Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-03-23
SAMUEL SMILES.
Some Interesting Gossip About thu
Famous Author.

Some Interesting Gossip About the
Famous Author.
From the London world.l
The white-whiskered soft-voiced Scot
tish gentleman of threescore and ten,
who passes n great part of his day i'll his
compact library, must have been an en-
ergetic youth when, after his boyhood Mt
Haddington, he went to the University of
Edinburgh to study surgery. Descended
from q stout old Cameronian, who had
been ridden over by Charles III. 8 life
guards at the battle of Portland, the lad
had many of the sturdy qualities of his
ancestor, by no means degenerated in the
town wherein John Knox and Thomas
Carlyle were born. Neither at Hadding-
ton grammar school nor at the University
of Edinburgh did the author of "Self-
Help" develop those proclivities which
were accumulated by what, to some per-
sons, would appear laborious process.
To Mr.. Smiles it was amusing. His rail
way post enabled him to to give up the
editorship of the Leeds Times, and, hav-
ing once learned to make memoranda and
to write from them, the habit was too
strong to be discontinued. He met
George Stephenson at Leeds, and, recog-
nizing the fine and exceptional character
of the man, began to collect materials for
writing his biography. While engaged
in the routine of business, he found op-
portunities of going over the ground on
which much Of Stephenson's time had
been passed and his early work done.
Thus, while the am algamation of the COM
panies forming the Northeastern was i'll
progress. it was found necessary for Mr..
Smiles to go to Newcastle to examine the
books of the then extant Leeds Northern
company. AT odd times he inquired of
various persons concerning the early life
Of George Stephenson ; and, during Il
residence of several MONTHS contrived to
pick up facts and identify localities. On
long summer evenings and Sunday after
moons he went to Wylam, where Stephen
son was born, found old people who re-
collected him as "grit bure-legged lad
die; : and afterward visited Dewly Burn,
Newburn, Wellington Quay, Killingworth
and all the places at which "Gcordie' had
lived and worked. In the same manner
holiday after holiday was spent in looking
up localities for "The Lives of the En-
gineers, industrial Biography" "The
Lives of Boulton and Watt, 3" "'rhc Hug
utuOtS, ullu thC Va tIIt tDNOl-
tish naturalists already mentioned. The
surroundings of every man were
Patiently Hunted Up,
and work was made to feel very much like
play. "Self-Help," Mr.. Smiles's most
successful book, was, like all the rest,
the result of long previous accumulation.
AS the biographies were written from vol
luminous notes and memoranda, so was
"Self-Help" the result of numerous lee
lures delivered on subjects bearing on
the main issue. 1t is not little curious
that this clever book should have been
twice refused before the success Of "rho
Life of George Stephenson" gave publish.
ers confidence in the authors work. The
very life of Stephenson itself brought on
Mr. Smiles caution from the great rail
way pioneers son Robert, who told him
he feared he would lose both money and
time, because ''no one cared anything
about the lives Of engineers. Mr..
Smiles, however, was of tho opinion oi
Sir John Sinclair as regards useful M
well as ornamental persons. A French.
man was one day praising to Sir John the
man who invented rufiles, whereupon tho
worthy baronet remarked that "som,
credit was also due to the man who added
the shirt" This is the keystone of the
industrial biographies which have made
their author famouG, that the records o.
courts and camps are of less human inter
est than those Of inventions, which hav,
enriched, instead of impoverishing, the
hnman race. Mr.. Smiles's judgment
proved sound, for the success of his biog
raphles was very great, and that o
SelfHelp" astounding. Twenty thou
sand copies were sold in the first year
and it has been translated into French
German, Spanish, Dutch and Italian
into Russian, Hungarian, Roumanian
Swedish, Tamil and Japanese 1t ha,
been installed all over the world as
stock prize book for schools, and has car
ried the authors name to the
Ends OF tho Earth.
Mr.. Smiles was by no means so elate,
at his literary success as to overlook 70
an instant the interest of the railwa,
companies he served, and who thanke,
him ms handsomely for his services n!
did Sig. Menabrea and the Japanes
Prof. Nakamura for his "Self- Help
After working heartily for the amalgama
tion ofnorthern railways, which practical
ly disestablished him rs an assistant sec
ic.ary, he worked with even greater en-
ergy rs secretary of the Southeastern.
great charm about Mr.. Smiles is the Ell
tire absence of either the literary air q
Of that taint Of bumptiousness which ol
ten clings like n pestlcnce to the sell
made man. He is always quiet, perfec
ly unassuming and self-possessed, an
has quaint way of his own in answerin
questions. He has Just finished life {
James Nasmyth, the celebrated lnventC
: of the hammer, one of an artistic famil
who turned his attention to mechanics,
did Sir William Armstrong, the lawye
D and Arkwright, the barber. Mr.. Ma
myth is now five years older than NJ
Smiles and the volume about to appei
s can hardly fail to interest all who hay
ever seen or heard of the Nasmyth han
mer. The book has been leisurely pr
duction, and not written by snatches.
were Mr.. Smiles's earlier efforts, Il
which he, like all good workmen, modes
" ly pleads, as if in cxtenuation, that tn,
= were written, if thoughtfully, yet
. small installments. When asked whi'
u Of his works cost him the most labor al
9 anxiety, he answered, in his soft tone
Il with just IN echo of the Lothians
them, Bringing out the Charing Gro
o. Railway"