Citation
My book of inventions

Material Information

Title:
My book of inventions
Series Title:
Children's favourite series
Creator:
Arnold, Edward, 1857-1942 ( Publisher )
Gresham Press ( Printer )
Unwin Brothers (Firm) ( Printer )
Place of Publication:
London
Publisher:
Edward Arnold
Manufacturer:
Gresham Press ; Unwin Brothers
Publication Date:
Language:
English
Physical Description:
190, [1] p. : ill. ; 20 cm.

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Inventors -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Inventions -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Physical sciences -- Juvenile literature ( lcsh )
Children's stories ( lcsh )
Children's poetry ( lcsh )
Children's stories -- 1896 ( lcsh )
Children's poetry -- 1896 ( lcsh )
Publishers' advertisements -- 1896 ( rbgenr )
Prize books (Provenance) -- 1896 ( rbprov )
Bldn -- 1896
Genre:
Children's stories
Children's poetry
Publishers' advertisements ( rbgenr )
Prize books (Provenance) ( rbprov )
Spatial Coverage:
England -- London
England -- Chilworth
Target Audience:
juvenile ( marctarget )

Notes

General Note:
Date of publication from prize inscription.
General Note:
Publisher's advertisements precede text.

Record Information

Source Institution:
University of Florida
Holding Location:
University of Florida
Rights Management:
This item is presumed to be in the public domain. The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries respect the intellectual property rights of others and do not claim any copyright interest in this item. Users of this work have responsibility for determining copyright status prior to reusing, publishing or reproducing this item for purposes other than what is allowed by fair use or other copyright exemptions. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions may require permission of the copyright holder. The Smathers Libraries would like to learn more about this item and invite individuals or organizations to contact The Department of Special and Area Studies Collections (special@uflib.ufl.edu) with any additional information they can provide.
Resource Identifier:
026886242 ( ALEPH )
ALH5170 ( NOTIS )
233022969 ( OCLC )

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Full Text
ree
s se poems









Head Master - Mr. Wm. LAZENBYy.

Awarded to OR Rott fac kKidon

For Regular Attendance and



eX ee ae



general Good Conduct during
the year 189©

CHRISTMAS,
189 &

University
of
Florida













G7 He
\

The Chiloren’s Favourite Series.

A charming Series of Juvenile Books, each plentifully Mlustrated, and written
in simple language to please young readers, Handsomely bound, and designed
to form an attractive and entertaining series of gift-books for presents and prizes.

The utmost care has been taken to maintain a thoroughly healthy tone
throughout the Series, combined with entertaining and interesting reading.

MY BOOK OF HEROISM.

Instances of daring and self-sacrifice.

MY BOOK OF INVENTIONS.

Some of the most famous romances of industry.

MY BOOK OF PERILS.

Hairbreadth Escapes and Adventure Stories.

MY BOOK OF WONDERS.

Some of the most marvellous things in the world.

MY BOOK OF THE SEA.

A budget of sea stories for the children of Britannia.

MY BOOK OF ADVENTURES.

A collection of exploits and adventures in all parts of the world.

MY BOOK OF TRAVEL STORIES.

Some of the most remarkable travels and explorations by great discoverers.

MY BOOK OF FAIRY TALES.

Old favourite stories which are never obsolete. Thirty original Illustrations.

MY BOOK OF BIBLE STORIES.

Stories from the Bible narrative, told in simple yet dignified language.

MY BOOK OF HISTORY TALES.

Well-known exploits from English history, attractive to children.

. DEEDS OF GOLD.

A book of heroic and patriotic deeds, tending to inspire a love of courage,
bravery and devotion. ;

MY BOOK OF FABLES.

Chosen chiefly from the famous old Fables of Asop and others dear to children
of all generations.

MY STORY BOOKS OF ANIMALS.

About .animals, the familiar pets of the house and the beasts of the forest.

RHYMES FOR YOU AND ME.

Short verses and rhymes, which everybody loves, and which are the first to be
learned and 'the last to be forgotten by children.

Each Volume contains nearly 200 pages Imperial 16mo., and about
2 30 Illustrations.
PRICE Two SHILLINGS; GILT EDGES, 2s. 6d.

Lonpon : EDWARD ARNOLD, 37, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND,























JAMES WATT IN HIS WORKSHOP.





THE CHILDREN’S FAVOURITE SERIES.



MY BOOK

OF

INVENTIONS



LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
37, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C.

[All rights reserved.]





ae

on





CONTENTS.

male gates

PAGE
GIANT STEAM ane Me oe as eee)
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING ae os cae 26
THE IRON HORSE ... te ae eee Pee oll
THE NIGHT EXPRESS ce Bars ce sus 81
THE RACE TO EDINBURGH ... ae BS FSO
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE ... ee Bs Ne 91
SNOWED UP as ae ae ea oe OL
GASB oe a oe as ae ee 106
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ? ae Bee oe aoa. Jlllyy/
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ... ae Sa See 124
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH ... en pl 32,
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ae oe oe 149
THE TELEPHONE ... al So Sap Rilo
THE PHONOGRAPH AG oes uae sae 157
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS ... oes ... 166

THE SEWING MACHINE ... a0 Bae ie 181







MY BOOK OF INVENTIONS.

+4

GIANT STEAM.

We pk HE fairy tales of the olden times contain
ih) many wonderful stories about giants who,
(ek) by their enormous strength, were said to
(sy perform great deeds beyond the power of
a ordinary men. Though the people of those

days never met the monsters of whom they
read, many of them thought that the stories were
true.

We still enjoy these fanciful stories, and in our
younger days we are almost willing to believe
them. Yet there are tales of the present day more
wonderful than any fairy tales of long ago, and best

of all they are true.

We can say, with truth, there are giants in these
9





10 GIANT STEAM.

days—giants far more powerful than those we read
about in story books. Some of these giants have
been tamed and made to work. They have become
our servants, and under the guidance of man they
do most of.the world’s work.

Two of these giants are found in all parts of the
world, though white men -have the most use of
them and have turned their great strength to the
best account. They are the cheapest servants in
the world, for they require no wages. They eat no
food, they need no clothes, they never sleep, nor
do they stop to rest. However hard they work
they are never tired, but go on day and night,
winter and summer, all the year round.

They are able to carry or move great weights
from place to place. They grind corn, weave cloth,
print books, saw wood, work pumps, and drive
every kind of machine. All they require is to be
provided with the proper tools and a man to guide
them. Sometimes, however, they seem to lose
their tempers, and then they quarrel and fight.
They are not able to hurt each other, but they
do great harm to any one who happens to be in
their way. They put forth all their power, and for
a time they are the masters and not the servants.
They often sweep all before them—wmen, and





A WATER WHEEL.



12 GIANT STEAM.

animals, and buildings, and ships are then de-
stroyed.

Can you tell me the names of these giants?
You know them well. You have often seen them
at work. They are called Wind and Water.
These are two of the most useful giants in the
world.

We have another giant so wonderful, that long
ago men regarded him as a god and worshipped
him. We have tamed him, and discovered that
though he is a bad master, he makes a very good
servant. We have always to keep him in prison,
as we dare not give him any freedom.

Sometimes he breaks loose and does terrible
mischief. He has been known to devour thousands
of trees and hundreds of houses. Nay, he has
devoured great forests and large towns in a few
days. He also kills people and utterly destroys
their property.

Unlike the other two giants, this one cannot
live without food. He eats almost everything.
He will feed on bread, and butter, and bacon, but
he would rather have paper, wood, or coal. He
also drinks oil and spirits, but he does not like
water.

He is the best cook in the world. He can roast



GIANT STEAM. 13

beef, boil mutton, fry ham, and bake bread. He
takes careful watching, for if he is left too long by
himself he devours the articles he has to cook.
His power over iron, lead, gold, and silver is so
great that he can make them run like water.







A FIREMAN.

He treats cups and saucers and plates and
bricks in quite another way. He makes them
hard and firm and strong. He is a friend to man
as well as a servant, for in winter time, when the



14 GIANT STEAM.

wind blows cold and the ground is covered with
snow, he makes our houses warm and comfortable.
His name is Fire.

There is another giant more wonderful still. He
can do better work than any of the three about
which we have been reading. He does not exist
in nature as they do. He has to be made. Two
of the other giants work together to produce him
when required. His name is Steam. He is made
by Fire and Water. .

Steam is water made into vapour. It is like air,
very thin, very elastic, and invisible. You cannot
see it. You may think you can because people
often say, ‘The steam is coming out of the spout
of the kettle, or out of the chimney of an engine.”
But the white cloud that can be seen coming from
boiling water is not steam, it is a cloud of fog.

Steam is made by enclosing water in a kettle, or
boiler, or other vessel, and making it boil by °
means of a fire. If the water is confined in a glass
vessel you can see it boiling, but you cannot see
any steam, yet it is there all the time.

Look at a kettle when the water is boiling
briskly. Go close to it and notice the spout from
which the steam is rushing. Close to the nose for
half an inch or more you cannot see anything.













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A SAILING VESSEL.



16 GIANT STEAM.

That is steam. As soon as the cool air has turned
it into steam-fog or vapour you can see it. Heat
changes water into steam and cold turns steam
back again into water.

Steam is very powerful. Itis one of the greatest
forces in the world. It works the engines which
draw trains, moves ships, turns machinery, and
does more work than all the men and all the horses
in the world. We see steam at work everywhere.
The world could not at present do without it,
though men have found out other forces which
are beginning to take its place. Yet at present
steam is more used than any other kind of power.

What is it that makes steam so powerful? It
is this. Steam is always trying to spread itself, to
expand. A small quantity of water makes a good
deal of steam, and if the water is kept boiling the
steam must be let out or the boiler will-burst.

In the boiler of a steam engine the steam is shut
up very tightly, because the tighter it is shut up
the more powerful it is and the more it tries to
expand. ‘T'o use this power in working an engine
some of the steam is allowed to pass out of the
boiler into a strong hollow case, like a barrel or a
large pipe, called a cylinder. There it is shut up
very tightly, and in trying to expand it forces a



GIANT STEAM. 17

rod to move backward and forward in a hole at one

end of the cylinder.

SS}

a

NY
wh





HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE CYLINDERS OF THE ‘‘CAM-
PANIA’S’? ENGINES. BY PERMISSION OF THE

“QUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY.”

This rod is kept moving as long as the steam
passes from the boiler into the cylinder. The rod

causes a large wheel to move round and round, and
a



18 GIANT STEAM.

that turns the machinery, which is thus worked by
the engine.

The man whom we have to thank more than
any other for the steam engine was born at
Greenock in Scotland in 1736. His name is
James Watt.

He was such a weak little fellow that he could
not attend school like other children. His parents
therefore taught him at home. When he was only
six years old a neighbour saw him sitting on the
floor amusing himself by drawing various figures
with coloured chalk.

‘‘ Why don’t you send that boy to school?” he
said to the boy’s father. “‘ He is wasting his time
doing nothing at home.”

‘“‘ Look what he is doing,” was the father’s reply,
‘““ before you say he is wasting his time.”

The neighbour looked at the figures the boy was
drawing, and saw, to his surprise, that James was
busy making squares, and triangles, and curves.
Then he saw that the child knew far more than
many other boys who were much older than
himself.

Not far away from his home hved an aunt with
whom James often stayed. This aunt regarded
him as an idle boy, for she wrote to his parents to

?



GIANT STEAM. - 19

say that her nephew ‘would sit for an hour at
a time taking off the lid of the tea-kettle, and
putting it on again, holding now a cup and now
a spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from
the spout, and catching and condensing the drops
of water it falls into.”

She little dreamed that her ‘idle nephew,” as
she called him, was taking his first lessons in a
science by which he would some day increase to
an enormous extent the working power of the
world, and make himself famous for ever.

James Watt’s amusements, from his earliest
boyhood, were, indeed, very different from those
of other boys. His father kept a shop for the sale
of all kinds of articles used on board ship, and
James spent a great part of his time in finding out
how the different things were made, and to what
uses they were put.

When he was fifteen years old he was regarded
by all his friends as a wonder. He seemed to
know a bit about everything, and a good deal
about some things. He had read a great many
books about minerals and plants, and had begun
to study the stars.

' He could also do all kinds of woodwork, and
make all sorts of machines. In the little room



20 GIANT STEAM.

where he worked he had cranes, pulleys, pumps,
and many other things that he had made.

At sixteen he went to work in the shop of a
mechanic in Glasgow, where he was employed in
mending spectacles, fiddles, and fishing tackle.
He only remained there for about two years. He
had then learned all his master knew, and he was
not satisfied.

At eighteen he set out for London with an old
sea captain, a friend of his father’s, who took great
interest in the clever lad. They made the journey
on horseback, and spent ten days on the road, for
no one at that time had found out how to make
engines and construct railways.

When he arrived in London, James obtained
work with an instrument maker, and soon he
became a very skilful workman. His earnings,
however, were very small, and unwilling to be an
expense to his parents, he lived in very poor lodg-
ings, and took so little food that his health broke
down. He was therefore obliged to go back to
Scotland.

After this he opened a shop in Glasgow.
Though he called himself an instrument maker
he was very glad to do any odd jobs that came
in his way. Much of his time was spent in mend-



aA

GIANT STEAM. 21

ing fiddles, flutes, and organs, though he knew
nothing about music.

One day he was asked to mend the model of an
engine. It was really a little engine which would









Uf

SG

Vi
Cy
‘ Ze, Vy Ze

JAMES WATT.



Ze
YUE
y

which it was a model. James examined it very
carefully, and it set him thinking. It was a very
poor affair, but it was the best which had, up to
that time, been invented. Such an engine could
not do better or quicker work than horses, but it
showed Watt that something of the same kind,



22, GIANT STEAM.

worked by steam, would be of great use in many
Ways.

He mended the model, and made it work all
right. Then he began to think out some way of
making a proper steam engine, which should be
able to do more and better work than any engine
yet invented.

Days, weeks, months, even years, passed away
and found James Watt still hard at work. During
this time, and when he was trying one plan after
another, he wrote to a friend, ‘‘ My whole thoughts
are bent on this machine ; I can think of nothing
else.”

He had many difficulties to overcome, and some-
times he lost heart and almost gave up in despair.
Without money he had to work with poor tools,
and when his engine was completed it leaked in
all parts. It was then that he said, “ Of all things
in life there is nothing more foolish than inventing.”

He was treading an uphill path, he could scarcely
obtain food for his family, and yet he felt that he
must go on. Once, when he was in London on
business, his brave-hearted wife wrote to him, ‘‘I
beg that you will not make yourself uneasy, though
things should not succeed to your wish. If the
engine will not do, something else will; never
despair.”



" GIANT STEAM. 23

It was a sad day for him when his wife died.
She had been “the comfort of his life.” After
that he would often stop on the threshold of his
humble home before he had courage to enter, since
she was not there to help him. She had bravely
shared his poverty, but was never to share his
wealth and fame. .

For at length success came as the result and
the reward of years and years of patient toil and -
hardship and suffering. When his steam engine
was completed men regarded it with wonder, and
soon it was everywhere in demand. He entered
into partnership with Matthew Bolton of Soho,
near Birmingham, where the new engine was
manufactured.

At first it was chiefly used to pump water out
of mines. For even Watt himself, who had more
faith in the power of steam than any other man
of his day, had no idea how great a benefit he
had conferred on the world. He died long before
the first steam engine drew a train along an iron
road, or the first steamer crossed the ocean.

He was eighty-three years of age when, in 1819,
he rested from all his labours. In one of the
public squares of Glasgow a statue has been
erected to his memory, and in Westminster Abbey



24 GIANT STEAM.

there is also a beautiful statue of the great in-
ventor. They were erected to show the world how
much the people of this country esteemed the Man
who Improved the Steam Engine.

In the preface to “The Monastery,” Sir Walter
Scott says :—

“Tt was only once my fortune to meet Watt,
when there were assembled about half a score of
our northern lights [Commissioners of Northern
Lighthouses]. Amidst this company stood Mr.
Watt, the man whose genius discovered the
means of multiplying our national resources to a
degree, perhaps, even beyond his own stupendous
powers of calculation and combination; bringing
the treasures of the abyss to the summit of the
earth—giving to the feeble arm of man _ the
momentum of an Afrite—commanding manufac-
tures to arise—affording means of dispensing
with that time and tide which wait for no man
—and of sailing without that wind which defied
the commands and threats of Xerxes himself,

‘This potent commander of the elements—this
abridger of time and space—this magician, whose
cloudy machinery has produced a change in the
world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they
are, are perhaps only beginning to be felt—was not



GIANT STEAM. 25

only the most profound man of science, the most
successful combiner of powers, and calculator of
numbers, as adapted to practical purposes—was
not only one of the most generally well informed,
but one of the best and kindest of human beings.

‘““There he stood, surrounded by the little band
of northern literati. Methinks I yet see and hear
what I shall never see or hear again. In his
eighty-first year, the alert, kind, benevolent old
man had his attention at every one’s question, his
information at every one’s command. His talents
and fancy overflowed on every subject. One
gentleman was a deep philologist—he talked with
him on the origin of the alphabet, as if he had been
coeval with Cadmus ; another, a celebrated critic—
you would have said that the old man had studied
political economy and belles-lettres all his life ; of
science it is unnecessary to speak—it was his own
distinguished walk.”



