lesser Scotch Dee in its gorge at +Tongueland is one of the most picturesque; for Telford was a bit of an +artist at heart, and, unlike too many modern railway constructors, he +always endeavoured to make his bridges and aqueducts beautify rather +than spoil the scenery in whose midst they stood. Especially was he +called in to lay out the great system of roads by which the Scotch +Highlands, then so lately reclaimed from a state of comparative +barbarism, were laid open for the great development they have since +undergone. In the earlier part of the century, it is true, a few central +highways had been run through the very heart of that great solid block +of mountains; but these were purely military roads, to enable the king's +soldiers more easily to march against the revolted clans, and they had +hardly more connection with the life of the country than the bare +military posts, like Fort William and Fort Augustus, which guarded their +ends, had to do with the ordinary life of a commercial town. Meanwhile, +however, the Highlands had begun gradually to settle down; and Telford's +roads were intended for the far higher and better purpose of opening out +the interior of northern Scotland to the humanizing influences of trade +and industry. + +Fully to describe the great work which the mature engineer constructed +in the Highland region, would take up more space than could be allotted +to such a subject anywhere save in a complete industrial history of +roads and travelling in modern Britain. It must suffice to say that when +Telford took the matter in hand, the vast block of country north and +west of the Great Glen of Caledonia (which divides the Highlands in two +between Inverness and Ben Nevis)--a block comprising the counties of +Caithness, Sutherland, Ross, Cromarty, and half Inverness--had literally +nothing within it worthy of being called a road. Wheeled carts or +carriages were almost unknown, and all burdens were conveyed on pack- +horses, or, worse still, on the broad backs of Highland lassies. The +people lived in small scattered villages, and communications from one to +another were well-nigh impossible. Telford set to work to give the +country, not a road or two, but a main system of roads. First, he +bridged the broad river Tay at Dunkeld, so as to allow of a direct route +straight into the very jaws of the Highlands. Then, he also bridged over +the Beauly at Inverness, so as to connect the opposite sides of the +Great Glen with one another. Next, he laid out a number of trunk lines, +running through the country on both banks, to the very north of +Caithness, and the very west of the Isle of Skye. Whoever to this day +travels on the main thoroughfares in the greater Scottish Islands--in +Arran, Islay, Jura, Mull; or in the wild peninsula of Morvern, and the +Land of Lorne; or through the rugged regions of Inverness-shire and +Ross-shire, where the railway has not yet penetrated,--travels +throughout on Telford's roads. The number of large bridges and other +great engineering masterpieces on this network of roads is enormous; +among the most famous and the most beautiful, are the exquisite single +arch which spans the Spey just beside the lofty rearing rocks of Craig +Ellachie, and the bridge across the Dee, beneath the purple heather-clad +braes of Ballater. Altogether, on Telford's Highland roads alone, there +are no fewer than twelve hundred bridges. + +Nor were these the only important labours by which Telford ministered to +the comfort and well-being of his Scotch fellow-countrymen. Scotland's +debt to the Eskdale stonemason is indeed deep and lasting. While on +land, he improved her communications by his great lines of roads, which +did on a smaller scale for the Highland valleys what railways have since +done for the whole of the civilized world; he also laboured to improve +her means of transit at sea by constructing a series of harbours along +that bare and inhospitable eastern coast, once almost a desert, but now +teeming with great towns and prosperous industries. It was Telford who +formed the harbour of Wick, which has since grown from a miserable +fishing village into a large town, the capital of the North Sea herring +fisheries. It was he who enlarged the petty port of Peterhead into the +chief station of the flourishing whaling trade. It was he who secured +prosperity for Fraserburgh, and Banff, and many other less important +centres; while even Dundee and Aberdeen, the chief commercial cities of +the east coast, owe to him a large part of their present extraordinary +wealth and industry. When one thinks how large a number of human beings +have been benefited by Telford's Scotch harbour works alone, it is +impossible not to envy a great engineer his almost unlimited power of +permanent usefulness to unborn thousands of his fellow-creatures. + +As a canal-maker, Telford was hardly less successful than as a +constructor of roads and harbours. It is true, his greatest work in this +direction was in one sense a failure. He was employed by Government for +many years as the engineer of the Caledonian Canal, which runs up the +Great Glen of Caledonia, connecting the line of lakes whose basins +occupy that deep hollow in the Highland ranges, and so avoiding the +difficult and dangerous sea voyage round the stormy northern capes of +Caithness. Unfortunately, though the canal as an engineering work proved +to be of the most successful character, it has never succeeded as a +commercial undertaking. It was built just at the exact moment when +steamboats were on the point of revolutionizing ocean traffic; and so, +though in itself a magnificent and lordly undertaking, it failed to +satisfy the sanguine hopes of its projectors. But though Telford felt +most bitterly the unavoidable ill success of this great scheme, he might +well have comforted himself by the good results of his canal-building +elsewhere. He went to Sweden to lay out the Gotha Canal, which still +forms the main high-road of commerce between Stockholm and the sea; +while in England itself some of his works in this direction--such as the +improvements on the Birmingham Canal, with its immense tunnel--may +fairly be considered as the direct precursors of the great railway +efforts of the succeeding generation. + +The most remarkable of all Telford's designs, however, and the one which +most immediately paved the way for the railway system, was his +magnificent Holyhead Road. This wonderful highway he carried through the +very midst of the Welsh mountains, at a comparatively level height for +its whole distance, in order to form a main road from London to Ireland. +On this road occurs Telford's masterpiece of engineering, the Menai +suspension bridge, long regarded as one of the wonders of the world, and +still one of the most beautiful suspension bridges in all Europe. Hardly +less admirable, however, in its own way is the other suspension bridge +which he erected at Conway, to carry his road across the mouth of the +estuary, beside the grey old castle, with which its charming design +harmonizes so well. Even now it is impossible to drive or walk along +this famous and picturesque highway without being struck at every turn +by the splendid engineering triumphs which it displays throughout its +entire length. The contrast, indeed, between the noble grandeur of +Telford's bridges, and the works on the neighbouring railways, is by no +means flattering in every respect to our too exclusively practical +modern civilization. + +Telford was now growing an old man. The Menai bridge was begun in 1819 +and finished in 1826, when he was sixty-eight years of age; and though +he still continued to practise his profession, and to design many +valuable bridges, drainage cuts, and other small jobs, that great +undertaking was the last masterpiece of his long and useful life. His +later days were passed in deserved honour and comparative opulence; for +though never an avaricious man, and always anxious to rate his services +at their lowest worth, he had gathered together a considerable fortune +by the way, almost without seeking it. To the last, his happy cheerful +disposition enabled him to go on labouring at the numerous schemes by +which he hoped to benefit the world of workers; and so much cheerfulness +was surely well earned by a man who could himself look back upon so good +a record of work done for the welfare of humanity. At last, on the 2nd +of September, 1834, his quiet and valuable life came gently to a close, +in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was buried in Westminster +Abbey, and few of the men who sleep within that great national temple +more richly deserve the honour than the Westerkirk shepherd-boy. For +Thomas Telford's life was not merely one of worldly success; it was +still more pre-eminently one of noble ends and public usefulness. Many +working men have raised themselves by their own exertions to a position +of wealth and dignity far surpassing his; few indeed have conferred so +many benefits upon untold thousands of their fellow-men. It is +impossible, even now, to travel in any part of England, Wales, or +Scotland, without coming across innumerable memorials of Telford's great +and useful life; impossible to read the full record of his labours +without finding that numberless structures we have long admired for +their beauty or utility, owe their origin to the honourable, upright, +hardworking, thoroughgoing, journeyman mason of the quiet little Eskdale +village. Whether we go into the drained fens of Lincolnshire, or +traverse the broad roads of the rugged Snowdon region; whether we turn +to St. Katharine's Docks in London, or to the wide quays of Dundee and +those of Aberdeen; whether we sail beneath the Menai suspension bridge +at Bangor, or drive over the lofty arches that rise sheer from the +precipitous river gorge at Cartland, we meet everywhere the lasting +traces of that inventive and ingenious brain. And yet, what lad could +ever have started in the world under apparently more hopeless +circumstances than widow Janet Telford's penniless orphan shepherd-boy +Tam, in the bleakest and most remote of all the lonely border valleys of +southern Scotland? + + + + +II. + +GEORGE STEPHENSON, ENGINE-MAN. + + +Any time about the year 1786, a stranger in the streets of the grimy +colliery village of Wylam, near Newcastle, might have passed by without +notice a ragged, barefooted, chubby child of five years old, Geordie +Stephenson by name, playing merrily in the gutter and looking to the +outward eye in no way different from any of the other colliers' children +who loitered about him. Nevertheless, that ragged boy was yet destined +in after-life to alter the whole face of England and the world by those +wonderful railways, which he more than any other man was instrumental in +first constructing; and the story of his life may rank perhaps as one of +the most marvellous in the whole marvellous history of able and +successful British working men. + +George Stephenson was born in June, 1781, the son of a fireman who +tended the pumping engine of the neighbouring colliery, and one of a +penniless family of six children. So poor was his father, indeed, that +the whole household lived in a single room, with bare floor and mud +wall; and little Geordie grew up in his own unkempt fashion without any +schooling whatever, not even knowing A from B when he was a big lad of +seventeen. At an age when he ought to have been learning his letters, he +was bird's-nesting in the fields or running errands to the Wylam shops; +and as soon as he was old enough to earn a few pence by light work, he +was set to tend cows at the magnificent wages of twopence a day, in the +village of Dewley Burn, close by, to which his father had then removed. +It might have seemed at first as though the future railway engineer was +going to settle down quietly to the useful but uneventful life of an +agricultural labourer; for from tending cows he proceeded in due time +(with a splendid advance of twopence) to leading the horses at the +plough, spudding thistles, and hoeing turnips on his employer's farm. +But the native bent of a powerful mind usually shows itself very early; +and even during the days when Geordie was still stumbling across the +freshly ploughed clods or driving the cows to pasture with a bunch of +hazel twigs, his taste for mechanics already made itself felt in a very +marked and practical fashion. During all his leisure time, the future +engineer and his chum Bill Thirlwall occupied themselves with making +clay models of engines, and fitting up a winding machine with corks and +twine like those which lifted the colliery baskets. Though Geordie +Stephenson didn't go to school at the village teacher's, he was teaching +himself in his own way by close observation and keen comprehension of +all the machines and engines he could come across. + +Naturally, to such a boy, the great ambition of his life was to be +released from the hoeing and spudding, and set to work at his father's +colliery. Great was Geordie's joy, therefore, when at last he was taken +on there in the capacity of a coal-picker, to clear the loads from +stones and rubbish. It wasn't a very dignified position, to be sure, but +it was the first step that led the way to the construction of the +Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Geordie was now fairly free from the +uncongenial drudgery of farm life, and able to follow his own +inclinations in the direction of mechanical labour. Besides, was he not +earning the grand sum of sixpence a day as picker, increased to +eightpence a little later on, when he rose to the more responsible and +serious work of driving the gin-horse? A proud day indeed it was for him +when, at fourteen, he was finally permitted to aid his father in firing +the colliery engine; though he was still such a very small boy that he +used to run away and hide when the owner went his rounds of inspection, +for fear he should be thought too little to earn his untold wealth of a +shilling a day in such a grown-up occupation. Humbler beginnings were +never any man's who lived to become the honoured guest, not of kings and +princes only, but of the truly greatest and noblest in the land. + +A coal-miner's life is often a very shifting one; for the coal in +particular collieries gets worked out from time to time; and he has to +remove, accordingly, to fresh quarters, wherever employment happens to +be found. This was very much the case with George Stephenson and his +family; all of them being obliged to remove several times over during +his childish days in search of new openings. Shortly after Geordie had +attained to the responsible position of assistant fireman, his father +was compelled, by the closing of Dewley Burn mine, to get a fresh +situation hard by at Newburn. George accompanied him, and found +employment as full fireman at a small working, whose little engine he +undertook to manage in partnership with a mate, each of them tending the +fire night and day by twelve-hour shifts. Two years later, his wages +were raised to twelve shillings a week, a sure mark of his diligent and +honest work; so that George was not far wrong in remarking to a fellow- +workman at the time that he now considered himself a made man for life. + +During all this time, George Stephenson never for a moment ceased to +study and endeavour to understand the working of every part in the +engine that he tended. He was not satisfied, as too many workmen are, +with merely learning the routine work of his own trade; with merely +knowing that he must turn such and such a tap or valve in order to +produce such and such a desired result: he wanted to see for himself how +and why the engine did this or that, what was the use and object of +piston and cylinder and crank and joint and condenser--in short, fully +to understand the underlying principle of its construction. He took it +to pieces for cleaning whenever it was needful; he made working models +of it after his old childish pattern; he even ventured to tinker it up +when out of order on his own responsibility. Thus he learnt at last +something of the theory of the steam-engine, and learnt also by the way +a great deal about the general principles of mechanical science. Still, +even now, incredible as it seems, the future father of railways couldn't +yet read; and he found this terrible drawback told fatally against his +further progress. Whenever he wanted to learn something that he didn't +quite understand, he was always referred for information to a Book. Oh, +those books; those mysterious, unattainable, incomprehensible books; how +they must have bothered and worried poor intelligent and aspiring but +still painfully ignorant young George Stephenson! Though he was already +trying singularly valuable experiments in his own way, he hadn't yet +even begun to learn his letters. + +Under these circumstances, George Stephenson, eager and anxious for +further knowledge, took a really heroic resolution. He wasn't ashamed to +go to school. Though now a full workman on his own account, about +eighteen years old, he began to attend the night school at the +neighbouring village of Walbottle, where he took lessons in reading +three evenings every week. It is a great thing when a man is not ashamed +to learn. Many men are; they consider themselves so immensely wise that +they look upon it as an impertinence in anybody to try to tell them +anything they don't know already. Truly wise or truly great men--men +with the capability in them for doing anything worthy in their +generation--never feel this false and foolish shame. They know that most +other people know some things in some directions which they do not, and +they are glad to be instructed in them whenever opportunity offers. This +wisdom George Stephenson possessed in sufficient degree to make him feel +more ashamed of his ignorance than of the steps necessary in order to +conquer it. Being a diligent and willing scholar, he soon learnt to +read, and by the time he was nineteen he had learnt how to write also. +At arithmetic, a science closely allied to his native mechanical bent, +he was particularly apt, and beat all the other scholars at the village +night school. This resolute effort at education was the real turning- +point in George Stephenson's remarkable career, the first step on the +ladder whose topmost rung led him so high that he himself must almost +have felt giddy at the unwonted elevation. + +Shortly after, young Stephenson gained yet another promotion in being +raised to the rank of brakesman, whose duty it was to slacken the engine +when the full baskets of coal reached the top of the shaft. This was a +more serious and responsible post than any he had yet filled, and one +for which only the best and steadiest workmen were ever selected. His +wages now amounted to a pound a week, a very large sum in those days for +a skilled working-man. + +Meanwhile, George, like most other young men, had fallen in love. His +sweetheart, Fanny Henderson, was servant at the small farmhouse where he +had taken lodgings since leaving his father's home; and though but +little is known about her (for she unhappily died before George had +begun to rise to fame and fortune), what little we do know seems to show +that she was in every respect a fitting wife for the active young +brakesman, and a fitting mother for his equally celebrated son, Robert +Stephenson. Fired by the honourable desire to marry Fanny, with a proper +regard for prudence, George set himself to work to learn cobbling in his +spare moments; and so successfully did he cobble the worn shoes of his +fellow-colliers after working hours, that before long he contrived to +save a whole guinea out of his humble earnings. That guinea was the +first step towards an enormous fortune; a fortune, too, all accumulated +by steady toil and constant useful labour for the ultimate benefit of +his fellow-men. To make a fortune is the smallest and least noble of all +possible personal ambitions; but to save the first guinea which leads us +on at last to independence and modest comfort is indeed an important +turning-point in every prudent man's career. Geordie Stephenson was so +justly proud of his achievement in this respect that he told a friend in +confidence he might now consider himself a rich man. + +By the time George was twenty-one, he had saved up enough by constant +care to feel that he might safely embark on the sea of housekeeping. He +was able to take a small cottage lodging for himself and Fanny, at +Willington Quay, near his work at the moment, and to furnish it with the +simple comfort which was all that their existing needs demanded. He +married Fanny on the 28th of November, 1802; and the young couple +proceeded at once to their new home. Here George laboured harder than +ever, as became the head of a family. He was no more ashamed of odd jobs +than he had been of learning the alphabet. He worked overtime at +emptying ballast from ships; he continued to cobble, to cut lasts, and +even to try his hand at regular shoemaking; furthermore, he actually +acquired the art of mending clocks, a matter which lay strictly in his +own line, and he thus earned a tidy penny at odd hours by doctoring all +the rusty or wheezy old timepieces of all his neighbours. Nor did he +neglect his mechanical education meanwhile; for he was always at work +upon various devices for inventing a perpetual motion machine. Now +perpetual motion is the most foolish will-o'-the-wisp that ever engaged +a sane man's attention: the thing has been proved to be impossible from +every conceivable point of view, and the attempt to achieve it, if +pursued to the last point, can only end in disappointment if not in +ruin. Still, for all that, the work George Stephenson spent upon this +unpractical object did really help to give him an insight into +mechanical science which proved very useful to him at a later date. He +didn't discover perpetual motion, but he did invent at last the real +means for making the locomotive engine a practical power in the matter +of travelling. + +A year later, George's only son Robert was born; and from that moment +the history of those two able and useful lives is almost inseparable. +During the whole of George Stephenson's long upward struggle, and during +the hard battle he had afterwards to fight on behalf of his grand design +of railways, he met with truer sympathy, appreciation, and comfort from +his brave and gifted son than from any other person whatsoever. +Unhappily, his pleasure and delight in the up-bringing of his boy was +soon to be clouded for a while by the one great bereavement of an +otherwise singularly placid and happy existence. Some two years after +her marriage, Fanny Stephenson died, as yet a mere girl, leaving her +lonely husband to take care of their baby boy alone and unaided. Grief +for this irretrievable loss drove the young widower away for a while +from his accustomed field of work among the Tyneside coal-pits; he +accepted an invitation to go to Montrose in Scotland, to overlook the +working of a large engine in some important spinning-works. He remained +in this situation for one year only; but during that time he managed to +give clear evidence of his native mechanical insight by curing a defect +in the pumps which supplied water to his engine, and which had hitherto +defied the best endeavours of the local engineers. The young father was +not unmindful, either, of his duty to his boy, whom he had left behind +with his grandfather on Tyneside; for he saved so large a sum as L28 +during his engagement, which he carried back with him in his pocket on +his return to England. + +A sad disappointment awaited him when at last he arrived at home. Old +Robert Stephenson, the father, had met with an accident during George's +absence which made him quite blind, and incapacitated him for further +work. Helpless and poor, he had no resource to save him from the +workhouse except George; but George acted towards him exactly as all men +who have in them a possibility of any good thing always do act under +similar circumstances. He spent L15 of his hard-earned savings to pay +the debts the poor blind old engine-man had necessarily contracted +during his absence, and he took a comfortable cottage for his father and +mother at Killingworth, where he had worked before his removal to +Scotland, and where he now once more obtained employment, still as a +brakesman. In that cottage this good and brave son supported his aged +parents till their death, in all the simple luxury that his small means +would then permit him. + +That, however, was not the end of George's misfortunes. Shortly after, +he was drawn by lot as a militiaman; and according to the law of that +time (for this was in 1807, during the very height of the wars against +Napoleon) he must either serve in person or else pay heavily to secure a +substitute. George chose regretfully the latter course--the only one +open to him if he wished still to support his parents and his infant +son. But in order to do so, he had to pay away the whole remainder of +his carefully hoarded savings, and even to borrow L6 to make up the +payment for the substitute. It must have seemed very hard to him to do +this, and many men would have sunk under the blow, become hopeless, or +taken to careless rowdy drinking habits. George Stephenson felt it +bitterly, and gave way for a while to a natural despondency; he would +hardly have been human if he had not; but still, he lived over it, and +in the end worked on again with fuller resolution and vigour than ever. + +For several years Geordie, as his fellow-colliers affectionately called +him, continued to live on at one or other of the Killingworth +collieries. In a short time, he entered into a small contract with his +employers for "brakeing" the engines; and in the course of this +contract, he invented certain improvements in the matter of saving wear +and tear of ropes, which were both profitable to himself and also in +some small degree pointed the way toward his future plans for the +construction of railways. It is true, the two subjects have not, +apparently, much in common; but they are connected in this way, that +both proceed upon the principle of reducing the friction to the smallest +possible quantity. It was this principle that Stephenson was gradually +learning to appreciate more and more at its proper value; and it was +this which finally led him to the very summit of a great and pre- +eminently useful profession. The great advantage, indeed, of a level +railway over an up-and-down ordinary road is simply that in the railway +the resistance and friction are almost entirely got rid of. + +It was in 1810, when Stephenson was twenty-nine, that his first +experiment in serious engineering was made. A coal-pit had been sunk at +Killingworth, and a rude steam-engine of that time had been set to pump +the water out of its shaft; but, somehow, the engine made no headway +against the rising springs at the bottom of the mine. For nearly a year +the engine worked away in vain, till at last, one Saturday afternoon, +Geordie Stephenson went over to examine her. "Well, George," said a +pitman, standing by, "what do you think of her?" "Man," said George, +boldly, "I could alter her and make her draw. In a week I could let you +all go the bottom." The pitman reported this confident speech of the +young brakesman to the manager; and the manager, at his wits' end for a +remedy, determined to let this fellow Stephenson try his hand at her. +After all, if he did no good, he would be much like all the others; and +anyhow he seemed to have confidence in himself, which, if well grounded, +is always a good thing. + +George's confidence _was_ well grounded. It was not the confidence +of ignorance, but that of knowledge. He _understood_ the engine +now, and he saw at once the root of the evil. He picked the engine to +pieces, altered it to suit the requirements of the case, and set it to +work to pump without delay. Sure enough, he kept his word; and within +the week, the mine was dry, and the men were sent to the bottom. This +was a grand job for George's future. The manager, a Mr. Dodds, not only +gave him ten pounds at once as a present, in acknowledgment of his +practical skill, but also appointed him engine-man of the new pit, +another rise in the social scale as well as in the matter of wages. +Dodds kept him in mind for the future, too; and a couple of years later, +on a vacancy occurring, he promoted the promising hand to be engine- +wright of all the collieries under his management, at a salary of L100 a +year. When a man's income comes to be reckoned by the year, rather than +by the week or month, it is a sign that he is growing into a person of +importance. George had now a horse to ride upon, on his visits of +inspection to the various engines; and his work was rather one of +mechanical engineering than of mere ordinary labouring handicraft. + +The next few years of George Stephenson's life were mainly taken up in +providing for the education of his boy Robert. He had been a good son, +and he was now a good father. Feeling acutely how much he himself had +suffered, and how many years he had been put back, by his own want of a +good sound rudimentary education, he determined that Robert should not +suffer from a similar cause. Indeed, George Stephenson's splendid +abilities were kept in the background far too long, owing to his early +want of regular instruction. So the good father worked hard to send his +boy to school; not to the village teacher's only, but to a school for +gentlemen's sons at Newcastle. By mending clocks and watches in spare +moments, and by rigid economy in all unnecessary expenses (especially +beer), Stephenson had again gathered together a little hoard, which +mounted up this time to a hundred guineas. A hundred guineas is a +fortune and a capital to a working man. He was therefore rich enough, +not only to send little Robert to school, but even to buy him a donkey, +on which the boy made the journey every day from Killingworth to +Newcastle. This was in 1815, when George was thirty-four, and Robert +twelve. Perhaps no man who ever climbed so high as George Stephenson, +had ever reached so little of the way at so comparatively late an age. +For in spite of his undoubted success, viewed from the point of view of +his origin and early prospects, he was as yet after all nothing more +than the common engine-wright of the Killingworth collieries--a long way +off as yet from the distinguished father of the railway system. + +George Stephenson's connection with the locomotive, however, was even +now beginning. Already, in 1816, he and his boy had tried a somewhat +higher flight of mechanical and scientific skill than usual, in the +construction of a sun-dial, which involves a considerable amount of +careful