chief among practical philosophers. A dozen members
of Parliament, seven baronets, with all the landed magnates of the
district, assembled to celebrate the opening of the railway. The clergy
were there to bless the enterprise, and to bid all hail to railway
progress, as "enabling them to carry on with greater facility those
operations in connexion with religion which were calculated to be so
beneficial to the country." The army, speaking through the mouth of
General A'Court, acknowledged the vast importance of railways, as tending
to improve the military defences of the country. And representatives
from eight corporations were there to acknowledge the great benefits
which railways had conferred upon the merchants, tradesmen, and working
classes of their respective towns and cities.

In the spring of 1848 Mr. Stephenson was invited to Whittington House,
near Chesterfield, the residence of his friend and former pupil, Mr.
Swanwick, to meet the distinguished American, Emerson. Upon being
introduced, they did not immediately engage in conversation; but
presently Stephenson jumped up, took Emerson by the collar, and giving
him one of his friendly shakes, asked how it was that in England we could
always tell an American? This led to an interesting conversation, in the
course of which Emerson said how much he had been everywhere struck by
the haleness and comeliness of the English men and women; and then they
diverged into a further discussion of the influences which air, climate,
moisture, soil, and other conditions exercised upon the physical and
moral development of a people. The conversation was next directed to the
subject of electricity, upon which Stephenson launched out
enthusiastically, explaining his views by several simple and striking
illustrations. From thence it gradually turned to the events of his own
life, which he related in so graphic a manner as completely to rivet the
attention of the American. Afterwards Emerson said, "that it was worth
crossing the Atlantic to have seen Stephenson alone; he had such native
force of character and vigour of intellect."

The rest of Mr. Stephenson's days were spent quietly at Tapton, amongst
his dogs, his rabbits, and his birds. When not engaged about the works
connected with his collieries, he was occupied in horticulture and
farming. He continued proud of his flowers, his fruits, and his crops;
and the old spirit of competition was still strong within him. Al