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

BOUT five hundred years ago an old
| gentleman, named Lawrence Coster,
lived in the ancient town of Haarlem in
Holland. It is a quaint, humdrum old



~ place, with odd-looking houses, irregular

streets, and numerous canals. The upper

stories of the houses project so far over the lower

ones, that two persons in opposite houses can
easily enjoy a conversation with each other.

One house, which appears older than its neigh-
bours, is regarded with great interest, both by the
inhabitants and by strangers who happen to visit
the town. This house is said to have been the
dwelling of Lawrence Coster, and the good people
of Haarlem are proud to think that the man who
bore that name once lived in their city.

Coster had charge of the cathedral, but his
duties were so light that he hada good deal of |

leisure. He therefore spent his spare time in
26





WOODS NEAR HAARLEM.



28 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

reading. Now in those days there were no printed
books, for the art of printing had not been in-
vented. The only books which existed were those
written on parchment and vellum, chiefly by
monks, and they were kept for safety in monas-
teries and churches.

Coster had no books of his own, for he was not
rich enough to buy one, but there were some
precious volumes in the church under his care.
To this little library he became so devoted that he
could scarcely tear himself away from the manu-
script volumes, and in the stillness of the sacred
building he read them again and again, until he
almost knew their contents by heart.

Just outside the city walls there are to this day
some famous woods, which for hundreds of years
have been the favourite resort of the citizens of
Haarlem. Here, in the short cloak and sugar-loaf
hat of the period, Coster loved to walk and ponder
over the subjects he had read.

Sometimes he sat on the trunk of a tree, and
with his knife cut out the forms of the letters of
the alphabet in the smooth beech bark. Some of
these letters he put in his pocket and carried home
as playthings for his little grandchildren. In this
way they first learned the names of the letters.



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 29

The old man became very expert in cutting out
letters, and he took great pleasure in fashioning
them to the best of his ability. One day he was
more than usually successful. To preserve these
letters he wrapped them up in a bit of old parch-
ment that he had in his pocket.

When he had given the letters to the child the
bit of parchment was thrown aside, and for a time
forgotten. At length one of the children picked ©
it up, and, looking at it, said, ‘‘ Look, grandfather !
See what the letters have done!”

Coster looked at the parchment with interested
eyes, for there on its surface was an imprint of the
letters. When he cut them the bark had been
moist with sap, and this had served as ink and
caused the letters to mark an impression on the
parchment.

The old man was sharp enough to see that the
form which had stamped one letter might be used
to stamp many letters, and that by placing them
in order words and sentences could be formed.
This he saw could be done much quicker than
writing by hand, and therefore at a much less cost.

He at once set to work and cut out a number
of letters in wood: these he inked over, and then
stamped them on the parchment. What could



30 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

have been simpler than this little incident ?—and
yet it was one of the most important discoveries
ever made. Coster had really invented the art of
printing with movable types.

Every spare moment was now employed in
cutting letters in wood and metal, and stamping
them on parchment. But he was not allowed to
pursue his employment in peace. His ignorant
and superstitious neighbours regarded him as a
madman, and some of them even spoke of him as
a sorcerer, and therefore one to be avoided.
Coster saw their growing dislike to his experi-
ments, and fearing persecution, he continued his
work in secret.

One day a sturdy young German, named John
Gutenberg, was passing on foot through Haarlem,
when he heard of the strange doings of the old
Dutchman. He knew the importance of the
information he had received, for he had been
trying experiments of the same kind in his home
at Strasburg.

With a beating heart Gutenberg sought an
interview with Coster, who eagerly welcomed his
visitor, and gladly showed him the work he had
done. In rapt attention the youth watched
the old man stamp letter after letter on the parch-



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 31

ment, and looked with wonder on a book which
Coster had laboriously printed and awkwardly
stitched together.

The desire to see foreign countries had led
Gutenberg to set out on the journey which had
brought him to Haarlem, but the interview with
Coster put an end to his wanderings. ‘ From this
' day forth,” he said, ‘‘I will work on this problem,
and not rest until I have solved it.”

This is the story of the invention of printing-as
told by those who regard Coster as the inventor of
this useful art. The Germans, however, give all
the honour to their own countryman, Gutenberg,
who was a man of considerable skill, a stonecutter,
and a polisher of glass. It is impossible now to
decide between the rival claims as there is no
certain evidence on either side. When and where
Gutenberg made his first attempts in the art of
printing cannot be ascertained. The question
whether the invention took place in Holland or in
Germany has been fiercely debated for nearly four
hundred years, and a great many books have been
written on the subject.

We must, however, remember that this inven-~
tion refers to the use of movable types in printing,
for beyond doubt the Chinese practised printing



32 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

from blocks at a much earlier period. Their plan
was to engrave the designs on pieces of wood large
enough to print two pages. The block was then
inked with a brush and the paper pressed on the
design to receive the impression. This plan is
still used in the Celestial Empire.

And now to return to Gutenberg. It is said
that he stole Coster’s types and hurried back to
Strasburg, where he set about the great work of
perfecting the art of printing. But he also had
to carry out his plans with the utmost secrecy.
In that age of superstition and ignorance the
people regarded every new thing as the result of
evil magic, and to say that a man had dealings
with the evil one caused him to be persecuted and
to risk being put to death.

While Gutenberg was devising plans to experi-
ment in secret, he thought of an old ruined monas-
tery, which stood in a lonely and deserted place a
few miles from the town. Thither he repaired, and
first fitted up a room as a jeweller’s shop, in which
he kept two young men at work polishing precious
stones and repairing trinkets.

Then he found an obscure cell in a corner of
the old building, with a great oaken door, which
had heavy bolts. ‘To this secret place he conveyed



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 33

his tools, and then shutting himself up he began
to work. Here he made metal types and a rude
printing press. Then he began to print books.

a
A

ae
il) i i









GUTENBERG AND FAUST.

Absorbed in his work, he remained so much away

from his assistants in the jeweller’s shop, that they
3



34 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

became suspicious of his movements. They, there-
fore, went to the magistrates of Strasburg, and told
all about his long absences and the mystery that
surrounded him. His work was dragged forth to
the light of the world, and he was obliged to flee
from Strasburg to save his life.

Proceeding to his native city, Mainz, on the
Rhine, Gutenberg set up his press and once more
resumed printing. As he had not enough money
to carry on the work he formed a partnership with
a rich silversmith, named John Faust or Fust, who
took an oath of secrecy, and supplied him with
money, on condition that after a certain time it
should be repaid.

Then Gutenberg, assisted by Schoeffer, Faust’s
son-in-law, set to work in earnest, and soon suc-
ceeded in producing several works of a religious
character. The very success of these first attempts
brought misfortune on Gutenberg. The priests had
no love for the new art, by which people could read
for themselves, and the scribes or writers of books
were afraid that they would be deprived of their
livelihood.

The opposition of these two bodies was so great
that Gutenberg was at length driven penniless out
of the city. Itis said that Faust turned their anger



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 35

chiefly against his partner and managed to make
friends with them himself. Anxious to get rid of
Gutenberg, Faust brought an action against him
for the repayment of the money he had advanced. |
As Gutenberg could not pay back the loan, he had









PRINTING PRESS ON GUTENBERG’S MONUMENT.

to give up everything, and Faust secured all the
tools, presses, and unfinished work, among which
was a Bible about two-thirds completed.

Faust, aided by Schoeffer, then hurriedly finished
the work, and, to disarm all suspicion, sold it as a
manuscript. Two copies of this Bible may be seen



36 | THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

in a library in Paris; there is also one in the Royal
Library at Munich, and another at Vienna. This
ereat work, the first Bible printed from movable
types, is in two large volumes, each of about two
hundred pages. It is in Latin, and printed in
black Gothic type. Many of the words are abbre-
viated, and all are packed so closely together as to
puzzle the eyes of the reader.

Gutenberg was for a time very poor and unable
to find a home, until the ruler of Nassau offered
him his protection. In that quiet town the inventor
set up his press again and was allowed to carry on
his work in peace. He printed many books, which
bear his name,.and though he did not grow rich,
he lived in comfort until his death in 1468 at
the age of sixty-nine. Many years afterwards a
statue was erected to his memory in Mainz by
the descendants of those who had driven him
forth, a beggar, from his native city.

At this time there lived in London a man named
William Caxton. He left his native country in
1441 and carried on a business in Bruges, where he
became the governor of a society of English mer-
chants in Flanders. In 1471 he gave up business
and attached himself to the household of Margaret,
Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of Edward the





FIRST PROOF.

s

CAXTON’,



38 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

: Fourth, King of England. He was engaged as
a copyist, and his time was spent in laboriously
writing out various works for his royal mistress.

Caxton saw the value of the new invention, and
having acquired a thorough knowledge of the art
of printing, he returned to England and set up a



CAXTON.

press in a building adjacent to Westminster Abbey.
Here he printed nearly one hundred books, some of
which exist to the present day.

In the preface to his first printed work, ‘The Tales
of Troy,” he says, “‘ Forasmuch as in the writing
of the same my pen is worn, my hand is weary and



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 39

not steadfast, mine eyes dimmed with overmuch
looking on the white paper, and my courage not so
prone and ready to labour as it hath been, and that
age creepeth daily and feebleth all the body, and
also because I have promised to divers gentlemen

IX /
TN | i
ro ‘lh Bi

i Ay
nh
i tf





























































THE FIRST ENGLISH PRINTER.

and to my friends to address to them as hastily as
I might the said book, therefore I have practised
and learned at my great charge and dispense to
ordain this said book in print after the manner and
form as ye may see, and is not written with pen
and ink as other books be, to the end that every



40 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

man may have them at once, for all the books of
this story here emprynted as ye see were begun in
one day and also finished in one day.”

The advertisement, put out by Caxton, ran as

follows: “If it please you, any man, spiritual or
temporal, to buy any pyes of two or three com-
memorations of Salisbury, all emprynted after the
present letter, which be well and truly correct, let
him come to Westminster in the almonry, and
he shall have them good chepe.”’
The King, and many of the chief men of the
time, gave him their patronage and friendship,
and his work was often carried on in the presence
of distinguished visitors. Caxton, the first English
printer, died in 1491, at the age of sixty-nine.

After his death, the men who had worked with
him continued to print books and looked forward to
‘the happy day when a Bible should be chained in
every church, for every Christian man to look upon.”

That day came in the reign of Henry the Eighth,
but for a long time the great cost of a printed book
placed it out of the reach of most of the people.
What would those early printers have thought if
they could have known that a time would come
when a Bible would be sold for tenpence.

The rude printing press, used by the first printers,





















im
rr

|









ee 7




l





@

i}

TT





< TH

I

_——








\ iN
[
il

il















































a = Ee =
ee ——
SSS ate



THE PRESS ON WHICH THE ‘‘ TIMES” IS PRINTED.









42, THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

was a block of wood with a flat surface, which was
brought down on the types by means of a screw,
turned by a lever. The types, placed on a flat
stone, were fixed on a table and worked with large
soft balls with pelts. The work of printing was a
slow process, and two men could only produce
about 200 copies an hour printed on one side.

A much improved press was brought into use in
1800 by the Earl of Stanhope, whose name it bears,
but it was not till 1814, when steam power was
first used for this purpose, that much greater speed
was obtained. Then came a revolution in the art
of printing as important as that which took place
when movable types were first invented.

The screw gave place to a cylinder, or huge iron
roller, under which the types were passed and the
impression made. This press, driven by steam,
printed off 1,800 sheets an hour, or 900 printed on
both sides. It was first used in the Z'vmes office
on the 28th of November, 1814.

The pressmen had declared that they would
destroy any machine worked in this way, as they
feared that loss of employment would follow its
introduction. Knowing this, the work of prepara-
tion was carried on in secret, and on the morning
that the machine was first used, the men, who were



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 43

waiting to print the sheets, were informed that the
Times was already printed by steam! They











































































































































































































































































































































































































































TILE ‘STRAND AT 3.50 a
were also told that no force or violence on their
part would prevent the work from being done in



44 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

this way, and if they were peaceable they would be
paid their wages until they obtained employment
elsewhere.

In the paper appeared the following announce-
ment :—‘‘ Our journal of this day presents to the
public the practical result of the greatest improve-
ment connected with printing since the discovery
of the art itself. The reader now holds in his
hands one of the many thousand impressions of the
Times newspaper, which were taken off last night
by a mechanical apparatus.”

Since then further improvements have been made
in the machines used for printing. ‘Two cylinders
are used to print the sheet on both sides, while
passing once through the press. The paper is no
longer laid on in single sheets, but is supplied from
a huge continuous web four miles in length, in
the same way that thread is unwound from a reel.

The speed has also been increased, and 1,000
copies a minute can be thrown off. The paper is
also cut, folded, and, if need be, wrapped ready for
post, by appliances attached to the press. There
is not a more interesting sight in London than that
which may be seen any morning in the Strand,
when between three and five o’clock the daily
papers and weekly magazines are sent off to their



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 45

various destinations by a small army of men, horses,
and vans.

“Since the birth of the penny daily paper in
1854, the progress of the press has been marked
by a succession of surprising bounds. From the
unpretending News Letter it has developed into
an omniverous monster, whose capacious jaws are
open in every part of the civilised world for any-
thing offered. To see the heterogeneous confusion
of subjects which form its food, is not only a source
of delight, but a necessity to millions of the human
race, whether they be the occupants of a royal
throne or of the squatter’s station in the far-off
Australian wilds.”

The appetite for this necessity of London alone
is so great that it requires to be satisfied with
sufficient matter, which, when printed, would cover
a park measuring nearly twenty miles in circum-
ference. Then in addition to the dailies, there are
hundreds of weeklies, one of which has more than
one million readers.

Thackeray’s picture of the press, written many
years ago, shows the position it had attained even
in his day. He says, ‘‘ There she is—the great
engine—she never sleeps. She has her ambassa-
dors in every quarter of the world—her couriers



46 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

upon every road. Her officers march along with
armies, and her envoys walk into statesmen’s cabi-
nets. They are everywhere. Yonder journal has
an agent at this minute giving bribes at Madrid,
and another inspecting the price of potatoes at
Covent Garden. Look! here comes the Foreign
Fixpress galloping. They will be able to give
news at Downing Street: funds will rise or fall,
fortunes be made or lost. Lord B. will get up,
and, holding the paper in his hands and seeing
the noble marquis in his place, will make a speech ;
and Mr. Doolan will be called away from his supper
at the back kitchen, for he is foreign sub-editor,
and sees the mail in the newspaper sheets before
he goes to his own (sheet).”’

Even a brief description of printing would not
be complete without a few words about the im-
provements made in setting type, and making it into
metal plates from which the sheets are printed. In
ordinary work the types or letters are contained in
cases or wooden trays, divided into little compart-
ments called ‘boxes.’ Hach box contains one
kind of letter of the alphabet, a figure, a stop, or
other sign used in printing.

The letters are not arranged alphabetically, but
on a plan that places those most used nearest the



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. AT

compositor’s or typesetter’s hand. The proportion
of the different letters, in what is called a fount of
type, shows how much oftener some letters are used
than others. Thus there are 13,000 of the letter e,
9,000 of t, 8,500 of a, and 8,000 each of i, n, 0, and
s, to 400 of j and x, and only 200 of z.

d



COMPOSITOR WORKING AT CASE.

The types are picked out of the boxes one at a
time, and placed in lines forming words, in a metal
instrument called a ‘stick.’ When the stick is
full the types are lifted out and laid on a tray.
They are then made up in pages according to the



48 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

size of the book, and firmly fastened with small
wedges into an iron frame called a ‘‘ chase,” and
are ready to send to the press for printing.

Books and papers, of which only a small number
is required, are usually printed from the type, but
where large numbers are wanted the type is made
into metal plates. Stereotype plates are made by
taking a mould of the type in paper maché and
then casting it in type metal. LElectrotype plates
are made by taking a mould in beeswax, and
obtaining a cast of copper by means of electricity.
These plates, both the stereotype and the electro-
type, can be used again and again, and though
more costly at first are cheaper in the end. |

Typesetting machines, that is, machines which
do not require the compositor to pick out each type
separately with his fingers and arrange it in the
stick, have been used for some time. The types
are go placed in the machines, that when the
operator presses the keys, which are something like
those of a piano, with his fingers, they fall into
their places. This is a great time saver, for it
enables a man to do six times the amount of work
that he can do by hand.

Recently a new composing machine has come
into use, which casts and sets the type by one



THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 49

movement. No separate movable types are needed,
but instead moulds and molten metal are used,
and as the operator plays on the keys the machine



COMPOSING MACHINES.

produces what are called ‘“ linotypes ’’—that is,
lines of type in one solid piece, ready to be made
up into pages.
The Linotype composing machine is now used in
4



50 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

many of the larger newspaper offices, and there is
little doubt that since the introduction of steam
and steam-driven printing machinery, no improve-
ment with such far-reaching results has taken.
place in connection with the art of printing as
this wonderful labour and time saving machine.



THE IRON HORSE.

Ny \ LD BOB, as his neighbours called him,
) was employed as fireman to the engine,
which pumped water out of a coalpit
at Wylam, a village about seven miles
from Newcastle-on-Tyne. This employment,
though toilsome, required no great skill, and
Old Bob, or Robert Stephenson, received only the
wages of a common labourer.