mathematical work; and now George found that the subject of +locomotive engines was being forced by circumstances upon his attention. +From the moment he was appointed engine-wright of the Killingworth +collieries, he began to think about all possible means of hauling coal +at cheaper rates from the pit's mouth to the shipping place on the +river. For that humble object alone--an object that lay wholly within +the line of his own special business--did the great railway projector +set out upon his investigations into the possibilities of the +locomotive. Indeed, in its earliest origin, the locomotive was almost +entirely connected with coals and mining; its application to passenger +traffic on the large scale was quite a later and secondary +consideration. It was only by accident, so to speak, that the true +capabilities of railways were finally discovered in the actual course of +their practical employment. George Stephenson was not the first person +to construct either a locomotive or a tramway. Both were already in use, +in more or less rude forms, at several collieries. But he _was_ the +first person to bring the two to such a pitch of perfection, that what +had been at first a mere clumsy mining contrivance, became developed +into a smooth and easy iron highway for the rapid and convenient +conveyance of goods and passengers over immense distances. Of course, +this great invention, like all other great inventions, was not the work +of one day or one man. Many previous heads had helped to prepare the way +for George Stephenson; and George Stephenson himself had been working at +the subject for many years before he even reached the first stage of +realized endeavour. As early as 1814 he constructed his first locomotive +at Killingworth colliery; it was not until 1822 that he laid the first +rail of his first large line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. + +Stephenson's earliest important improvement in the locomotive consisted +in his invention of what is called the steam-blast, by which the steam +is made to increase the draught of the fire, and so largely add to the +effectiveness of the engine. It was this invention that enabled him at +last to make the railway into the great carrier of the world, and to +begin the greatest social and commercial upheaval that has ever occurred +in the whole history of the human race. + +Meanwhile, however, George was not entirely occupied with the +consideration of his growing engine. He had the clocks and watches to +mend; he had Robert's schooling to look after; and he had another +practical matter even nearer home than the locomotive on which to +exercise his inventive genius. One day, in 1814, the main gallery of the +colliery caught fire. Stephenson at once descended into the burning pit, +with a chosen band of volunteers, who displayed the usual heroic courage +of colliers in going to the rescue of their comrades; and, at the risk +of their lives, these brave men bricked up the burning portion, and so, +by excluding the air, put out the dangerous fire. Still, even so, +several of the workmen had been suffocated, and one of the pitmen asked +Geordie in dismay whether nothing could be done to prevent such terrible +disasters in future. "The price of coal-mining now," he said, "is +pitmen's lives." Stephenson promised to think the matter over; and he +did think it over with good effect. The result of his thought was the +apparatus still affectionately known to the pitmen as "the Geordie +lamp." It is a lamp so constructed that the flame cannot pass out into +the air outside, and so cause explosions in the dangerous fire-damp +which is always liable to occur abundantly in the galleries of coal +mines. By this invention alone George Stephenson's name and memory might +have been kept green for ever; for his lamp has been the means of saving +thousands of lives from a sudden, a terrible, and a pitiful death. Most +accidents that now occur in mines are due to the neglect of ordinary +precautions, and to the perverse habit of carrying a naked lighted +candle in the hand (contrary to regulations) instead of a carefully +guarded safety lamp. Yet so culpably reckless of their own and other +men's lives are a large number of people everywhere, that in spite of +the most stringent and salutary rules, explosions from this cause (and, +therefore, easily avoidable) take place constantly to the present day, +though far less frequently than before the invention of the Geordie +lamp. + +Curiously enough, at the very time when George Stephenson was busy +inventing his lamp at Killingworth, Sir Humphrey Davy was working at +just the same matter in London; and the two lamps, though a little +different in minor points of construction, are practically the same in +general principle. Now, Sir Humphrey was then the great fashionable +natural philosopher of the day, the favourite of London society, and the +popular lecturer of the Royal Institution. His friends thought it a +monstrous idea that his splendid life-saving apparatus should have been +independently devised by "an engine-wright of Killingworth of the name +of Stephenson--a person not even possessing a knowledge of the elements +of chemistry." This sounds very odd reading at the present day, when the +engine-wright of the name of Stephenson has altered the whole face of +the world, while Davy is chiefly remembered as a meritorious and able +chemist; but at the time, Stephenson's claim to the invention met with +little courtesy from the great public of London, where a meeting was +held on purpose to denounce his right to the credit of the invention. +What the coal-owners and colliers of the North Country thought about the +matter was sufficiently shown by their subscription of L1000, as a +Stephenson testimonial fund. With part of the money, a silver tankard +was presented to the deserving engine-wright, while the remainder of the +sum was handed over to him in ready cash. A very acceptable present it +was, and one which George Stephenson remembered with pride down to his +dying day. The Geordie lamp continues in use to the present moment in +the Tyneside collieries with excellent effect. + +For some years more, Mr. Stephenson (he is now fairly entitled to that +respectable prefix) went on still further experimenting on the question +of locomotives and railways. He was now beginning to learn that much +unnecessary wear and tear arose on the short lines of rail down from the +pit's mouths to the loading-places on the river by the inequalities and +roughnesses of the joints; and he invented a method of overlapping the +rails which quite got over this source of loss--loss of speed, loss of +power, and loss of material at once. It was in 1819 that he laid down +his first considerable piece of road, the Hetton railway. The owners of +a colliery at the village of Hetton, in Durham, determined to replace +their waggon road by a locomotive line; and they invited the now locally +famous Killingworth engine-wright to act as their engineer. Stephenson +gladly undertook the post; and he laid down a railway of eight miles in +length, on the larger part of which the trucks were to be drawn by "the +iron horse," as people now began to style the altered and improved +locomotive. The Hetton railway was opened in 1822, and the assembled +crowd were delighted at beholding a single engine draw seventeen loaded +trucks after it, at the extraordinary rate of four miles an hour--nearly +as fast as a man could walk. Whence it may be gathered that Stephenson's +ideas upon the question of speed were still on a very humble scale +indeed. + +Before the Hetton railway was opened, however, George Stephenson had +shown one more proof of his excellence as a father by sending his boy +Robert, now nineteen, to Edinburgh University. It was a serious expense +for a man who was even now, after all, hardly more than a working man of +the superior grade; but George Stephenson was well repaid for the +sacrifice he thus made on behalf of his only son. He lived to see him +the greatest practical engineer of his own time, and to feel that his +success was in large measure due to the wider and more accurate +scientific training the lad had received from his Edinburgh teachers. + +In 1819 George married again, his second wife being the daughter of a +farmer at Black Callerton. + +The work which finally secured the position of George Stephenson and of +his dearly loved locomotive was the Stockton and Darlington railway. +Like all the other early railways, it was originally projected simply as +a mineral line. Darlington lies in the centre of a rich inland mining +district; but the impossibility of getting the coal carried to the sea +by cart or donkey long prevented the opening up of its immense natural +wealth. At last, as early as 1817, Edward Pease and a few other +enterprising Darlington Quakers determined to build a line of railway +from the mining region to Stockton, on the river Tees, where the coal +could be loaded into sea-going ships. It was a very long line, compared +to any railway that had yet been constructed; but it was still only to +be worked by horse-power--to be, in fact, what we now call a tramway, +rather than a railway in the modern sense. However, while the plan was +still undecided, George Stephenson, who had heard about the proposed +scheme, went over to Darlington one day, and boldly asked to see Mr. +Pease. The good Quaker received him kindly, and listened to his +arguments in favour of the locomotive. "Come over to Killingworth some +day and see my engine at work," said Stephenson, confidently; "and if +you do you will never think of horses again." Mr. Pease, with Quaker +caution, came and looked. George put the engine through its paces, and +showed off its marvellous capabilities to such good effect that Edward +Pease was immediately converted. Henceforth, he became a decided +advocate of locomotives, and greatly aided by his wealth and influence +in securing their final triumph. + +Not only that, but Mr. Pease also aided Stephenson in carrying out a +design which George had long had upon his mind--the establishment of a +regular locomotive factory, where the work of engine-making for this +particular purpose might be carried on with all the necessary finish and +accuracy. George himself put into the concern his precious L1000, not +one penny of which he had yet touched; while Pease and a friend advanced +as much between them. A factory was forthwith started at Newcastle on a +small scale, and the hardworking engine-wright found himself now fully +advanced to the commercial dignity of Stephenson and Co. With the +gradual growth of railways, that humble Newcastle factory grew gradually +into one of the largest and wealthiest manufacturing establishments in +all England. + +Meanwhile, Stephenson was eagerly pushing on the survey of the Stockton +and Darlington railway, all the more gladly now that he knew it was to +be worked by means of his own adopted child, the beloved locomotive. He +worked at his line early and late; he took the sights with the spirit- +level with his own eye; he was determined to make it a model railway. It +was a long and heavy work, for railway surveying was then a new art, and +the appliances were all fresh and experimental; but in the end, +Stephenson brought it to a happy conclusion, and struck at once the +death-blow of the old road-travelling system. The line was opened +successfully in 1825, and the engine started off on the inaugural +ceremony with a magnificent train of thirty-eight vehicles. "Such was +its velocity," says a newspaper of the day, "that in some parts the +speed was frequently twelve miles an hour." + +The success of the Stockton and Darlington railway was so immense and +unexpected, the number of passengers who went by it was so great, and +the quantity of coal carried for shipment so far beyond anything the +projectors themselves could have anticipated, that a desire soon began +to be felt for similar works in other places. There are no two towns in +England which absolutely need a railway communication from one to the +other so much as Liverpool and Manchester. The first is the great port +of entry for cotton, the second is the great centre of its manufacture. +The Bridgewater canal had helped for a time to make up for the want of +water communication between those two closely connected towns; but as +trade developed, the canal became too small for the demands upon it, and +the need for an additional means of intercourse was deeply felt. A +committee was formed to build a railway in this busy district, and after +a short time George Stephenson was engaged to superintend its +construction. + +A long and severe fight was fought over the Liverpool and Manchester +railway, and it was at first doubtful whether the scheme would ever be +carried out. Many great landowners were strongly opposed to it, and +tried their best to keep the bill for authorizing it from passing +through Parliament. Stephenson himself was compelled to appear in London +as a witness before a parliamentary committee, and was closely cross- +examined as to the possibilities of his plan. In those days, even after +the success of the Stockton and Darlington line, his views about the +future of railways were still regarded by most sober persons as +ridiculously wild and enthusiastic; while the notion that trains might +be made to travel twice as fast as stage-coaches, was scouted as the +most palpable and ridiculous delusion. One of the members of the +committee pressed Stephenson very hard with questions. "Suppose," he +said, "a cow were to get upon the line, and the engine were to come into +collision with it; wouldn't that be very awkward, now?" George looked up +at him with a merry twinkle of the eye, and answered in his broad North +Country dialect, "Oo, ay, very awkward for the _coo_." + +In spite of all Stephenson's earnestness and mother wit, however, +Parliament refused to pass the bill (in 1825), and for the moment the +engineer's vexation was bitter to behold. He and his friends plucked up +heart, however; they were fighting the winning battle against prejudice +and obstruction, and they were sure to conquer in the long run. The line +was resurveyed by other engineers; the lands of the hostile owners were +avoided; the causes of offence were dexterously smoothed down; and after +another hard fight, in 1826, the bill authorizing the construction of +the Liverpool and Manchester railway was finally passed. The board at +once appointed Stephenson engineer for constructing the line, at a +salary of L1000 a year. George might now fairly consider himself +entitled to the honours of an Esquire. + +The line was a difficult one to construct; but George Stephenson set +about it with the skill and knowledge acquired during many years of slow +experience; and he performed it with distinguished success. He was now +forty-four; and he had had more to do with the laying down of rails than +any other man then living. The great difficulty of the Liverpool and +Manchester line lay in the fact that it had to traverse a vast shaking +bog or morass, Chat Moss, which the best engineers had emphatically +declared it would be impossible to cross. George Stephenson, however, +had a plan for making the impossible possible. He simply floated his +line on a broad bottom, like a ship, on the top of the quaking quagmire; +and proceeded to lay down his rails on this seemingly fragile support +without further scruple. It answered admirably, and still answers to the +present day. The other works on the railway, especially the cuttings, +were such as might well have appalled the boldest heart in those +experimental ages of railway enterprise. It is easy enough for us now to +undertake tunnelling great hills or filling up wide valleys with long +ranges of viaduct, because the thing has been done so often, and the +prospect of earning a fair return on the money sunk can be calculated +with so high a degree of reasonable probability. But it required no +little faith for George Stephenson and his backers to drive a level +road, for the first time, through solid rocks and over trembling +morasses, the whole way from Liverpool to Manchester. He persevered, +however, and in 1830, after four years' toilsome and ceaseless labour, +during which he had worked far-harder than the sturdiest navvy on the +line, his railway was finally opened for regular traffic. + +Before the completion of the railway, George Stephenson had taken part +in a great contest for the best locomotive at Liverpool, a prize of L500 +having been offered by the company to the successful competitor. +Stephenson sent in his improved model, the Rocket, constructed after +plans of his own and his son Robert's, and it gained the prize against +all its rivals, travelling at what was then considered the incredible +rate of 35 miles an hour. It was thus satisfactorily settled that the +locomotive was the best power for drawing carriages on railways, and +George Stephenson's long battle was thus at last practically won. The +opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway was an era in the +history of the world. From the moment that great undertaking was +complete, there could no longer be any doubt about the utility and +desirability of railways, and all opposition died away almost at once. +New lines began immediately to be laid out, and in an incredibly short +time the face of England was scarred by the main trunks in that network +of iron roads with which its whole surface is now so closely covered. +The enormous development of the railway system benefited the Stephenson +family in more than one way. Robert Stephenson became the engineer of +the vast series of lines now known as the London and North Western; and +the increased demand for locomotives caused George Stephenson's small +factory at Newcastle to blossom out suddenly into an immense and +flourishing manufacturing concern. + +The rest of George Stephenson's life is one long story of unbroken +success. In 1831, the year after the opening of the Liverpool and +Manchester line, George, being now fifty, began to think of settling +down in a more permanent home. His son Robert, who was surveying the +Leicester and Swannington railway, observed on an estate called +Snibston, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, what to his experienced geological eye +looked like the probable indications of coal beneath the surface. He +wrote to his father about it, and as the estate was at the time for +sale, George, now a comparatively wealthy man, bought it up on his son's +recommendation. He also pitched his home close by at Alton Grange, and +began to sink shafts in search of coal. He found it in due time; and +thus, in addition to his Newcastle works he became a flourishing +colliery proprietor. It is pleasing to note that Stephenson, unlike too +many other self-made men, always treated his workmen with the greatest +kindness and consideration, erecting admirable cottages for their +accommodation, and providing them with church, chapel, and schools for +their religious and social education. + +While living at Alton Grange, Stephenson was engaged in laying out +several new lines in the middle and north of England, especially the +Grand Junction and the Midland, both of which he constructed with great +boldness and practical skill. As he grew older and more famous, he began +to mix in the truly best society of England; his acquaintance being +sought by all the most eminent men in literature, science, and political +life. Though but an uneducated working man by origin, George Stephenson +had so improved his mind by constant thought and expansive self- +education, that he was able to meet these able and distinguished friends +of his later days on terms of perfect intellectual and social equality. +To the last, however, he never forgot his older and poorer friends, nor +was he ever ashamed of their acquaintance. A pleasant trait is narrated +by his genial biographer, Dr. Smiles, who notices that on one occasion +he stopped to speak to one of his wealthy acquaintances in a fine +carriage, and then turned to shake hands with the coachman on the box, +whom he had known and respected in his earlier days. He enjoyed, too, +the rare pleasure of feeling his greatness recognized in his own time: +and once, when he went over to Brussels on a visit to the king of the +Belgians, he was pleased and surprised, as the royal party entered the +ball-room at the Town Hall, to hear a general murmur among the guests of +"Which is Stephenson?" + +George Stephenson continued to live for sixteen years, first at Alton +Grange, and afterwards at Tapton House, near Chesterfield, in comfort +and opulence; growing big pines and melons, keeping birds and dogs, and +indulging himself towards the end in the well-earned repose to which his +useful and laborious life fully entitled him. At last, on the 12th of +August, 1848, he died suddenly of intermittent fever, in his sixty- +seventh year, and was peacefully buried in Chesterfield church. Probably +no one man who ever lived did so much to change and renovate the whole +aspect of human life as George Stephenson; and, unlike many other +authors of great revolutions, he lived long enough to see the full +result of his splendid labours in the girdling of England by his iron +roads. A grand and simple man, he worked honestly and steadfastly +throughout his days, and he found his reward in the unprecedented +benefits which his locomotive was even then conferring upon his fellow- +men. It is indeed wonderful to think how very different is the England +in which we live to-day, from that in which we might possibly have been +living were it not for the barefooted little collier boy who made clay +models of engines at Wylam, and who grew at last into the great and +famous engineer of the marvellous Liverpool and Manchester railway. The +main characteristic of George Stephenson was perseverance; and it was +that perseverance that enabled him at last to carry out his magnificent +schemes in the face of so much bitter and violent opposition. + + + + +III. + +JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR. + + +In most cases, the working man who raises himself to wealth and +position, does so by means of trade, which is usually the natural +outgrowth of his own special handicraft or calling. If he attains, not +only to riches, but to distinction as well, it is in general by +mechanical talent, the direction of the mind being naturally biased by +the course of one's own ordinary occupations. England has been +exceptionally rich in great engineers and inventive geniuses of such +humble origin--working men who have introduced great improvements in +manufactures or communications; and our modern English civilization has +been immensely influenced by the lives of these able and successful +mechanical toilers. From Brindley, the constructor of the earliest great +canal, to Joseph Gillott, the inventor of the very steel pen with which +this book is written; from Arkwright the barber who fashioned the first +spinning-machine, to Crompton the weaver, whose mule gave rise to the +mighty Manchester cotton trade; from Newcomen, who made the first rough +attempt at a steam-engine, to Stephenson, who sent the iron horse from +end to end of the land,--the chief mechanical improvements in the +country have almost all been due to the energy, intelligence, and skill +of our labouring population. The English mind is intensely practical, +and the English working man, for the last two centuries at least, has +been mainly distinguished for his great mechanical aptitude, bursting +out, here and there, in exceptional persons, under the form of +exceedingly high inventive genius. + +At our very doors, however, there is a small nation of largely different +blood and of wholly different speech from our own; a nation forming a +part of our own kingdom, even more closely than the Scotch or the Irish, +and yet in some respects further from us in mind and habit of life than +either; a nation marked rather by the poetical and artistic, than by the +mechanical and practical temperament--the ancient and noble Welsh +people. It would hardly be reasonable to expect from the Welsh exactly +the same kind of success in life which we often find in English workmen; +the aims and ideals of the two races are so distinct, and it must be +frankly confessed the advantage is not always on the side of the +Englishman. The Welsh peasants, living among their own romantic hills +and valleys, speaking their own soft and exquisite language, treasuring +their own plaintive and melodious poetry, have grown up with an intense +love for beauty and the beautiful closely intwined into the very warp +and woof of their inmost natures. They have almost always a natural +refinement of manner and delicacy of speech which is unfortunately too +often wanting amongst our rougher English labouring classes, especially +in large towns. They are intensely musical, producing a very large +proportion of the best English singers and composers. They are fond of +literature, for which they have generally some natural capacity, and in +which they exercise themselves to an extent unknown, probably, among +people of their class in any other country. At the local meetings of +bards (as they call themselves) in Wales, it is not at all uncommon to +hear that the first prize for Welsh poetry has been carried off by a +shepherd, and the first prize for Welsh prose composition by a domestic +servant. In short, the susceptibilities of the race run rather toward +art and imagination, than toward mere money-making and practical +ingenuity. + +John Gibson, sculptor, of Rome, as he loved to call himself, was a +remarkable embodiment, in many ways, of this self-respecting, artistic, +ideal Welsh peasant temperament. In a little village near Conway, in +North Wales, there lived at the end of the last century a petty +labouring market gardener of the name of Gibson, who knew and spoke no +other tongue than his native Welsh. In 1790, his wife gave birth to a +son whom they christened John, and who grew up, a workman's child, under +the shadow of the great castle, and among the exquisite scenery of the +placid land-locked Conway river. John Gibson's parents, like the mass of +labouring Welsh people, were honest, God-fearing folk, with a great +earnestness of principle, a profound love of truth, and a hatred of all +mean or dirty actions. They brought up the boy in these respects in the +way he should go; and when he was old he indeed did not depart from +them. Throughout his life, John Gibson was remarkable for his calm, +earnest, straightforward simplicity, a simplicity which seemed almost +childish to those who could not understand so grand and uncommon and +noble a nature as his. + +From his babyhood, almost, the love of art was innate in the boy; and +when he was only seven years old, he began to draw upon a slate a scene +that particularly pleased him--a line of geese sailing upon the smooth +glassy surface of a neighbouring pond. He drew them as an ordinary child +almost always does draw--one goose after another, in profile, as though +they were in procession, without any attempt at grouping or perspective +in any way. His mother praised the first attempt, saying to him in +Welsh, "Indeed, Jack, this is very like the geese;" and Jack, encouraged +by her praise, decided immediately to try again. But not being an +ordinary child, he determined this time to do better; he drew the geese +one behind the other as one generally sees them in actual nature. His +mother then asked him to draw a horse; and "after gazing long and often +upon one," he says, "I at last ventured to commit him to the slate." +When he had done so, the good mother was even more delighted. So, to try +his childish art, she asked him to put a rider on the horse's back. Jack +went out once more, "carefully watched men on horseback," and then +returning, made his sketch accordingly. In this childish reminiscence +one can see already the first workings of that spirit which made Gibson +afterwards into the greatest sculptor of all Europe. He didn't try even +then to draw horse or man by mere guess-work; he went out and studied +the subject at first hand. There are in that single trait two great +elements of success in no matter what line of life--supreme carefulness, +and perfect honesty of workmanship. + +When Jack was nine years old, his father determined to emigrate to +America, and for that purpose went to Liverpool to embark for the United +States. But when he had got as far as the docks, Mrs. Gibson, good soul, +frightened at the bigness of the ships (a queer cause of alarm), refused +plumply ever to put her foot on one of them. So her husband, a dutiful +man with a full sense of his wife's government upon him, consented +unwillingly to stop in Liverpool, where he settled down to work again as +a gardener. Hitherto, Jack and his brothers had spoken nothing but +Welsh; but at Liverpool he was put to school, and soon learned to +express himself correctly and easily in English. Liverpool was a very +different place for young Jack Gibson from Conway: there were no hills +and valleys there, to be sure, but there were shops--such shops! all +full of the most beautiful and highly coloured prints and caricatures, +after the fashion of the days when George IV. was still Prince Regent. +All his spare time he now gave up to diligently copying the drawings +which he saw spread out in tempting array before him in the shop- +windows. Flattening his little nose against the glass panes, he used to +look long and patiently at a single figure, till he had got every detail +of its execution fixed firmly on his mind's eye; and then he would go +home hastily and sketch it out at once while the picture was still quite +fresh in his vivid memory. Afterwards he would return to the shop- +window, and correct his copy by the original till it was completely +finished. No doubt the boy did all this purely for his own amusement; +but at the same time he was quite unconsciously teaching himself to draw +under a very careful and accurate master--himself. Already, however, he +found his paintings had patrons, for he sold them when finished to the +other boys; and once he got as much as sixpence for a coloured picture +of Napoleon crossing the Alps--"the largest sum," he says brightly in +his memoirs long after, "I had yet received for a work of art." + +Opportunities always arise for those who know how to use them. Little +Jack Gibson used to buy his paper and colours at a stationer's in +Liverpool, who one day said to him kindly, "My lad, you're a constant +customer here: I suppose you're a painter." "Yes, sir," Jack answered, +with childish self-complacency, "I do paint." The stationer, who had +himself studied at the Royal Academy, asked him to bring his pictures