xterity in handling a spade
which he had thus acquired, and that he has frequently seen him take the
shovel from a labourer in some railway cutting, and show him how to use
it more deftly in filling waggons of earth, gravel, or sand. Sir Joshua
Walmsley has also informed us, that, when examining the works of the
Orleans and Tours Railway, Mr. Stephenson, seeing a large number of
excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of
time and labour, went up to the men and said he would show them how to
fill their barrows in half the time. He showed them the proper position
in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the
least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative
ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the
workmen. When passing through his own workshops, he would point out to
his men how to save labour, and to get through their work skilfully and
with ease. His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and
influencing them as strong characters always do--flowing down into
theirs, and bringing out their best powers.

His deportment towards the workmen employed under him was familiar, yet
firm and consistent. As he respected their manhood, so did they respect
his masterhood. Although he comported himself towards his men as if they
occupied very much the same level as himself, he yet possessed that
peculiar capacity for governing which enabled him always to preserve
among them the strictest discipline, and to secure their cheerful and
hearty services. Mr. Ingham, M.P. for South Shields, on going over the
workshops at Newcastle, was particularly struck with this quality of the
master in his bearing towards his men. "There was nothing," said he, "of
undue familiarity in their intercourse, but they spoke to each other as
man to man; and nothing seemed to please the master more than to point
out illustrations of the ingenuity of his artisans. He took up a rivet,
and expatiated on the skill with which it had been fashioned by the
workman's hand--its perfectness and truth. He was always proud of his
workmen and his pupils; and, while indifferent and careless as to what
might be said of himself, he fired up in a moment if disparagement were
thrown upon any one whom he had taught or trained."

In manner, George Stephenson was simple, modest, and unassuming, but
always manly. He was frank and social in spirit. When a humble