Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-04-20

Smiles is an indefatigable walker, an,
When the weather is favorable, takes ever
advantage of it. Spare and active of iit
ure, he is still able to take n quantity {
exercise remarkable for II man of hi
years. AS night approaches however, h
, Is careful not to bring about sleepless
ness by exciting occupation. Ncithe
Whist nor pIquet engages his afternoon
or ms evenings, for Mr. Smiles is pei
haps, the solitary wcll-known man il
London who does not belong to one club
In his own opinion he does best by linin,
quietly and reading novels aftcrward. N
man il more good-naturcd than Mr.
Smiles, and less given to deliver sly bacl
handlers at literary folks but his opei
profession that the reading of new novel
Gains and soothes him for slumber woul,
If his candor were not so well known, 50
vor of satire. Since his illness he is oblig
cd, above all things, to
Tonc Himself Down,
to reduce the activity of his brain, to Sc
cure nights rest And hc has found
the regular circulating library novel the
most efiicacious for this purpose. The
portraits of Stephenson, of Darwin and
Mills, OF engineers and philosophers,
scattered over the house in Pembroke
Gardens, are rather marks OF work done
and books already read than indications
of present life. So are the portrait of
Victor Hugo above the library fireplace,
and the editions of Scott and Bnlzac on
the bookshclves. For the two latter au.
thors Mr.. Smiles entcrtains perfect ad.
mlration. Although of Scottish birth he
appears to prefer the Frenchman. whose
power OF analysis appeals to his phioso-
yhic instincts but he knows them both
almost by rotc, and is, to supply his ap-
petite for novels, obliged to fall back up
ON the more soothing productions of the
contemporary mind. As change from
the quiet routine Of home life, now that
that they have seen their children settled
III the world, Mr.. and Mrs. Smiles con-
tinue tho habit, formed first in the days
oi work and then ill those of sickness. of
travelling abroad. A continental trip
twice year makes Il pleasant break from
lie at kensington, and, as they are indie
iatiSable Ill seeking for new ground
gives cheerful variety to well-earned
rest.
In the method of his biographies Mr..
Smiles pursued at all times, and especial.
ly during his later years of leisure. the
course he began in "The Life of George
Stephenson, the first work which made
him known to the reading public If he
had not known the man himself intimate
~, he not only collected material from
his friends and descendants, but visited
the localities i'll which his life was passed.
This
Locaiizing of His Wan
gives particular interest and freshness to
T. Smiles's biographical work. In part
the habit was engendered out of the ieis-
urely and recreatiye manner in which he
wrote his books while he was Il railway
secretary. 1t was in the intervals of busi-
ness and the writing of leading articles
that he accumulated the material that he
afterward employed at other intervals of
such excellent advantage. "It is very
hard not to write,' Mr.. Smiles will OBJ
serve, 'when your mind is charged with
facts and IDEAS And the facts and IDEAS
were accumulated by what, to some per-
sons, would appear a laborious process.
To Mr.. Smiles 1t was amusing. His rail
way post enabled him to give up the
editorship of the Leeds Times, and. hay-
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
III the routino 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 amalgamation of the com
panies forming the Northeastern was in
progress, it was found necessary for Mr..
Smiles to 60 TO Newcastle to examine the
books of the then cxtant Leeds Northern
company. At odd times he inquired of
various persons concerning the early life
,f George Stephenson and during
residence of several months, contrived to
pick up facts and identify localities. On
ong summer evenings and Sunday after
loons he went TO Wylam, whore Stephen
son was born, found old people who re-
collected him as 'grit dare-legCed lad
lie" and afterward visited Dewly Burn,
Newburn, Williugton Quay, Killingworth
md all the places at which "Geordie" had
ived aud 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 Boultop and Watt" "The Hug
lenots, and the biographies of the Scot
ish naturalists already mentioned. The
OF every man were
Patiently Hunted Up,
md work was made to feel very much like
play. 'Self'Help," Mr. Smilea's most
'ucce cessful book. was, like all the rest, the
iesult Of longprevious accumulation. As
he biographies wero written from vol |
luminous notes and memoranda, 50 was
Self Help the result of numerous leo |
lures delivered ON subjects bearing on |
-he main issue. 1t is not little curious |
That this clever book should have been
Lwipe refused before the success of "The |
Life of George Stephenson" gave publish |
FRS confidence i'll 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
lime because ''no one cared ANYTHING
about the lives of engineers" Mr..
smiles, however. was of the opinion of
Sir John Sinclair as regards useful us well
rs ornamental persons. A Frenchman
was one day praising to Sir John the man
who envcnted ruilles, whercupon the
pOrtly b1ronct remarked that ''some
credit was also dine to the man who added
the shirt" This is tie keystone of the
industrial biographies which have made
their author famous, that the records of
courts and camps are Of less human inter
est than those of inventions, which have
enriched, instead Of impoverishing tho
human race. Mr.. Smiles's judgment
proved sound. for the success of his biog,
raphies was very great, and that of "Self-
Help astounding Twenty thousand
copies were sold in the first year aud it
has been translated into French, Ger
Mun SIunial AI,I1l. - :.-I-l