on +view; and when Jack did so, his new friend, Mr. Tourmeau, was so much +pleased with them that he lent the boy drawings to copy, and showed him +how to draw for himself from plaster casts. These first amateur lessons +must have given the direction to all Gibson's later life: for when the +time came for him to choose a trade, he was not set to till the ground +like his father, but was employed at once on comparatively artistic and +intelligent handicraft. + +Jack was fourteen when his father apprenticed him to a firm of cabinet- +makers. For the first year, he worked away contentedly at legs and +mouldings; but as soon as he had learnt the rudiments of the trade he +persuaded his masters to change his indentures, and let him take the +more suitable employment of carving woodwork for ornamental furniture. +He must have been a good workman and a promising boy, one may be sure, +or his masters would never have countenanced such a revolutionary +proceeding on the part of a raw apprentice. Young Gibson was delighted +with his new occupation, and pursued it so eagerly that he carved even +during his leisure hours from plaster casts. But after another year, as +ill-luck or good fortune would have it, he happened to come across a +London marble-cutter, who had come down to Liverpool to carve flowers in +marble for a local firm. The boy was enchanted with his freer and more +artistic work; when the marble-cutter took him over a big yard, and +showed him the process of modelling and cutting, he began to feel a deep +contempt for his own stiff and lifeless occupation of wood-carving. +Inspired with the desire to learn this higher craft, he bought some +clay, took it home, and moulded it for himself after all the casts he +could lay his hands on. Mr. Francis, the proprietor of the marble works, +had a German workman in his employ of the name of Luge, who used to +model small figures, chiefly, no doubt, for monumental purposes. Young +Gibson borrowed a head of Bacchus that Luge had composed, and made a +copy of it himself in clay. Mr. Francis was well pleased with this early +attempt, and also with a clever head of Mercury in marble, which Gibson +carved in his spare moments. + +The more the lad saw of clay and marble, the greater grew his distaste +for mere woodwork. At last, he determined to ask Mr. Francis to buy out +his indentures from the cabinet-makers, and let him finish his +apprenticeship as a sculptor. But unfortunately the cabinet-makers found +Gibson too useful a person to be got rid of so easily: they said he was +the most industrious lad they had ever had; and so his very virtues +seemed as it were to turn against him. Not so, really: Mr. Francis +thought so well of the boy that he offered the masters L70 to be quit of +their bargain; and in the end, Gibson himself having made a very firm +stand in the matter, he was released from his indentures and handed over +finally to Mr. Francis and a sculptor's life. + +And now the eager boy was at last "truly happy." He had to model all day +long, and he worked away at it with a will. Shortly after he went to Mr. +Francis's yard, a visitor came upon business, a magnificent-looking old +man, with snowy hair and Roman features. It was William Roscoe, the +great Liverpool banker, himself a poor boy who had risen, and who had +found time not only to build up for himself an enormous fortune, but +also to become thoroughly well acquainted with literature and art by the +way. Mr. Roscoe had written biographies of Lorenzo de Medici, the great +Florentine, and of Leo X., the art-loving pope; and throughout his whole +life he was always deeply interested in painting and sculpture and +everything that related to them. He was a philanthropist, too, who had +borne his part bravely in the great struggle for the abolition of the +slave trade; and to befriend a struggling lad of genius like John Gibson +was the very thing that was nearest and dearest to his benevolent heart. +Mr. Francis showed Roscoe the boy's drawings and models; and Roscoe's +appreciative eye saw in them at once the visible promise of great things +to be. He had come to order a chimney-piece for his library at Allerton, +where his important historical works were all composed; and he +determined that the clever boy should have a chief hand in its +production. A few days later he returned again with a valuable old +Italian print. "I want you to make a bas-relief in baked clay," he said +to Gibson, "from this print for the centre of my mantelpiece." Gibson +was overjoyed. The print was taken from a fresco of Raphael's in the +Vatican at Rome, and Gibson's work was to reproduce it in clay in low +relief, as a sculpture picture. He did so entirely to his new patron's +satisfaction, and this his first serious work is now duly preserved in +the Liverpool Institution which Mr. Roscoe had been mainly instrumental +in founding. + +Roscoe had a splendid collection of prints and drawings at Allerton; and +he invited the clever Welsh lad over there frequently, and allowed him +to study them all to his heart's content. To a lad like John Gibson, +such an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the works of Raphael and +Michael Angelo was a great and pure delight. Before he was nineteen, he +began to think of a big picture which he hoped to paint some day; and he +carried it out as well as he was able in his own self-taught fashion. +For as yet, it must be remembered, Gibson had had no regular artistic +instruction: there was none such, indeed, to be had at all in Liverpool +in his day; and there was no real art going on in the town in any way. +Mr. Francis, his master, was no artist; nor was there anybody at the +works who could teach him: for as soon as Mr. Francis found out the full +measure of Gibson's abilities, he dismissed his German artist Luge, and +put the clever boy entirely in his place. At this time, Gibson was only +receiving six shillings a week as wages; but Mr. Francis got good prices +for many of his works, and was not ashamed even to put his own name upon +the promising lad's artistic performances. + +Mr. Roscoe did not merely encourage the young sculptor; he set him also +on the right road for ultimate success. He urged Gibson to study +anatomy, without which no sculpture worthy of the name is possible. +Gibson gladly complied, for he knew that Michael Angelo had been a great +anatomist, and Michael was just at that moment the budding sculptor's +idol and ideal. But how could he learn? A certain Dr. Vose was then +giving lectures on anatomy to young surgeons at Liverpool, and on +Roscoe's recommendation he kindly admitted the eager student gratis to +his dissecting-room. Gibson dissected there with a will in all his spare +moments, and as he put his mind into the work he soon became well versed +in the construction of the human body. + +From the day that Gibson arrived at man's estate, the great dream of his +life was to go to Rome. For Rome is to art what London is to industry-- +the metropolis in its own way of the entire earth. But travelling in +1810 cost a vast deal of money; and the poor Liverpool marble-cutter +(for as yet he was really nothing more) could hardly hope to earn the +immense sum that such an expedition would necessarily cost him. So for +six years more he went on working at Liverpool in his own native +untaught fashion, doing his best to perfect himself, but feeling sadly +the lack of training and competition. One of the last works he executed +while still in Mr. Francis's service was a chimney-piece for Sir John +Gladstone, father of the future premier. Sir John was so pleased with +the execution, that he gave the young workman ten pounds as a present. +But in spite of occasional encouragement like this, Gibson felt himself +at Liverpool, as he says, "chained down by the leg, and panting for +liberation." + +In 1817, when he was just twenty-seven, he determined to set off to +London. He took with him good introductions from Mr. Roscoe to Mr. +Brougham (afterwards Lord Chancellor), to Christie, the big picture- +dealer, and to several other influential people. Later on, Roscoe +recommended him to still more important leaders in the world of art-- +Flaxman the great sculptor, Benjamin West, the Quaker painter and +President of the Royal Academy, and others of like magnitude. Mr. Watson +Taylor, a wealthy art patron, gave Gibson employment, and was anxious +that he should stop in London. But Gibson wanted more than employment; +he wanted to _learn_, to perfect himself, to become great in his +art. He could do that nowhere but at Rome, and to Rome therefore he was +determined to go. Mr. Taylor still begged him to wait a little. "Go to +Rome I will," Gibson answered boldly, "even if I have to go there on +foot." + +He was not quite reduced to this heroic measure, however, for his +Liverpool friends made up a purse of L150 for him (we may be sure it was +repaid later on); and with that comparatively large sum in his pocket +the young stone-cutter started off gaily on his continental tour, from +which he was not to return for twenty-seven years. He drove from Paris +to Rome, sharing a carriage with a Scotch gentleman; and when he arrived +in the Pope's city (as it then was) he knew absolutely not a single word +of Italian, or of any other language on earth save Welsh and English. In +those days, Canova, the great Venetian sculptor, was the head of +artistic society in Rome; and as _all_ society in Rome is more or +less artistic, he might almost be said to have led the whole life of the +great and lively city. Indeed, the position of such a man in Italy +resembles far more that of a duke in England than of an artist as we +here are accustomed to think of him. Gibson had letters of introduction +to this prince of sculptors from his London friends; and when he went to +present them, he found Canova in his studio, surrounded by his numerous +scholars and admirers. The Liverpool stone-cutter had brought a few of +his drawings with him, and Canova examined them with great attention. +Instinctively he recognized the touch of genius. When he had looked at +them keenly for a few minutes, he turned kindly to the trembling young +man, and said at once, "Come to me alone next week, for I want to have a +talk with you." + +On the appointed day, Gibson, quivering with excitement, presented +himself once more at the great master's studio. Canova was surrounded as +before by artists and visitors; but in a short time he took Gibson into +a room by himself, and began to speak with him in his very broken +English. Many artists came to Rome, he said, with very small means, and +that perhaps might be Gibson's case. "Let me have the gratification, +then," he went on, "of assisting you to prosecute your studies. I am +rich. I am anxious to be of use to you. Let me forward you in your art +as long as you stay in Rome." + +Gibson replied, with many stammerings, that he hoped his slender means +would suffice for his personal needs, but that if Canova would only +condescend to give him instruction, to make him his pupil, to let him +model in his studio, he would be eternally grateful. Canova was one of +the most noble and lovable of men. He acceded at once to Gibson's +request, and Gibson never forgot his kind and fatherly assistance. "Dear +generous master," the Welsh sculptor wrote many years after, when Canova +had long passed away, "I see you before me now. I hear your soft +Venetian dialect, and your kindly words inspiring my efforts and gently +correcting my defects. My heart still swells with grateful recollection +of you." + +Canova told his new pupil to devote a few days first to seeing the +sights of Rome; but Gibson was impatient to begin at once. "I shall be +at your studio to-morrow morning," the ardent Welshman said; and he kept +his word. Canova, pleased with so much earnestness and promptitude, set +him to work forthwith upon a clay model from his own statue of the +Pugilist. Gibson went to the task with a will, moulding the clay as best +he could into shape; but he still knew so little of the technical ways +of regular sculptors that he tried to model this work from the clay +alone, though its pose was such that it could not possibly hold together +without an iron framework. Canova saw his error and smiled, but let him +go on so that he might learn his business by experience. In a day or two +the whole thing, of course, collapsed by its own weight; and then Canova +called in a blacksmith and showed the eager beginner how the mechanical +skeleton was formed with iron bars, and interlacing crosses of wood and +wire. This was quite a new idea to Gibson, who had modelled hitherto +only in his own self-taught fashion with moist clay, letting it support +its own weight as best it might. Another pupil then fleshed out the iron +skeleton with clay, and roughly shaped it to the required figure, so +that it stood as firm as a rock for Gibson to work upon. The new hand +turned to vigorously once more; and, in spite of his seeming rawness, +finished the copy so well that Canova admitted him at once to the +Academy to model from life. At this Academy Canova himself, who loved +art far more than money, used to attend twice a week to give instruction +to students without receiving any remuneration whatsoever. It is of such +noble men as this that the world of art is largely made up--that world +which we too-practical English have always undervalued or even despised. + +Gibson's student period at Rome under Canova was a very happy episode in +a uniformly happy and beautiful life. His only trouble was that he had +not been able to come there earlier. Singularly free from every taint of +envy (like all the great sculptors of his time), he could not help +regretting when he saw other men turning out work of such great +excellence while he was still only a learner. "When I observed the power +and experience of youths much younger than myself," he says in his +generous appreciative fashion, "their masterly manner of sketching in +the figure, and their excellent imitation of nature, my spirits fell +many degrees, and I felt humbled and unhappy." He need not have done so, +for the man who thus distrusts his own work is always the truest +workman; it is only fools or poor creatures who are pleased and self- +satisfied with their own first bungling efforts. But the great enjoyment +of Rome to Gibson consisted in the free artistic society which he found +there. At Liverpool, he had felt almost isolated; there was hardly +anybody with whom he could talk on an equality about his artistic +interests; nobody but himself cared about the things that pleased and +engrossed his earnest soul the most. But at Rome, there was a great +society of artists; every man's studio was open to his friends and +fellow-workers; and a lively running fire of criticism went on +everywhere about all new works completed or in progress. He was +fortunate, too, in the exact moment of his residence: Rome then +contained at once, besides himself, the two truest sculptors of the +present century, Canova the Venetian, and Thorwaldsen the Dane. Both +these great masters were singularly free from jealousy, rivalry, or +vanity. In their perfect disinterestedness and simplicity of character +they closely resembled Gibson himself. The ardent and pure-minded young +Welshman, who kept himself so unspotted from the world in his utter +devotion to his chosen art, could not fail to derive an elevated +happiness from his daily intercourse with these two noble and +sympathetic souls. + +After Gibson had been for some time in Canova's studio, his illustrious +master told him that the sooner he took to modelling a life-size figure +of his own invention, the better. So Gibson hired a studio (with what +means he does not tell us in his short sketch of his own life) close to +Canova's, so that the great Venetian was able to drop in from time to +time and assist him with his criticism and judgment. How delightful is +the friendly communion of work implied in all this graceful artistic +Roman life! How different from the keen competition and jealous rivalry +which too often distinguishes our busy money-getting English existence! +In 1819, two years after Gibson's arrival at Rome, he began to model his +Mars and Cupid, a more than life-size group, on which he worked +patiently and lovingly for many months. When it was nearly finished, one +day a knock came at the studio door. After the knock, a handsome young +man entered, and announced himself brusquely as the Duke of Devonshire. +"Canova sent me," he said, "to see what you were doing." Gibson wasn't +much accustomed to dukes in those days--he grew more familiar with them +later on--and we may be sure the poor young artist's heart beat a little +more fiercely than usual when the stranger asked him the price of his +Mars and Cupid in marble. The sculptor had never yet sold a statue, and +didn't know how much he ought to ask; but after a few minutes' +consideration he said, "Five hundred pounds. But, perhaps," he added +timidly, "I have said too much." "Oh no," the duke answered, "not at all +too much;" and he forthwith ordered (or, as sculptors prefer to say, +commissioned) the statue to be executed for him in marble. Gibson was +delighted, and ran over at once to tell Canova, thinking he had done a +splendid stroke of business. Canova shared his pleasure, till the young +man came to the price; then the older sculptor's face fell ominously. +"Five hundred pounds!" he cried in dismay; "why, it won't cover the cost +of marble and workmanship." And so indeed it turned out; for when the +work was finished, it had stood Gibson in L520 for marble and expenses, +and left him twenty pounds out of pocket in the end. So he got less than +nothing after all for his many months of thought and labour over clay +and marble alike. + +Discouraging as this beginning must have proved, it was nevertheless in +reality the first important step in a splendid and successful career. It +is something to have sold your first statue, even if you sell it at a +disadvantage. In 1821 Gibson modelled a group of Pysche and the Zephyrs. +That winter Sir George Beaumont, himself a distinguished amateur artist, +and a great patron of art, came to Rome; and Canova sent him to see the +young Welshman's new composition. Sir George asked the price, and +Gibson, this time more cautious, asked for time to prepare an estimate, +and finally named L700. To his joy, Sir George immediately ordered it, +and also introduced many wealthy connoisseurs to the rising sculptor's +studio. That same winter, also, the Duke of Devonshire came again, and +commissioned a bas-relief in marble (which is now at Chatsworth House, +with many other of Gibson's works), at a paying price, too, which was a +great point for the young man's scanty exchequer. + +Unfortunately, Gibson has not left us any notice of how he managed to +make both ends meet during this long adult student period at Rome. +Information on that point would indeed be very interesting; but so +absorbed was the eager Welshman always in his art, that he seldom tells +us anything at all about such mere practical every-day matters as bread +and butter. To say the truth, he cared but little about them. Probably +he had lived in a very simple penurious style during his whole +studenthood, taking his meals at a _caffe_ or eating-house, and +centering all his affection and ideas upon his beloved studio. But now +wealth and fame began to crowd in upon him, almost without the seeking. +Visitors to Rome began to frequent the Welshman's rooms, and the death +of "the great and good Canova," which occurred in 1822, while depriving +Gibson of a dearly loved friend, left him, as it were, that great +master's successor. Towards him and Thorwaldsen, indeed, Gibson always +cherished a most filial regard. "May I not be proud," he writes long +after, "to have known such men, to have conversed with them, watched all +their proceedings, heard all their great sentiments on art? Is it not a +pleasure to be so deeply in their debt for instruction?" And now the +flood of visitors who used to flock to Canova's studio began to transfer +their interest to Gibson's. Commission after commission was offered him, +and he began to make money faster than he could use it. His life had +always been simple and frugal--the life of a working man with high aims +and grand ideals: he hardly knew now how to alter it. People who did not +understand Gibson used to say in his later days that he loved money, +because he made much and spent little. Those who knew him better say +rather that he worked much for the love of art, and couldn't find much +to do with his money when he had earned it. He was singularly +indifferent to gain; he cared not what he eat or drank; he spent little +on clothes, and nothing on entertainments; but he paid his workmen +liberally or even lavishly; he allowed one of his brothers more than he +ever spent upon himself, and he treated the other with uniform kindness +and generosity. The fact is, Gibson didn't understand money, and when it +poured in upon him in large sums, he simply left it in the hands of +friends, who paid him a very small percentage on it, and whom he always +regarded as being very kind to take care of the troublesome stuff on his +account. In matters of art, Gibson was a great master; in matters of +business, he was hardly more than a simple-minded child. + +Sometimes queer incidents occurred at Gibson's studio from the curious +ignorance of our countrymen generally on the subject of art. One day, a +distinguished and wealthy Welsh gentleman called on the sculptor, and +said that, as a fellow Welshman, he was anxious to give him a +commission. As he spoke, he cast an admiring eye on Gibson's group of +Psyche borne by the Winds. Gibson was pleased with his admiration, but +rather taken aback when the old gentleman said blandly, "If you were to +take away the Psyche and put a dial in the place, it'd make a capital +design for a clock." Much later, the first Duke of Wellington called +upon him at Rome and ordered a statue of Pandora, in an attitude which +he described. Gibson at once saw that the Duke's idea was a bad one, and +told him so. By-and-by, on a visit to England, Gibson waited on the +duke, and submitted photographs of the work he had modelled. "But, Mr. +Gibson," said the old soldier, looking at them curiously, "you haven't +followed my idea." "No," answered the sculptor, "I have followed _my +own_." "You are very stubborn," said Wellington. "Duke," answered the +sturdy sculptor, "I am a Welshman, and all the world knows that we are a +stubborn race." The Iron Duke ought to have been delighted to find +another man as unbending as himself, but he wasn't; and in the end he +refused the figure, which Gibson sold instead to Lady Marian Alford. + +For twenty-seven years Gibson remained at Rome, working assiduously at +his art, and rising gradually but surely to the very first place among +then living sculptors. His studio now became the great centre of all +fashionable visitors to Rome. Still, he made no effort to get rich, +though he got rich without wishing it; he worked on merely for art's +sake, not for money. He would not do as many sculptors do, keep several +copies in marble of his more popular statues for sale; he preferred to +devote all his time to new works. "Gibson was always absorbed in one +subject," says Lady Eastlake, "and that was the particular work or part +of a work--were it but the turn of a corner of drapery--which was then +under his modelling hands. Time was nothing to him; he was long and +fastidious." His favourite pupil, Miss Hosmer, once expressed regret to +him that she had been so long about a piece of work on which she was +engaged. "Always try to do the best you can," Gibson answered. "Never +mind how long you are upon a work--no. No one will ask how long you have +been, except fools. You don't care what fools think." + +During his long life at Rome, he was much cheered by the presence and +assistance of his younger brother, Mr. Ben, as he always called him, who +was also a sculptor, though of far less merit than John Gibson himself. +Mr. Ben came to Rome younger than John, and he learned to be a great +classical scholar, and to read those Greek and Latin books which John +only knew at second hand, but from whose beautiful fanciful stories of +gods and heroes he derived all the subjects for his works of statuary. +His other brother, Solomon, a strange, wild, odd man, in whom the family +genius had degenerated into mere eccentricity, never did anything for +his own livelihood, but lived always upon John Gibson's generous bounty. +In John's wealthy days, he and Mr. Ben used to escape every summer from +the heat and dust of Rome--which is unendurable in July and August--to +the delightfully cool air and magnificent mountain scenery of the Tyrol. +"I cannot tell you how well I am," he writes on one of these charming +visits, "and so is Mr. Ben. Every morning we take our walks in the woods +here. I feel as if I were new modelled." Another passage in one of these +summer tourist letters well deserves to be copied here, as it shows the +artist's point of view of labours like Telford's and Stephenson's. "From +Bormio," he says, "the famous road begins which passes over the Stelvio +into the Tyrol; the highest carriage-road in the world. We began the +ascent early in the morning. It is magnificent and wonderful. Man shows +his talents, his power over great difficulties, in the construction of +these roads. Behold the cunning little workman--he comes, he explores, +and he says, 'Yes, I will send a carriage and horses over these mighty +mountains;' and, by Jove, you are drawn up among the eternal snows. I am +a great admirer of these roads." + +In 1844 Gibson paid his first visit to England, a very different England +indeed to the one he had left twenty-seven years earlier. His Liverpool +friends, now thoroughly proud of their stone-cutter, insisted upon +giving him a public banquet. Glasgow followed the same example; and the +simple-minded sculptor, unaccustomed to such honours, hardly knew how to +bear his blushes decorously upon him. During this visit, he received a +command to execute a statue of the queen. Gibson was at first quite +disconcerted at such an awful summons. "I don't know how to behave to +queens," he said. "Treat her like a lady," said a friend; and Gibson, +following the advice, found it sufficiently answered all the necessities +of the situation. But when he went to arrange with the Prince Consort +about the statue, he was rather puzzled what he should do about +measuring the face, which he always did for portrait sculpture with a +pair of compasses. All these difficulties were at last smoothed over; +and Gibson was also permitted to drape the queen's statue in Greek +costume, for in his artistic conscientiousness he absolutely refused to +degrade sculpture by representing women in the fashionable gown of the +day, or men in swallow-tail coats and high collars. + +Another work which Gibson designed during this visit possesses for us a +singular and exceptional interest. It was a statue of George Stephenson, +to be erected at Liverpool. Thus, by a curious coincidence, the +Liverpool stone-cutter was set to immortalize the features and figure of +the Killingworth engine-man. Did those two great men, as they sat +together in one room, sculptor and sitter, know one another's early +history and strange struggles, we wonder? Perhaps not; but if they did, +it must surely have made a bond of union between them. At any rate, +Gibson greatly admired Stephenson, just as he had admired the Stelvio +road. "I will endeavour to give him a look capable of action and +energy," he said; "but he must be contemplative, grave, simple. He is a +good subject. I wish to make him look like an Archimedes." + +If Gibson admired Stephenson, however, he did not wholly admire +Stephenson's railways. The England he had left was the England of mail- +coaches. In Italy, he had learnt to travel by carriage, after the +fashion of the country; but these new whizzing locomotives, with their +time-tables, and their precision, and their inscrutable mysteries of +shunts and junctions, were quite too much for his simple, childish, old- +world habits. He had a knack of getting out too soon or too late, which +often led him into great confusion. Once, when he wanted to go to +Chichester, he found himself landed at Portsmouth, and only discovered +his mistake when, on asking the way to the cathedral, he was told there +was no cathedral in the town at all. Another story of how he tried to +reach Wentworth, Lord Fitzwilliam's place, is best told in his own +words. "The train soon stopped at a small station, and, seeing some +people get out, I also descended; when, in a moment, the train moved on +--faster and faster--and left me standing on the platform. I walked a few +paces backward and forward in disagreeable meditation. 'I wish to +Heaven,' thought I to myself, 'that I was on my way back to Rome with a +postboy.' Then I observed a policeman darting his eyes upon me, as if he +would look me through. Said I to the fellow, 'Where is that cursed train +gone to? It's off with my luggage and here am I.' The man asked me the +name of the place where I took my ticket. 'I don't remember,' said I. +'How should I know the name of any of these places?--it's as long as my +arm. I've got it written down somewhere.' 'Pray, sir,' said the man, +after a little pause, 'are you a foreigner?' 