He lived in a cottage by the side of a road, on
which lines were laid for the coal waggons to pass
to and fro. Here, in 1781, his second son George
was born, and in this mining district, the busy
scene of grimy labour, the lad spent the first years
of his life.

There were no school boards in those days, and
little George, like his brothers and sisters, was left
entirely to himself, in the way of book-learning.
He was not, however, without useful knowledge

of another kind, and being a smart little fellow
51





52 ‘THE IRON HORSE.

he turned it to account in various ways. He
had sharp eyes and ready hands, and he made the
best use of them.

The Stephenson family had to work hard to
obtain a decent livelihood, and every member was
called upon to bear a share of the burden as soon
as he or she was able. When George was eight
years of age he was employed to herd cows, for
which he received twopence a day. The little
fellow was bareheaded and barelegged; his clothes
scarcely sufficed to cover his active body. But he
was bright, lighthearted, and always went whistling
or singing merrily to his daily task.

When he was not attending to the cows he was
chasing butterflies, making watermills with reeds
and straws, and even moulding small steam engines
of clay. Brought up among coalpits, and pumps,
and wheels, and various machines, it was not
surprising that he showed a fondness for mechanics
at an early age. Though he was always ready for
a game with the boys of the village, he spent much
of his spare time in the engine-room where his
father worked. There he stood watching with
keen and curious eyes the engine perform its various
movements. To him it was an object of wonder
and almost a thing of hfe. He studied the various



THE IRON HORSE. 53

parts, and then with clay and hemlock stalks he
built a model which astonished the villagers among
whom he lived.

When big enough to do more farm-work he
received fourpence a day, but he did not continue





































































































































































































































































































































































GEORGE STEPHENSON’S BIRTHPLACE.

long in this employment. As soon as he could he
obtained work at the pit, and when he was fifteen
he was made assistant fireman at a shilling a day.
Soon afterwards this was raised to twelve shillings



54 THE IRON HORSE.

a week. ‘‘ Now,” exclaimed the delighted youth,
‘*T am a made man for life !”’

At eighteen, George was still unable to read or
write, and feeling the need of some education he
arranged to attend school three evenings a week,
for which he was charged threepence. Though
he had to work long hours at the pit, he stuck to
his lessons, and in less than a year he was able to
read, write, and count, and his teacher boasted of
the progress he had made.

His next step was the post of brakeman at
another pit, where he received higher wages. He
also earned a little money by spending his spare
time in mending shoes. Among his customers
was Fanny Henderson, the maid at a farm near
the village, and having married her in 1802, they
set up housekeeping at Willington, near New-
castle.

George continued to mend shoes in the evening,
for he had still only a pound a week, when one day
his chimney got on fire. Assisted by the neighbours
he saved his dwelling from being burned down, but
the house was deluged with water, and his eight-day
clock was so damaged that it refused to go. George
had more than once taken his engine to pieces,
cleaned it, and put it together again, so he deter-



THE IRON HORSE. 55

mined to try his hand on the clock. He took it to
pieces, cleaned every part of it thoroughly, and
then put it together again. To his great delight
it went as well as ever, and this coming to the
knowledge of his neighbours, George was employed
by them to repair their clocks, which proved a
further addition to his income.



GEORGE MAKING MODELS.

In 1803 his only son Robert was born, and, to his
great sorrow, his wife died in the following year.
He was, however, determined to give his boy an
education, and in one of his public speeches, given
many years afterwards, he said—

‘“In the earlier period of my career, when Robert



56 THE IRON HORSE.

was a little boy, I saw how deficient I was in |
education, and I made up my mind that he should
not labour under the same defect, but that I would
put him to a good school and give him a liberal
training. I was, however, a poor man; and how
do you think I managed? I betook myself to
mending my neighbours’ clocks and watches at
nights, after my daily labour was done, and thus
I procured the means of educating my son.”

In 1810 an opportunity came to George which
still further advanced him in his calling and also in
public estimation. The engine at a pit near would
not do its work. The water flooded the pit in spite
of all that the engineers could do, and at length,
in despair, ‘“‘ Geordie,” as they called him, was
allowed to try what he could do. The owners
of the pit knew that he was a clever fellow, but
they did not think that he could succeed where the
proper engineers had failed.

George took the engine to pieces and carefully
rebuilt it. Then he set it to work, and in a few
days the mine was free from water. The young
man received a present of ten pounds, and not
only became famous as an ‘‘engine doctor,” but
he was also placed on the footing of a regular
engineer.



THE IRON HORSE. 57

George continued his studies, assisted by his
friend John Wigham, and the long winter evenings
were spent, not only in acquiring knowledge to be
obtained from books, but also in getting an insight
into chemistry and other departments of practical
science. Stephenson also learned to draw, that
he might be able to make plans and sketches of
machines.

It will be remembered that tramway lines were
laid in the road in front of the cottage in which
George was born. Along these lines, waggons of
coal were drawn by horses from the pits to the
Tyne. These were the first railroads, but there
were no locomotives or travelling engines to run
along them. To Stephenson came the idea that
a steam engine could be made to travel, and
that it might be made to grip the line without
using cogs or teeth.

The coaching system had at that time attained
the highest degree of perfection. Nearly one
hundred coaches passed through St. Albans daily.
‘‘Fast coaches,’ as they were called, made the
journey from London to Liverpool in about twenty
hours. The fare inside was four guineas for each
passenger, and besides this fees had to be given to
coachmen and guards.



58 THE IRON HORSE.

Here is a copy of an advertisement issued nearly
two hundred years ago :—

YORK, FOUR DAYS.
StraGE-Coacu.

Begins on Friday, the 12th of April, 1706.

All that are desirous to pass from London to York, or from
York to London, or any other Place on that Road; Let them
repair to the Black Swan in Holborn, in London, and to the
Black Swan in Coney Street, in York.

At both which places, they may be received in a Stage-Coach
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which performs the
whole Journey in Four Days (if God permits). And sets forth
at Five in the Morning.

And returns from York to Stamford by Huntingdon to London
in two days more. And the like Stages on their return.

Allowing each Passenger 14 lb. weight, and all above 3d. a
Pound.

(Gees JoNGMaN.
Performed by} Henry Harrison.
(Wanrmn Baynes.

This journey is now performed by train in three
and a half hours.

Rail or tram roads were first constructed to
enable horses to draw heavy loads more easily
and swiftly than they could on ordinary roads.
The Surrey Railway from Croydon to the Thames,
and the Stockton and Darlington Railway were
both meant to be used in this way. In fact

4



THE IRON HORSE. 59

horses were so expensive that the trucks on the
Surrey Railway were drawn by donkeys, at the
rate of four miles an hour.

In 1802 William Murdoch and Captain Treve-
thick built a steam carriage which was exhibited
in London, in a field near the site of Euston
Station. Here was laid down a circular railway,
on which the locomotive ran at the rate of twelve
miles an hour.

Coleridge tells a story about this locomotive
when on its road to London. Trevethick and
Captain Vivian were riding on the carriage on
the turnpike road near Plymouth. The train had
already knocked down the rails of a gentleman’s
garden when Vivian saw the toll-bar in front of
them closed. He called to Trevethick to slacken
speed, which he did just in time to save the gate.
The frightened toll-keeper instantly opened it.

‘““What have us to pay?” asked Captain Vivian,
careful as to honesty if reckless as to grammar.

‘““Na-na-na-na!’’ stammered the poor man,
trembling in every limb, with his teeth chattering
as if he had the ague.

“What have us to pay?” I ask.

‘“Na-noth-nothing to pay. My de-dear Mr.
Maniac, do drive as fast as you can. Nothing to pay.”



60 THE IRON HORSE.

Other attempts were made to construct a loco-
motive, and though they were to some extent
successful, they could not be regarded as satis-
factory. The engines were badly made, their
rate of progress was slow, and they could not be
depended on to work when wanted. It was at this
time that Stephenson built a locomotive and ran it
along the tramway at Killingworth. It was, com-
pared with a modern steam engine, but a clumsy
apparatus, but it drew eight loaded waggons,
weighing thirty tons, up a steep road at the rate
of four miles an hour.

Stephenson, having tried his hand at the business,
could not leave the matter where it was, but con-
tinuing his experiments, he improved first one part
and then another, until his engine was by far the
best locomotive that had yet been built. Those
who saw it regarded it with astonishment, and
expressed their fear that sooner or later it would
blow up. Stephenson and his son Robert, now an
intelligent young man and an engineer like his
father, were satisfied that a great future lay
before ‘‘ Puffing Billy,” as they called their latest
attempt at engine-building.

George Stephenson gave utterance to this beliet
in the following words addressed to his son :—



THE IRON HORSE. 61

“T tell you that I think you will live to see the
day, though I may not live so long, when railways
will come to supersede almost all other methods of
conveyance in this country, when mail-coaches will

















































































LT manpeeoe

nT te oe

THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.





nt













go by railway, and railways will become the great
highway for the king and all his subjects. The
time is coming when it will be cheaper for a
working man to travel on a railway than to walk
on foot. I know there are great and almost insur-



62 THE IRON HORSE.

mountable difficulties that will have to be en-
countered; but what I have said will come to
pass as sure as I live. I only wish I may live
to see the day, though that I can scarcely hope
for, as I know how slow all human progress is,
and with what difficulty I have been able to get
the locomotive adopted, notwithstanding my more
than ten years’ successful experiment at Killing-
worth.”’

In 1830 the first general railway ever built for
business purposes was constructed between Liver-
pool and Manchester, the great cotton market and
the manufacturing centre. The road, the river,
and the canal were all too slow, and trade was
hindered for want of a better and quicker means
of communication.

It is difficult at the present time to understand
the enormous opposition which the first railways
received. The bill for the construction of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway was fought in
Parliament in the most determined manner, and
opposed at every stage. One member indignantly
denounced the project as a fraud and an imposition.
He said he would not consent to see widows’
premises invaded, and ‘‘how,” he asked, ‘‘ would
any one like to have a railroad under his parlour



THE IRON HORSE. 63

window? What,” he continued, ‘‘ was to be done
with all those who had advanced money in making
and repairing turnpike roads? What with those
who may still wish to travel in their own or hired





































THE ROCKET.

- carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers ?
What was to become of coachmakers and harness-
makers, coach-masters and coachmen, inn-keepers,
horse-breeders, and horse-dealers ? Was the House



64. THE IRON HORSE.

aware of the smoke and noise, the hiss and whirl,
which locomotive engines passing at the rate of ten
or twelve miles an hour would occasion? Neither
the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the
meadows could behold them without dismay. Iron
would be raised in price 100 per cent., or, more
probably, exhausted altogether. It would be the
ereatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance
of quiet and comfort in all parts of the kingdom
that the ingenuity of man could invent!”

After three years’ agitation, at a cost of nearly
one hundred thousand pounds, the bill was carried,
and George Stephenson was set to work to build
the line. It was a great undertaking, and it will
descend to succeeding ages as a monument to the
memory of this remarkable man. Not only had
numerous bridges to be built, excavations to be
made, and tunnels cut, but Chat Moss had to be
crossed. This was a great quagmire, over which
cattle could not walk without sinking in the boggy
soil. In vain Stephenson tried to find the bottom
and fill up the Moss with waggon loads of earth.
Tt seemed as if defeat could not be avoided, when
the engineer decided on a bold plan. He would
float the railway on the Moss. He first levelled
the portion to be used to the surface of the water,



THE IRON HORSE. 65

and covered it with wattled hurdles. On these he
spread turf, and then laid a bed of sand over the
turf to the depth of two feet. This was successful,
and the railway lines were carried over the dreaded
quagmire.

The next thing to be decided was the power to
be used in drawing the trains—horses or steam—
which? Some of the directors were in favour of
horses, some proposed stationary engines to be
placed at certain distances apart to push and draw
the trains from point to point, only a few were in
favour of a locomotive. Stephenson pleaded with
them, and begged the directors to give it a trial,
and in the end they agreed to do so.

A prize of five hundred pounds was offered for
the best locomotive which fulfilled certain condi-
tions as to power and speed. Never did man work
harder than did Stephenson to satisfy these condi-
tions, and when the day of trial came his new
engine, the ‘‘ Rocket,” won the prize. It ran over
the line at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and the
directors decided that locomotives should be used
to draw the trains.

On the 15th of September, 1830, the new rail-
way was opened in the presence of thousands of

persons, who were eager to see the wonder of the
; 5



66 THE IRON HORSE.

age. Hight locomotives, drawing as many trains,
formed a procession such as the world had never
before seen, and the journey from Liverpool to
Manchester was made at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. Stephenson’s triumph was complete.
Landowners no longer opposed the railway ; they
saw its advantages, and eagerly endeavoured to
share in its benefits.

It is now more than sixty years since this great
battle was fought and won, and to-day we have
more than twenty thousand miles of railways in
the British Isles. All the chief lines start from
London as a centre and branch off in every direc-
tion, north, south, east, and west. The different
lines are named after the direction they run from
London, or the part of the country through which
they pass. Thus we have the London and North
Western, the Midland, the Great Northern, the Great
Eastern, the London and South Western, and so on.

Great improvements have been made in the
locomotives, and they are specimens of the most
skilful and perfect workmanship produced by the
hand of man. Even George Stephenson, with his
unbounded faith in the powers of the locomotive,
never dreamt of such feats as are now daily per-
formed on our great railways.



THE IRON HORSE. 67

livery day certain express trains in some parts
of their journey run more than sixty miles an hour,
and travel three or four hundred miles at the rate
of more than fifty miles an hour. The half-hour



THE FLYING SCOTSMAN.

expresses between Liverpool and: Manchester do
the journey of thirty-four miles easily in forty-five
minutes. The distance between London and
Edinburgh, four hundred miles, is covered by



68 THE IRON HORSE.

several trains and by different routes in from eight
to nine hours. Recently the distance from London
to Aberdeen, five hundred and forty miles, was run
in five hundred and thirty-eight minutes, or less than
a mile a minute. To save time there are water
troughs on certain parts of the line, and the engine
is supplied through a scoop while at full speed.

There are several trains which have become
famous for their speed. ‘Two of these are known
as the “Flying Scotsman” and the “ Flying
Dutchman.” The one runs from London by the
Great Northern to Edinburgh, and the other runs
from London by the Great Western to Exeter.
These are said to be the fastest trains in the world,
though there is little to choose at the present time
between the expresses of any two companies travel-
ling to the same place.

Some idea may be formed of the marvellous
erowth of railway traffic from the following facts.
In London and its suburbs there are over three
hundred railway stations, from which over two
thousand trains depart every twenty-four hours.
And of these over one thousand are expresses.

Nothing can be more interesting than a visit to
the works of one of our great railways, where we
may see for ourselves how a locomotive is built.



THE IRON HORSE. 69

Hiven if we did not understand the various pro-
cesses going on around us, we should be impressed
with the magnitude of the work, and the endless
variety and size and power of the tools and
machines used in the construction of a railway
engine. It is scarcely credible, but it is neverthe-
less true, that one of the magnificent locomotives,















FIRST STAGE 6 A.M. MONDAY.

which we see drawing our fastest express trains,
can be built in twenty-five hours. The pictures
given show the engine at the various stages to its
completion. It is scarcely necessary to say that
the work must be done well, and every part so
finished and fitted together that the whole works
with the greatest accuracy. It was in thorough



70 THE IRON HORSE.

and careful workmanship that George Stephenson



SECOND STAGE 1 P.M. MONDAY.

in the first instance excelled his rivals, and by which



THIRD STAGE 1 P.M. TUESDAY.

he made for himself a name that he never lost.



THE IRON HORSE. T1

Probably the part of the train that most interests
the ordinary traveller is the carriage, in which he
may have to spend several hours, while making a
journey from one town to another. In the early
days of railways the comfort of the passengers
seems to have been the last thing thought of or



FINISHED ENGINE AND WORKMEN.
never considered at all. Carriages, or rather
trucks, without roofs or windows, and some with-
out seats, were provided for those who were rash
enough to make a journey in them. A wag of the
time humorously called the seatless carriages
‘* standipedes.”’



72 THE IRON HORSE.

Then seats, roofs, and windows were added to
third-class carriages, but for a long time these
vehicles were far from comfortable, and scarcely
endurable for a long journey.

Great improvements have been made in recent
years, and now the different railway companies vie
with each other in their efforts to make travelling
on their lines as comfortable as possible. We have
only to compare an old third-class carriage with

































































OLD THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE.

one of the newest pattern to see the great difference.
The carriage itself is larger and roomier, the seats
and backs are padded, and there is an arrangement
of springs which lessens the jolting and vibration
caused by the rapid motion of the train.

On express trains there are also dining cars,
drawing-room cars, and sleeping cars for day and
night travelling. The most luxurious of all is the
Pullman car, which ig named after its inventor.



THE IRON HORSE. 73

This car is described as a ‘‘ palace on wheels,” and
certainly its thick carpets, soft cushions, and beau-
tiful furnishings leave nothing to be desired. The
free use of indiarubber, and the double shaving-
stuffed floors, make the motion easy, prevent
rattling, and deaden the sound of the wheels.

The train by which the Queen travels to Bal-
moral is said to be the safest train in the world.

