The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-01-11
THE ENGINEER.
A CURIOUS STORY.

CURIOUS STORY.
His name, sir, was Matthew Price {;
mine is Benjamin Hardy. We were
born within few days OF each other;
bred up in the same village, taught at
! the same school. ! cannot remember
the time when we were not close friends.
Even rs boys, We never knew what it
was 10 quarrel. We had not thought,
not possession, that was not IN COM
mon. We would have stood by each
other, fearlessly, TO the death. 1t was
such a friendship as one reads about
sometimes in books: fast and firm as the
great Tors upon our native moorlands,
true as the sun in the heavens.
| The name Of our village was Chad
| leigh. Lifted high above the pasture
| flats which stretched away at our feet
like measureless green lake and melt
ed into mist on the farthest horizon, II
nestled, a tiny, stone-built hamlet, in q
sheltered hollow about midway between
the plain and the plateau. Above us,
rising ridge beyond ridge, slope
beyond slope, spread the mountainous
moor r-country, bare and bleak for the
most part, with here and there
patch of cultivated field or hardy
plantation, and crowned highest
of all with masses of huge gray crag,
abrupt. isolated, hoary, and older than
the deluge. These were the Tors,-
Druids' Tor, Kings Tor, Castle Tor. and
the like; sacred places, a. / have heard,
in the ancient time, where crownlng,
burnings, human sacrifices and all kinds
of bloody heather rites were performed.
Bones, too, had been found there, and
arrow heads, and ornaments of gold
and glass. had vague awe of the
Tors in those boyish days, and would
not have gone near them after dark for
the heaviest bribe.
have said that we were born in the
same village. He was the son of a
small farmer, named William Price,
and the eldest of family of seven; l
was the only son of Ephraim Hardy, the
| Chadleigh blacksmith-a well-known
man in those parts, whose memory is
not forgotten TO this day. just so
far as farmer is supposed to be big
ger man than blacksmith, Mats father
might be said to have better standing
than mine; but William Price, with his
small holding and his seven boys, was,
in fact, as poor as many day laborer;
whilst the blacksmith, well-to-do, bust
| ling, popular, and open-handed, was a
person of some Importance in tue place.
| All this, however, had nothing TO do
with Mat and myself. 1t never occur
red to either of us that his jacket was
out at the elbows. or that our mutual
funds came altogether ont of my pocket.
| Ii was enough for us that we sat on the
same school bench, conned our tasks
| from the same primer, fought each 9th
| er's battles. screened each others faults,
fshed, nutted, played truant, robbed
orchards and birds nests together, and
spent every half hour, authorized or
stolen, in each others society. 1t was
happy time; but it could not go on
! forever. Ny father, being prosperous,
resolved TO put me forward in the world.
/ must know more, and do better, than
himself. The forge was not good
enough, the little world of Chadleigh
not wide enough for me. Thus
il happened that / was still swinging
the satchel when Mat was whis-
Ting at the plough, and that at last,
when my future course was shaped out,
we were separated, as it then seemed 10
us. for life. For, blacksmith's son rs |
was, furnace and forge, in some form or
other, pleased me best, and l chose TO
he working engineer. So my father
by and by apprenticed me TO Birming-
ham iron-maSter; and, having hidden
farewell to Nat and Chadleigh, and the
rrav old Tors in the shadow of which
! had spent all the days of my life, l
turned my face northward, and went
over into 1.-THE Black country
am not going to dwell on this part
of my story. How / worked out the
time Of my apprenticeship; how, when
had served my full time and become 4
skilled workman, / took Mat from the
plough and brought him over TO the
Black Country, sharing with him lodg-
ing, wages, experience,-all, in short,
that had TO give; how he, naturally
Quick TO learn and brimful of quiet en-
ergy, worked his way up step at
time, aud came out by and by TO be a
first hand" in his own department;
how, during all these years of change,
and trial, and effort, the old boyish al
fection never wavered or weakened, but
went on, growing with our growth and
strengthening with our strength-are
fact. which need do no more than out
line in this place.
About this time-it will be remem-
bered that l speak of the days when
Mat and ! were ON the bright side of
thirty-it happened that our firm con-
tracted to supply six frst-class locomo-
| tiyes TO run on the new line, then In
process Of construction, between Turin
and Genoa. 1t was the first Italian or
der we had taken. We had had dealings
with France, Holland, Belgium, Ger
many; but never with Italy. The con-
nection, therefore, was new and valua-
lble.-all the more valuable because our
Transalpine neighbors had but lately
begun to lay down the iron roads, and
would be safe too need more of our good
English work as they went on. So the
Birmingham firm set themselves to the
contract with will, heightened our
working hours, increased our wages,
took on fresh hands, and determined, if
energy and promptitude could do it, to
place themselves at the head of the
Italian labor-market and stay there.
They deserved and achieved success.
The six locomotives were not only
turned ont to time, but were shipped,
despatched, and delivered with a prompt
itude that fairly amazed our Piedmont
ese consignee. ! was not little proud,
you may be sure, when I found myself
appointed to superihted the transport
Of the engines. Being allowed couple
of assistants, / contrived that Mat
should be one of them; and thus We en-
joyed together the first great holiday of
our lives.
1t was a wonderful change for two
Birmingham operatives fresh from the
Black Country. The fairy city, with its
crescent background of Alps; the port
crowded with strange shipping; the
marvellous blue sky and bluer sea; the
painted houses on the quays; the quaint
cathedral. faced with black and white
marble; the street of jewellers, like an
Arabian Nights bazaar; the street of
palaces, with its Moorish court-yards,
It's fountains and orange-trees: the wo-
men yeiled like brides; the galley-slaves
chained two and two; the procession of
nriests and friars: the everlasting clang-