'No,' I replied, 'I am not +a foreigner; I'm a sculptor.'" + +The consequence of this almost childish carelessness was that Gibson had +always to be accompanied on his long journeys either by a friend or a +courier. While Mr. Ben lived, he usually took his brother in charge to +some extent; and the relation between them was mutual, for while John +Gibson found the sculpture, Mr. Ben found the learning, so that Gibson +used often to call him "my classical dictionary." In 1847, however, Mr. +Ben was taken ill. He got a bad cold, and would have no doctor, take no +medicine. "I consider Mr. Ben," his brother writes, "as one of the most +amiable of human beings--too good for this world--but he will take no +care against colds, and when ill he is a stubborn animal." That summer +Gibson went again to England, and when he came back found Mr. Ben no +better. For four years the younger brother lingered on, and in 1851 died +suddenly from the effects of a fall in walking. Gibson was thus left +quite alone, but for his pupil Miss Hosmer, who became to him more than +a daughter. + +During his later years Gibson took largely to tinting his statues-- +colouring them faintly with flesh-tones and other hues like nature; and +this practice he advocated with all the strength of his single-minded +nature. All visitors to the great Exhibition of 1862 will remember his +beautiful tinted Venus, which occupied the place of honour in a light +temple erected for the purpose by another distinguished artistic +Welshman, Mr. Owen Jones, who did much towards raising the standard of +taste in the English people. + +In January, 1866, John Gibson had a stroke of paralysis, from which he +never recovered. He died within the month, and was buried in the English +cemetery at Rome. Both his brothers had died before him; and he left the +whole of his considerable fortune to the Royal Academy in England. An +immense number of his works are in the possession of the Academy, and +are on view there throughout the year. + +John Gibson's life is very different in many respects from that of most +other great working men whose story is told in this volume. Undoubtedly, +he was deficient in several of those rugged and stern qualities to which +English working men have oftenest owed their final success. But there +was in him a simple grandeur of character, a purity of soul, and an +earnestness of aim which raised him at once far above the heads of most +among those who would have been the readiest to laugh at and ridicule +him. Besides his exquisite taste, his severe love of beauty, and his +marvellous power of expressing the highest ideals of pure form, he had +one thing which linked him to all the other great men whose lives we +have here recounted--his steadfast and unconquerable personal energy. In +one sense it may be said that he was not a practical man; and yet in +another and higher sense, what could possibly be more practical than +this accomplished resolve of the poor Liverpool stone-cutter to overcome +all obstacles, to go to Rome, and to make himself into a great sculptor? +It is indeed a pity that in writing for Englishmen of the present day +such a life should even seem for a moment to stand in need of a +practical apology. For purity, for guilelessness, for exquisite +appreciation of the true purpose of sculpture as the highest embodiment +of beauty of form, John Gibson's art stands unsurpassed in all the +annals of modern statuary. + + + + +IV. + +WILLIAM HERSCHEL, BANDSMAN. + + +Old Isaac Herschel, the oboe-player of the King's Guard in Hanover, had +served with his regiment for many years in the chilly climate of North +Germany, and was left at last broken down in health and spirits by the +many hardships of several severe European campaigns. Isaac Herschel was +a man of tastes and education above his position; but he had married a +person in some respects quite unfitted for him. His good wife, Anna, +though an excellent housekeeper and an estimable woman in her way, had +never even learned to write; and when the pair finally settled down to +old age in Hanover, they were hampered by the cares of a large family of +ten children. Respectable poverty in Germany is even more pressing than +in England; the decent poor are accustomed to more frugal fare and +greater privations than with us; and the domestic life of the Herschel +family circle must needs have been of the most careful and penurious +description. Still, Isaac Herschel dearly loved his art, and in it he +found many amends and consolations for the sordid shifts and troubles of +a straitened German household. All his spare time was given to music, +and in his later days he was enabled to find sufficient pupils to eke +out his little income with comparative comfort. + +William Herschel, the great astronomer (born in 1738), was the fourth +child of his mother, and with his brothers he was brought up at the +garrison school in Hanover, together with the sons of the other common +soldiers. There he learned, not only the three R's, but also a little +French and English. Still, the boy was not content with these ordinary +studies; in his own playtime he took lessons in Latin and mathematics +privately with the regimental schoolmaster. The young Herschels, indeed, +were exceptionally fortunate in the possession of an excellent and +intelligent father, who was able to direct their minds into channels +which few people of their position in life have the opportunity of +entering. Isaac Herschel was partly of Jewish descent, and he inherited +in a marked degree two very striking Jewish gifts--a turn for music, and +a turn for philosophy. The Jews are probably the oldest civilized race +now remaining on earth; and their musical faculties have been +continuously exercised from a time long before the days of David, so +that now they produce undoubtedly a far larger proportion of musicians +and composers than any other class of the population whatsoever. They +are also deeply interested in the same profound theological and +philosophical problems which were discussed with so much acuteness and +freedom in the Book of Ecclesiastes and the subtle argument of Job and +his friends. There has never been a time when the Jewish mind has not +exercised itself profoundly on these deep and difficult questions; and +the Hanover bandsman inherited from his Jewish ancestry an unusual +interest in similar philosophical subjects. Thus, while the little ones +were sleeping in the same common room at night, William and his father +were often heard discussing the ideas of such abstruse thinkers as +Newton and Leibnitz, whose names must have sounded strange indeed to the +ordinary frequenters of the Hanover barracks. On such occasions good +dame Herschel was often compelled to interpose between them, lest the +loudness of their logic should wake the younger children in the crib +hard by. + +William, however, possessed yet another gift, which he is less likely to +have derived from the Jewish side of the house. He and his brother +Alexander were both distinguished by a natural taste for mechanics, and +early gave proof of their learning by turning neat globes with the +equator and ecliptic accurately engraved upon them, or by making model +instruments for their own amusement out of bits of pasteboard. Thus, in +early opportunities and educational advantages, the young Herschels +certainly started in life far better equipped than most working men's +sons; and, considering their father's doubtful position, it may seem at +first sight rather a stretch of language to describe him as a working +man at all. Nevertheless, when one remembers the humble grade of +military bandsmen in Germany, even at the present day, and the fact that +most of the Herschel family remained in that grade during all their +lives, it is clear that William Herschel's life may be fairly included +within the scope of the present series. "In my fifteenth year," he says +himself, "I enlisted in military service," and he evidently looked upon +his enlistment in exactly the same light as that of any ordinary +soldier. + +England and Hanover were, of course, very closely connected together at +the middle of the last century. The king moved about a great deal from +one country to the other; and in 1755 the regiment of Hanoverian Guards +was ordered on service to England for a year. William Herschel, then +seventeen years of age, and already a member of the band, went together +with his father; and it was in this modest capacity that he first made +acquaintance with the land where he was afterwards to attain the dignity +of knighthood and the post of the king's astronomer. He played the oboe, +like his father before him, and no doubt underwent the usual severe +military discipline of that age of stiff stocks and stern punishments. +His pay was very scanty, and out of it he only saved enough to carry +home one memento of his English experiences. That memento was in itself +a sufficient mark of the stuff from which young Herschel was compounded. +It was a copy of "Locke on the Human Understanding." Now, Locke's famous +work, oftener named than read, is a very tough and serious bit of +philosophical exposition; and a boy of seventeen who buys such a book +out of his meagre earnings as a military bandsman is pretty sure not to +end his life within the four dismal bare walls of the barrack. It is +indeed a curious picture to imagine young William Herschel, among a +group of rough and boisterous German soldiers, discussing high +mathematical problems with his father, or sitting down quietly in a +corner to read "Locke on the Human Understanding." + +In 1757, during the Seven Years' War, Herschel was sent with his +regiment to serve in the campaign of Rossbach against the French. He was +not physically strong, and the hardships of active service told terribly +upon the still growing lad. His parents were alarmed at his appearance +when he returned, and were very anxious to "remove" him from the +service. That, however, was by no means an easy matter for them to +accomplish. They had no money to buy his discharge, and so, not to call +the transaction by any other than its true name, William Herschel was +forced to run away from the army. We must not judge too harshly of this +desertion, for the times were hard, and the lives of men in Herschel's +position were valued at very little by the constituted authorities. Long +after, it is said, when Herschel had distinguished himself by the +discovery of the planet Uranus, a pardon for this high military offence +was duly handed to him by the king in person on the occasion of his +first presentation. George III. was not a particularly wise or brilliant +man; but even he had sense enough to perceive that William Herschel +could serve the country far better by mapping out the stars of heaven +than by playing the oboe to the royal regiment of Hanoverian Guards. + +William was nineteen when he ran away. His good mother packed his boxes +for him with such necessaries as she could manage, and sent them after +him to Hamburg, but, to the boy's intense disgust, she forgot to send +the copy of "Locke on the Human Understanding." What a sturdy deserter +we have here, to be sure! "She, dear woman," he says plaintively, "knew +no other wants than good linen and clothing!" So William Herschel the +oboe player started off alone to earn his living as best he might in the +great world of England. It is strange he should have chosen that, of all +European countries; for there alone he was liable to be arrested as a +deserter: but perhaps his twelvemonth's stay in London may have given +him a sense of being at home amongst us which he would have lacked in +any other part of Europe. At any rate, hither he came, and for the next +three years picked up a livelihood, we know not how, as many other +excellent German bandsmen have done before and since him. Our +information about his early life is very meagre, and at this period we +lose sight of him for a while altogether. + +About the year 1760, however, we catch another incidental glimpse of the +young musician in his adopted country. By that time, he had found +himself once more a regular post as oboist to the Durham militia, then +quartered for its muster at Pontefract. A certain Dr. Miller, an +organist at Doncaster, was dining one evening at the officers' mess; +when his host happened to speak to him in high praise of a young German +they had in their band, who was really, he said, a most remarkable and +spirited performer. Dr. Miller asked to see (or rather hear) this clever +musician; so Herschel was called up, and made to go through a solo for +the visitor's gratification. The organist was surprised at his admirable +execution, and asked him on what terms he was engaged to the Durham +militia. "Only from month to month," Herschel answered. "Then leave them +at the end of your month," said Miller, "and come to live with me. I'm a +single man; I think we can manage together; and I'm sure I can get you a +better situation." Herschel frankly accepted the offer so kindly made, +and seems to have lived for much of the next five years with Miller in +his little two-roomed cottage at Doncaster. Here he took pupils and +performed in the orchestra at public concerts, always in a very quiet +and modest fashion. He also lived for part of the time with a Mr. Bulman +at Leeds, for whom he afterwards generously provided a place as clerk to +the Octagon Chapel at Bath. Indeed, it is a very pleasing trait in +William Herschel's character that to the end he was constantly engaged +in finding places for his early friends, as well as for the less +energetic or less fortunate members of his own family. + +During these years, Herschel also seems to have given much attention to +the organ, which enabled him to make his next step in life in 1765, when +he was appointed organist at Halifax. Now, there is a great social +difference between the position of an oboe-player in a band and a church +organist; and it was through his organ-playing that Herschel was finally +enabled to leave his needy hand-to-mouth life in Yorkshire. A year +later, he obtained the post of organist to the Octagon Chapel at Bath, +an engagement which gave him new opportunities of turning his mind to +the studies for which he possessed a very marked natural inclination. +Bath was in those days not only the most fashionable watering-place in +England, but almost the only fashionable watering-place in the whole +kingdom. It was, to a certain extent, all that Brighton, Scarborough, +Buxton, and Harrogate are to-day, and something more. In our own time, +when railways and steamboats have so altered the face of the world, the +most wealthy and fashionable English society resorts a great deal to +continental pleasure towns like Cannes, Nice, Florence, Vichy, Baden, +Ems, and Homburg; but in the eighteenth century it resorted almost +exclusively to Bath. The Octagon Chapel was in one sense the centre of +life in Bath; and through his connection with it, Herschel was thrown +into a far more intelligent and learned society than that which he had +left behind him in still rural Yorkshire. New books came early to Bath, +and were read and discussed in the reading-rooms; famous men and women +came there, and contributed largely to the intellectual life of the +place; the theatre was the finest out of London; the Assembly Rooms were +famous as the greatest resort of wit and culture in the whole kingdom. +Herschel here was far more in his element than in the barracks of +Hanover, or in the little two-roomed cottage at rustic Doncaster. + +He worked very hard indeed, and his work soon brought him comfort and +comparative wealth. Besides his chapel services, and his later +engagement in the orchestra of the Assembly Rooms, he had often as many +as thirty-eight private pupils in music every week; and he also composed +a few pieces, which were published in London with some modest success. +Still, in spite of all these numerous occupations, the eager young +German found a little leisure time to devote to self-education; so much +so that, after a fatiguing day of fourteen or sixteen hours spent in +playing the organ and teaching, he would "unbend his mind" by studying +the higher mathematics, or give himself a lesson in Greek and Italian. +At the same time, he was also working away at a line of study, seemingly +useless to him, but in which he was afterwards to earn so great and +deserved a reputation. Among the books he read during this Bath period +were Smith's "Optics" and Lalande's "Astronomy." Throughout all his own +later writings, the influence of these two books, thoroughly mastered by +constant study in the intervals of his Bath music lessons, makes itself +everywhere distinctly felt. + +Meanwhile, the family at Hanover had not been flourishing quite so +greatly as the son William was evidently doing in wealthy England. +During all those years, the young man had never forgotten to keep up a +close correspondence with his people in Germany. Already, in 1764, +during his Yorkshire days, William Herschel had managed out of his +savings as an oboe-player to make a short trip to his old home; and his +sister Carolina, afterwards his chief assistant in his astronomical +labours, notes with pleasure the delight she felt in having her beloved +brother with her once more, though she, poor girl, being cook to the +household apparently, could only enjoy his society when she was not +employed "in the drudgery of the scullery." A year later, when William +had returned to England again, and had just received his appointment as +organist at Halifax, his father, Isaac, had a stroke of paralysis which +ended his violin-playing for ever, and forced him to rely thenceforth +upon copying music for a precarious livelihood. In 1767 he died, and +poor Carolina saw before her in prospect nothing but a life of that +domestic drudgery which she so disliked. "I could not bear the idea of +being turned into a housemaid," she says; and she thought that if only +she could take a few lessons in music and fancy work she might get "a +place as governess in some family where the want of a knowledge of +French would be no objection." But, unhappily, good dame Herschel, like +many other uneducated and narrow-minded persons, had a strange dread of +too much knowledge. She thought that "nothing further was needed," says +Carolina, "than to send me two or three months to a sempstress to be +taught to make household linen; so all that my father could do was to +indulge me sometimes with a short lesson on the violin when my mother +was either in good humour or out of the way. It was her certain belief +that my brother William would have returned to his country, and my +eldest brother would not have looked so high, if they had had a little +less learning." Poor, purblind, well-meaning, obstructive old dame +Herschel! what a boon to the world that children like yours are +sometimes seized with this incomprehensible fancy for "looking too +high"! + +Nevertheless, Carolina managed by rising early to take a few lessons at +daybreak from a young woman whose parents lived in the same cottage with +hers; and so she got through a little work before the regular daily +business of the family began at seven. Imagine her delight then, just as +the difficulties after her father's death are making that housemaid's +place seem almost inevitable, when she gets a letter from William at +Bath, asking her to come over to England and join him at that gay and +fashionable city. He would try to prepare her for singing at his +concerts; but if after two years' trial she didn't succeed, he would +take her back again to Hanover himself. In 1772, indeed, William in +person came over to fetch her, and thenceforth the brother and sister +worked unceasingly together in all their undertakings to the day of the +great astronomer's death. + +About this time Herschel had been reading Ferguson's "Astronomy," and +felt very desirous of seeing for himself the objects in the heavens, +invisible to the naked eye, of which he there found descriptions. For +this purpose he must of course have a telescope. But how to obtain one? +that was the question. There was a small two-and-a-half foot instrument +on hire at one of the shops at Bath; and the ambitious organist borrowed +this poor little glass for a time, not merely to look through, but to +use as a model for constructing one on his own account. Buying was +impossible, of course, for telescopes cost much money: but making would +not be difficult for a determined mind. He had always been of a +mechanical turn, and he was now fired with a desire to build himself a +telescope eighteen or twenty feet long. He sent to London for the +lenses, which could not be bought at Bath; and Carolina amused herself +by making a pasteboard tube to fit them in her leisure hours. It was +long before he reached twenty feet, indeed: his first effort was a +seven-foot, attained only "after many continuous determined trials." The +amateur pasteboard frame did not fully answer Herschel's expectations, +so he was obliged to go in grudgingly for the expense of a tin tube. The +reflecting mirror which he ought to have had proved too dear for his +still slender purse, and he thus had to forego it with much regret. But +he found a man at Bath who had once been in the mirror-polishing line; +and he bought from him for a bargain all his rubbish of patterns, tools, +unfinished mirrors and so forth, with which he proceeded to experiment +on the manufacture of a proper telescope. In the summer, when the season +was over, and all the great people had left Bath, the house, as Carolina +says ruefully, "was turned into a workshop." William's younger brother +Alexander was busy putting up a big lathe in a bedroom, grinding glasses +and turning eyepieces while in the drawing-room itself, sacred to +William's aristocratic pupils, a carpenter, sad to relate, was engaged +in making a tube and putting up stands for the future telescopes. Sad +goings on, indeed, in the family of a respectable music-master and +organist! Many a good solid shopkeeper in Bath must no doubt have shaken +his grey head solemnly as he passed the door, and muttered to himself +that that young German singer fellow was clearly going on the road to +ruin with his foolish good-for-nothing star-gazing. + +In 1774, when William Herschel was thirty-six, he had at last +constructed himself a seven-foot telescope, and began for the first time +in his life to view the heavens in a systematic manner. From this he +advanced to a ten-foot, and then to one of twenty, for he meant to see +stars that no astronomer had ever yet dreamt of beholding. It was +comparatively late in life to begin, but Herschel had laid a solid +foundation already, and he was enabled therefore to do an immense deal +in the second half of those threescore years and ten which are the +allotted average life of man, but which he himself really overstepped by +fourteen winters. As he said long afterwards with his modest manner to +the poet Campbell, "I have looked further into space than ever human +being did before me; I have observed stars of which the light, it can be +proved, must take two millions of years to reach this earth." That would +have been a grand thing for any man to be able truthfully to say under +any circumstances: it was a marvellous thing for a man who had laboured +under all the original disadvantages of Herschel--a man who began life +as a penniless German bandsman, and up to the age of thirty-six had +never even looked through a telescope. + +At this time, Herschel was engaged in playing the harpsichord in the +orchestra of the theatre; and it was during the interval between the +acts that he made his first general survey of the heavens. The moment +his part was finished, he would rush out to gaze through his telescope; +and in these short periods he managed to observe all the visible stars +of what are called the first, second, third, and fourth magnitudes. +Henceforth he went on building telescope after telescope, each one +better than the last; and now all his glasses were ground and polished +either by his own hand or by his brother Alexander's. Carolina meanwhile +took her part in the workshop; but as she had also to sing at the +oratorios, and her awkward German manners might shock the sensitive +nerves of the Bath aristocrats, she took two lessons a week for a whole +twelvemonth (she tells us in her delightfully straightforward fashion) +"from Miss Fleming, the celebrated dancing mistress, to drill me for a +gentlewoman." Poor Carolina, there she was mistaken: Miss Fleming could +make her into no gentlewoman, for she was born one already, and nothing +proves it more than the perfect absence of false shame with which in her +memoirs she tells us all these graphic little details of their early +humble days. + +While they were thus working at Bath an incident occurred which is worth +mentioning because it shows the very different directions in which the +presence or the want of steady persistence may lead the various members +of the very self-same family. William received a letter from his widowed +mother at Hanover to say, in deep distress, that Dietrich, the youngest +brother, had run away from home, it was supposed for the purpose of +going to India, "with a young idler no older than himself." Forthwith, +the budding astronomer left the lathe where he was busy turning an eye- +piece from a cocoa-nut shell, and, like a good son and brother as he +always was, hurried off to Holland and thence to Hanover. No Dietrich +was anywhere to be found. But while he was away, Carolina at Bath +received a letter from Dietrich himself, to tell her ruefully he was +"laid up very ill" at a waterside tavern in Wapping--not the nicest or +most savoury East End sailor-suburb of London. Alexander immediately +took the coach to town, put the prodigal into a decent lodging, nursed +him carefully for a fortnight, and then took him down with him in +triumph to the family home at Bath. There brother William found him safe +and sound on his return, under the sisterly care of good Carolina. A +pretty dance he had led the two earnest and industrious astronomers; but +they seem always to have treated this black sheep of the family with +uniform kindness, and long afterwards Sir William remembered him +favourably in his last will. + +In 1779 and the succeeding years the three Herschels were engaged during +all their spare time in measuring the heights of about one hundred +mountains in the moon, which William gauged by three different methods. +In the same year, he made an acquaintance of some importance to him, as +forming his first introduction to the wider world of science in London +and elsewhere. Dr. Watson, a Fellow of the Royal Society, happened to +see him working at his telescope; and this led to a visit from the +electrician to the amateur astronomer. Dr. Watson was just then engaged +in getting up a Philosophical Society at Bath (a far rarer institution +at that time in a provincial town than now), and he invited William +Herschel to join it. Here Herschel learned for the first time to mix +with those who were more nearly his intellectual equals, and to measure +his strength against other men's. + +It was in 1781 that Herschel made the great discovery which immediately +established his fame as an astronomer, and enabled him to turn from +conducting concerts to the far higher work of professionally observing +the stars. On the night of Tuesday, March 13th, Herschel was engaged in +his usual systematic survey of the sky, a bit at a time, when his +telescope lighted among a group of small fixed stars upon what he at +first imagined to be a new comet. It proved to be no comet, however, but +a true planet--a veritable world, revolving like our own in a nearly +circular path around the sun as centre, though far more remote from it +than the most distant planet then known, Saturn. Herschel called his new +world the _Georgium Sidus_ (King George's star) in honour of the +reigning monarch; but it has since been known as Uranus. Astronomers all +over Europe were soon apprised of this wonderful discovery, and the path +of the freshly found planet was computed by calculation, its distance +from the sun being settled at nineteen times that of our own earth. + +In order faintly to understand the importance attached at the time to +Herschel's observation of this very remote and seemingly petty world, we +must remember that up to that date all the planets which circle round +our own sun had been familiarly known to everybody from time immemorial. +To suggest that there was yet another world belonging to our system +outside the path of the furthest known planet would have seemed to most +people like pure folly. Since then, we have grown quite accustomed to +the discovery of a fresh small world or two every year, and we have even +had another large planet (Neptune), still more remote than Herschel's +Uranus, added to the list of known orbs in our own solar system. But in +Herschel's day, nobody had ever heard of a new planet being discovered +since the beginning of all things. A hundred years before, an Italian +astronomer, it is true, had found out four small moons revolving round +Saturn, besides the big moon then already known; but for a whole +century, everybody believed that the solar system was now quite fully +explored, and that nothing fresh could be discovered about it. Hence +Herschel's observation produced a very different effect from, say, the +discovery of the two moons which revolve round Mars, in our own day. +Even people who felt no interest in astronomy were aroused to attention. +Mr. Herschel's new planet became the talk of the town and the subject of +much admiring discussion in the London newspapers. Strange, indeed, that +an amateur astronomer of Bath, a mere German music-master, should have +hit upon a planet which escaped the sight even of the king's own +Astronomer Royal at Greenwich. + +Of course there were not people wanting who ascribed this wonderful +discovery of Herschel's to pure chance. If he hadn't just happened to +turn his telescope in that particular direction on that particular +night, he wouldn't have seen this _Georgium Sidus_ they made such a +fuss about at all. Quite so. And if he hadn't built a twenty-foot +telescope for himself, he wouldn't have turned it anywhere at any time. +But Herschel himself knew better. "This was by no means the result of +chance," he said; "but a simple consequence of the position of the +planet on that particular evening, since it occupied precisely that spot +in the heavens which came in the order of the minute observations that I +had previously mapped out for myself. Had I not seen it just when I did, +I must inevitably have come upon it soon after, since my telescope was +so perfect that I was able to distinguish it from a fixed star in the +first minute of observation." Indeed, when once Herschel's twenty-foot +telescope was made, he could not well have failed in the long run to +discover Uranus, as his own description of his method clearly shows. +"When I had carefully and thoroughly perfected the great instrument in +all its parts," he says, "I made a systematic use of it in my +observation of the heaven, first forming a determination never to pass +by any, the smallest, portion of them without due investigation. This +habit, persisted in, led to the discovery of the new planet (_Georgium +Sidus_)." As well might one say that a skilled mining surveyor, +digging for coal, came upon the seam by chance, as ascribe to chance the +necessary result of such a careful and methodical scrutiny as this. + +Before the year was out, the ingenious Mr. Herschel of Bath was elected +a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was also presented with the Copley +gold medal. From this moment all the distinguished people in Bath were +anxious to be introduced to the philosophical music-master; and, indeed, +they intruded so much upon his time that the daily music lessons were +now often interrupted. He was soon, however, to give up lessons for +ever, and devote himself to his more congenial and natural work in +astronomy. In May, 1782, he went up to London, to be formally admitted +to his Fellowship of the Royal Society. There he stayed so long that +poor Carolina was quite frightened. It was "double the time which my +brother could safely be absent from his scholars." The connection would +be broken up, and the astronomy would be the ruin of the family. (A +little of good old dame Herschel's housewifely leaven here, perhaps.) +But William's letters from London to "Dear Lina" must soon have quieted +her womanly fears. William had actually been presented to the king, and +"met with a very gracious reception." He had explained the solar system +to the king and queen, and his telescope was to be put up first at +Greenwich and then at Richmond. The Greenwich authorities were delighted +with his instrument; they have seen what Herschel calls "_my_ fine +double stars" with it. "All my papers are printing," he tells Lina with +pardonable pride, "and are allowed to be very valuable." But he himself +is far from satisfied as yet with the results of his work. Evidently no +small successes in the field of knowledge will do for William Herschel. +"Among opticians and astronomers," he writes to Lina, "nothing now is +talked of but _what they call_ my great discoveries. Alas! this +shows how far they are behind, when such trifles as I have seen and done +are called _great_. Let me but get at it again! I will make such +telescopes and see such things!" Well, well, William Herschel, in that +last sentence we get the very keynote of true greatness and true genius. + +But must he go back quietly to Bath and the toils of teaching? "An +intolerable waste of time," he thought it. The king happily relieved him +from this intolerable waste. He offered Herschel a salary of L200 a year +if he would come and live at Datchet, and devote himself entirely to +astronomical observations. It was by no means a munificent sum for a +king to offer for such labour; but Herschel gladly accepted it, as it +would enable him to give up the interruption of teaching, and spend all +his time on his beloved astronomy. His Bath friend, Sir William Watson, +exclaimed when he heard of it, "Never bought monarch honour so cheap." +Herschel was forty-three when he removed to Datchet, and from that day +forth he lived almost entirely in his observatory, wholly given up to +his astronomical pursuits. Even when he had to go to London to read his +papers before the Royal Society, he chose a moonlight night (when the +stars would be mostly invisible), so that it might not interfere with +his regular labours. + +Poor Carolina was horrified at the house at Datchet, which seemed +terribly desolate and poor, even to her modest German ideas; but William +declared his willingness to live permanently and cheerfully upon "eggs +and bacon" now that he was at last free to do nothing on earth but +observe the heavens. Night after night he and Carolina worked together +at their silent task--he noting the small features with his big +telescope, she "sweeping for comets" with a smaller glass or "finder." +Herschel could have had no more useful or devoted assistant than his +sister, who idolized him with all her heart. Alexander, too, came to +stay with them during the slack months at Bath, and then the whole +strength of the family was bent together on their labour of love in +gauging the heavens. + +But what use was it all? Why should they wish to go star-gazing? Well, +if a man cannot see for himself what use it was, nobody else can put the +answer into him, any more than they could put into him a love for +nature, or for beauty, or for art, or for music, if he had it not to +start with. What is the good of a great picture, a splendid oratorio, a +grand poem? To the man who does not care for them, nothing; to the man +who loves them, infinite. It is just the same with science. The use of +knowledge to a mind like Herschel's is the mere possession of it. With +such as he, it is a love, an object of desire, a thing to be sought +after for its own sake; and the mere act of finding it is in itself +purely delightful. