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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 + +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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