Mr. Acworth, describing the railway accommoda-
tion at the disposal of the Queen and other royal
personages, in ‘‘ The Railways of England,” says,
‘““«The Queen’s train,’ 1t may be remarked, ‘‘is a
misnomer. ‘There is no such train. ‘Two saloons
there are, close-coupled, and connected by a gang-
way, that are reserved for Her Majesty’s exclusive
and personal use, which never leave Wolverton
except to carry her to or from Balmoral; but that
is all. The rest of the royal train is made up with
such saloons or other vehicles of the company’s
ordinary rolling stock as may on any particular
occasion be required. Nor are the royal saloons
themselves in any way very remarkable. One
thing to be noticed is that they are entered by a
folding carriage step, a survival, doubtless, from
the days when platforms were not yet of a uniform
and sufficient height. The floors are deeply



“74 THE IRON HORSE. _

carpeted, and the sides and roof thickly padded



NEW COMPOSITE CARRIAGE.

with quilted silk,
to deaden the noise
and vibration. of ~
the train, from _
which, as is well -
known, Her Ma-
jesty suffers. To
reduce this to a
minimum, she, by. -
her own desire, -

“travels to and.

from Scotland at:
a speed markedly
below that which.
the meanest of her
subjects can com- .

‘mand any evening

in the week for
the modest pay-
ment, of a good’
deal: less than: one —

penny per tile.

One of the saloons
is fitted as a bed-
room, the other as



THE IRON HORSE. 15

_4 sitting-room, and between the two is a lavatory,
whose basins and fittings in metal, chased and
gilt, deserve to be mentioned as real works of art.
These saloons are, it should be added, now more
than twenty years old.
“A pilot engine runs a quarter of an hour in front
of the train to make sure of a clear line. For half.
_ an hour before the train passes a signal box no
engine or vehicle is allowed on the section of. line
_under the signalman’s contrel. For half an hour ~
no train can cross that section of line, nor can
any shunting take place on the. lines adjoining it.
. And after the ‘train is ‘passed nothing is allowed
‘to follow for, a quarter of an hour. Further, on
_the lines alongside, no engines or.trains except
Passenger trains are allowed to travel between any
_ two signal- boxes, from the time the pilot is due
until the train is passed. Every station, and ~
crossing is guarded to keep trespassérs. off the line.
: All the facing points are ‘bolted, so that. the train
cannot run on the wrong ‘line; all level- crossing
gates, when there are no gatokeepers, are. locked
an hour before the train is.due; all along the line
platelayers are on the watch to keep the road clear,
and onthe’ train itself there are fitters, rae
and greasers alert for.ainy mishap.”



76 THE IRON HORSE.

An American visitor to England, on returning
home, gave high praise to our railroads. He said,
“The bridges, stations, and all parts of the road
are seemingly built for eternity.” This was a
great compliment to pay us, and we believe that it
is deserved. In no part of the world is railway
construction done as perfectly as in this country.
Our bridges and tunnels are certainly triumphs of
engineering.

In various parts of the country we have about
one hundred miles of tunnels, through mountains
and hills and under rivers and towns. ‘The longest
tunnel in Great Britain is that under the river
Severn. It is four and a half miles in length.
There are also two tunnels under the Thames and
one under the Mersey. The Stand Edge tunnel,
near Huddersfield, is a little over three miles in
length, and there are many others from one to two
niles. Nor must we forget the Underground Rail-
way, by means of which many parts of London
may be reached by train without passing through
the crowded streets of the city. The longest
tunnels in the world pass under the Alps. The
Mont Cenis tunnel is over seven miles in length,
and the St. Gothard is nearly ten miles.

Bridges and viaducts over rivers and valleys are



THE IRON HORSE. 77

numerous, and some of them are of considerable
size. The most famous in Great Britain are the
Tay Bridge, the longest, over two miles in length ;
the Forth Bridge, about a mile and a half in
length; and the Britannia Tubular Bridge, over
Menai Strait, about a quarter of a mile in length.
These bridges are built on different plans to suit
the requirements of their separate positions. The
Newcastle High Level Bridge, which crosses the
‘Tyne, has been called the “king of railway struc-
tures,” on account of the unusual difficulties which
had to be faced.

There are also mountain railways both at home
and abroad, by which travellers are able to ascend
to great heights without the labour of climbing.
One of these railways runs up Snowdon, another
ascends Mount Vesuvius, and there are several
among the Alps. Some of these railways are
worked by stationary engines, others have loco-
motives with a central toothed wheel which runs
on racked rails—that is, rails with teeth.

The highest points reached by railways are in
America. One line ascends Pike’s Peak in
Colorado, North America, to a height of 14,000
feet. The highest point reached by the locomotive
is on the wonderful railway in Peru, in South



78 THE IRON HORSE.

America, where heavy trains are drawn to a height
of 15,700 feet. ‘‘Seen from a distance,” writes a
traveller, ‘‘the train of cars appears like a great
serpent gliding along the face of the rocks. The
curves are so sharp that very frequently the train
is travelling on three or four of them at once.”

When building the line the labourers had to
face immense difficulties. In many places the
rocks were so steep as to render it necessary to
lower the workmen by ropes from benches or
shelves above in order that they might cut out
standing places from which to commence work.
In one place the engineers were conveyed across a
valley on wire ropes suspended some hundred feet
in the air, between two cliffs. In fifteen miles
there are twenty-two tunnels, and as the tunnel-
making went on every step was impeded by snow
water which found its way through the rocks from
above and often burst through seams and drove
the men from their work. The deadly nature of
the occupation may be understood from the fact
that over ten thousand men died during the
building of this line.

After all, though we do not possess the highest
railway in the world, we have at any rate the
steepest. This cliff railway ascends one thousand



THE IRON HORSE. 79

feet, and the gradient, or rise, is 1 in 13 through-
out. The rails are bolted into the solid rock. It
is between two villages of North Devon on the
Bristol Channel—Lynmouth, close to the sea, and
Lynton on the cliff above.





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A MOUNTAIN RAILWAY.

The most curious railway in the world is pro-
bably one in California, which is laid on tree tops.
Where the road crosses a deep ravine the trees are
sawn off on a level with the surrounding hills, and
the timbers and ties laid on the stumps. In the



80 THE IRON HORSE.

centre of the ravine two huge redwood trees, side
by side, form a substantial support. These giants
have been lopped off seventy-five feet above the
bed of the creek. This natural bridge is con-
sidered one of the wonders of the Golden State,
and for safety and security leaves nothing to be
desired.

In New York City there are overhead railways
which run along the main streets supported on
pillars, on a level with the first story windows of
the houses.



THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

p On, ITH three great snorts of strength,
Stretching my mighty length,
Like some long dragon stirring in his
sleep,
Out from the glare of gas
Into the night I pass
And plunge alone into the silence deep.





Little I know or care
What be the load I bear,
Why thus compell’d, I seek not to divine ;
At man’s command I stir,
I, his stern messenger !—
Does he his duty well as I do mine ?-

Straight on my silent road,
Flank’d by no man’s abode,

No foe I parley with, no friend I greet ;
On like a bolt I fly
Under the starry sky,

Scorning the current of the sluggish street.
6 si



82 THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

Onward from South to North,
Onward from Thames to Forth,
On—like a comet—on, unceasingly
Faster and faster yet
On—where far boughs of jet
Stretch their wild woof against the pearly sky.

Faster and faster still—
Dive I through rock and hill, ;
Starting the echoes with my shrill alarms ;
Swiftly I curve and bend ;
While, like an eager friend,
The distance runs to clasp me in its arms.

Ne’er from my path I swerve
Rattling around a curve -

Not vainly trusting to my trusty bars
On through the hollow night,
While, or to left or right,

A city glistens like a clump of stars.

On through the night I steer ;
Never a sound I hear
Save the strong beating of my steady stroke—
Save when the circling owl,
Hoots, or the screaming fowl,
Rise from the marshes like a sudden smoke.



THE NIGHT EXPRESS. 83

Now o’er a gulf I go:
Dark is the depth below,
Smites the slant beam the shoulder of the height—
Now through a lane of trees—
Past sleeping villages,
Their white walls whiter in the silver light.

Be the night foul or fair,
Little I reck or care,
Bandy with storms, and with tempests jest ;
Little I care or know,
What winds may rage or blow,
But charge the whirlwind with a dauntless breast.

Now—through the level plain,
While, like a mighty mane,
Stretches my endless breath in cloudy miles ;
Now—o’er a dull lagoon,
While the broad beaméd moon,
Lights up its sadness into sickly smiles.

O, ’tis a race sublime !
I, neck and neck with Time—
I, with my thews of iron and heart of fire—
Run without pause for breath,
While all the earth beneath
Shakes with the shocks of my tremendous ire!



84 “THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

On—till the race be won,
On—till the coming sun
Blinds moon and stars with his excessive light,
On—till the earth be green,
And the first lark be seen,
Shaking away with songs the dews of night.

Sudden my speed I slack—
Sudden all force I lack—

Without a struggle yield I up my breath ;
Numb’d are my thews of steel,
Wearily rolls each wheel,

My heart cools slowly to the sleep of death.

Why for so brief a length
Dower’d with such mighty strength ?
Man is my god—I seek not to divine ;
At his command I stir,
I, his stern messenger !—
Does he his duty well as I do mine ?
Cosmo Monkhouse.

(By permission of the Author.)



THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

a HE Times has received in its day many

L) letters on the subject of railways, but I
can venture to assert that it has never
before this received one from a corre-
spondent who dates his letter ‘‘ Edinburgh,
5.52 p.m.,” and can produce witnesses to
prove that he was seen 400 miles off no longer ago
than ten o’clock that morning.

To say that the run from London has been done
with ease in the advertised time would be to
understate the matter. In fact, it has been done
in a quarter of an hour less. We were seven
minutes too soon at Carlisle, and spent the time
in strolling about the platform, but this did not
prevent us from being again eight minutes too
soon at Hdinburgh.

I need not say that we left Huston punctually—
trains always do that at Euston. The engine was

surrounded by an admiring crowd, who almost
85

a

SSN

e



a

we
m



86 THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

raised a cheer as we steamed out, not that at start-
ing there was much worth cheering. Our engine,
a small single-wheeled one, could not get away
over fast up the steep incline over the greasy rails
to Camden, and for the first five miles and a half
we took 103 minutes. This would hardly do for a
train that had got to run at the rate of 53 miles
an hour to Crewe..

We reached Tring (312 miles) in 40 minutes ;
better, no doubt, but with only 54 minutes
available in which to cover 51 miles to Rugby.
But Tring is at the top of the climb up the
Chilterns, and from Tring we began to hurry a
little ; 15 minutes took us over the next 13 miles
to Bletchley, and by the time we were 20 miles
from Rugby we had got 25 minutes in hand in
which to cover the distance.

As we approached Rugby station, two minutes
in front of time, those who were in the secret were
in a pleasing state of excitement, for was it not
written in the working circular issued to the staff,
‘Stop for loco. purposes only”? But it was under-
stood that this stop would not be made without
necessity, and we were anxious to know if we
really were in for the longest run ever made, or
whether we were to halt after a beggarly 80 odd



THE RACK TO EDINBURGH. 87

miles, when down went the brakes, and down went
our hearts with them, but it was a false alarm.

We were only slackening down through the
platform points, and we sailed through the station
at some 15 or 20 miles an hour, while the drivers
of all the Rugby engines looked on approvingly.
As the hands pointed to noon we whizzed beneath
the clock on Tamworth platform, 110 miles from
Euston.

A few minutes later, at Colwich, we reckoned
that we had covered just 95 miles in the last 100
minutes. Passing Stafford we could pity the fate
of the luckless inhabitants of Birmingham, who,
through this last acceleration, had lost their con-
nection with the 10 o’clock, and were condemned
to travel by a slower train that took seven hours
over a mere 300 miles. They could console them-
selves by thinking that the Manchester passengers
are in the same boat, as they take 5} hours, and
the distance is only 220 miles.

A few minutes more and our feat had been
safely accomplished, as we ran into Crewe two
minutes before one, and the beautiful little
‘“Marmion’’ uncoupled and steamed off, to be
replaced by a larger and heavier engine, better
fitted for the heavier gradients between Wigan



88 THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

and Carlisle. On the platform was the locomotive
superintendent of the company, looking not a little
satisfied at the performance, but in reply to con-
gratulations he only expressed his readiness to
run to Manchester without a stop next week. if
required.

From Crewe to Preston is 51 miles, and we had
got 60 minutes available in which to cover it, but
we had got a new driver, and he evidently thought
he had a right to take part in the race. As soon
as we had got into our stride he gave us a mile in
54 seconds. Not satisfied with this, a minute or
two later he brought the time down to 482 seconds.
This, which equals 74 miles an hour, is the fastest
I have ever timed a train, but the carriage was as
steady as a rock all the time. Indeed, this was the
case every mile of the road on the North-Western.

On the Caledonian the motion was not quite so
smooth, and we had one or two slight jerks, but I
have often been far worse shaken at 20 miles an
hour on London suburban railways. We left
Preston, after an interval of 24 minutes, at 2.18.
Remembering Shap, with its four miles of 1 in 75,
more than one experienced passenger refused to
believe that we should cover the 90 miles to
Carlisle in 105 minutes.



THE RACE TO EDINBURGH. 89

In fact we were there seven minutes before time,
having done the 90 miles in 98 minutes, and yet
we never seemed to go unduly fast. It must be
confessed that there were not many milestones the
further side of Shap summit that managed to keep
GO seconds apart from their neighbours. We
travelled 54, 52, 50%, &c., for mile after mile
with monotonous regularity.



After a leisurely 12 minutes’ conversation at
Carlisle we steamed out to the appointed moment
in charge of one of the last new Caledonian
engines. This engine, with a single 7-feet driving
wheel, was exhibited last year in the Edinburgh
Exhibition.

It would be tedious to describe the run more in
detail. Suffice it to say that we covered 1003



90 THE RACK TO EDINBURGH.

miles in 104 minutes, and. that ten of these
miles were up a gradient of 1 in 80. A
eradient of 1 in 80, it is calculated, means
that an engine has to do almost four times as
much work as on the level. However, up the
hill we went merrily, 40 miles an hour, till a signal
halfway up checked us and brought the speed
down to 30; but in the course of the next mile
or so it was back at 40, and the whole ten miles,
check and all, were covered in 14 minutes, a per-
formance that I shall believe to be unequalled till
I hear of a better one. Our train, I should say,
weighed about 80 tons.

As we ran round the Strawfrank curve outside
Carstairs we noticed a train, through from London
by the colour of its carriages, just coming out of
Carstairs station. It was the 7.15 a.m. from
London, under contract for the conveyance of Her
Majesty’s mails, which, though it left London 23
hours before us, was only due in Edinburgh at
5.50, which, in point of fact, followed us in at a
respectable distance.

School Newspaper.



A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.



ok A: as I entered Euston pao ci rain
had ceased, to be sure, but the sky
was overcast, and the wind cold. On
oy reaching the main departure platform I
found it crowded. The ten o’clock Scotch
express was made up, and most of the seats already
taken, while I, attired in the oldest clothes I pos-
sessed, with peak cap on head and comforter round
my throat, had to elbow my way through the
crowd. The ordeal was at length over, and con-
scious that my strange appearance was claiming
the attention of more than one of the station
officials, I awaited the arrival of the engine.

At five minutes to ten the Mammoth slowly
backs into the station, her skin brilliant with
cleaning, her tender piled high with Welsh coal,
her steam up ready to fly away north. This mag-

nificent engine, one of the compound triple cylinder
91



92, A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

locomotives on: Mr. Webb’s system, was built this
year, and embodies everything that can tend to
the perfection of speed and safety combined. I am
now in a position to state this, having had an
ample opportunity of noting its wonderful powers.
I present my pass to the driver. He examined
it and me, and bade me step up. I look round
and note a multiplicity of handles. We are sur-:
rounded by them, of all sorts, shapes, and sizes—
wheels and rods, iron and brass, long and short.
The footplate is roomy enough, some eight feet by
four clear space, with a ledge on either side on
which one can sit down. The driver has his hand
on the regulator. The signal is given by the
guard. The lever is pushed over, and we are off.
Along the cutting, under the girders, up the
‘‘bank,’’ as I afterwards learn a gradient is called,
through Chalk I’arm station, we seem to glide.
The terrible jarring I had been led to expect had
not begun as yet. Perhaps it will start presently.
The motion is no worse than on an omnibus going
very fast. The noise is considerable, but I manage
to glean the sense of the few words the driver
occasionally shouts out. As we go on, the regu-
lator is hauled further over until it stands half-way
across, our speed increasing until we seem to be



A RIDE ON AN ENGINE. 93

skimming over the ground. This does not go on
long. As we approach Willesden the regulator is










ee a
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yy) ee
| 2A ey
It YAO ELL













i]

KU
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AK

=
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oy

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YA

TAY IY

THE DRIVER.

pushed back again, and the brake put slightly on
by pulling another lever.
We have come the five-and-a-half miles in nine



94 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

minutes, but that is slow travelling for the Mam-
moth. We do not tarry long, but the few minutes’
quiet serve for me to learn the names of some of
the more important handles which have been
puzzling me. ‘The reversing gear, injectors,
dampers, and feeds are pointed out to me by the
driver. Our little chat serves as a capital intro-
duction, and by the time our three minutes are up
we are excellent friends. We get the signal, our
whistle sounds, and we are off to Rugby.