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man +that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the +merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more +precious than rubies; and all the things thou canst desire are not to be +compared unto her." So, to such a man as Herschel, that peaceful +astronomer life at Datchet was indeed, in the truest sense of those +much-abused words, "success in life." If you had asked some vulgar- +minded neighbour of the great Sir William in his later days whether the +astronomer had been a successful man or not, he would doubtless have +answered, after his kind, "Certainly. He has been made a knight, has +lands in two counties, and has saved L35,000." But if you had asked +William Herschel himself, he would probably have said, with his usual +mixture of earnestness and humility, "Yes, I have been a very fortunate +man in life. I have discovered Uranus, and I have gauged all the depths +of heaven, as none before ever gauged them, with my own great +telescope." + +Still, those who cannot sympathize with the pure love of knowledge for +its own sake--one of the highest and noblest of human aims--should +remember that astronomy is also of immense practical importance to +mankind, and especially to navigation and commerce. Unless great +astronomical calculations were correctly performed at Greenwich and +elsewhere, it would be impossible for any ship or steamer to sail with +safety from England to Australia or America. Every defect in our +astronomical knowledge helps to wreck our vessels on doubtful coasts; +every advance helps to save the lives of many sailors and the cargoes of +many merchants. It is this practical utility of astronomy that justifies +the spending of national money on observatories and transits of Venus, +and it is the best apology for an astronomer's life to those who do not +appreciate the use of knowledge for its own beauty. + +At Datchet, Herschel not only made several large telescopes for sale, +for which he obtained large prices, but he also got a grant of L2000 +from the king to aid him in constructing his huge forty-foot instrument. +It was here, too, in 1783, that Herschel married. His wife was a widow +lady of scientific tastes like his own, and she was possessed of +considerable means, which enabled him henceforth to lay aside all +anxiety on the score of money. They had but one child, a son, afterwards +Sir John Herschel, almost as great an astronomer as his father had been +before him. In 1785, the family moved to Clay Hall, in Old Windsor, and +in 1786 to Slough, where Herschel lived for the remainder of his long +life. How completely his whole soul was bound up in his work is shown in +the curious fact recorded for us by Carolina Herschel. The last night at +Clay Hall was spent in sweeping the sky with the great glass till +daylight; and by the next evening the telescope stood ready for +observations once more in the new home at Slough. + +To follow Herschel through the remainder of his life would be merely to +give a long catalogue of his endless observations and discoveries among +the stars. Such a catalogue would be interesting only to astronomers; +yet it would truly give the main facts of Herschel's existence in his +happy home at Slough. Honoured by the world, dearly loved in his own +family, and engrossed with a passionate affection for his chosen +science, the great astronomer and philosopher grew grey in peace under +his own roof, in the course of a singularly placid and gentle old age. +In 1802 he laid before the Royal Society a list of five thousand new +stars, star-clusters, or other heavenly bodies which he had discovered, +and which formed the great body of his personal additions to +astronomical knowledge. The University of Oxford made him Doctor of +Laws, and very late in life he was knighted by the king--a too tardy +acknowledgment of his immense services to science. To the very last, +however, he worked on with a will; and, indeed, it is one of the great +charms of scientific interest that it thus enables a man to keep his +faculties on the alert to an advanced old age. In 1819, when Herschel +was more than eighty, he writes to his sister a short note--"Lina, there +is a great comet. I want you to assist me. Come to dine and spend the +day here. If you can come soon after one o'clock, we shall have time to +prepare maps and telescopes. I saw its situation last night. It has a +long tail." How delightful to find such a living interest in life at the +age of eighty! + +On the 25th of August, 1822, this truly great and simple man passed +away, in his eighty-fifth year. It has been possible here only to sketch +out the chief personal points in his career, without dwelling much upon +the scientific importance of his later life-long labours; but it must +suffice to say briefly upon this point that Herschel's work was no mere +mechanical star-finding; it was the most profoundly philosophical +astronomical work ever performed, except perhaps Newton's and Laplace's. +Among astronomers proper there has been none distinguished by such +breadth of grasp, such wide conceptions, and such perfect clearness of +view as the self-taught oboe-player of Hanover. + + + + +V. + +JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET, PAINTER. + + +There is no part of France so singularly like England, both in the +aspect of the country itself and in the features and character of the +inhabitants, as Normandy. The wooded hills and dales, the frequent +copses and apple orchards, the numerous thriving towns and villages, the +towers and steeples half hidden among the trees, recall at every step +the very similar scenery of our own beautiful and fruitful Devonshire. +And as the land is, so are the people. Ages ago, about the same time +that the Anglo-Saxon invaders first settled down in England, a band of +similar English pirates, from the old common English home by the +cranberry marshes of the Baltic, drove their long ships upon the long +rocky peninsula of the Cotentin, which juts out, like a French Cornwall, +from the mainland of Normandy up to the steep cliffs and beetling crags +of busy Cherbourg. There they built themselves little hamlets and +villages of true English type, whose very names to this day remind one +of their ancient Saxon origin. Later on, the Danes or Northmen conquered +the country, which they called after their own name, Normandy, that is +to say, the Northmen's land. + +Mixing with the early Saxon or English settlers, and with the still more +primitive Celtic inhabitants, the Northmen founded a race extremely like +that which now inhabits our own country. To this day, the Norman +peasants of the Cotentin retain many marks of their origin and their +half-forgotten kinship with the English race. While other Frenchmen are +generally dark and thick-set, the Norman is, as a rule, a tall, fair- +haired, blue-eyed man, not unlike in build to our Yarmouth fisherman, or +our Kentish labourers. In body and mind, there is something about him +even now which makes him seem more nearly akin to us than the true +Frenchmen who inhabit almost all the rest of France. + +In the village of Gruchy, near Greville, in this wild and beautiful +region of the Cotentin, there lived at the beginning of the present +century a sturdy peasant family of the name of Millet. The father of the +family was one of the petty village landholders so common in France; a +labourer who owned and tilled his own tiny patch of farm, with the aid +of his wife and children. We have now no class in England exactly +answering to the French peasant proprietors, who form so large and +important an element in the population just across the Channel. The +small landholder in France belongs by position to about the same level +as our own agricultural labourer, and in many ways is content with a +style of dress and a mode of living against which English labourers +would certainly protest with horror. And yet, he is a proprietor, with a +proprietor's sense of the dignity of his position, and an ardent love of +his own little much-subdivided corner of agricultural land. On this he +spends all his energies, and however many children he may have, he will +try to make a livelihood for all by their united labour out of the soil, +rather than let one of them go to seek his fortune by any other means in +the great cities. Thus the ground is often tilled up to an almost +ridiculous extent, the entire labour of the family being sometimes +expended in cultivating, manuring, weeding, and tending a patch of land +perhaps hardly an acre in size. It is quite touching to see the care and +solicitude with which these toilsome peasants will laboriously lay out +their bit of garden with fruits or vegetables, making every line almost +mathematically regular, planting every pea at a measured distance, or +putting a smooth flat pebble under every strawberry on the evenly +ridged-up vines. It is only in the very last resort that the peasant +proprietor will consent to let one of his daughters go out to service, +or send one of his sons adrift to seek his fortune as an artisan in the +big, unknown, outer world. + +Millet the elder, however, had nine children, which is an unusually +large number for a French peasant family (where the women ordinarily +marry late in life); and his little son Jean Francois (the second child +and eldest boy), though set to weed and hoe upon the wee farm in his +boyhood, was destined by his father for some other life than that of a +tiller of the soil. He was born in the year before Waterloo--1814--and +was brought up on his father's plot of land, in the hard rough way to +which peasant children in France are always accustomed. Bronzed by sun +and rain, poorly clad, and ill-fed, he acquired as a lad, from the open +air and the toilsome life he led, a vigour of constitution which enabled +him to bear up against the numerous hardships and struggles of his later +days. "A Norman Peasant," he loved to call himself always, with a +certain proud humility; and happily he had the rude health of one all +his life long. + +Hard as he worked, little Francois' time was not entirely taken up with +attending to the fields or garden. He was a studious boy, and learned +not only to read and write in French, but also to try some higher +flights, rare indeed for a lad of his position. His family possessed +remarkable qualities as French peasants go; and one of his great-uncles, +a man of admirable strength of character, a priest in the days of the +great Revolution, had braved the godless republicans of his time, and +though deprived of his cure, and compelled to labour for his livelihood +in the fields, had yet guided the plough in his priestly garments. His +grandmother first taught him his letters; and when she had instructed +him to the length of reading any French book that was put before him, +the village priest took him in hand. In France, the priest comes often +from the peasant class, and remains in social position a member of that +class as long as he lives. But he always possesses a fair knowledge of +Latin, the language in which all his religious services are conducted; +and this knowledge serves as a key to much that his unlearned +parishioners could never dream of knowing. Young Millet's parish priest +taught him as much Latin as he knew himself; and so the boy was not only +able to read the Bible in the Latin or Vulgate translation, but also to +make acquaintance with the works of Virgil and several others of the +great Roman poets. He read, too, the beautiful "Confessions" of St. +Augustine, and the "Lives of the Saints," which he found in his father's +scanty library, as well as the works of the great French preachers, +Bossuet and Fenelon. Such early acquaintance with these and many other +masterpieces of higher literature, we may be sure, helped greatly to +mould the lad's mind into that grand and sober shape which it finally +acquired. + +Jean Francois' love of art was first aroused by the pictures in an old +illustrated Bible which belonged to his father, and which he was +permitted to look at on Sundays and festivals. The child admired these +pictures immensely, and asked leave to be permitted to copy them. The +only time he could find for the purpose, however, was that of the mid- +day rest or siesta. It is the custom in France, as in Southern Europe +generally, for labourers to cease from work for an hour or so in the +middle of the day; and during this "tired man's holiday," young Millet, +instead of resting, used to take out his pencil and paper, and try his +hand at reproducing the pictures in the big Bible. His father was not +without an undeveloped taste for art: "See," he would say, looking into +some beautiful combe or glen on the hillside--"see that little cottage +half buried in the trees; how beautiful it is! I think it ought to be +drawn so--;" and then he would make a rough sketch of it on some scrap +of paper. At times he would model things with a bit of clay, or cut the +outline of a flower or an animal with his knife on a flat piece of wood. +This unexercised talent Francois inherited in a still greater degree. As +time went on, he progressed to making little drawings on his own +account; and we may be sure the priest and all the good wives of Gruchy +had quite settled in their own minds before long that Jean Francois +Millet's hands would be able in time to paint quite a beautiful altar- +piece for the village church. + +By-and-by, when the time came for Francois to choose a trade, he being +then a big lad of about nineteen, it was suggested to his father that +young Millet might really make a regular painter--that is to say, an +artist. In France, the general tastes of the people are far more +artistic than with us; and the number of painters who find work for +their brushes in Paris is something immensely greater than the number in +our own smoky, money-making London. So there was nothing very +remarkable, from a French point of view, in the idea of the young +peasant turning for a livelihood to the profession of an artist. But +Millet's father was a sober and austere man, a person of great dignity +and solemnity, who decided to put his son's powers to the test in a very +regular and critical fashion. He had often watched Francois drawing, and +he thought well of the boy's work. If he had a real talent for painting, +a painter he should be; if not, he must take to some other craft, where +he would have the chance of making himself a decent livelihood. So he +told Francois to prepare a couple of drawings, which he would submit to +the judgment of M. Mouchel, a local painter at Cherbourg, the nearest +large town, and capital of the department. Francois duly prepared the +drawings, and Millet the elder went with his son to submit them in +proper form for M. Mouchel's opinion. Happily, M. Mouchel had judgment +enough to see at a glance that the drawings possessed remarkable merit. +"You must be playing me a trick," he said; "that lad could never have +made these drawings." "I saw him do them with my own eyes," answered the +father warmly. "Then," said Mouchel, "all I can say is this: he has in +him the making of a great painter." He accepted Millet as his pupil; and +the young man set off for Cherbourg accordingly, to study with care and +diligence under his new master. + +Cherbourg, though not yet at that time a great naval port, as it +afterwards became, was a busy harbour and fishing town, where the young +artist saw a great deal of a kind of life with which he possessed an +immense sympathy. The hard work of the fishermen putting out to sea on +stormy evenings, or toiling with their nets ashore after a sleepless +night, made a living picture which stamped itself deeply on his +receptive mind. A man of the people himself, born to toil and inured to +it from babyhood, this constant scene of toiling and struggling humanity +touched the deepest chord in his whole nature, so that some of the most +beautiful and noble of his early pictures are really reminiscences of +his first student days at Cherbourg. But after he had spent a year in +Mouchel's studio, sad news came to him from Gruchy. His father was +dying, and Francois was only just in time to see him before he passed +away. If the family was to be kept together at all, Francois must return +from his easel and palette, and take once more to guiding the plough. +With that earnest resolution which never forsook him, Millet decided to +accept the inevitable. He went back home once more, and gave up his +longings for art in order to till the ground for his fatherless sisters. + +Luckily, however, his friends at Gruchy succeeded after awhile in +sending him back again to Cherbourg, where he began to study under +another master, Langlois, and to have hopes once more for his artistic +future, now that he was free at last to pursue it in his own way. At +this time, he read a great deal--Shakespeare, Walter Scott, Byron, +Goethe's "Faust," Victor Hugo and Chateaubriand; in fact, all the great +works he could lay his hands upon. Peasant as he was, he gave himself, +half unconsciously, a noble education. Very soon, it became apparent +that the Cherbourg masters could do nothing more for him, and that, if +he really wished to perfect himself in art, he must go to Paris. In +France, the national interest felt in painting is far greater and more +general than in England. Nothing is commoner than for towns or +departments to grant pensions (or as we should call them, scholarships) +to promising lads who wish to study art in Paris. Young Millet had +attracted so much attention at Cherbourg, that the Council General of +the Department of the Manche voted him a present of six hundred francs +(about L24) to start him on the way; and the town of Cherbourg promised +him an annual grant of four hundred francs more (about L16). So up to +Paris Millet went, and there was duly enrolled as a student at the +Government "School of Fine Arts." + +Those student days in Paris were days of hunger and cold, very often, +which Millet bore with the steady endurance of a Norman peasant boy. But +they were also days of something worse to him--of effort misdirected, +and of constant struggling against a system for which he was not fitted. +In fact, Millet was an original genius, whereas the teachers at the +School of Fine Arts were careful and methodical rule-of-thumb martinets. +They wished to train Millet into the ordinary pattern, which he could +not follow; and in the end, he left the school, and attached himself to +the studio of Paul Delaroche, then the greatest painter of historical +pictures in all Paris. But even Delaroche, though an artist of deep +feeling and power, did not fully understand his young Norman pupil. He +himself used to paint historical pictures in the grand style, full of +richness and beauty; but his subjects were almost always chosen from the +lives of kings or queens, and treated with corresponding calmness and +dignity. "The Young Princes in the Tower," "The Execution of Marie +Antoinette," "The Death of Queen Elizabeth," "Cromwell viewing the Body +of Charles I."--these were the kind of pictures on which Delaroche loved +to employ himself. Millet, on the other hand, though also full of +dignity and pathos, together with an earnestness far surpassing +Delaroche's, did not care for these lofty subjects. It was the dignity +and pathos of labour that moved him most; the silent, weary, noble lives +of the uncomplaining peasants, amongst whom his own days had been mostly +passed. Delaroche could not make him out at all; he was such a curious, +incomprehensible, odd young fellow! "There, go your own way, if you +will," the great master said to him at last; "for my part, I can make +nothing of you." + +So, shortly after, Millet and his friend Marolle set up a studio for +themselves in the Rue de l'Est in Paris. The precise occasion of their +going was this. Millet was anxious to obtain the Grand Prize of Rome +annually offered to the younger artists, and Delaroche definitely told +him that his own influence would be used on behalf of another pupil. +After this, the young Norman felt that he could do better by following +out his own genius in his own fashion. At the Rue de l'Est, he continued +to study hard, but he also devoted a large part of his time to painting +cheap portraits--what artists call "pot-boilers;" mere hasty works +dashed off anyhow to earn his daily livelihood. For these pictures he +got about ten to fifteen francs apiece,--in English money from eight to +twelve shillings. They were painted in a theatrical style, which Millet +himself detested--all pink cheeks, and red lips, and blue satin, and +lace collars; whereas his own natural style was one of great austerity +and a certain earnest sombreness the exact reverse of the common +Parisian taste to which he ministered. However, he had to please his +patrons--and, like a sensible man, he went on producing these cheap +daubs to any extent required, for a living, while he endeavoured to +perfect himself meanwhile for the higher art he was meditating for the +future. In the great galleries of the Louvre at Paris he found abundant +models which he could study in the works of the old masters; and there, +poring over Michael Angelo and Mantegna, he could recompense himself a +little in his spare hours for the time he was obliged to waste on pinky- +white faces and taffeta gowns. To an artist by nature there is nothing +harder than working perforce against the bent of one's own innate and +instinctive feelings. + +In 1840, Millet found his life in Paris still so hard that he seemed for +a time inclined to give up the attempt, and returned to Greville, where +he painted a marine subject of the sort that was dearest to his heart--a +group of sailors mending a sail. Shortly after, however, he was back in +Paris--the record of these years of hard struggle is not very clear-- +with his wife, a Cherbourg girl whom he had imprudently married while +still barely able to support himself in the utmost poverty. It was not +till 1844 that the hard-working painter at last achieved his first +success. It was with a picture of a milkwoman, one of his own favourite +peasant subjects; and the poetry and sympathy which he had thrown into +so commonplace a theme attracted the attention of many critics among the +cultivated Parisian world of art. The "Milkwoman" was exhibited at the +Salon (the great annual exhibition of works of art in Paris, like that +of the Royal Academy in London, but on a far larger scale); and several +good judges of art began immediately to inquire, "Who is Jean Francois +Millet?" Hunting his address out, a party of friendly critics presented +themselves at his lodgings, only to learn that Madame Millet had just +died, and that her husband, half in despair, had gone back again once +more to his native Norman hills and valleys. + +But Millet was the last man on earth to sit down quietly with his hands +folded, waiting for something or other to turn up. At Cherbourg, he set +to work once more, no doubt painting more "pot-boilers" for the +respectable shop-keepers of the neighbourhood--complacent portraits, +perhaps, of a stout gentleman with a large watch-chain fully displayed, +and of a stout lady in a black silk dress and with a vacant smile; and +by hook or by crook he managed to scrape together a few hundred francs, +with which once more he might return to Paris. But before he did so, he +married again, this time more wisely. His wife, Catharine Lemaire, was a +brave and good woman, who knew how to appreciate her husband, and to +second him well in all his further struggles and endeavours. They went +for a while to Havre, where Millet, in despair of getting better work, +and not ashamed of doing anything honest to pay his way, actually took +to painting sign-boards. In this way he saved money enough to make a +fresh start in Paris. There, he continued his hard battle against the +taste of the time; for French art was then dominated by the influence of +men like Delaroche, or like Delacroix and Horace Vernet, who had +accustomed the public to pictures of a very lofty, a very romantic, or a +very fiery sort; and there were few indeed who cared for stern and +sympathetic delineations of the French peasant's unlovely life of +unremitting toil, such as Millet loved to set before them. Yet, in spite +of discouragement, he did well to follow out this inner prompting of his +own soul; for in that direction he could do his best work--and the best +work is always the best worth doing in the long run. There are some +minds, of which Franklin's is a good type, so versatile and so shifty +that they can turn with advantage to any opening that chances to offer, +no matter in what direction; and such minds do right in seizing every +opportunity, wherever it occurs. But there are other minds, of which +Gibson and Millet are excellent examples, naturally restricted to +certain definite lines of thought or work; and such minds do right in +persistently following up their own native talent, and refusing to be +led aside by circumstances into any less natural or less promising +channel. + +While living in Paris at this time, Millet painted several of his +favourite peasant pictures, amongst others "The Workman's Monday," which +is a sort of parallel in painting to Burns's "Cotter's Saturday Night" +in poetry. Indeed, there is a great deal in Millet which strongly +reminds one at every step of Burns. Both were born of the agricultural +labouring class; both remained peasants at heart, in feelings and +sympathies, all their lives long; neither was ashamed of his origin, +even in the days of his greatest fame; painter and poet alike loved best +to choose their themes from the simple life of the poor whose trials and +hardships they knew so well by bitter experience; and in each case they +succeeded best in touching the hearts of others when they did not travel +outside their own natural range of subjects. Only (if Scotchmen will +allow one to say so) there was in Millet a far deeper vein of moral +earnestness than in Burns; he was more profoundly impressed by the +dignity and nobility of labour; in his tender sympathy there was a touch +of solemn grandeur which was wanting in the too genial and easy-going +Ayrshire ploughman. + +In 1848, the year of revolutions, Millet painted his famous picture of +"The Winnower," since considered as one of his finest works. Yet for a +long time, though the critics praised it, it could not find a purchaser; +till at last M. Ledru Rollin, a well-known politician, bought it for +what Millet considered the capital price of five hundred francs (about +L20). It would now fetch a simply fabulous price, if offered for sale. +Soon after this comparative success Millet decided to leave Paris, where +the surroundings indeed were little fitted to a man of his