The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1860-02-04
s.The Grit Bare-Legged Laddie.''

"The Grit Bare-Legged Laddie.''
Sixty years ago. stout bony youth of
eighteen years old, who had been known II
his neighborhood as .grit bare-legged
Iaddie.s called on poor village schooimas-
ter, and said
az would like to attend your evening
school, SIR - ssWhat do ynu wish to study =
asked the teacher.
81 want to learn to read and write" re-
piled the lad.
The teacher looked into the lads face
with somewhat scornful glance, shrugged
his shoulders, and said
Every well, you can attend"
Now if that bony lad had said to the
teacher, g 1 mean to become great inven-
tor, to be the companion of rich and noble
men, to hold conversation with kings, and
to write my name among the great men OF
the world I dare say the teacher would
have called the boy fool, for cherishlng
such wild dreams. Yet that poor bony lad
who at eighteen did not know the alphabet,
did all these things before he died.
Who was he? His name was George
Stephenson, the great railway pioneer
It was not the fault of young George that
he was ignorant, it was only his misfortune
| His parents were too poor to send him to
school, He was the son Of the fireman OF
a pumping engine in a colliery. His birth.
place was cottage with clay floor, mud
wall, and bare rafters. He had to help to
earn his living from his earliest years, first
by herding cows and barring up the gates
of the mine at night. Next he was put to
picking stones from the coal, and after that
to driving horse, which hauled coal from
the pit. By-and by he was made assistant
| fireman to his father. When he was seven
teen he was made plugman of pumping
engine-a higher post than his father s.
and had climbed, as it seemed, to the top OF
| his ladder. What hope was there for a
youth who could not read at seventeen
But George had hope in his breast. His
engine was lesson book to him. lie took
it apart and put it together again, studied it,
loved il, and when he was told that there
were books which told about engines, he
made up his mind to go TO school.
To school he went, and soon learned all
that the village masters could teach. When
twenty years old he was made brakeman,
and began to think about inventing better
engines than he saw about him.
Thus working, thinking, reading he kept
on, avoiding all bad habits, until he built a
locomotive that travelled at the rate of four
miles an hour on a team way. This was a
great affair at that time.
His next work was a railway eight miles
in length, and from this point he went on
until he was known as the great railway pi-
oneer of the world.
George was often laughed at by men who
thought themselves much wiser than he
One day he was proposing to build an
engine to run twelve miles an hour. A
grave-looking gentleman, thinking to put
him down, said
'Suppose one of these engines to be 60
ing along railroad at the rate of nine or
ten miles an hour, and that COW were to
stray upon the line, would not that be a
very awkward circumstance
Yes replied Mr.. Stephenson, every
awkward indeed-for the cow -
Thus, by his own industry, did the :" grit
bare legged laddie" climb to very high
place among men. Great men, and even
kings, sought his advice, wealth flowed into
his purse, his name was honored. his char
acter respected. At ripe age he died and
went to his eternal reward.
Let this sketch of the grit bare legged
laddie'' cheer on the boys and girls TO pa
tent effort in the path of duty. Learn
something every day. Press forward Be
good and you will prosper