We are out of London. The train is now well on
its way, and the engine seems to rise to the occa-
sion, occasionally encouraged by the attention of
Hadfield, the driver. By the time we are through
Harrow the regulator is nearly right over, and we
are going fifty-five miles an hour. I have plenty
to do to watch my companions. Both the driver
and his mate are completely taken up with their
duties. The driver, steady and herculean in build,
stands on the left of the footplate. Huis gaze is
fixed on the circular window through which he
notes the signals ahead. His hands are on the
reversing gear wheel. Going through stations, his
hand generally finds its way to the regulator,
ready to shut off steam in case there is anything
wrong.



A RIDE ON AN ENGINE. 95

The fireman is meanwhile equally busy in
another way. livery few minutes he touches the


















—, eS SS SS
SSS

SS










THE FIREMAN,

driver, who, knowing the signal, opens the fire-box
lever, exposing the glowing flames within, and half
roasting our legs while the stoker shovels up some



96 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

coal, which he shoots in with the aim and regu-
larity of a finished marksman. Much coal is not
put on at a time; little and often is the rule, and
four or five shovelfuls are shot in every five
minutes, each shot being directed to a different
part of the fire-box, so as to keep the heat level,
and each lot of coal finding its billet with an
exactitude quite wonderful considering the motion.

Between the firings the steam is attended by
the ever-active fireman. The injectors are looked
to, the dampers adjusted, and the water feeds
turned, as frequent examinations of the steam-
gauge show to be needed. Besides these duties,
the fireman has to break up coal ready for the next
firing, to water it so as to retard too speedy com-
bustion, and to keep the footplate cool by water-
ing from the stand-pipe, by means of a flexible
hose. These numerous jobs fill up the time till
more coal is wanted, when the whole round is
again gone through.

We are now going fifty miles, and the motion is
certainly enlivening. Our speed causes a strong
wind, which, added to that blowing against us,
makes it a matter of extreme difficulty to hold my
hand out over the side. We are rounding the
curve leading to Watford, and very pretty the train



A RIDR ON AN ENGINE. 97

looks as I lean over the side in a gale of wind to
admire the spick and span appearance of our fifteen
coaches.

Just before running through Watford the driver
leaves his corner for the first time. We are near-
ing a watering-place. The water is in a con-
tinuous tank or reservoir, some half-mile long.
The tank lies in the centre of the way between the
rails, and is reached by a hollow scoop which is
pushed down into the water from the tender. The
fireman draws a bar out to release the treadle, the
driver stands on it, and we are in the midst of a
* gtorm of rain, the water being dashed up some feet
over the tender so as to wet us thoroughly in its
descent. The whole process lasts but a few
moments. The driver gets back to his place, the
whistle sounds, and we are in Watford tunnel.

The effect of the tunnel on the rider on the foot-
plate is curious and rather exciting. The noise is
deafening, and in intensity is fully equalled by the
darkness. All is pitch. I keep my eyes on the
window, steadying myself by the rail, as we are
going sharp and occasionally sway a little, and
presently discern a ray of light, which gradually
increases as we near the end, and finally emerge
into daylight. Thus, without hitch or hindrance,
ae 7



98 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

we race along until Tring is passed. From
London to Tring is all up bank, but thence to
Bletchley is down-hill.

The regulator is hard over now, and we rush
along full sixty miles in a style as exciting as it
is glorious. The sky, which has been overcast,
suddenly clears, the sun comes out, illuminating
the fields, where the reapers are beginning to
gather in the corn. The air is fresh and delicious.
Thus it is that we tear along—a mile a minute.
The endless round of the stoker’s duties is being
gone through as steadily as ever. He coals,
steams, waters, and keeps an eye on the train
behind. The driver remains at his post like a
statue. His eyes never leave the window, his
hands are always either on the regulator or re-
versing gear. The signals are all right for us, and
sO We spin away towards Rugby.

There were several other things which took me
by surprise on the Mammoth. The furious jolting
I had expected to experience was entirely absent.
Going round the sharp corners we swayed a good
deal, while the footplate was rarely quite steady ;
but the amount of motion was never excessive, and
hardly more than I have experienced on far slower
conveyances. The motion of a camel, the vibra-



Full Text
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s se poems






Head Master - Mr. Wm. LAZENBYy.

Awarded to OR Rott fac kKidon

For Regular Attendance and



eX ee ae



general Good Conduct during
the year 189©

CHRISTMAS,
189 &

University
of
Florida




G7 He
\

The Chiloren’s Favourite Series.

A charming Series of Juvenile Books, each plentifully Mlustrated, and written
in simple language to please young readers, Handsomely bound, and designed
to form an attractive and entertaining series of gift-books for presents and prizes.

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throughout the Series, combined with entertaining and interesting reading.

MY BOOK OF HEROISM.

Instances of daring and self-sacrifice.

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Old favourite stories which are never obsolete. Thirty original Illustrations.

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Each Volume contains nearly 200 pages Imperial 16mo., and about
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MY BOOK

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[All rights reserved.]


ae

on


CONTENTS.

male gates

PAGE
GIANT STEAM ane Me oe as eee)
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING ae os cae 26
THE IRON HORSE ... te ae eee Pee oll
THE NIGHT EXPRESS ce Bars ce sus 81
THE RACE TO EDINBURGH ... ae BS FSO
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE ... ee Bs Ne 91
SNOWED UP as ae ae ea oe OL
GASB oe a oe as ae ee 106
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ? ae Bee oe aoa. Jlllyy/
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT ... ae Sa See 124
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH ... en pl 32,
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH ae oe oe 149
THE TELEPHONE ... al So Sap Rilo
THE PHONOGRAPH AG oes uae sae 157
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS ... oes ... 166

THE SEWING MACHINE ... a0 Bae ie 181

MY BOOK OF INVENTIONS.

+4

GIANT STEAM.

We pk HE fairy tales of the olden times contain
ih) many wonderful stories about giants who,
(ek) by their enormous strength, were said to
(sy perform great deeds beyond the power of
a ordinary men. Though the people of those

days never met the monsters of whom they
read, many of them thought that the stories were
true.

We still enjoy these fanciful stories, and in our
younger days we are almost willing to believe
them. Yet there are tales of the present day more
wonderful than any fairy tales of long ago, and best

of all they are true.

We can say, with truth, there are giants in these
9


10 GIANT STEAM.

days—giants far more powerful than those we read
about in story books. Some of these giants have
been tamed and made to work. They have become
our servants, and under the guidance of man they
do most of.the world’s work.

Two of these giants are found in all parts of the
world, though white men -have the most use of
them and have turned their great strength to the
best account. They are the cheapest servants in
the world, for they require no wages. They eat no
food, they need no clothes, they never sleep, nor
do they stop to rest. However hard they work
they are never tired, but go on day and night,
winter and summer, all the year round.

They are able to carry or move great weights
from place to place. They grind corn, weave cloth,
print books, saw wood, work pumps, and drive
every kind of machine. All they require is to be
provided with the proper tools and a man to guide
them. Sometimes, however, they seem to lose
their tempers, and then they quarrel and fight.
They are not able to hurt each other, but they
do great harm to any one who happens to be in
their way. They put forth all their power, and for
a time they are the masters and not the servants.
They often sweep all before them—wmen, and


A WATER WHEEL.
12 GIANT STEAM.

animals, and buildings, and ships are then de-
stroyed.

Can you tell me the names of these giants?
You know them well. You have often seen them
at work. They are called Wind and Water.
These are two of the most useful giants in the
world.

We have another giant so wonderful, that long
ago men regarded him as a god and worshipped
him. We have tamed him, and discovered that
though he is a bad master, he makes a very good
servant. We have always to keep him in prison,
as we dare not give him any freedom.

Sometimes he breaks loose and does terrible
mischief. He has been known to devour thousands
of trees and hundreds of houses. Nay, he has
devoured great forests and large towns in a few
days. He also kills people and utterly destroys
their property.

Unlike the other two giants, this one cannot
live without food. He eats almost everything.
He will feed on bread, and butter, and bacon, but
he would rather have paper, wood, or coal. He
also drinks oil and spirits, but he does not like
water.

He is the best cook in the world. He can roast
GIANT STEAM. 13

beef, boil mutton, fry ham, and bake bread. He
takes careful watching, for if he is left too long by
himself he devours the articles he has to cook.
His power over iron, lead, gold, and silver is so
great that he can make them run like water.







A FIREMAN.

He treats cups and saucers and plates and
bricks in quite another way. He makes them
hard and firm and strong. He is a friend to man
as well as a servant, for in winter time, when the
14 GIANT STEAM.

wind blows cold and the ground is covered with
snow, he makes our houses warm and comfortable.
His name is Fire.

There is another giant more wonderful still. He
can do better work than any of the three about
which we have been reading. He does not exist
in nature as they do. He has to be made. Two
of the other giants work together to produce him
when required. His name is Steam. He is made
by Fire and Water. .

Steam is water made into vapour. It is like air,
very thin, very elastic, and invisible. You cannot
see it. You may think you can because people
often say, ‘The steam is coming out of the spout
of the kettle, or out of the chimney of an engine.”
But the white cloud that can be seen coming from
boiling water is not steam, it is a cloud of fog.

Steam is made by enclosing water in a kettle, or
boiler, or other vessel, and making it boil by °
means of a fire. If the water is confined in a glass
vessel you can see it boiling, but you cannot see
any steam, yet it is there all the time.

Look at a kettle when the water is boiling
briskly. Go close to it and notice the spout from
which the steam is rushing. Close to the nose for
half an inch or more you cannot see anything.










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A SAILING VESSEL.
16 GIANT STEAM.

That is steam. As soon as the cool air has turned
it into steam-fog or vapour you can see it. Heat
changes water into steam and cold turns steam
back again into water.

Steam is very powerful. Itis one of the greatest
forces in the world. It works the engines which
draw trains, moves ships, turns machinery, and
does more work than all the men and all the horses
in the world. We see steam at work everywhere.
The world could not at present do without it,
though men have found out other forces which
are beginning to take its place. Yet at present
steam is more used than any other kind of power.

What is it that makes steam so powerful? It
is this. Steam is always trying to spread itself, to
expand. A small quantity of water makes a good
deal of steam, and if the water is kept boiling the
steam must be let out or the boiler will-burst.

In the boiler of a steam engine the steam is shut
up very tightly, because the tighter it is shut up
the more powerful it is and the more it tries to
expand. ‘T'o use this power in working an engine
some of the steam is allowed to pass out of the
boiler into a strong hollow case, like a barrel or a
large pipe, called a cylinder. There it is shut up
very tightly, and in trying to expand it forces a
GIANT STEAM. 17

rod to move backward and forward in a hole at one

end of the cylinder.

SS}

a

NY
wh





HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE CYLINDERS OF THE ‘‘CAM-
PANIA’S’? ENGINES. BY PERMISSION OF THE

“QUNARD STEAMSHIP COMPANY.”

This rod is kept moving as long as the steam
passes from the boiler into the cylinder. The rod

causes a large wheel to move round and round, and
a
18 GIANT STEAM.

that turns the machinery, which is thus worked by
the engine.

The man whom we have to thank more than
any other for the steam engine was born at
Greenock in Scotland in 1736. His name is
James Watt.

He was such a weak little fellow that he could
not attend school like other children. His parents
therefore taught him at home. When he was only
six years old a neighbour saw him sitting on the
floor amusing himself by drawing various figures
with coloured chalk.

‘‘ Why don’t you send that boy to school?” he
said to the boy’s father. “‘ He is wasting his time
doing nothing at home.”

‘“‘ Look what he is doing,” was the father’s reply,
‘““ before you say he is wasting his time.”

The neighbour looked at the figures the boy was
drawing, and saw, to his surprise, that James was
busy making squares, and triangles, and curves.
Then he saw that the child knew far more than
many other boys who were much older than
himself.

Not far away from his home hved an aunt with
whom James often stayed. This aunt regarded
him as an idle boy, for she wrote to his parents to

?
GIANT STEAM. - 19

say that her nephew ‘would sit for an hour at
a time taking off the lid of the tea-kettle, and
putting it on again, holding now a cup and now
a spoon over the steam, watching how it rises from
the spout, and catching and condensing the drops
of water it falls into.”

She little dreamed that her ‘idle nephew,” as
she called him, was taking his first lessons in a
science by which he would some day increase to
an enormous extent the working power of the
world, and make himself famous for ever.

James Watt’s amusements, from his earliest
boyhood, were, indeed, very different from those
of other boys. His father kept a shop for the sale
of all kinds of articles used on board ship, and
James spent a great part of his time in finding out
how the different things were made, and to what
uses they were put.

When he was fifteen years old he was regarded
by all his friends as a wonder. He seemed to
know a bit about everything, and a good deal
about some things. He had read a great many
books about minerals and plants, and had begun
to study the stars.

' He could also do all kinds of woodwork, and
make all sorts of machines. In the little room
20 GIANT STEAM.

where he worked he had cranes, pulleys, pumps,
and many other things that he had made.

At sixteen he went to work in the shop of a
mechanic in Glasgow, where he was employed in
mending spectacles, fiddles, and fishing tackle.
He only remained there for about two years. He
had then learned all his master knew, and he was
not satisfied.

At eighteen he set out for London with an old
sea captain, a friend of his father’s, who took great
interest in the clever lad. They made the journey
on horseback, and spent ten days on the road, for
no one at that time had found out how to make
engines and construct railways.

When he arrived in London, James obtained
work with an instrument maker, and soon he
became a very skilful workman. His earnings,
however, were very small, and unwilling to be an
expense to his parents, he lived in very poor lodg-
ings, and took so little food that his health broke
down. He was therefore obliged to go back to
Scotland.

After this he opened a shop in Glasgow.
Though he called himself an instrument maker
he was very glad to do any odd jobs that came
in his way. Much of his time was spent in mend-
aA

GIANT STEAM. 21

ing fiddles, flutes, and organs, though he knew
nothing about music.

One day he was asked to mend the model of an
engine. It was really a little engine which would









Uf

SG

Vi
Cy
‘ Ze, Vy Ze

JAMES WATT.



Ze
YUE
y

which it was a model. James examined it very
carefully, and it set him thinking. It was a very
poor affair, but it was the best which had, up to
that time, been invented. Such an engine could
not do better or quicker work than horses, but it
showed Watt that something of the same kind,
22, GIANT STEAM.

worked by steam, would be of great use in many
Ways.

He mended the model, and made it work all
right. Then he began to think out some way of
making a proper steam engine, which should be
able to do more and better work than any engine
yet invented.

Days, weeks, months, even years, passed away
and found James Watt still hard at work. During
this time, and when he was trying one plan after
another, he wrote to a friend, ‘‘ My whole thoughts
are bent on this machine ; I can think of nothing
else.”

He had many difficulties to overcome, and some-
times he lost heart and almost gave up in despair.
Without money he had to work with poor tools,
and when his engine was completed it leaked in
all parts. It was then that he said, “ Of all things
in life there is nothing more foolish than inventing.”

He was treading an uphill path, he could scarcely
obtain food for his family, and yet he felt that he
must go on. Once, when he was in London on
business, his brave-hearted wife wrote to him, ‘‘I
beg that you will not make yourself uneasy, though
things should not succeed to your wish. If the
engine will not do, something else will; never
despair.”
" GIANT STEAM. 23

It was a sad day for him when his wife died.
She had been “the comfort of his life.” After
that he would often stop on the threshold of his
humble home before he had courage to enter, since
she was not there to help him. She had bravely
shared his poverty, but was never to share his
wealth and fame. .

For at length success came as the result and
the reward of years and years of patient toil and -
hardship and suffering. When his steam engine
was completed men regarded it with wonder, and
soon it was everywhere in demand. He entered
into partnership with Matthew Bolton of Soho,
near Birmingham, where the new engine was
manufactured.

At first it was chiefly used to pump water out
of mines. For even Watt himself, who had more
faith in the power of steam than any other man
of his day, had no idea how great a benefit he
had conferred on the world. He died long before
the first steam engine drew a train along an iron
road, or the first steamer crossed the ocean.

He was eighty-three years of age when, in 1819,
he rested from all his labours. In one of the
public squares of Glasgow a statue has been
erected to his memory, and in Westminster Abbey
24 GIANT STEAM.

there is also a beautiful statue of the great in-
ventor. They were erected to show the world how
much the people of this country esteemed the Man
who Improved the Steam Engine.

In the preface to “The Monastery,” Sir Walter
Scott says :—

“Tt was only once my fortune to meet Watt,
when there were assembled about half a score of
our northern lights [Commissioners of Northern
Lighthouses]. Amidst this company stood Mr.
Watt, the man whose genius discovered the
means of multiplying our national resources to a
degree, perhaps, even beyond his own stupendous
powers of calculation and combination; bringing
the treasures of the abyss to the summit of the
earth—giving to the feeble arm of man _ the
momentum of an Afrite—commanding manufac-
tures to arise—affording means of dispensing
with that time and tide which wait for no man
—and of sailing without that wind which defied
the commands and threats of Xerxes himself,

‘This potent commander of the elements—this
abridger of time and space—this magician, whose
cloudy machinery has produced a change in the
world, the effects of which, extraordinary as they
are, are perhaps only beginning to be felt—was not
GIANT STEAM. 25

only the most profound man of science, the most
successful combiner of powers, and calculator of
numbers, as adapted to practical purposes—was
not only one of the most generally well informed,
but one of the best and kindest of human beings.