peculiarly +rural and domestic tastes. He would go where he might see the living +models of his peasant friends for ever before him; where he could watch +them leaning over the plough pressed deep into the earth; cutting the +faggots with stout arms in the thick-grown copses; driving the cattle +home at milking time with weary feet, along the endless, straight white +high-roads of the French rural districts. At the same time, he must be +within easy reach of Paris; for though he had almost made up his mind +not to exhibit any more at the Salon--people didn't care to see his +reapers or his fishermen--he must still manage to keep himself within +call of possible purchasers; and for this purpose he selected the little +village of Barbizon, on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau. + +The woods of Fontainebleau stand to Paris in somewhat the same relation +that Windsor Great Park stands to London; only, the scenery is more +forest-like, and the trees are big and antique looking. By the outskirts +of this great wood stands the pretty hamlet of Barbizon, a single long +street of small peasant cottages, built with the usual French rural +disregard of beauty or cleanliness. At the top of the street, in a +little three-roomed house, the painter and his wife settled down +quietly; and here they lived for twenty-seven years, long after Millet's +name had grown to be famous in the history of contemporary French +painting. An English critic, who visited the spot in the days of +Millet's greatest celebrity, was astonished to find the painter, whom he +had come to see, strolling about the village in rustic clothes, and even +wearing the _sabots_ or wooden shoes which are in France the social +mark of the working classes, much as the smock-frock used once to be in +the remoter country districts of England. Perhaps this was a little bit +of affectation on Millet's part--a sort of proud declaration of the fact +that in spite of fame and honours he still insisted upon counting +himself a simple peasant; but if so, it was, after all, a very pretty +and harmless affectation indeed. Better to see a man sticking +pertinaciously to his wooden shoes, than turning his back upon old +friends and old associations in the days of his worldly prosperity. + +At Barbizon Millet's life moved on so quietly that there is nothing to +record in it almost, save a long list of pictures painted, and a gradual +growth, not in popularity (for that Millet never really attained at +all), but in the esteem of the best judges, which of course brought with +it at last, first ease, then comfort, and finally comparative riches. +Millet was able now to paint such subjects as pleased him best, and he +threw himself into his work with all the fervour of his intensely +earnest and poetical nature. Whatever might be the subject which he +undertook, he knew how to handle it so that it became instinct with his +own fine feeling for the life he saw around him. In 1852 he painted his +"Man spreading Manure." In itself, that is not a very exalted or +beautiful occupation; but what Millet saw in it was the man not the +manure--the toiling, sorrowing, human fellow-being, whose labour and +whose spirit he knew so well how to appreciate. And in this view of the +subject he makes us all at once sympathize. Other pictures of this +period are such as "The Gleaners," "The Reapers," "A Peasant grafting a +Tree," "The Potato Planters," and so forth. These were very different +subjects indeed from the dignified kings and queens painted by +Delaroche, or the fiery battle-pieces of Delacroix; but they touch a +chord in our souls which those great painters fail to strike, and his +treatment of them is always truthful, tender, melancholy, and exquisite. + +Bit by bit, French artistic opinion began to recognize the real +greatness of the retiring painter at Barbizon. He came to be looked upon +as a true artist, and his pictures sold every year for increasingly +large prices. Still, he had not been officially recognized; and in +France, where everything, even to art and the theatre, is under +governmental regulation, this want of official countenance is always +severely felt. At last, in 1867, Millet was awarded the medal of the +first class, and was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. The +latter distinction carries with it the right to wear that little tag of +ribbon on the coat which all Frenchmen prize so highly; for to be +"decorated," as it is called, is in France a spur to ambition of +something the same sort as a knighthood or a peerage in England, though +of course it lies within the reach of a far greater number of citizens. +There is something to our ideas rather absurd in the notion of bestowing +such a tag of ribbon on a man of Millet's aims and occupations; but all +honours are honours just according to the estimation of the man who +receives them and the society in which he lives; and Millet no doubt +prized his admission to the Legion of Honour all the more because it had +been so long delayed and so little truckled for. + +To the end of his days, Millet never left his beloved Barbizon. He +stopped there, wandering about the fields, watching peasants at work, +imprinting their images firmly upon his eye and brain, and then going +home again to put the figures he had thus observed upon his vivid +canvas. For, strange to say, unlike almost every other great painter, +Millet never painted from a model. Instead of getting a man or woman to +sit for him in the pose he required, he would go out into the meadows +and look at the men and women at their actual daily occupations; and so +keen and acute was his power of observation, and so retentive was his +inner eye, that he could then recall almost every detail of action or +manner as clearly as if he had the original present in his studio before +him. As a rule, such a practice is not to be recommended to any one who +wishes to draw with even moderate accuracy; constant study of the actual +object, and frequent comparison by glancing from object to copy, are +absolutely necessary for forming a correct draughtsman. But Millet knew +his own way best; and how wonderfully minute and painstaking must his +survey have been when it enabled him to reproduce the picture of a +person afterwards in every detail of dress or movement. + +He did not paint very fast. He preferred doing good work to much work-- +an almost invariable trait of all the best workmen. During the thirty- +one years that he worked independently, he produced only eighty +pictures--not more, on an average, than two or three a year. Compared +with the rate at which most successful artists cover canvas to sell, +this was very slow. But then, Millet did not paint mainly to sell; he +painted to satisfy his own strict ideas of what constituted the highest +art. His pictures are usually very simple in their theme; take, for +example, his "Angelus," painted at the height of his fame, in 1867. A +man and a woman are working in the fields--two poor, simple-minded, +weather-beaten, devout French peasants. It is nightfall; the bell called +the "Angelus" rings out from the church steeple, and the two poor souls, +resting for a moment from their labours, devote a few seconds to the +silent prayers enjoined by their church. That is all; and yet in that +one picture the sorrows, the toils, and the consolations of the needy +French peasantry are summed up in a single glimpse of a pair of working +and praying partners. + +Millet died somewhat suddenly in 1875. Strong and hearty as he was, even +the sturdy health of the Norman peasant had been undermined by the long +hardships of his early struggles, and his constitution gave way at last +with comparative rapidity. Still, he had lived long enough to see his +fame established, to enjoy ten years of ease and honour, and to find his +work cordially admired by all those for whose admiration he could have +cared to make an effort. After his death, the pictures and unfinished +sketches in his studio were sold for 321,000 francs, a little less than +L13,000. The peasant boy of Greville had at last conquered all the +difficulties which obstructed his path, and had fought his own way to +fame and dignity. And in so fighting, he had steadily resisted the +temptation to pander to the low and coarse taste in art of the men by +whom he was surrounded. In spite of cold, and hunger, and poverty, he +had gone on trying to put upon his canvas the purer, truer, and higher +ideas with which his own beautiful soul was profoundly animated. In that +endeavour he nobly succeeded. While too many contemporary French +pictures are vicious and sensual in tone and feeling, every one of +Millet's pictures is a sermon in colour--a thing to make us sympathize +more deeply with our kind, and to send us away, saddened perhaps, yet +ennobled and purified. + + + + +VI. + +JAMES GARFIELD, CANAL BOY. + + +At the present time, the neighbourhood of Cleveland, Ohio, the busiest +town along the southern shore of Lake Erie, may fairly rank as one of +the richest agricultural districts in all America. But when Abram +Garfield settled down in the township of Orange in 1830, it was one of +the wildest and most unpeopled woodland regions in the whole of the +United States. Pioneers from the older states had only just begun to +make little clearings for themselves in the unbroken forest; and land +was still so cheap that Abram Garfield was able to buy himself a tract +of fifty acres for no more than L20. His brother-in-law's family removed +there with him; and the whole strength of the two households was +immediately employed in building a rough log hut for their common +accommodation, where both the Garfields and the Boyntons lived together +during the early days of their occupation. The hut consisted of a mere +square box, made by piling logs on top of one another, the spaces +between being filled with mud, while the roof was formed of loose stone +slabs. Huts of that sort are everywhere common among the isolation of +the American backwoods; and isolated indeed they were, for the +Garfields' nearest neighbours, when they first set up house, lived as +far as seven miles away, across the uncleared forest. + +When Abram Garfield came to this lonely lodge in the primaeval +woodlands, he had one son and one daughter. In 1831, the year after his +removal to his new home, a second boy was born into the family, whom his +father named James Abram. Before the baby was eighteen months old, the +father died, and was buried alone, after the only possible fashion among +such solitary settlers, in a corner of the wheat field which he himself +had cleared of its stumps. A widow's life is always a hard one, but in +such a country and under such conditions it is even harder and more +lonely than elsewhere. Mrs. Garfield's eldest boy, Thomas, was only +eleven years old; and with the aid of this one ineffectual helper, she +managed herself to carry on the farm for many years. Only those who know +the hard toil of a raw American township can have any idea what that +really means. A farmer's work in America is not like a farmer's work in +England. The man who occupies the soil is there at once his own landlord +and his own labourer; and he has to contend with nature as nobody in +England has had to contend with it for the last five centuries at least. +He finds the land covered with trees, which he has first to fell and +sell as timber; then he must dig or burn out the stumps; clear the plot +of boulders and large stones; drain it, fence it, plough it, and harrow +it; build barns for the produce and sheds for the cows; in short, +_make_ his farm, instead of merely _taking_ it. This is labour +from which many strong men shrink in dismay, especially those who have +come out fresh from a civilized and fully occupied land. For a woman and +a boy, it is a task that seems almost above their utmost powers. +Nevertheless, Mrs. Garfield and her son did not fail under it. With her +own hands, the mother split up the young trees into rude triangular +rails to make the rough snake fences of the country--mere zigzags of +wood laid one bit above the other; while the lad worked away bravely at +sowing fall and spring wheat, hoeing Indian corn, and building a little +barn for the harvest before the arrival of the long cold Ohio winter. To +such a family did the future President originally belong; and with them +he must have shared those strong qualities of perseverance and industry +which more than anything else at length secured his ultimate success in +life. + +For James Garfield's history differs greatly in one point from that of +most other famous working men, whose stories have been told in this +volume. There is no reason to believe that he was a man of exceptional +or commanding intellect. On the contrary, his mental powers appear to +have been of a very respectable but quite ordinary and commonplace +order. It was not by brilliant genius that James Garfield made his way +up in life; it was rather by hard work, unceasing energy, high +principle, and generous enthusiasm for the cause of others. Some of the +greatest geniuses among working men, such as Burns, Tannahill, and +Chatterton, though they achieved fame, and though they have enriched the +world with many touching and beautiful works, must be considered to have +missed success in life, so far as their own happiness was concerned, by +their unsteadiness, want of self-control, or lack of fixed principle. +Garfield, on the other hand, was not a genius; but by his sterling good +qualities he nevertheless achieved what cannot but be regarded as a true +success, and left an honourable name behind him in the history of his +country. + +However poor an American township may be, it is seldom too poor to +afford its children a moderate and humble education. While James +Garfield was still very young, the settlers in the neighbourhood decided +to import a schoolmaster, whom they "boarded about" between them, after +a fashion very common in rural western districts. The school-house was +only a log hut; the master was a lad of twenty; and the textbooks were +of the very meagrest sort. But at least James Garfield was thus enabled +to read and write, which after all is the great first step on the road +to all possible promotion. The raw, uncouth Yankee lad who taught the +Ohio boys, slept at Widow Garfield's, with Thomas and James; and the +sons of the neighbouring settlers worked on the farm during the summer +months, but took lessons when the long ice and snow of winter along the +lake shore put a stop almost entirely for the time to their usual +labours. + +James continued at school till he was twelve years old, and then, his +brother Thomas (being by that time twenty-one) went away by agreement +still further west to Michigan, leaving young Jim to take his place upon +the little farm. The fences were all completed by this time; the barn +was built, the ground was fairly brought under cultivation, and it +required comparatively little labour to keep the land cropped after the +rough fashion which amply satisfies American pioneers, with no rent to +pay, and only their bare living to make out of the soil. Thomas was +going to fell trees in Michigan, to clear land there for a farmer; and +he proposed to use his earnings (when he got them) for the purpose of +building a "frame house" (that is to say, a house built of planks) +instead of the existing log hut. It must be added, in fairness, that +hard as were the circumstances under which the young Garfields lived, +they were yet lucky in their situation in a new country, where wages +were high, and where the struggle for life is far less severe or +competitive than in old settled lands like France and England. Thomas, +in fact; would get boarded for nothing in Michigan, and so would be able +easily to save almost all his high wages for the purpose of building the +frame house. + +So James had to take to the farm in summer, while in the winter he began +to work as a sort of amateur carpenter in a small way. As yet he had +lived entirely in the backwoods, and had never seen a town or even a +village; but his education in practical work had begun from his very +babyhood, and he was handy after the usual fashion of American or +colonial boys--ready to turn his hand to anything that happened to +present itself. In new countries, where everybody has not got neighbours +and workmen within call, such rough-and-ready handiness is far more +common than in old England. The one carpenter of the neighbourhood asked +James to help him, on the proud day when Tom brought back his earnings +from Michigan, and set about the building of the frame house, for which +he had already collected the unhewn timber. From that first beginning, +by the time he was thirteen, James was promoted to assist in building a +barn; and he might have taken permanently to a carpenter's life, had it +not been that his boyish passion for reading had inspired him with an +equal passion for going to sea. He had read Marryatt's novels and other +sailor tales--what boy has not?--and he was fired with the usual +childish desire to embark upon that wonderful life of chasing +buccaneers, fighting pirates, capturing prizes, or hunting hidden +treasure, which is a lad's brilliantly coloured fancy picture of an +everyday sailor's wet, cold, cheerless occupation. + +At last, when James was about fifteen, his longing for the sea grew so +strong that his mother, by way of a compromise, allowed him to go and +try his luck with the Lake Erie captains at Cleveland. Shipping on the +great lakes, where one can see neither bank from the middle of the wide +blue sheet of water, and where wrecks are unhappily as painfully +frequent as on our own coasts, was quite sufficiently like going to sea +to suit the adventurous young backwoodsman to the top of his bent. But +when he got to Cleveland, a fortunate disappointment awaited him. The +Cleveland captains declined his services in such vigorous seafaring +language (not unmixed with many unnecessary oaths), that he was glad +enough to give up the idea of sailoring, and take a place as driver of a +canal boat from Cleveland to Pittsburg in Pennsylvania, the boat being +under the charge of one of his own cousins. Copper ore was then largely +mined on Lake Superior, where it is very abundant, carried by ship to +Cleveland, down the chain of lakes, and there transferred to canal +boats, which took it on to Pittsburg, the centre of a great coal and +manufacturing district in Pennsylvania, to be smelted and employed in +various local arts. Young Garfield stuck for a little while to the canal +business. He plodded along wearily upon the bank, driving his still +wearier horse before him, and carrying ore down to Pittsburg with such +grace as he best might; but it didn't somehow quite come up to his fancy +picture of the seaman's life. It was dull and monotonous, and he didn't +care for it much. In genuine American language, "he didn't find it up to +sample." The sea might be very well in its way; but a canal was a very +different matter indeed. So after a fair trial, James finally gave the +business up, and returned to his mother on the little homestead, ill and +tired with his long tramping. + +While he was at home, the schoolmaster of the place, who saw that the +lad had abilities, was never tired of urging him to go to school, and do +himself justice by getting himself a first-rate education, or at least +as good a one as could be obtained in America. James was ready enough to +take this advice, if the means were forthcoming; but how was he to do +so? "Oh, that's easy enough," said young Bates, the master. "You'll only +have to work out of hours as a carpenter, take odd jobs in your +vacations, live plainly, and there you are." In England there are few +schools where such a plan would be practicable; but in rough-and-ready +America, where self-help is no disgrace, there are many, and they are +all well attended. In the neighbouring town of Chester, a petty Baptist +sect had started a young school which they named Geauga Seminary (there +are no plain schools in America--they are all "academies" or +"institutes"); and to this simple place young Garfield went, to learn +and work as best he might for his own advancement. A very strange figure +he must then have cut, indeed; for a person who saw him at the time +described him as wearing a pair of trousers he had long outworn, rough +cow-hide boots, a waistcoat much too short for him, and a thread-bare +coat, with sleeves that only reached a little below the elbows. Of such +stuff as that, with a stout heart and an eager brain, the budding +presidents of the United States are sometimes made. + +James soon found himself humble lodgings at an old woman's in Chester, +and he also found himself a stray place at a carpenter's shop in the +town, where he was able to do three hours' work out of school time every +day, besides giving up the whole of his Saturday holiday to regular +labour. It was hard work, this schooling and carpentering side by side; +but James throve upon it; and at the end of the first term he was not +only able to pay all his bill for board and lodging, but also to carry +home a few dollars in his pocket by way of savings. + +James stopped three years at the "seminary" at Chester; and in the +holidays he employed himself by teaching in the little township schools +among the country districts. There is generally an opening for young +students to earn a little at such times by instructing younger boys than +themselves in reading, writing, and arithmetic; and the surrounding +farmers, who want schooling for their boys, are glad enough to take the +master in on the "boarding round" system, for the sake of his usefulness +in overlooking the lads in the preparation of their home lessons. It is +a simple patriarchal life, very different from anything we know in +England; and though Ohio was by this time a far more settled and +populated place than when Abram Garfield first went there, it was still +quite possible to manage in this extremely primitive and family fashion. +The fact is, though luxuries were comparatively unknown, food was cheap +and abundant; and a young teacher who was willing to put his heart into +his work could easily earn more than enough to live upon in rough +comfort. Sometimes the school-house was a mere log hut, like that in +which young Garfield had been born; but, at any rate, it was work to do, +and food to eat, and that alone was a great thing for a lad who meant to +make his own way in the world by his own exertions. + +Near the end of his third year at Chester, James met, quite +accidentally, with a young man who had come from a little embryo +"college," of the sort so common in rising American towns, at a place +called Hiram in Ohio. American schools are almost as remarkable as +American towns for the oddity and ugliness of their names; and this +"college" was known by the queer and meaningless title of the "Eclectic +Institute." It was conducted by an obscure sect who dub themselves "The +Disciples' Church," to which young Garfield's father and mother had both +belonged. His casual acquaintance urged upon him strongly the +desirability of attending the institute; and James, who had already +begun to learn Latin, and wished to learn more, was easily persuaded to +try this particular school rather than any other. + +In August, 1851, James Garfield, then aged nearly twenty, presented +himself at the "Eclectic Institute," in the farm-labourer's clothes +which were his only existing raiment. He asked to see the "president" of +the school, and told him plainly that he wished to come there for +education, but that he was poor, and if he came, he must work for his +living. "What can you do?" asked the president. "Sweep the floors, light +the fires, ring the bell, and make myself generally useful," answered +the young backwoodsman. The president, pleased with his eagerness, +promised to try him for a fortnight; and at the end of the fortnight, +Garfield had earned his teaching so well that he was excused from all +further fees during the remainder of his stay at the little institute. +His post was by no mean an easy one, for he was servant-of-all-work as +well as student; but he cared very little for that as long as he could +gain the means for self-improvement. + +Hiram was a small town, as ugly as its name. Twelve miles from a +railway, a mere agricultural centre, of the rough back-country sort, all +brand new and dreary looking, with a couple of wooden churches, half a +dozen wooden shops, two new intersecting streets with wooden sidewalks, +and that was all. The "institute" was a square brick block, planted +incongruously in the middle of an Indian-corn plantation; and the +students were the sons and daughters of the surrounding farmers, for (as +in most western schools) both sexes were here educated together. + +But the place suited Garfield far better than an older and more +dignified university would have done. The other students knew no more +than he did, so that he did not feel himself at a disadvantage; they +were dressed almost as plainly as himself; and during the time he was at +Hiram he worked away with a will at Latin, Greek, and the higher +mathematics, so as to qualify himself for a better place hereafter. +Meanwhile, the local carpenter gave him plenty of planing to do, with +which he managed to pay his way; and as he had to rise before five every +morning to ring the first bell, he was under no danger of oversleeping +himself. By 1853, he had made so much progress in his studies that he +was admitted as a sort of pupil teacher, giving instruction himself in +the English department and in rudimentary Greek and Latin, while he went +on with his own studies with the aid of the other teachers. + +James had now learnt as much as the little "Eclectic Institute" could +possibly teach him, and he began to think of going to some better +college in the older-settled and more cultivated eastern states, where +he might get an education somewhat higher than was afforded him by the +raw "seminaries" and "academies" of his native Ohio. True, his own sect, +the "Disciples' Church," had got up a petty university of their own, +"Bethany College"--such self-styled colleges swarm all over the United +States; but James didn't much care for the idea of going to it. "I was +brought up among the Disciples," he said; "I have mixed chiefly among +them; I know little of other people; it will enlarge my views and give +me more liberal feelings if I try a college elsewhere, conducted +otherwise; if I see a little of the rest of the world." Moreover, those +were stirring times in the States. The slavery question was beginning to +come uppermost. The men of the free states in the north and west were +beginning to say among themselves that they would no longer tolerate +that terrible blot upon American freedom--the enslavement of four +million negroes in the cotton-growing south. James Garfield felt all his +soul stirred within him by this great national problem--the greatest +that any modern nation has ever had to solve for itself. Now, his own +sect, the Disciples, and their college, Bethany, were strongly tinctured +with a leaning in favour of slavery, which young James Garfield utterly +detested. So he made up his mind to having nothing to do with the +accursed thing, but to go east to some New England college, where he +would mix among men of culture, and where he would probably find more +congenial feelings on the slavery question. + +Before deciding, he wrote to three eastern colleges, amongst others to +Yale, the only American university which by its buildings and +surroundings can lay any claim to compare, even at a long distance, in +beauty and associations, with the least among European universities. The +three colleges gave him nearly similar answers; but one of them, in +addition to the formal statement of terms and so forth, added the short +kindly sentence, "If you come here, we shall be glad to do what we can +for you." It was only a small polite phrase; but it took the heart of +the rough western boy. If other things were about the same, he said, he +would go to the college which offered him, as it were, a friendly grasp +of the hand. He had saved a little money at Hiram; and he proposed now +to go on working for his living, as he had hitherto done, side by side +with his regular studies. But his brother, who was always kind and +thoughtful to him, would not hear of this. Thomas had prospered +meanwhile in his own small way, and he insisted upon lending James such +a sum as would cover his necessary expenses for two years at an eastern +university. James insured his life for the amount, so that Thomas might +not be a loser by his brotherly generosity in case of his death before +repayment could be made; and then, with the money safe in his pocket, he +started off for his chosen goal, the Williams College, in one of the +most beautiful and hilly parts of Massachusetts. + +During the three years that Garfield was at this place, he studied hard +and regularly, so much so that at one time his brain showed symptoms of +giving way under the constant strain. In the vacations, he took a trip +into Vermont, a romantic mountain state, where he opened a writing +school at a little country village; and another into the New York State, +where he engaged himself in a similar way at a small town on the banks +of the lovely Hudson river. At college, in spite of his rough western +dress and manners, he earned for himself the reputation of a thoroughly +good fellow. Indeed, geniality and warmth of manner, qualities always +much prized by the social American people, were very marked traits +throughout of Garfield's character, and no doubt helped him greatly in +after life in rising to the high summit which he finally reached. It was +here, too, that he first openly identified himself with the anti-slavery +party, which was then engaged in fighting out the important question +whether any new slave states should be admitted to the Union. Charles +Sumner, the real grand central figure of that noble struggle, was at +that moment thundering in Congress against the iniquitous extension of +the slave-holding area, and was employing all his magnificent powers to +assail the abominable Fugitive Slave Bill, for the return of runaway +negroes, who escaped north, into the hands of their angry masters. The +American colleges are always big debating societies, where questions of +politics are regularly argued out among the students; and Garfield put +himself at the head of the anti-slavery movement at his own little +university. He spoke upon the subject frequently before the assembled +students, and gained himself a considerable reputation, not only as a +zealous advocate of the rights of the negro, but also as an eloquent +orator and a powerful argumentative debater. + +In 