‘““There he stood, surrounded by the little band
of northern literati. Methinks I yet see and hear
what I shall never see or hear again. In his
eighty-first year, the alert, kind, benevolent old
man had his attention at every one’s question, his
information at every one’s command. His talents
and fancy overflowed on every subject. One
gentleman was a deep philologist—he talked with
him on the origin of the alphabet, as if he had been
coeval with Cadmus ; another, a celebrated critic—
you would have said that the old man had studied
political economy and belles-lettres all his life ; of
science it is unnecessary to speak—it was his own
distinguished walk.”
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

BOUT five hundred years ago an old
| gentleman, named Lawrence Coster,
lived in the ancient town of Haarlem in
Holland. It is a quaint, humdrum old



~ place, with odd-looking houses, irregular

streets, and numerous canals. The upper

stories of the houses project so far over the lower

ones, that two persons in opposite houses can
easily enjoy a conversation with each other.

One house, which appears older than its neigh-
bours, is regarded with great interest, both by the
inhabitants and by strangers who happen to visit
the town. This house is said to have been the
dwelling of Lawrence Coster, and the good people
of Haarlem are proud to think that the man who
bore that name once lived in their city.

Coster had charge of the cathedral, but his
duties were so light that he hada good deal of |

leisure. He therefore spent his spare time in
26


WOODS NEAR HAARLEM.
28 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

reading. Now in those days there were no printed
books, for the art of printing had not been in-
vented. The only books which existed were those
written on parchment and vellum, chiefly by
monks, and they were kept for safety in monas-
teries and churches.

Coster had no books of his own, for he was not
rich enough to buy one, but there were some
precious volumes in the church under his care.
To this little library he became so devoted that he
could scarcely tear himself away from the manu-
script volumes, and in the stillness of the sacred
building he read them again and again, until he
almost knew their contents by heart.

Just outside the city walls there are to this day
some famous woods, which for hundreds of years
have been the favourite resort of the citizens of
Haarlem. Here, in the short cloak and sugar-loaf
hat of the period, Coster loved to walk and ponder
over the subjects he had read.

Sometimes he sat on the trunk of a tree, and
with his knife cut out the forms of the letters of
the alphabet in the smooth beech bark. Some of
these letters he put in his pocket and carried home
as playthings for his little grandchildren. In this
way they first learned the names of the letters.
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 29

The old man became very expert in cutting out
letters, and he took great pleasure in fashioning
them to the best of his ability. One day he was
more than usually successful. To preserve these
letters he wrapped them up in a bit of old parch-
ment that he had in his pocket.

When he had given the letters to the child the
bit of parchment was thrown aside, and for a time
forgotten. At length one of the children picked ©
it up, and, looking at it, said, ‘‘ Look, grandfather !
See what the letters have done!”

Coster looked at the parchment with interested
eyes, for there on its surface was an imprint of the
letters. When he cut them the bark had been
moist with sap, and this had served as ink and
caused the letters to mark an impression on the
parchment.

The old man was sharp enough to see that the
form which had stamped one letter might be used
to stamp many letters, and that by placing them
in order words and sentences could be formed.
This he saw could be done much quicker than
writing by hand, and therefore at a much less cost.

He at once set to work and cut out a number
of letters in wood: these he inked over, and then
stamped them on the parchment. What could
30 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

have been simpler than this little incident ?—and
yet it was one of the most important discoveries
ever made. Coster had really invented the art of
printing with movable types.

Every spare moment was now employed in
cutting letters in wood and metal, and stamping
them on parchment. But he was not allowed to
pursue his employment in peace. His ignorant
and superstitious neighbours regarded him as a
madman, and some of them even spoke of him as
a sorcerer, and therefore one to be avoided.
Coster saw their growing dislike to his experi-
ments, and fearing persecution, he continued his
work in secret.

One day a sturdy young German, named John
Gutenberg, was passing on foot through Haarlem,
when he heard of the strange doings of the old
Dutchman. He knew the importance of the
information he had received, for he had been
trying experiments of the same kind in his home
at Strasburg.

With a beating heart Gutenberg sought an
interview with Coster, who eagerly welcomed his
visitor, and gladly showed him the work he had
done. In rapt attention the youth watched
the old man stamp letter after letter on the parch-
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 31

ment, and looked with wonder on a book which
Coster had laboriously printed and awkwardly
stitched together.

The desire to see foreign countries had led
Gutenberg to set out on the journey which had
brought him to Haarlem, but the interview with
Coster put an end to his wanderings. ‘ From this
' day forth,” he said, ‘‘I will work on this problem,
and not rest until I have solved it.”

This is the story of the invention of printing-as
told by those who regard Coster as the inventor of
this useful art. The Germans, however, give all
the honour to their own countryman, Gutenberg,
who was a man of considerable skill, a stonecutter,
and a polisher of glass. It is impossible now to
decide between the rival claims as there is no
certain evidence on either side. When and where
Gutenberg made his first attempts in the art of
printing cannot be ascertained. The question
whether the invention took place in Holland or in
Germany has been fiercely debated for nearly four
hundred years, and a great many books have been
written on the subject.

We must, however, remember that this inven-~
tion refers to the use of movable types in printing,
for beyond doubt the Chinese practised printing
32 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

from blocks at a much earlier period. Their plan
was to engrave the designs on pieces of wood large
enough to print two pages. The block was then
inked with a brush and the paper pressed on the
design to receive the impression. This plan is
still used in the Celestial Empire.

And now to return to Gutenberg. It is said
that he stole Coster’s types and hurried back to
Strasburg, where he set about the great work of
perfecting the art of printing. But he also had
to carry out his plans with the utmost secrecy.
In that age of superstition and ignorance the
people regarded every new thing as the result of
evil magic, and to say that a man had dealings
with the evil one caused him to be persecuted and
to risk being put to death.

While Gutenberg was devising plans to experi-
ment in secret, he thought of an old ruined monas-
tery, which stood in a lonely and deserted place a
few miles from the town. Thither he repaired, and
first fitted up a room as a jeweller’s shop, in which
he kept two young men at work polishing precious
stones and repairing trinkets.

Then he found an obscure cell in a corner of
the old building, with a great oaken door, which
had heavy bolts. ‘To this secret place he conveyed
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 33

his tools, and then shutting himself up he began
to work. Here he made metal types and a rude
printing press. Then he began to print books.

a
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GUTENBERG AND FAUST.

Absorbed in his work, he remained so much away

from his assistants in the jeweller’s shop, that they
3
34 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

became suspicious of his movements. They, there-
fore, went to the magistrates of Strasburg, and told
all about his long absences and the mystery that
surrounded him. His work was dragged forth to
the light of the world, and he was obliged to flee
from Strasburg to save his life.

Proceeding to his native city, Mainz, on the
Rhine, Gutenberg set up his press and once more
resumed printing. As he had not enough money
to carry on the work he formed a partnership with
a rich silversmith, named John Faust or Fust, who
took an oath of secrecy, and supplied him with
money, on condition that after a certain time it
should be repaid.

Then Gutenberg, assisted by Schoeffer, Faust’s
son-in-law, set to work in earnest, and soon suc-
ceeded in producing several works of a religious
character. The very success of these first attempts
brought misfortune on Gutenberg. The priests had
no love for the new art, by which people could read
for themselves, and the scribes or writers of books
were afraid that they would be deprived of their
livelihood.

The opposition of these two bodies was so great
that Gutenberg was at length driven penniless out
of the city. Itis said that Faust turned their anger
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 35

chiefly against his partner and managed to make
friends with them himself. Anxious to get rid of
Gutenberg, Faust brought an action against him
for the repayment of the money he had advanced. |
As Gutenberg could not pay back the loan, he had









PRINTING PRESS ON GUTENBERG’S MONUMENT.

to give up everything, and Faust secured all the
tools, presses, and unfinished work, among which
was a Bible about two-thirds completed.

Faust, aided by Schoeffer, then hurriedly finished
the work, and, to disarm all suspicion, sold it as a
manuscript. Two copies of this Bible may be seen
36 | THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

in a library in Paris; there is also one in the Royal
Library at Munich, and another at Vienna. This
ereat work, the first Bible printed from movable
types, is in two large volumes, each of about two
hundred pages. It is in Latin, and printed in
black Gothic type. Many of the words are abbre-
viated, and all are packed so closely together as to
puzzle the eyes of the reader.

Gutenberg was for a time very poor and unable
to find a home, until the ruler of Nassau offered
him his protection. In that quiet town the inventor
set up his press again and was allowed to carry on
his work in peace. He printed many books, which
bear his name,.and though he did not grow rich,
he lived in comfort until his death in 1468 at
the age of sixty-nine. Many years afterwards a
statue was erected to his memory in Mainz by
the descendants of those who had driven him
forth, a beggar, from his native city.

At this time there lived in London a man named
William Caxton. He left his native country in
1441 and carried on a business in Bruges, where he
became the governor of a society of English mer-
chants in Flanders. In 1471 he gave up business
and attached himself to the household of Margaret,
Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of Edward the


FIRST PROOF.

s

CAXTON’,
38 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

: Fourth, King of England. He was engaged as
a copyist, and his time was spent in laboriously
writing out various works for his royal mistress.

Caxton saw the value of the new invention, and
having acquired a thorough knowledge of the art
of printing, he returned to England and set up a



CAXTON.

press in a building adjacent to Westminster Abbey.
Here he printed nearly one hundred books, some of
which exist to the present day.

In the preface to his first printed work, ‘The Tales
of Troy,” he says, “‘ Forasmuch as in the writing
of the same my pen is worn, my hand is weary and
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 39

not steadfast, mine eyes dimmed with overmuch
looking on the white paper, and my courage not so
prone and ready to labour as it hath been, and that
age creepeth daily and feebleth all the body, and
also because I have promised to divers gentlemen

IX /
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THE FIRST ENGLISH PRINTER.

and to my friends to address to them as hastily as
I might the said book, therefore I have practised
and learned at my great charge and dispense to
ordain this said book in print after the manner and
form as ye may see, and is not written with pen
and ink as other books be, to the end that every
40 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

man may have them at once, for all the books of
this story here emprynted as ye see were begun in
one day and also finished in one day.”

The advertisement, put out by Caxton, ran as

follows: “If it please you, any man, spiritual or
temporal, to buy any pyes of two or three com-
memorations of Salisbury, all emprynted after the
present letter, which be well and truly correct, let
him come to Westminster in the almonry, and
he shall have them good chepe.”’
The King, and many of the chief men of the
time, gave him their patronage and friendship,
and his work was often carried on in the presence
of distinguished visitors. Caxton, the first English
printer, died in 1491, at the age of sixty-nine.

After his death, the men who had worked with
him continued to print books and looked forward to
‘the happy day when a Bible should be chained in
every church, for every Christian man to look upon.”

That day came in the reign of Henry the Eighth,
but for a long time the great cost of a printed book
placed it out of the reach of most of the people.
What would those early printers have thought if
they could have known that a time would come
when a Bible would be sold for tenpence.

The rude printing press, used by the first printers,


















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SSS ate



THE PRESS ON WHICH THE ‘‘ TIMES” IS PRINTED.






42, THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

was a block of wood with a flat surface, which was
brought down on the types by means of a screw,
turned by a lever. The types, placed on a flat
stone, were fixed on a table and worked with large
soft balls with pelts. The work of printing was a
slow process, and two men could only produce
about 200 copies an hour printed on one side.

A much improved press was brought into use in
1800 by the Earl of Stanhope, whose name it bears,
but it was not till 1814, when steam power was
first used for this purpose, that much greater speed
was obtained. Then came a revolution in the art
of printing as important as that which took place
when movable types were first invented.

The screw gave place to a cylinder, or huge iron
roller, under which the types were passed and the
impression made. This press, driven by steam,
printed off 1,800 sheets an hour, or 900 printed on
both sides. It was first used in the Z'vmes office
on the 28th of November, 1814.

The pressmen had declared that they would
destroy any machine worked in this way, as they
feared that loss of employment would follow its
introduction. Knowing this, the work of prepara-
tion was carried on in secret, and on the morning
that the machine was first used, the men, who were
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 43

waiting to print the sheets, were informed that the
Times was already printed by steam! They











































































































































































































































































































































































































































TILE ‘STRAND AT 3.50 a
were also told that no force or violence on their
part would prevent the work from being done in
44 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

this way, and if they were peaceable they would be
paid their wages until they obtained employment
elsewhere.

In the paper appeared the following announce-
ment :—‘‘ Our journal of this day presents to the
public the practical result of the greatest improve-
ment connected with printing since the discovery
of the art itself. The reader now holds in his
hands one of the many thousand impressions of the
Times newspaper, which were taken off last night
by a mechanical apparatus.”

Since then further improvements have been made
in the machines used for printing. ‘Two cylinders
are used to print the sheet on both sides, while
passing once through the press. The paper is no
longer laid on in single sheets, but is supplied from
a huge continuous web four miles in length, in
the same way that thread is unwound from a reel.

The speed has also been increased, and 1,000
copies a minute can be thrown off. The paper is
also cut, folded, and, if need be, wrapped ready for
post, by appliances attached to the press. There
is not a more interesting sight in London than that
which may be seen any morning in the Strand,
when between three and five o’clock the daily
papers and weekly magazines are sent off to their
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 45

various destinations by a small army of men, horses,
and vans.

“Since the birth of the penny daily paper in
1854, the progress of the press has been marked
by a succession of surprising bounds. From the
unpretending News Letter it has developed into
an omniverous monster, whose capacious jaws are
open in every part of the civilised world for any-
thing offered. To see the heterogeneous confusion
of subjects which form its food, is not only a source
of delight, but a necessity to millions of the human
race, whether they be the occupants of a royal
throne or of the squatter’s station in the far-off
Australian wilds.”

The appetite for this necessity of London alone
is so great that it requires to be satisfied with
sufficient matter, which, when printed, would cover
a park measuring nearly twenty miles in circum-
ference. Then in addition to the dailies, there are
hundreds of weeklies, one of which has more than
one million readers.

Thackeray’s picture of the press, written many
years ago, shows the position it had attained even
in his day. He says, ‘‘ There she is—the great
engine—she never sleeps. She has her ambassa-
dors in every quarter of the world—her couriers
46 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

upon every road. Her officers march along with
armies, and her envoys walk into statesmen’s cabi-
nets. They are everywhere. Yonder journal has
an agent at this minute giving bribes at Madrid,
and another inspecting the price of potatoes at
Covent Garden. Look! here comes the Foreign
Fixpress galloping. They will be able to give
news at Downing Street: funds will rise or fall,
fortunes be made or lost. Lord B. will get up,
and, holding the paper in his hands and seeing
the noble marquis in his place, will make a speech ;
and Mr. Doolan will be called away from his supper
at the back kitchen, for he is foreign sub-editor,
and sees the mail in the newspaper sheets before
he goes to his own (sheet).”’

Even a brief description of printing would not
be complete without a few words about the im-
provements made in setting type, and making it into
metal plates from which the sheets are printed. In
ordinary work the types or letters are contained in
cases or wooden trays, divided into little compart-
ments called ‘boxes.’ Hach box contains one
kind of letter of the alphabet, a figure, a stop, or
other sign used in printing.

The letters are not arranged alphabetically, but
on a plan that places those most used nearest the
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. AT

compositor’s or typesetter’s hand. The proportion
of the different letters, in what is called a fount of
type, shows how much oftener some letters are used
than others. Thus there are 13,000 of the letter e,
9,000 of t, 8,500 of a, and 8,000 each of i, n, 0, and
s, to 400 of j and x, and only 200 of z.

d



COMPOSITOR WORKING AT CASE.

The types are picked out of the boxes one at a
time, and placed in lines forming words, in a metal
instrument called a ‘stick.’ When the stick is
full the types are lifted out and laid on a tray.
They are then made up in pages according to the
48 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

size of the book, and firmly fastened with small
wedges into an iron frame called a ‘‘ chase,” and
are ready to send to the press for printing.

Books and papers, of which only a small number
is required, are usually printed from the type, but
where large numbers are wanted the type is made
into metal plates. Stereotype plates are made by
taking a mould of the type in paper maché and
then casting it in type metal. LElectrotype plates
are made by taking a mould in beeswax, and
obtaining a cast of copper by means of electricity.
These plates, both the stereotype and the electro-
type, can be used again and again, and though
more costly at first are cheaper in the end. |

Typesetting machines, that is, machines which
do not require the compositor to pick out each type
separately with his fingers and arrange it in the
stick, have been used for some time. The types
are go placed in the machines, that when the
operator presses the keys, which are something like
those of a piano, with his fingers, they fall into
their places. This is a great time saver, for it
enables a man to do six times the amount of work
that he can do by hand.