1856, Garfield took his degree at Williams College, and had now +finished his formal education. By that time, he was a fair though not a +great scholar, competently read in the Greek and Latin literatures, and +with a good knowledge of French and German. He was now nearly twenty- +five years old; and his experience was large and varied enough to make +him already into a man of the world. He had been farmer, carpenter, +canal driver, and student; he had seen the primitive life of the forest, +and the more civilized society of the Atlantic shore; he had taught in +schools in many states; he had supported himself for years by his own +labours; and now, at an age when many young men are, as a rule, only +just beginning life on their own account, he had practically raised +himself from his own class into the class of educated and cultivated +gentlemen. As soon as he had taken his degree, his old friends, the +trustees of the "Eclectic Institute" at Hiram, proud of their former +sweeper and bell-ringer, called him back at a good salary as teacher of +Greek and Latin. It was then just ten years since he had toiled wearily +along the tow-path of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Canal. + +As a teacher, Garfield seems to have been eminently successful. His +genial character and good-natured way of explaining things made him a +favourite at once with the rough western lads he had to teach, who would +perhaps have thought a more formal teacher stiff and stuck-up. Garfield +was one of themselves; he knew their ways and their manners; he could +make allowances for their awkwardness and bluntness of speech; he could +adopt towards them the exact tone which put them at home at once with +their easy-going instructor. Certainly, he inspired all his pupils with +an immense love and devotion for him; and it is less easy to inspire +those feelings in a sturdy Ohio farmer than in most other varieties of +the essentially affectionate human species. + +From 1857 to 1861, Garfield remained at Hiram, teaching and working very +hard. His salary, though a good one for the time and place, was still +humble according to our English notions; but it sufficed for his needs; +and as yet it would have seemed hardly credible that in only twenty +years the Ohio schoolmaster would rise to be President of the United +States. Indeed, it is only in America, that country of peculiarly +unencumbered political action, where every kind of talent is most +rapidly recognized and utilized, that this particular form of swift +promotion is really possible. But while Garfield was still at his +Institute, he was taking a vigorous part in local politics, especially +on the slavery question. Whenever there was a political meeting at +Hiram, the young schoolmaster was always called upon to take the anti- +slavery side; and he delivered himself so effectively upon this +favourite topic that he began to be looked upon as a rising political +character. In America, politics are less confined to any one class than +in Europe; and there would be nothing unusual in the selection of a +schoolmaster who could talk to a seat in the local or general +legislature. The practice of paying members makes it possible for +comparatively poor men to offer themselves as candidates; and politics +are thus a career, in the sense of a livelihood, far more than in any +other country. + +In 1858, Garfield married a lady who had been a fellow-student of his in +earlier days, and to whom he had been long engaged. In the succeeding +year, he got an invitation which greatly pleased and flattered him. The +authorities at Williams College asked him to deliver the "Master's +Oration" at their annual festival; an unusual compliment to pay to so +young a man, and one who had so recently taken his degree. It was the +first opportunity he had ever had for a pleasure-trip, and taking his +young wife with him (proud indeed, we may be sure, at this earliest +honour of his life, the precursor of so many more) he went to +Massachusetts by a somewhat roundabout but very picturesque route, down +the Great Lakes, through the Thousand Islands, over the St. Lawrence +rapids, and on to Quebec, the only town in America which from its old- +world look can lay claim to the sort of beauty which so many ancient +European cities abundantly possess. He delivered his address with much +applause and returned to his Ohio home well satisfied with this pleasant +outing. + +Immediately on his return, the speech-making schoolmaster was met by a +very sudden and unexpected request that he would allow himself to be +nominated for the State legislature. Every state of the Union has its +own separate little legislative body, consisting of two houses; and it +was to the upper of these, the Senate of Ohio, that James Garfield was +asked to become a candidate. The schoolmaster consented; and as those +were times of very great excitement, when the South was threatening to +secede if a President hostile to the slave-owning interest was elected, +the contest was fought out almost entirely along those particular lines. +Garfield was returned as senator by a large majority, and took his seat +in the Ohio Senate in January, 1860. There, his voice was always raised +against slavery, and he was recognized at once as one of the ablest +speakers in the whole legislature. + +In 1861, the great storm burst over the States. In the preceding +November, Abraham Lincoln had been elected President. Lincoln was +himself, like Garfield, a self-made man, who had risen from the very +same pioneer labourer class;--a wood-cutter and rail-splitter in the +backwoods of Illinois, he had become a common boatman on the +Mississippi, and had there improved his mind by reading eagerly in all +his spare moments. With one of those rapid rises so commonly made by +self-taught lads in America, he had pushed his way into the Illinois +legislature by the time he was twenty-five, and qualified himself to +practise as a barrister at Springfield. His shrewd original talents had +raised him with wonderful quickness into the front ranks of his own +party; and when the question between the North and South rose into the +region of practical politics, Lincoln was selected by the republicans +(the anti-slavery group) as their candidate for the Presidency of the +United States. This selection was a very significant one in several +ways; Lincoln was a very strong opponent of slavery, and his candidature +showed the southern slaveowners that if the Republicans were successful +in the contest, a vigorous move against the slave-holding oligarchy +would at once be made. But it was also significant in the fact that +Lincoln was a western man; it was a sign that the farmers and grangers +of the agricultural west were beginning to wake up politically and throw +themselves into the full current of American State affairs. On both +these grounds, Lincoln's nomination must have been deeply interesting to +Garfield, whose own life had been so closely similar, and who was +destined, twenty years later, to follow him to the same goal. + +Lincoln was duly elected, and the southern states began to secede. The +firing upon Fort Sumter by the South Carolina secessionists was the +first blow struck in that terrible war. Every man who was privileged to +live in America at that time (like the present writer) cannot recall +without a glow of recollection the memory of the wild eagerness with +which the North answered that note of defiance, and went forth with +overpowering faith and eagerness to fight the good fight on behalf of +human freedom. Such a spontaneous outburst of the enthusiasm of humanity +has never been known, before or since. President Lincoln immediately +called for a supply of seventy-five thousand men. In the Ohio Senate, +his message was read amid tumultuous applause; and the moment the sound +of the cheers died away, Garfield, as natural spokesman of the +republican party, sprang to his feet, and moved in a short and +impassioned speech that the state of Ohio should contribute twenty +thousand men and three million dollars as its share in the general +preparations. The motion was immediately carried with the wildest +demonstrations of fervour, and Ohio, with all the rest of the North, +rose like one man to put down by the strong hand the hideous traffic in +human flesh and blood. + +During those fiery and feverish days, every citizen of the loyal states +felt himself to be, in reserve at least, a possible soldier. It was +necessary to raise, drill, and render effective in an incredibly short +time a large army; and it would have been impossible to do so had it not +been for the eager enthusiasm with which civilians of every sort +enlisted, and threw themselves into their military duties with almost +incredible devotion. Garfield felt that he must bear his own part in the +struggle by fighting it out, not in the Senate but on the field; and his +first move was to obtain a large quantity of arms from the arsenal in +the doubtfully loyal state of Missouri. In this mission he was +completely successful; and he was next employed to raise and organize +two new regiments of Ohio infantry. Garfield, of course, knew absolutely +nothing of military matters at that time; but it was not a moment to +stand upon questions of precedence or experience; the born organizers +came naturally to the front, and Garfield was one of them. Indeed, the +faculty for organization seems innate in the American people, so that +when it became necessary to raise and equip so large a body of men at a +few weeks' notice, the task was undertaken offhand by lawyers, doctors, +shopkeepers, and schoolmasters, without a minute's hesitation, and was +performed on the whole with distinguished success. + +When Garfield had organized his regiments, the Governor asked him to +accept the post of colonel to one of them. But Garfield at first +mistrusted his own powers in this direction. How should he, who had +hitherto been poring chiefly over the odes of Horace (his favourite +poet), now take so suddenly to leading a thousand men into actual +battle? He would accept only a subordinate position, he said, if a +regular officer of the United States army, trained at the great military +academy at West Point, was placed in command. So the Governor told him +to go among his own farmer friends in his native district, and recruit a +third regiment, promising to find him a West Point man as colonel, if +one was available. Garfield accepted the post of lieutenant-colonel, +raised the 42nd Ohio regiment, chiefly among his own old pupils at +Hiram, and set off for the seat of operations. At the last moment the +Governor failed to find a regular officer to lead these raw recruits, +every available man being already occupied, and Garfield found himself, +against his will, compelled to undertake the responsible task of +commanding the regiment. He accepted the task thus thrust upon him, and +as if by magic transformed himself at once from a schoolmaster into an +able soldier. + +In less than one month, Colonel Garfield took his raw troops into action +in the battle of Middle Creek, and drove the Confederate General +Marshall, with far larger numbers, out of his intrenchments, compelling +him to retreat into Virginia. This timely victory did much to secure the +northern advance along the line of the Mississippi. During the whole of +the succeeding campaign Garfield handled his regiment with such native +skill and marked success that the Government appointed him Brigadier- +General for his bravery and military talent. In spite of all his early +disadvantages, he had been the youngest member of the Ohio Senate, and +now he was the youngest general in the whole American army. + +Shortly after, the important victory of Chickamauga was gained almost +entirely by the energy and sagacity of General Garfield. For this +service, he was raised one degree in dignity, receiving his commission +as Major-General. He served altogether only two years and three months +in the army. + +But while Garfield was at the head of his victorious troops in Kentucky, +his friends in Ohio were arranging, without his consent or knowledge, to +call him away to a very different sphere of work. They nominated +Garfield as their candidate for the United States House of +Representatives at Washington. The General himself was unwilling to +accede to their request, when it reached him. He thought he could serve +the country better in the field than in Congress. Besides, he was still +a comparatively poor man. His salary as Major-General was double that of +a member of the House; and for his wife's and children's sake he +hesitated to accept the lesser position. Had he continued in the army to +the end of the war, he would doubtless have risen to the very highest +honours of that stirring epoch. But President Lincoln was very anxious +that Garfield should come into the Congress, where his presence would +greatly strengthen the President's hands; and with a generous self- +denial which well bespeaks his thorough loyalty, Garfield gave up his +military post and accepted a place in the House of Representatives. He +took his seat in December, 1863. + +For seventeen years, General Garfield sat in the general legislature of +the United States as one of the members for Ohio. During all that time, +he distinguished himself most honourably as the fearless advocate of +honest government, and the pronounced enemy of those underhand dodges +and wire-pulling machinery which are too often the disgrace of American +politics. He was opposed to all corruption and chicanery, especially to +the bad system of rewarding political supporters with places under +Government, which has long been the chief blot upon American republican +institutions. As a person of stalwart honesty and singleness of purpose, +he made himself respected by both sides alike. Politically speaking, +different men will judge very differently of Garfield's acts in the +House of Representatives. Englishmen especially cannot fail to remark +that his attitude towards ourselves was almost always one of latent +hostility; but it is impossible for anybody to deny that his conduct was +uniformly guided by high principle, and a constant deference to what he +regarded as the right course of action. + +In 1880, when General Garfield had already risen to be the acknowledged +leader of the House of Representatives, his Ohio supporters put him in +nomination for the upper chamber, the Senate. They wished Garfield to +come down to the state capital and canvas for support; but this the +General would not hear of. "I never asked for any place yet," he said, +"except the post of bell-ringer and general sweeper at the Hiram +Institute, and I won't ask for one now." But at least, his friends +urged, he would be on the spot to encourage and confer with his +partisans. No, Garfield answered; if they wished to elect him they must +elect him in his absence; he would avoid all appearance, even, of +angling for office. The result was that all the other candidates +withdrew, and Garfield was elected by acclamation. + +After the election he went down to Ohio and delivered a speech to his +constituents, a part of which strikingly illustrates the courage and +independence of the backwoods schoolmaster. "During the twenty years +that I have been in public life," he said, "almost eighteen of it in the +Congress of the United States, I have tried to do one thing. Whether I +was mistaken or otherwise, it has been the plan of my life to follow my +conviction, at whatever personal cost to myself. I have represented for +many years a district in Congress whose approbation I greatly desired; +but though it may seem, perhaps, a little egotistical to say it, I yet +desired still more the approbation of one person, and his name was +Garfield. He is the only man that I am compelled to sleep with, and eat +with, and live with, and die with; and if I could not have his +approbation I should have bad companionship." + +Only one higher honour could now fall to the lot of a citizen of the +United States. The presidency was the single post to which Garfield's +ambition could still aspire. That honour came upon him, like all the +others, without his seeking; and it came, too, quite unexpectedly. Five +months later, in the summer of 1880, the National Republican Convention +met to select a candidate for their party at the forthcoming +presidential election. Every four years, before the election, each party +thus meets to decide upon the man to whom its votes will be given at the +final choice. After one or two ineffectual attempts to secure unanimity +in favour of other and more prominent politicians, the Convention with +one accord chose James Garfield for its candidate--a nomination which +was quite as great a surprise to Garfield himself as to all the rest of +the world. He was elected President of the United States in November, +1880. + +It was a marvellous rise for the poor canal boy, the struggling student, +the obscure schoolmaster, thus to find himself placed at the head of one +among the greatest nations of the earth. He was still less than fifty, +and he might reasonably have looked forward to many years of a happy, +useful, and honourable life. Nevertheless, it is impossible to feel that +Garfield's death was other than a noble and enviable one. He was cut off +suddenly in the very moment of his brightest success, before the cares +and disappointments of office had begun to dim the pleasure of his first +unexpected triumph. He died a martyr to a good and honest cause, and his +death-bed was cheered and alleviated by the hushed sorrow and sympathy +of an entire nation--one might almost truthfully add, of the whole +civilized world. + +From the first, President Garfield set his face sternly against the bad +practice of rewarding political adherents by allowing them to nominate +officials in the public service--a species of covert corruption +sanctioned by long usage in the United States. This honest and +independent conduct raised up for him at once a host of enemies among +his own party. The talk which they indulged in against the President +produced a deep effect upon a half-crazy and wildly egotistic French- +Canadian of the name of Guiteau, who had emigrated to the States and +become an American citizen. General Garfield had arranged a trip to New +England in the summer of 1881, to attend the annual festival at his old +school, the Williams College, Massachusetts; and for that purpose he +left the White House (the President's official residence at Washington) +on July 2. As he stood in the station of the Baltimore and Potomac +Railway, arm in arm with Mr. Blaine, the Secretary of State, Guiteau +approached him casually, and, drawing out a pistol, fired two shots in +rapid succession, one of which took effect on the President above the +third rib. The assassin was at once secured, and the wounded President +was carried back carefully to the White House. + +Almost everybody who reads this book will remember the long suspense, +while the President lay stretched upon his bed for weeks and weeks +together, with all Europe and America watching anxiously for any sign of +recovery, and sympathizing deeply with the wounded statesman and his +devoted wife. Every effort that was possible was made to save him, but +the wound was past all surgical skill. After lingering long with the +stored-up force of a good constitution, James Garfield passed away at +last of blood-poisoning, more deeply regretted perhaps than any other +man whom the present generation can remember. + +It is only in America that precisely such a success as Garfield's is +possible for people who spring, as he did, from the midst of the people. +In old-settled and wealthy countries we must be content, at best, with +slower and less lofty promotion. But the lesson of Garfield's life is +not for America only, but for the whole world of workers everywhere. The +same qualities which procured his success there will produce a +different, but still a solid success, anywhere else. As Garfield himself +fittingly put it, with his usual keen American common sense, "There is +no more common thought among young people than the foolish one, that by- +and-by something will turn up by which they will suddenly achieve fame +or fortune. No, young gentlemen; things don't turn up in this world +unless somebody turns them up." + + + + +VII. + +THOMAS EDWARD, SHOEMAKER. + + +It is the object of this volume to set forth the lives of working men +who through industry, perseverance, and high principle have raised +themselves by their own exertions from humble beginnings. Raised +themselves! Yes; but to what? Not merely, let us hope, to wealth and +position, not merely to worldly respect and high office, but to some +conspicuous field of real usefulness to their fellow men. Those whose +lives we have hitherto examined did so raise themselves by their own +strenuous energy and self-education. Either, like Garfield and Franklin, +they served the State zealously in peace or war; or else, like +Stephenson and Telford, they improved human life by their inventions and +engineering works; or, again, like Herschel and Fraunhofer, they added +to the wide field of scientific knowledge; or finally, like Millet and +Gibson, they beautified the world with their noble and inspiring +artistic productions. But in every one of these cases, the men whose +lives we have been here considering did actually rise, sooner or later, +from the class of labourers into some other class socially and +monetarily superior to it. Though they did great good in other ways to +others, they did still as a matter of fact succeed themselves in +quitting the rank in which they were born, and rising to some other rank +more or less completely above it. + +Now, it will be clear to everybody that so long as our present social +arrangements exist, it must be impossible for the vast mass of labouring +men ever to do anything of the sort. It is to be desired, indeed, that +every labouring man should by industry and thrift secure independence in +the end for himself and his family; but however much that may be the +case, it will still rest certain that the vast mass of men will +necessarily remain workers to the last; and that no attempt to raise +individual working men above their own class into the professional or +mercantile classes can ever greatly benefit the working masses as a +whole. What is most of all desirable is that the condition, the aims; +and the tastes of working men, as working men, should be raised and +bettered; that without necessarily going outside their own ranks, they +should become more prudent, more thrifty, better educated, and wider- +minded than many of their predecessors have been in the past. Under such +circumstances, it is surely well to set before ourselves some examples +of working men who, while still remaining members of their own class, +have in the truest and best sense "raised themselves" so as to attain +the respect and admiration of others whether their equals or superiors +in the artificial scale. Dr. Smiles, who has done much to illustrate the +history of the picked men among the labouring orders, has chosen two or +three lives of such a sort for investigation, and from them we may +select a single one as an example of a working man's career rendered +conspicuous by qualities other than those that usually secure external +success. + +Thomas Edward, associate of the Linnean Society, though a Scotchman all +his life long, was accidentally born (so to speak) at Gosport, near +Portsmouth, on Christmas Day, 1814. His father was in the Fifeshire +militia and in those warlike days, when almost all the regulars were on +the Continent, fighting Napoleon, militia regiments used to be ordered +about the country from one place to another, to watch the coast or mount +guard over the French prisoners, in the most unaccountable fashion. So +it happened, oddly enough, that Thomas Edward, a Scotchman of the +Scotch, was born close under the big forts of Portsmouth harbour. + +After Waterloo, however, the Fifeshire regiment was sent home again; and +the militia being before long disbanded, John Edward, our hero's father, +went to live at Aberdeen, where he plied his poor trade of a hand-loom +linen weaver for many years. It was on the green at Aberdeen, surrounded +by small labourers' cottages, that Thomas Edward passed his early days. +From his babyhood, almost, the boy had a strong love for all the +beasties he saw everywhere around him; a fondness for birds and animals, +and a habit of taming them which can seldom be acquired, but which seems +with some people to come instinctively by nature. While Tam was still +quite a child, he loved to wander by himself out into the country, along +the green banks of the Dee, or among the tidal islands at the mouth of +the river, overgrown by waving seaweeds, and fringed with great white +bunches of blossoming scurvy-grass. He loved to hunt for crabs and sea- +anemones beside the ebbing channels, or to watch the jelly-fish left +high and dry upon the shore by the retreating water. Already, in his +simple way, the little ragged bare-footed Scotch laddie was at heart a +born naturalist. + +Very soon, Tam was not content with looking at the "venomous beasts," as +the neighbours called them, but he must needs begin to bring them home, +and set up a small aquarium and zoological garden on his own account. +All was fish that came to Tam's net: tadpoles, newts, and stickleback +from the ponds, beetles from the dung-heaps, green crabs from the sea- +shore--nay, even in time such larger prizes as hedgehogs, moles, and +nestfuls of birds. Nothing delighted him so much as to be out in the +fields, hunting for and taming these his natural pets. + +Unfortunately, Tam's father and mother did not share the boy's passion +for nature, and instead of encouraging him in pursuing his inborn taste, +they scolded him and punished him bitterly for bringing home the nasty +creatures. But nothing could win away Tam from the love of the beasties; +and in the end, he had his own way, and lived all his life, as he +himself afterwards beautifully put it, "a fool to nature." Too often, +unhappily, fathers and mothers thus try to check the best impulses in +their children, under mistaken notions of right, and especially is this +the case in many instances as regards the love of nature. Children are +constantly chidden for taking an interest in the beautiful works of +creation, and so have their first intelligent inquiries and aspirations +chilled at once; when a little care and sympathy would get rid of the +unpleasantness of having white mice or lizards crawling about the house, +without putting a stop to the young beginner's longing for more +knowledge of the wonderful and beautiful world in whose midst he lives. + +When Tam was nearly five years old, he was sent to school, chiefly no +doubt to get him out of the way; but Scotch schools for the children of +the working classes were in those days very rough hard places, where the +taws or leather strap was still regarded as the chief instrument of +education. Little Edward was not a child to be restrained by that +particular form of discipline; and after he had had two or three serious +tussles with his instructors, he was at last so cruelly beaten by one of +his masters that he refused to return, and his parents, who were +themselves by no means lacking in old Scotch severity, upheld him in his +determination. He had picked up reading by this time, and now for a +while he was left alone to hunt about to his heart's content among his +favourite fields and meadows. But by the time he was six years old, he +felt he ought to be going to work, brave little mortal that he was; and +as his father and mother thought so too, the poor wee mite was sent to +join his elder brother in working at a tobacco factory in the town, at +the wages of fourteen-pence a week. So, for the next two years, little +Tam waited upon a spinner (as the workers are called) and began life in +earnest as a working man. At the end of two years, however, the +brothers heard that better wages were being given, a couple of miles +away, at Grandholm, up the river Don. So off the lads tramped, one fast- +day (a recognized Scotch institution), to ask the manager of the +Grandholm factory if he could give them employment. They told nobody of +their intention, but trudged away on their own account; and when they +came back and told their parents what they had done, the father was not +very well satisfied with the proposal, because he thought it too far for +so small a boy as Tam to walk every day to and from his work. Tam, +however, was very anxious to go, not only on account of the increased +wages, but also (though this was a secret) because of the beautiful +woods and crags round Grandholm, through which he hoped to wander during +the short dinner hour. In the end, John Edward gave way, and the boys +were allowed to follow their own fancy in going to the new factory. + +It was very hard work; the hours were from six in the morning till eight +at night, for there was no Factory Act then to guard the interest of +helpless children; so the boys had to be up at four in the morning, and +were seldom home again till nine at night. In winter, the snow lies long +and deep on those chilly Aberdeenshire roads, and the east winds from +the German Ocean blow cold and cutting up the narrow valley of the Don; +and it was dreary work toiling along them in the dark of morning or of +night in bleak and cheerless December weather. Still, Tam liked it on +the whole extremely well. His wages were now three shillings a week; and +then, twice a day in summer, there was the beautiful walk to and fro +along the leafy high-road. "People may say of factories what they +please," Edward wrote much later, "but I liked this factory. It was a +happy time for me whilst I remained there. The woods were easy of access +during our meal-hours. What lots of nests! What insects, wild flowers, +and plants, the like of which I had never seen before." The boy revelled +in the beauty of the birds and beasts he saw here, and he retained a +delightful recollection of them throughout his whole after life. + +This happy time, however, was not to last for ever. When young Edward +was eleven years old, his father took him away from Grandholm, and +apprenticed him to a working shoemaker. The apprenticeship was to go on +for six years; the wages to begin at eighteen-pence a week; and the +hours, too sadly long, to be from six in the morning till nine at night. +Tam's master, one Charles Begg, was a drunken London workman, who had +wandered gradually north; a good shoemaker, but a quarrelsome, rowdy +fellow, loving nothing on earth so much as a round with his fists on the +slightest provocation. From this unpromising teacher, Edward took his +first lessons in the useful art of shoemaking; and though he learned +fast--for he was not slothful in business--he would have learned faster, +no doubt, but for his employer's very drunken and careless ways. When +Begg came home from the public-house, much the worse for whisky, he +would first beat Tam, and then proceed upstairs to beat his wife. For +three years young Edward lived under this intolerable tyranny, till he +could stand it no longer. At last, Begg beat and ill-treated him so +terribly that Tam refused outright to complete his apprenticeship. Begg +was afraid to compel him to do so--doubtless fearing to expose his ill- +usage of the lad. So Tam went to a new master, a kindly man, with whom +he worked in future far more happily. + +The boy now began to make himself a little botanical garden in the back +yard of his mother's house--a piece of waste ground covered with +rubbish, such as one often sees behind the poorer class of cottages in +towns. Tam determined to alter all that, so he piled up all the stones +into a small rockery, dug up the plot, manured it, and filled it with +wild and garden flowers. The wild flowers, of course, he found in the +woods and hedgerows around him; but the cultivated kinds he got in a +very ingenious fashion, by visiting all the rubbish heaps of the +neighbourhood, on which garden refuse was usually piled. A good many +roots and plants can generally be found in such places, and by digging +them up, Tam was soon able to make himself a number of bright and lively +beds. Such self-help in natural history always lay very much in Edward's +way. + +At the same time, young Edward was now beginning to feel the desire for +knowing something more about the beasts and birds of which he was so +fond. He used to go in all his spare moments among the shops in the +town, to look at the pictures in the windows, especially the pictures of +animals; and though his earnings were still small, he bought a book +whenever he was able to afford one. In those days cheap papers for the +people were only just beginning to come into existence; and Tam, who was +now eighteen, bought the first number of the _Penny Magazine_, an +excellent journal of that time, which he liked so much that he continued +to take in the succeeding numbers. Some of the papers in it were about +natural history, and these, of course, particularly delighted the young +man's heart. He also bought the _Weekly Visitor_, which he read +through over and over again. + +In 1831, when Tam was still eighteen, he enlisted in the Aberdeenshire +militia, and during his brief period of service an amusing circumstance +occurred which well displays the almost irresistible character of +Edward's love of nature. While he was drilling with the awkward squad +one morning, a butterfly of a kind that he had never seen before +happened to flit in front of him as he stood in the ranks. It was a +beautiful large brown butterfly, and Edward was so fascinated by its +appearance that he entirely forgot, in a moment, where he was and what +he was doing. Without a second's thought, he darted wildly out of the +ranks, and rushed after the butterfly, cap in hand. It led him a pretty +chase, over sandhills and shore, for five minutes. He was just on the +point of catching it at last, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand laid +upon his shoulder, and looking round, he saw the corporal of the company +and several soldiers come to arrest him. Such a serious offence against +military discipline might have cost him dear indeed, for corporals have +little sympathy with butterfly hunting; but luckily for Edward, as he +was crossing the parade ground under arrest, he happened to meet an +officer walking with some ladies. The officer asked the nature of his +offence, and when the ladies heard what it was they were so much +interested in such a strange creature as a butterfly-loving militiaman, +that they interceded for him, and finally begged him off his expected +punishment. The story shows us what sort of stuff Edward was really made +of. He felt so deep an interest in all the beautiful living creatures +around him for their own sake, that he could hardly restrain his +feelings even under the most untoward circumstances. + +When Edward was twenty, he removed from Aberdeen to Banff, where he +worked as a journeyman for a new master. The hours were very long, but +by taking advantage of the summer evenings, he was still able to hunt +for his beloved birds, caterpillars, and butterflies. Still, the low +wages in the trade discouraged him much, and he almost made up his mind +to save money and emigrate to America. But one small accident alone +prevented him from carrying out this purpose. Like a good many other +young men, the naturalist shoemaker fell in love. Not only so, but his +falling in love took practical shape a little later in his getting +married; and at twenty-three, the lonely butterfly hunter brought back a +suitable young wife to his little home. The marriage was a very happy +one. Mrs. Edward not only loved her husband deeply, but showed him +sympathy in his favourite pursuits, and knew how to appreciate his +sterling worth. Long afterwards she said, that though many of her +neighbours could not understand her husband's strange behaviour, she had +always felt how much better it was to have one who spent his spare time +on the study of nature than one who spent it on the public-house. + +As soon as Edward got a home of his own, he began to make a regular +collection of all the animals and plants in Banffshire. This was a +difficult thing for him to do, for he knew little of books, and had +access to very few, so that he couldn't even find out the names of all +the creatures he caught and preserved. But, though he didn't always know +what they were called, he did know their natures and habits and all +about them; and such first-hand knowledge in natural history is really +the rarest and the most valuable of all. He saw little of his fellow- +workmen. They were usually a drunken, careless lot; Edward was sober and +thoughtful, and had other things to think of than those that they cared +to talk about with one another. But he went out much into the fields, +with invincible determination, having made up his mind that he would get +to know all about the plants and beasties, however much the knowledge +might cost him. + +For this object, he bought a rusty old gun for four-and-sixpence, and +invested in a few boxes and bottles for catching insects. His working +hours were from six in the morning till nine at night, and for that long +day he always worked hard to support his wife, and (when they came) his +children. He had therefore only the night hours between nine and six to +do all his collecting. Any other man, almost, would have given up the +attempt as hopeless; but Edward resolved never to waste a single moment +or a single penny, and by care and indomitable energy he succeeded in +making his wished-for collection. Sometimes he was out tramping the +whole night; sometimes he slept anyhow, under a hedge or haystack; +sometimes he took up temporary quarters in a barn, an outhouse, or a +ruined castle. But night after night he went on collecting, whenever he +was able; and he watched the habits and manners of the fox, the badger, +the otter, the weasel, the stoat, the pole-cat, and many other regular +night-roamers as no one else, in all probability, had ever before +watched them in the whole world. + +Sometimes he suffered terrible disappointments, due directly or +indirectly to his great poverty. Once, he took all his cases of insects, +containing nine hundred and sixteen specimens, and representing the work +of four years, up to his garret to keep them there till he was able to +glaze them. When he came to take them down again he found to his horror +that rats had got at the boxes, eaten almost every insect in the whole +collection, and left nothing behind but the bare pins, with a few +scattered legs, wings, and bodies, sticking amongst them. Most men would +have been so disgusted with this miserable end to so much labour, that +they would have given up moth hunting for ever. But Edward was made of +different stuff. He went to work again as zealously as ever, and in four +years more, he had got most of the beetles, flies, and chafers as +carefully collected as before. + +By the year 1845, Edward had gathered together about two thousand +specimens of beasts, birds, and insects found in the neighbourhood of +his own town of Banff. He made the cases to hold them himself, and did +it so neatly that, in the case of his shells, each kind had even a +separate little compartment all of its own. And now he unfortunately +began to think of making money by exhibiting his small museum. If only +he could get a few pounds to help him in buying books, materials, +perhaps even a microscope, to help him in prosecuting his scientific +work, what a magnificent thing that would be for him! Filled with this +grand idea, he took a room in the Trades Hall at Banff, and exhibited +his collection during a local fair. A good many people came to see it, +and the Banff paper congratulated the poor shoemaker on his energy in +gathering together such a museum of curiosities "without aid, and under +discouraging circumstances which few would have successfully +encountered." He was so far lucky in this first venture that he covered +his expenses and was able even to put away a little money for future +needs. Encouraged by this small triumph, the unwearied naturalist set to +work during the next year, and added several new attractions to his +little show. At the succeeding fair he again exhibited, and made still +mere money out of his speculation. Unhappily, the petty success thus +secured led him to hope he might do even better by moving his collection +to Aberdeen. + +To Aberdeen, accordingly, Edward went. He took a shop in the great gay +thoroughfare of that cold northern city--Union Street--and prepared to +receive the world at large, and to get the money for the longed-for +books and the much-desired microscope. Now, Aberdeen is a big, busy, +bustling town; it has plenty of amusements and recreations; it has two +colleges and many learned men of its own; and the people did not care to +come and see the working shoemaker's poor small collection. If he had +been a president of the British Association for the Advancement of +Science, now--some learned knight or baronet come down by special train +from London--the Aberdeen doctors and professors might have rushed to +hear his address; or if he had been a famous music-hall singer or an +imitation negro minstrel, the public at large might have flocked to be +amused and degraded by his parrot-like buffoonery; but as he was only a +working shoemaker from Banff, with a heaven-born instinct for watching +and discovering all the strange beasts and birds of Scotland, and the +ways and thoughts of them, why, of course, respectable Aberdeen, high or +low, would have nothing in particular to say to him. Day after day went +by, and hardly anybody came, till at last poor Edward's heart sank +terribly within him. Even the few who did come were loth to believe that +a working shoemaker could ever have gathered together such a large +collection by his own exertions. + +"Do you mean to say," said one of the Aberdeen physicians to Edward, +"that you've maintained your wife and family by working at your trade, +all the while that you've been making this collection?" + +"Yes, I do," Edward answered. + +"Oh, nonsense!" the doctor said. "How is it possible you could have done +that?" + +"By never losing a single minute or part of a minute," was the brave +reply, "that I could by any means improve." + +It is wonderful indeed that when once Edward had begun to attract +anybody's attention at all, he and his exhibition should ever have been +allowed to pass so unnoticed in a great, rich, learned city like +Aberdeen. But it only shows how very hard it is for unassuming merit to +push its way; for the Aberdeen people still went unheeding past the shop +in Union Street, till Edward at last began to fear and tremble as to how +he should ever meet the expenses of the exhibition. After the show had +been open four weeks, one black Friday came when Edward never took a +penny the whole day. As he sat there alone and despondent in the empty +room, the postman brought him a letter. It was from his master at Banff. +"Return immediately," it said, "or you will be discharged." What on +earth could he do? He couldn't remove his collection; he couldn't pay +his debt. A few more days passed, and he saw no way out of it. At last, +in blank despair, he offered the whole collection for sale. A gentleman +proposed to pay him the paltry sum of L20 10s for the entire lot, the +slow accumulations of ten long years. It was a miserable and totally +inadequate price, but Edward could get no more. In the depths of his +misery, he accepted it. The gentleman took the collection home, gave it +to his boy, and finally allowed it all, for want of care and attention, +to go to rack and ruin. And so that was the end of ten years of poor +Thomas Edward's unremitting original work in natural history. A sadder +tale of unrequited labour in the cause of science has seldom been +written. + +How he ever recovered from such a downfall to all his hopes and +expectations is extraordinary. But the man had a wonderful power of +bearing up against adverse circumstances; and when, after six weeks' +absence, he returned to Banff, ruined and dispirited, he set to work +once more, as best he might, at the old, old trade of shoemaking. He was +obliged to leave his wife and children in Aberdeen, and to tramp himself +on foot to Banff, so that he might earn the necessary money to bring +them back; for the cash he had got for the collection had all gone in +paying expenses. It is almost too sad to relate; and no wonder poor +Edward felt crushed indeed when he got back once more to his lonely +shoemaker's bench and fireless fireside. He was very lonely until his +wife and children came. But when the carrier generously brought them +back free (with that kindliness which the poor so often show to the +poor), and the home was occupied once more, and the fire lighted, he +felt as if life might still be worth living, at least for his wife and +children. So he went back to his trade as heartily as he might, and +worked at it well and successfully. For it is to be noted, that though +Thomas Edward was so assiduous a naturalist and collector, he was the +best hand, too, at making first-class shoes in all Banff. The good +workman is generally the best man at whatever he undertakes. Certainly +the best man is almost always a good workman at his own trade. + +But of course he made no more natural history collections? Not a bit of +it. Once a naturalist, always a naturalist. Edward set to work once +more, nothing daunted, and by next spring he was out everywhere with his +gun, exactly as before, replacing the sold collection as fast as ever +his hand was able. + +By this time Edward began to make a few good friends. Several +magistrates for the county signed a paper for him, stating that they +knew him to be a naturalist, and no poacher; and on presenting this +paper to the gamekeepers, he was generally allowed to pursue his +researches wherever he liked, and shoot any birds or animals he needed +for his new museum. Soon after his return from Aberdeen, too, he made +the acquaintance of a neighbouring Scotch minister, Mr. Smith of +Monquhitter, who proved a very kind and useful friend to him. Mr. Smith +was a brother naturalist, and he had books--those precious books--which +he lent Edward, freely; and there for the first time the shoemaker +zoologist learned the scientific names of many among the birds and +animals with whose lives and habits he had been so long familiar. +Another thing the good minister did for his shoemaker friend: he +constantly begged him to write to scientific journals the results of his +observations in natural history. At first Edward was very timid; he +didn't like to appear in print; thought his grammar and style wouldn't +be good enough; fought shy of the proposal altogether. But at last +Edward made up his mind to contribute a few notes to the _Banffshire +Journal_, and from that he went on slowly to other papers, until at +last he came to be one of the most valued occasional writers for several +of the leading scientific periodicals in England. Unfortunately, science +doesn't pay. All this work was done for love only; and Edward's only +reward was the pleasure he himself derived from thus jotting down the +facts he had observed about the beautiful creatures he loved so well. + +Soon Mr. Smith induced the indefatigable shoemaker to send a few papers +on the birds and beasts to the _Zoologist_. Readers began to +perceive that these contributions were sent by a man of the right sort-- +a man who didn't merely read what other men had said about the creatures +in books, but who watched their ways on his own account, and knew all +about their habits and manners in their own homes. Other friends now +began to interest themselves in him; and Edward obtained at last, what +to a man of his tastes must have been almost as much as money or +position--the society of people who could appreciate him, and could +sympathize in all that interested him. Mr. Smith in particular always +treated him, says Dr. Smiles, "as one intelligent man treats another." +The paltry distinctions of artificial rank were all forgotten between +them, and the two naturalists talked together with endless interest +about all those lovely creatures that surround us every one on every +side, but that so very few people comparatively have ever eyes to see or +hearts to understand. It was a very great loss to Edward when Mr. Smith +died, in 1854. + +In the year 1858 the untiring shoemaker had gathered his third and last +collection, the finest and best of all. By this time he had become an +expert stuffer of birds, and a good preserver of fish and flowers. But +his health was now beginning to fail. He was forty-four, and he had used +his constitution very severely, going out at nights in cold and wet, and +cheating himself of sleep during the natural hours of rest and +recuperation. Happily, during all these years, he had resisted the +advice of his Scotch labouring friends, to take out whisky with him on +his nightly excursions. He never took a drop of it, at home or abroad. +If he had done so, he himself believed, he could not have stood the +cold, the damp, and the exposure in the way he did. His food was chiefly +oatmeal-cake; his drink was water. "Sometimes, when I could afford it," +he says, "my wife boiled an egg or two, and these were my only +luxuries." He had a large family, and the task of providing for them was +quite enough for his slender means, without leaving much margin for beer +or whisky. + +But the best constitution won't stand privation and exposure for ever. +By-and-by Edward fell ill, and had a fever. He was ill for a month, and +when he came round again the doctor told him that he must at once give +up his nightly wandering. This was a real and serious blow to poor +Edward; it was asking him to give up his one real pleasure and interest +in life. All the happiest moments he had ever known were those which he +had spent in the woods and fields, or among the lonely mountains with +the falcons, and the herons, and the pine-martens, and the ermines. All +this delightful life he was now told he must abandon for ever. Nor was +that all. Illness costs money. While a man is earning nothing, he is +running up a doctor's bill. Edward now saw that he must at last fall +back upon his savings bank, as he rightly called it--his loved and +cherished collection of Banffshire animals. He had to draw upon it +heavily. Forty cases of birds were sold; and Edward now knew that he +would never be able to replace the specimens he had parted with. + +Still, his endless patience wasn't yet exhausted. No more of wandering +by night, to be sure, upon moor or fell, gun in hand, chasing the merlin +or the polecat to its hidden lair; no more of long watching after the +snowy owl or the long-tailed titmouse among the frozen winter woods; but +there remained one almost untried field on which Edward could expend his +remaining energy, and in which he was to do better work for science than +in all the rest--the sea. + +This new field he began to cultivate in a novel and ingenious way. He +got together all the old broken pails, pots, pans, and kettles he could +find in the neighbourhood, filled them with straw or bits of rag, and +then sank them with a heavy stone into the rocky pools that abound along +that weather-beaten coast. A rope was tied to one end, by which he could +raise them again; and once a month he used to go his rounds to visit +these very primitive but effectual sea-traps. Lots of living things had +meanwhile congregated in the safe nests thus provided for them, and +Edward sorted them all over, taking home with him all the newer or more +valuable specimens. In this way he was enabled to make several additions +to our knowledge of the living things that inhabit the sea off the +north-east coast of Scotland. + +The fishermen also helped him not a little, by giving him many rare +kinds of fish or refuse from their nets, which he duly examined and +classified. As a rule, the hardy men who go on the smacks have a +profound contempt for natural history, and will not be tempted, even by +offers of money, to assist those whom they consider as half-daft +gentlefolk in what seems to them a perfectly useless and almost childish +amusement. But it was different with Tam Edward, the strange shoemaker +whom they all knew so well; if _he_ wanted fish or rubbish for his +neat collection in the home-made glass cases, why, of course he could +have them, and welcome. So they brought him rare sandsuckers, and blue- +striped wrasse, and saury pike, and gigantic cuttle-fish, four feet +long, to his heart's content. Edward's daughters were now also old +enough to help him in his scientific studies. They used to watch for the +clearing of the nets, and pick out of the refuse whatever they thought +would interest or please their father. But the fish themselves were +Edward's greatest helpers and assistants. As Dr. Smiles quaintly puts +it, they were the best of all possible dredgers. His daughters used to +secure him as many stomachs as possible, and from their contents he +picked out an immense number of beautiful and valuable specimens. The +bill of fare of the cod alone comprised an incredible variety of small +crabs, shells, shrimps, sea-mice, star-fish, jelly-fish, sea anemones, +eggs, and zoophytes. All these went to swell Edward's new collection of +marine animals. + +To identify and name so many small and little-known creatures was a very +difficult task for the poor shoemaker, with so few books, and no +opportunities for visiting museums and learned societies. But his +industry and ingenuity managed to surmount all obstacles. Naturalists +everywhere are very willing to aid and instruct one another; especially +are the highest authorities almost always eager to give every help and +encouragement in their power to local amateurs. Edward used to wait till +he had collected a batch of specimens of a single class or order, and +then he would send them by post to learned men in different parts of the +country, who named them for him, and sent them back with some +information as to their proper place in the classification of the group +to which they belonged. Mr. Spence Bate of Plymouth is the greatest +living authority on crustaceans, such as the lobsters, shrimps, sea- +fleas, and hermit crabs; and to him Edward sent all the queer crawling +things of that description that he found in his original sea-traps. Mr. +Couch, of Polperro in Cornwall, was equally versed in the true backboned +fishes; and to him Edward sent any doubtful midges, or gurnards, or +gobies, or whiffs. So numerous are the animals and plants of the sea- +shore, even in the north of Scotland alone, that if one were to make a +complete list of all Edward's finds it would occupy an entire book +almost as large as this volume. + +Naturalists now began to help Edward in another way, the way that he +most needed, by kind presents of books, especially their own writings--a +kind of gift which cost them nothing, but was worth to him a very great +deal. Mr. Newman, the editor of the _Zoologist_ paper, was one of +his most useful correspondents, and gave him several excellent books on +natural history. Mr. Bate made him a still more coveted present--a +microscope, with which he could examine several minute animals, too +small to be looked at by the naked eye. The same good friend also gave +him a little pocket-lens (or magnifying glass) for use on the sea-shore. + +As Edward went on, his knowledge increased rapidly, and his discoveries +fully kept pace with it. The wretchedly paid Banff shoemaker was now +corresponding familiarly with half the most eminent men of science in +the kingdom, and was a valued contributor to all the most important +scientific journals. Several new animals which he had discovered were +named in his honour, and frequent references were made to him in printed +works of the first importance. It occurred to Mr. Couch and Mr. Bate, +therefore, both of whom were greatly indebted to the working-man +naturalist for specimens and information, that Edward ought to be +elected a member of some leading scientific society. There is no such +body of greater distinction in the world of science than the Linnean +Society; and of this learned institution Edward was duly elected an +associate in 1866. The honour was one which he had richly deserved, and +which no doubt he fully appreciated. + +And yet he was nothing more even now than a working shoemaker, who was +earning not more but less wages even than he once used to do. He had +brought up a large family honestly and respectably; he had paid his way +without running into debt; his children were all growing up; and he had +acquired a wide reputation among naturalists as a thoroughly trustworthy +observer and an original worker in many different fields of botany and +zoology. But his wages were now only eight shillings a week, and his +science had brought him, as many people would say, only the barren +honour of being an associate of the Linnean Society, or the respected +friend of many among the noblest and greatest men of his country. He +began life as a shoemaker, and he remained a shoemaker to the end. "Had +I pursued money," he said, "with half the ardour and perseverance that I +have pursued nature, I have no hesitation in saying that by this time I +should have been a rich man." + +In 1876, Dr. Smiles, the historian of so many truly great working men, +attracted by Edward's remarkable and self-sacrificing life, determined +to write the good shoemaker's biography while he was still alive. Edward +himself gave Dr. Smiles full particulars as to his early days and his +later struggles; and that information the genial biographer wove into a +delightful book, from which all the facts here related have been +borrowed. The "Life of a Scotch Naturalist" attracted an immense deal of +attention when it was first published, and led many people, scientific +or otherwise, to feel a deep interest in the man who had thus made +himself poor for the love of nature. The result was such a spontaneous +expression of generous feeling towards Edward that he was enabled to +pass the evening of his days not only in honour, but also in substantial +ease and comfort. + +And shall we call such a life as this a failure? Shall we speak of it +carelessly as unsuccessful? Surely not. Edward had lived his life +happily, usefully, and nobly; he had attained the end he set before +himself; he had conquered all his difficulties by his indomitable +resolution; and he lived to see his just reward in the respect and +admiration of all those whose good opinion was worth the having. If he +had toiled and moiled all the best days of his life, at some work, +perhaps, which did not even benefit in any way his fellow-men; if he had +given up all his time to enriching himself anyhow, by fair means or +foul; if he had gathered up a great business by crushing out competition +and absorbing to himself the honest livelihood of a dozen other men; if +he had speculated in stocks and shares, and piled up at last a vast +fortune by doubtful transactions, all the world would have said, in its +unthinking fashion, that Mr. Edward was a wonderfully successful man. +But success in life does not consist in that only, if in that at all. +Edward lived for an aim, and that aim he amply attained. He never +neglected his home duties or his regular work; but in his stray moments +he found time to amass an amount of knowledge which rendered him the +intellectual equal of men whose opportunities and education had been far +more fortunate than his own. The pleasure he found in his work was the +real reward that science gave him. All his life long he had that +pleasure: he saw the fields grow green in spring, the birds build nests +in early summer, the insects flit before his eyes on autumn evenings, +the stoat and hare put on their snow-white coat to his delight in winter +weather. And shall we say that the riches he thus beheld spread ever +before him were any less real or less satisfying to a soul like his than +the mere worldly wealth that other men labour and strive for? Oh no. +Thomas Edward was one of those who work for higher and better ends than +outward show, and verily he had his reward. The monument raised up to +that simple and earnest working shoemaker in the "Life of a Scotch +Naturalist" is one of which any scientific worker in the whole world +might well be proud. In his old age, he had the meed of public +encouragement and public recognition, the one thing that the world at +large can add to a scientific worker's happiness; and his name will be +long remembered hereafter, when those of more pretentious but less +useful labourers are altogether forgotten. How many men whom the world +calls successful might gladly have changed places with that "fool to +nature," the Banffshire shoemaker! + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Biographies of Working Men, by Grant Allen + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIOGRAPHIES OF WORKING MEN *** + +This file should be named bgwkm10.txt or bgwkm10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, bgwkm11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, bgwkm10a.txt + +Produced by Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +This file was produced from images generously made available +by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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