Recently a new composing machine has come
into use, which casts and sets the type by one
THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING. 49

movement. No separate movable types are needed,
but instead moulds and molten metal are used,
and as the operator plays on the keys the machine



COMPOSING MACHINES.

produces what are called ‘“ linotypes ’’—that is,
lines of type in one solid piece, ready to be made
up into pages.
The Linotype composing machine is now used in
4
50 THE ROMANCE OF PRINTING.

many of the larger newspaper offices, and there is
little doubt that since the introduction of steam
and steam-driven printing machinery, no improve-
ment with such far-reaching results has taken.
place in connection with the art of printing as
this wonderful labour and time saving machine.
THE IRON HORSE.

Ny \ LD BOB, as his neighbours called him,
) was employed as fireman to the engine,
which pumped water out of a coalpit
at Wylam, a village about seven miles
from Newcastle-on-Tyne. This employment,
though toilsome, required no great skill, and
Old Bob, or Robert Stephenson, received only the
wages of a common labourer.

He lived in a cottage by the side of a road, on
which lines were laid for the coal waggons to pass
to and fro. Here, in 1781, his second son George
was born, and in this mining district, the busy
scene of grimy labour, the lad spent the first years
of his life.

There were no school boards in those days, and
little George, like his brothers and sisters, was left
entirely to himself, in the way of book-learning.
He was not, however, without useful knowledge

of another kind, and being a smart little fellow
51


52 ‘THE IRON HORSE.

he turned it to account in various ways. He
had sharp eyes and ready hands, and he made the
best use of them.

The Stephenson family had to work hard to
obtain a decent livelihood, and every member was
called upon to bear a share of the burden as soon
as he or she was able. When George was eight
years of age he was employed to herd cows, for
which he received twopence a day. The little
fellow was bareheaded and barelegged; his clothes
scarcely sufficed to cover his active body. But he
was bright, lighthearted, and always went whistling
or singing merrily to his daily task.

When he was not attending to the cows he was
chasing butterflies, making watermills with reeds
and straws, and even moulding small steam engines
of clay. Brought up among coalpits, and pumps,
and wheels, and various machines, it was not
surprising that he showed a fondness for mechanics
at an early age. Though he was always ready for
a game with the boys of the village, he spent much
of his spare time in the engine-room where his
father worked. There he stood watching with
keen and curious eyes the engine perform its various
movements. To him it was an object of wonder
and almost a thing of hfe. He studied the various
THE IRON HORSE. 53

parts, and then with clay and hemlock stalks he
built a model which astonished the villagers among
whom he lived.

When big enough to do more farm-work he
received fourpence a day, but he did not continue





































































































































































































































































































































































GEORGE STEPHENSON’S BIRTHPLACE.

long in this employment. As soon as he could he
obtained work at the pit, and when he was fifteen
he was made assistant fireman at a shilling a day.
Soon afterwards this was raised to twelve shillings
54 THE IRON HORSE.

a week. ‘‘ Now,” exclaimed the delighted youth,
‘*T am a made man for life !”’

At eighteen, George was still unable to read or
write, and feeling the need of some education he
arranged to attend school three evenings a week,
for which he was charged threepence. Though
he had to work long hours at the pit, he stuck to
his lessons, and in less than a year he was able to
read, write, and count, and his teacher boasted of
the progress he had made.

His next step was the post of brakeman at
another pit, where he received higher wages. He
also earned a little money by spending his spare
time in mending shoes. Among his customers
was Fanny Henderson, the maid at a farm near
the village, and having married her in 1802, they
set up housekeeping at Willington, near New-
castle.

George continued to mend shoes in the evening,
for he had still only a pound a week, when one day
his chimney got on fire. Assisted by the neighbours
he saved his dwelling from being burned down, but
the house was deluged with water, and his eight-day
clock was so damaged that it refused to go. George
had more than once taken his engine to pieces,
cleaned it, and put it together again, so he deter-
THE IRON HORSE. 55

mined to try his hand on the clock. He took it to
pieces, cleaned every part of it thoroughly, and
then put it together again. To his great delight
it went as well as ever, and this coming to the
knowledge of his neighbours, George was employed
by them to repair their clocks, which proved a
further addition to his income.



GEORGE MAKING MODELS.

In 1803 his only son Robert was born, and, to his
great sorrow, his wife died in the following year.
He was, however, determined to give his boy an
education, and in one of his public speeches, given
many years afterwards, he said—

‘“In the earlier period of my career, when Robert
56 THE IRON HORSE.

was a little boy, I saw how deficient I was in |
education, and I made up my mind that he should
not labour under the same defect, but that I would
put him to a good school and give him a liberal
training. I was, however, a poor man; and how
do you think I managed? I betook myself to
mending my neighbours’ clocks and watches at
nights, after my daily labour was done, and thus
I procured the means of educating my son.”

In 1810 an opportunity came to George which
still further advanced him in his calling and also in
public estimation. The engine at a pit near would
not do its work. The water flooded the pit in spite
of all that the engineers could do, and at length,
in despair, ‘“‘ Geordie,” as they called him, was
allowed to try what he could do. The owners
of the pit knew that he was a clever fellow, but
they did not think that he could succeed where the
proper engineers had failed.

George took the engine to pieces and carefully
rebuilt it. Then he set it to work, and in a few
days the mine was free from water. The young
man received a present of ten pounds, and not
only became famous as an ‘‘engine doctor,” but
he was also placed on the footing of a regular
engineer.
THE IRON HORSE. 57

George continued his studies, assisted by his
friend John Wigham, and the long winter evenings
were spent, not only in acquiring knowledge to be
obtained from books, but also in getting an insight
into chemistry and other departments of practical
science. Stephenson also learned to draw, that
he might be able to make plans and sketches of
machines.

It will be remembered that tramway lines were
laid in the road in front of the cottage in which
George was born. Along these lines, waggons of
coal were drawn by horses from the pits to the
Tyne. These were the first railroads, but there
were no locomotives or travelling engines to run
along them. To Stephenson came the idea that
a steam engine could be made to travel, and
that it might be made to grip the line without
using cogs or teeth.

The coaching system had at that time attained
the highest degree of perfection. Nearly one
hundred coaches passed through St. Albans daily.
‘‘Fast coaches,’ as they were called, made the
journey from London to Liverpool in about twenty
hours. The fare inside was four guineas for each
passenger, and besides this fees had to be given to
coachmen and guards.
58 THE IRON HORSE.

Here is a copy of an advertisement issued nearly
two hundred years ago :—

YORK, FOUR DAYS.
StraGE-Coacu.

Begins on Friday, the 12th of April, 1706.

All that are desirous to pass from London to York, or from
York to London, or any other Place on that Road; Let them
repair to the Black Swan in Holborn, in London, and to the
Black Swan in Coney Street, in York.

At both which places, they may be received in a Stage-Coach
every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which performs the
whole Journey in Four Days (if God permits). And sets forth
at Five in the Morning.

And returns from York to Stamford by Huntingdon to London
in two days more. And the like Stages on their return.

Allowing each Passenger 14 lb. weight, and all above 3d. a
Pound.

(Gees JoNGMaN.
Performed by} Henry Harrison.
(Wanrmn Baynes.

This journey is now performed by train in three
and a half hours.

Rail or tram roads were first constructed to
enable horses to draw heavy loads more easily
and swiftly than they could on ordinary roads.
The Surrey Railway from Croydon to the Thames,
and the Stockton and Darlington Railway were
both meant to be used in this way. In fact

4
THE IRON HORSE. 59

horses were so expensive that the trucks on the
Surrey Railway were drawn by donkeys, at the
rate of four miles an hour.

In 1802 William Murdoch and Captain Treve-
thick built a steam carriage which was exhibited
in London, in a field near the site of Euston
Station. Here was laid down a circular railway,
on which the locomotive ran at the rate of twelve
miles an hour.

Coleridge tells a story about this locomotive
when on its road to London. Trevethick and
Captain Vivian were riding on the carriage on
the turnpike road near Plymouth. The train had
already knocked down the rails of a gentleman’s
garden when Vivian saw the toll-bar in front of
them closed. He called to Trevethick to slacken
speed, which he did just in time to save the gate.
The frightened toll-keeper instantly opened it.

‘““What have us to pay?” asked Captain Vivian,
careful as to honesty if reckless as to grammar.

‘““Na-na-na-na!’’ stammered the poor man,
trembling in every limb, with his teeth chattering
as if he had the ague.

“What have us to pay?” I ask.

‘“Na-noth-nothing to pay. My de-dear Mr.
Maniac, do drive as fast as you can. Nothing to pay.”
60 THE IRON HORSE.

Other attempts were made to construct a loco-
motive, and though they were to some extent
successful, they could not be regarded as satis-
factory. The engines were badly made, their
rate of progress was slow, and they could not be
depended on to work when wanted. It was at this
time that Stephenson built a locomotive and ran it
along the tramway at Killingworth. It was, com-
pared with a modern steam engine, but a clumsy
apparatus, but it drew eight loaded waggons,
weighing thirty tons, up a steep road at the rate
of four miles an hour.

Stephenson, having tried his hand at the business,
could not leave the matter where it was, but con-
tinuing his experiments, he improved first one part
and then another, until his engine was by far the
best locomotive that had yet been built. Those
who saw it regarded it with astonishment, and
expressed their fear that sooner or later it would
blow up. Stephenson and his son Robert, now an
intelligent young man and an engineer like his
father, were satisfied that a great future lay
before ‘‘ Puffing Billy,” as they called their latest
attempt at engine-building.

George Stephenson gave utterance to this beliet
in the following words addressed to his son :—
THE IRON HORSE. 61

“T tell you that I think you will live to see the
day, though I may not live so long, when railways
will come to supersede almost all other methods of
conveyance in this country, when mail-coaches will

















































































LT manpeeoe

nT te oe

THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE.





nt













go by railway, and railways will become the great
highway for the king and all his subjects. The
time is coming when it will be cheaper for a
working man to travel on a railway than to walk
on foot. I know there are great and almost insur-
62 THE IRON HORSE.

mountable difficulties that will have to be en-
countered; but what I have said will come to
pass as sure as I live. I only wish I may live
to see the day, though that I can scarcely hope
for, as I know how slow all human progress is,
and with what difficulty I have been able to get
the locomotive adopted, notwithstanding my more
than ten years’ successful experiment at Killing-
worth.”’

In 1830 the first general railway ever built for
business purposes was constructed between Liver-
pool and Manchester, the great cotton market and
the manufacturing centre. The road, the river,
and the canal were all too slow, and trade was
hindered for want of a better and quicker means
of communication.

It is difficult at the present time to understand
the enormous opposition which the first railways
received. The bill for the construction of the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway was fought in
Parliament in the most determined manner, and
opposed at every stage. One member indignantly
denounced the project as a fraud and an imposition.
He said he would not consent to see widows’
premises invaded, and ‘‘how,” he asked, ‘‘ would
any one like to have a railroad under his parlour
THE IRON HORSE. 63

window? What,” he continued, ‘‘ was to be done
with all those who had advanced money in making
and repairing turnpike roads? What with those
who may still wish to travel in their own or hired





































THE ROCKET.

- carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers ?
What was to become of coachmakers and harness-
makers, coach-masters and coachmen, inn-keepers,
horse-breeders, and horse-dealers ? Was the House
64. THE IRON HORSE.

aware of the smoke and noise, the hiss and whirl,
which locomotive engines passing at the rate of ten
or twelve miles an hour would occasion? Neither
the cattle ploughing in the fields or grazing in the
meadows could behold them without dismay. Iron
would be raised in price 100 per cent., or, more
probably, exhausted altogether. It would be the
ereatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance
of quiet and comfort in all parts of the kingdom
that the ingenuity of man could invent!”

After three years’ agitation, at a cost of nearly
one hundred thousand pounds, the bill was carried,
and George Stephenson was set to work to build
the line. It was a great undertaking, and it will
descend to succeeding ages as a monument to the
memory of this remarkable man. Not only had
numerous bridges to be built, excavations to be
made, and tunnels cut, but Chat Moss had to be
crossed. This was a great quagmire, over which
cattle could not walk without sinking in the boggy
soil. In vain Stephenson tried to find the bottom
and fill up the Moss with waggon loads of earth.
Tt seemed as if defeat could not be avoided, when
the engineer decided on a bold plan. He would
float the railway on the Moss. He first levelled
the portion to be used to the surface of the water,
THE IRON HORSE. 65

and covered it with wattled hurdles. On these he
spread turf, and then laid a bed of sand over the
turf to the depth of two feet. This was successful,
and the railway lines were carried over the dreaded
quagmire.

The next thing to be decided was the power to
be used in drawing the trains—horses or steam—
which? Some of the directors were in favour of
horses, some proposed stationary engines to be
placed at certain distances apart to push and draw
the trains from point to point, only a few were in
favour of a locomotive. Stephenson pleaded with
them, and begged the directors to give it a trial,
and in the end they agreed to do so.

A prize of five hundred pounds was offered for
the best locomotive which fulfilled certain condi-
tions as to power and speed. Never did man work
harder than did Stephenson to satisfy these condi-
tions, and when the day of trial came his new
engine, the ‘‘ Rocket,” won the prize. It ran over
the line at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and the
directors decided that locomotives should be used
to draw the trains.

On the 15th of September, 1830, the new rail-
way was opened in the presence of thousands of

persons, who were eager to see the wonder of the
; 5
66 THE IRON HORSE.

age. Hight locomotives, drawing as many trains,
formed a procession such as the world had never
before seen, and the journey from Liverpool to
Manchester was made at the rate of twenty-five
miles an hour. Stephenson’s triumph was complete.
Landowners no longer opposed the railway ; they
saw its advantages, and eagerly endeavoured to
share in its benefits.

It is now more than sixty years since this great
battle was fought and won, and to-day we have
more than twenty thousand miles of railways in
the British Isles. All the chief lines start from
London as a centre and branch off in every direc-
tion, north, south, east, and west. The different
lines are named after the direction they run from
London, or the part of the country through which
they pass. Thus we have the London and North
Western, the Midland, the Great Northern, the Great
Eastern, the London and South Western, and so on.

Great improvements have been made in the
locomotives, and they are specimens of the most
skilful and perfect workmanship produced by the
hand of man. Even George Stephenson, with his
unbounded faith in the powers of the locomotive,
never dreamt of such feats as are now daily per-
formed on our great railways.
THE IRON HORSE. 67

livery day certain express trains in some parts
of their journey run more than sixty miles an hour,
and travel three or four hundred miles at the rate
of more than fifty miles an hour. The half-hour



THE FLYING SCOTSMAN.

expresses between Liverpool and: Manchester do
the journey of thirty-four miles easily in forty-five
minutes. The distance between London and
Edinburgh, four hundred miles, is covered by
68 THE IRON HORSE.

several trains and by different routes in from eight
to nine hours. Recently the distance from London
to Aberdeen, five hundred and forty miles, was run
in five hundred and thirty-eight minutes, or less than
a mile a minute. To save time there are water
troughs on certain parts of the line, and the engine
is supplied through a scoop while at full speed.

There are several trains which have become
famous for their speed. ‘Two of these are known
as the “Flying Scotsman” and the “ Flying
Dutchman.” The one runs from London by the
Great Northern to Edinburgh, and the other runs
from London by the Great Western to Exeter.
These are said to be the fastest trains in the world,
though there is little to choose at the present time
between the expresses of any two companies travel-
ling to the same place.

Some idea may be formed of the marvellous
erowth of railway traffic from the following facts.
In London and its suburbs there are over three
hundred railway stations, from which over two
thousand trains depart every twenty-four hours.
And of these over one thousand are expresses.

Nothing can be more interesting than a visit to
the works of one of our great railways, where we
may see for ourselves how a locomotive is built.
THE IRON HORSE. 69

Hiven if we did not understand the various pro-
cesses going on around us, we should be impressed
with the magnitude of the work, and the endless
variety and size and power of the tools and
machines used in the construction of a railway
engine. It is scarcely credible, but it is neverthe-
less true, that one of the magnificent locomotives,















FIRST STAGE 6 A.M. MONDAY.

which we see drawing our fastest express trains,
can be built in twenty-five hours. The pictures
given show the engine at the various stages to its
completion. It is scarcely necessary to say that
the work must be done well, and every part so
finished and fitted together that the whole works
with the greatest accuracy. It was in thorough
70 THE IRON HORSE.

and careful workmanship that George Stephenson



SECOND STAGE 1 P.M. MONDAY.

in the first instance excelled his rivals, and by which



THIRD STAGE 1 P.M. TUESDAY.

he made for himself a name that he never lost.
THE IRON HORSE. T1

Probably the part of the train that most interests
the ordinary traveller is the carriage, in which he
may have to spend several hours, while making a
journey from one town to another. In the early
days of railways the comfort of the passengers
seems to have been the last thing thought of or



FINISHED ENGINE AND WORKMEN.
never considered at all. Carriages, or rather
trucks, without roofs or windows, and some with-
out seats, were provided for those who were rash
enough to make a journey in them. A wag of the
time humorously called the seatless carriages
‘* standipedes.”’
72 THE IRON HORSE.

Then seats, roofs, and windows were added to
third-class carriages, but for a long time these
vehicles were far from comfortable, and scarcely
endurable for a long journey.

Great improvements have been made in recent
years, and now the different railway companies vie
with each other in their efforts to make travelling
on their lines as comfortable as possible. We have
only to compare an old third-class carriage with

































































OLD THIRD CLASS CARRIAGE.

one of the newest pattern to see the great difference.
The carriage itself is larger and roomier, the seats
and backs are padded, and there is an arrangement
of springs which lessens the jolting and vibration
caused by the rapid motion of the train.

On express trains there are also dining cars,
drawing-room cars, and sleeping cars for day and
night travelling. The most luxurious of all is the
Pullman car, which ig named after its inventor.
THE IRON HORSE. 73

This car is described as a ‘‘ palace on wheels,” and
certainly its thick carpets, soft cushions, and beau-
tiful furnishings leave nothing to be desired. The
free use of indiarubber, and the double shaving-
stuffed floors, make the motion easy, prevent
rattling, and deaden the sound of the wheels.

The train by which the Queen travels to Bal-
moral is said to be the safest train in the world.

Mr. Acworth, describing the railway accommoda-
tion at the disposal of the Queen and other royal
personages, in ‘‘ The Railways of England,” says,
‘““«The Queen’s train,’ 1t may be remarked, ‘‘is a
misnomer. ‘There is no such train. ‘Two saloons
there are, close-coupled, and connected by a gang-
way, that are reserved for Her Majesty’s exclusive
and personal use, which never leave Wolverton
except to carry her to or from Balmoral; but that
is all. The rest of the royal train is made up with
such saloons or other vehicles of the company’s
ordinary rolling stock as may on any particular
occasion be required. Nor are the royal saloons
themselves in any way very remarkable. One
thing to be noticed is that they are entered by a
folding carriage step, a survival, doubtless, from
the days when platforms were not yet of a uniform
and sufficient height. The floors are deeply
“74 THE IRON HORSE. _

carpeted, and the sides and roof thickly padded



NEW COMPOSITE CARRIAGE.

with quilted silk,
to deaden the noise
and vibration. of ~
the train, from _
which, as is well -
known, Her Ma-
jesty suffers. To
reduce this to a
minimum, she, by. -
her own desire, -

“travels to and.

from Scotland at:
a speed markedly
below that which.
the meanest of her
subjects can com- .

‘mand any evening

in the week for
the modest pay-
ment, of a good’
deal: less than: one —

penny per tile.

One of the saloons
is fitted as a bed-
room, the other as
THE IRON HORSE. 15

_4 sitting-room, and between the two is a lavatory,
whose basins and fittings in metal, chased and
gilt, deserve to be mentioned as real works of art.
These saloons are, it should be added, now more
than twenty years old.
“A pilot engine runs a quarter of an hour in front
of the train to make sure of a clear line. For half.
_ an hour before the train passes a signal box no
engine or vehicle is allowed on the section of. line
_under the signalman’s contrel. For half an hour ~
no train can cross that section of line, nor can
any shunting take place on the. lines adjoining it.
. And after the ‘train is ‘passed nothing is allowed
‘to follow for, a quarter of an hour. Further, on
_the lines alongside, no engines or.trains except
Passenger trains are allowed to travel between any
_ two signal- boxes, from the time the pilot is due
until the train is passed. Every station, and ~
crossing is guarded to keep trespassérs. off the line.
: All the facing points are ‘bolted, so that. the train
cannot run on the wrong ‘line; all level- crossing
gates, when there are no gatokeepers, are. locked
an hour before the train is.due; all along the line
platelayers are on the watch to keep the road clear,
and onthe’ train itself there are fitters, rae
and greasers alert for.ainy mishap.”
76 THE IRON HORSE.

An American visitor to England, on returning
home, gave high praise to our railroads. He said,
“The bridges, stations, and all parts of the road
are seemingly built for eternity.” This was a
great compliment to pay us, and we believe that it
is deserved. In no part of the world is railway
construction done as perfectly as in this country.
Our bridges and tunnels are certainly triumphs of
engineering.

In various parts of the country we have about
one hundred miles of tunnels, through mountains
and hills and under rivers and towns. ‘The longest
tunnel in Great Britain is that under the river
Severn. It is four and a half miles in length.
There are also two tunnels under the Thames and
one under the Mersey. The Stand Edge tunnel,
near Huddersfield, is a little over three miles in
length, and there are many others from one to two
niles. Nor must we forget the Underground Rail-
way, by means of which many parts of London
may be reached by train without passing through
the crowded streets of the city. The longest
tunnels in the world pass under the Alps. The
Mont Cenis tunnel is over seven miles in length,
and the St. Gothard is nearly ten miles.

Bridges and viaducts over rivers and valleys are
THE IRON HORSE. 77

numerous, and some of them are of considerable
size. The most famous in Great Britain are the
Tay Bridge, the longest, over two miles in length ;
the Forth Bridge, about a mile and a half in
length; and the Britannia Tubular Bridge, over
Menai Strait, about a quarter of a mile in length.
These bridges are built on different plans to suit
the requirements of their separate positions. The
Newcastle High Level Bridge, which crosses the
‘Tyne, has been called the “king of railway struc-
tures,” on account of the unusual difficulties which
had to be faced.

There are also mountain railways both at home
and abroad, by which travellers are able to ascend
to great heights without the labour of climbing.
One of these railways runs up Snowdon, another
ascends Mount Vesuvius, and there are several
among the Alps. Some of these railways are
worked by stationary engines, others have loco-
motives with a central toothed wheel which runs
on racked rails—that is, rails with teeth.

The highest points reached by railways are in
America. One line ascends Pike’s Peak in
Colorado, North America, to a height of 14,000
feet. The highest point reached by the locomotive
is on the wonderful railway in Peru, in South
78 THE IRON HORSE.

America, where heavy trains are drawn to a height
of 15,700 feet. ‘‘Seen from a distance,” writes a
traveller, ‘‘the train of cars appears like a great
serpent gliding along the face of the rocks. The
curves are so sharp that very frequently the train
is travelling on three or four of them at once.”

When building the line the labourers had to
face immense difficulties. In many places the
rocks were so steep as to render it necessary to
lower the workmen by ropes from benches or
shelves above in order that they might cut out
standing places from which to commence work.
In one place the engineers were conveyed across a
valley on wire ropes suspended some hundred feet
in the air, between two cliffs. In fifteen miles
there are twenty-two tunnels, and as the tunnel-
making went on every step was impeded by snow
water which found its way through the rocks from
above and often burst through seams and drove
the men from their work. The deadly nature of
the occupation may be understood from the fact
that over ten thousand men died during the
building of this line.

After all, though we do not possess the highest
railway in the world, we have at any rate the
steepest. This cliff railway ascends one thousand
THE IRON HORSE. 79

feet, and the gradient, or rise, is 1 in 13 through-
out. The rails are bolted into the solid rock. It
is between two villages of North Devon on the
Bristol Channel—Lynmouth, close to the sea, and
Lynton on the cliff above.





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A MOUNTAIN RAILWAY.

The most curious railway in the world is pro-
bably one in California, which is laid on tree tops.
Where the road crosses a deep ravine the trees are
sawn off on a level with the surrounding hills, and
the timbers and ties laid on the stumps. In the
80 THE IRON HORSE.

centre of the ravine two huge redwood trees, side
by side, form a substantial support. These giants
have been lopped off seventy-five feet above the
bed of the creek. This natural bridge is con-
sidered one of the wonders of the Golden State,
and for safety and security leaves nothing to be
desired.

In New York City there are overhead railways
which run along the main streets supported on
pillars, on a level with the first story windows of
the houses.
THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

p On, ITH three great snorts of strength,
Stretching my mighty length,
Like some long dragon stirring in his
sleep,
Out from the glare of gas
Into the night I pass
And plunge alone into the silence deep.





Little I know or care
What be the load I bear,
Why thus compell’d, I seek not to divine ;
At man’s command I stir,
I, his stern messenger !—
Does he his duty well as I do mine ?-

Straight on my silent road,
Flank’d by no man’s abode,

No foe I parley with, no friend I greet ;
On like a bolt I fly
Under the starry sky,

Scorning the current of the sluggish street.
6 si
82 THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

Onward from South to North,
Onward from Thames to Forth,
On—like a comet—on, unceasingly
Faster and faster yet
On—where far boughs of jet
Stretch their wild woof against the pearly sky.

Faster and faster still—
Dive I through rock and hill, ;
Starting the echoes with my shrill alarms ;
Swiftly I curve and bend ;
While, like an eager friend,
The distance runs to clasp me in its arms.

Ne’er from my path I swerve
Rattling around a curve -

Not vainly trusting to my trusty bars
On through the hollow night,
While, or to left or right,

A city glistens like a clump of stars.

On through the night I steer ;
Never a sound I hear
Save the strong beating of my steady stroke—
Save when the circling owl,
Hoots, or the screaming fowl,
Rise from the marshes like a sudden smoke.
THE NIGHT EXPRESS. 83

Now o’er a gulf I go:
Dark is the depth below,
Smites the slant beam the shoulder of the height—
Now through a lane of trees—
Past sleeping villages,
Their white walls whiter in the silver light.

Be the night foul or fair,
Little I reck or care,
Bandy with storms, and with tempests jest ;
Little I care or know,
What winds may rage or blow,
But charge the whirlwind with a dauntless breast.

Now—through the level plain,
While, like a mighty mane,
Stretches my endless breath in cloudy miles ;
Now—o’er a dull lagoon,
While the broad beaméd moon,
Lights up its sadness into sickly smiles.

O, ’tis a race sublime !
I, neck and neck with Time—
I, with my thews of iron and heart of fire—
Run without pause for breath,
While all the earth beneath
Shakes with the shocks of my tremendous ire!
84 “THE NIGHT EXPRESS.

On—till the race be won,
On—till the coming sun
Blinds moon and stars with his excessive light,
On—till the earth be green,
And the first lark be seen,
Shaking away with songs the dews of night.

Sudden my speed I slack—
Sudden all force I lack—

Without a struggle yield I up my breath ;
Numb’d are my thews of steel,
Wearily rolls each wheel,

My heart cools slowly to the sleep of death.

Why for so brief a length
Dower’d with such mighty strength ?
Man is my god—I seek not to divine ;
At his command I stir,
I, his stern messenger !—
Does he his duty well as I do mine ?
Cosmo Monkhouse.

(By permission of the Author.)
THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

a HE Times has received in its day many

L) letters on the subject of railways, but I
can venture to assert that it has never
before this received one from a corre-
spondent who dates his letter ‘‘ Edinburgh,
5.52 p.m.,” and can produce witnesses to
prove that he was seen 400 miles off no longer ago
than ten o’clock that morning.

To say that the run from London has been done
with ease in the advertised time would be to
understate the matter. In fact, it has been done
in a quarter of an hour less. We were seven
minutes too soon at Carlisle, and spent the time
in strolling about the platform, but this did not
prevent us from being again eight minutes too
soon at Hdinburgh.

I need not say that we left Huston punctually—
trains always do that at Euston. The engine was

surrounded by an admiring crowd, who almost
85

a

SSN

e



a

we
m
86 THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

raised a cheer as we steamed out, not that at start-
ing there was much worth cheering. Our engine,
a small single-wheeled one, could not get away
over fast up the steep incline over the greasy rails
to Camden, and for the first five miles and a half
we took 103 minutes. This would hardly do for a
train that had got to run at the rate of 53 miles
an hour to Crewe..

We reached Tring (312 miles) in 40 minutes ;
better, no doubt, but with only 54 minutes
available in which to cover 51 miles to Rugby.
But Tring is at the top of the climb up the
Chilterns, and from Tring we began to hurry a
little ; 15 minutes took us over the next 13 miles
to Bletchley, and by the time we were 20 miles
from Rugby we had got 25 minutes in hand in
which to cover the distance.

As we approached Rugby station, two minutes
in front of time, those who were in the secret were
in a pleasing state of excitement, for was it not
written in the working circular issued to the staff,
‘Stop for loco. purposes only”? But it was under-
stood that this stop would not be made without
necessity, and we were anxious to know if we
really were in for the longest run ever made, or
whether we were to halt after a beggarly 80 odd
THE RACK TO EDINBURGH. 87

miles, when down went the brakes, and down went
our hearts with them, but it was a false alarm.

We were only slackening down through the
platform points, and we sailed through the station
at some 15 or 20 miles an hour, while the drivers
of all the Rugby engines looked on approvingly.
As the hands pointed to noon we whizzed beneath
the clock on Tamworth platform, 110 miles from
Euston.

A few minutes later, at Colwich, we reckoned
that we had covered just 95 miles in the last 100
minutes. Passing Stafford we could pity the fate
of the luckless inhabitants of Birmingham, who,
through this last acceleration, had lost their con-
nection with the 10 o’clock, and were condemned
to travel by a slower train that took seven hours
over a mere 300 miles. They could console them-
selves by thinking that the Manchester passengers
are in the same boat, as they take 5} hours, and
the distance is only 220 miles.

A few minutes more and our feat had been
safely accomplished, as we ran into Crewe two
minutes before one, and the beautiful little
‘“Marmion’’ uncoupled and steamed off, to be
replaced by a larger and heavier engine, better
fitted for the heavier gradients between Wigan
88 THE RACE TO EDINBURGH.

and Carlisle. On the platform was the locomotive
superintendent of the company, looking not a little
satisfied at the performance, but in reply to con-
gratulations he only expressed his readiness to
run to Manchester without a stop next week. if
required.

From Crewe to Preston is 51 miles, and we had
got 60 minutes available in which to cover it, but
we had got a new driver, and he evidently thought
he had a right to take part in the race. As soon
as we had got into our stride he gave us a mile in
54 seconds. Not satisfied with this, a minute or
two later he brought the time down to 482 seconds.
This, which equals 74 miles an hour, is the fastest
I have ever timed a train, but the carriage was as
steady as a rock all the time. Indeed, this was the
case every mile of the road on the North-Western.

On the Caledonian the motion was not quite so
smooth, and we had one or two slight jerks, but I
have often been far worse shaken at 20 miles an
hour on London suburban railways. We left
Preston, after an interval of 24 minutes, at 2.18.
Remembering Shap, with its four miles of 1 in 75,
more than one experienced passenger refused to
believe that we should cover the 90 miles to
Carlisle in 105 minutes.
THE RACE TO EDINBURGH. 89

In fact we were there seven minutes before time,
having done the 90 miles in 98 minutes, and yet
we never seemed to go unduly fast. It must be
confessed that there were not many milestones the
further side of Shap summit that managed to keep
GO seconds apart from their neighbours. We
travelled 54, 52, 50%, &c., for mile after mile
with monotonous regularity.



After a leisurely 12 minutes’ conversation at
Carlisle we steamed out to the appointed moment
in charge of one of the last new Caledonian
engines. This engine, with a single 7-feet driving
wheel, was exhibited last year in the Edinburgh
Exhibition.

It would be tedious to describe the run more in
detail. Suffice it to say that we covered 1003
90 THE RACK TO EDINBURGH.

miles in 104 minutes, and. that ten of these
miles were up a gradient of 1 in 80. A
eradient of 1 in 80, it is calculated, means
that an engine has to do almost four times as
much work as on the level. However, up the
hill we went merrily, 40 miles an hour, till a signal
halfway up checked us and brought the speed
down to 30; but in the course of the next mile
or so it was back at 40, and the whole ten miles,
check and all, were covered in 14 minutes, a per-
formance that I shall believe to be unequalled till
I hear of a better one. Our train, I should say,
weighed about 80 tons.

As we ran round the Strawfrank curve outside
Carstairs we noticed a train, through from London
by the colour of its carriages, just coming out of
Carstairs station. It was the 7.15 a.m. from
London, under contract for the conveyance of Her
Majesty’s mails, which, though it left London 23
hours before us, was only due in Edinburgh at
5.50, which, in point of fact, followed us in at a
respectable distance.

School Newspaper.
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.



ok A: as I entered Euston pao ci rain
had ceased, to be sure, but the sky
was overcast, and the wind cold. On
oy reaching the main departure platform I
found it crowded. The ten o’clock Scotch
express was made up, and most of the seats already
taken, while I, attired in the oldest clothes I pos-
sessed, with peak cap on head and comforter round
my throat, had to elbow my way through the
crowd. The ordeal was at length over, and con-
scious that my strange appearance was claiming
the attention of more than one of the station
officials, I awaited the arrival of the engine.

At five minutes to ten the Mammoth slowly
backs into the station, her skin brilliant with
cleaning, her tender piled high with Welsh coal,
her steam up ready to fly away north. This mag-

nificent engine, one of the compound triple cylinder
91
92, A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

locomotives on: Mr. Webb’s system, was built this
year, and embodies everything that can tend to
the perfection of speed and safety combined. I am
now in a position to state this, having had an
ample opportunity of noting its wonderful powers.
I present my pass to the driver. He examined
it and me, and bade me step up. I look round
and note a multiplicity of handles. We are sur-:
rounded by them, of all sorts, shapes, and sizes—
wheels and rods, iron and brass, long and short.
The footplate is roomy enough, some eight feet by
four clear space, with a ledge on either side on
which one can sit down. The driver has his hand
on the regulator. The signal is given by the
guard. The lever is pushed over, and we are off.
Along the cutting, under the girders, up the
‘‘bank,’’ as I afterwards learn a gradient is called,
through Chalk I’arm station, we seem to glide.
The terrible jarring I had been led to expect had
not begun as yet. Perhaps it will start presently.
The motion is no worse than on an omnibus going
very fast. The noise is considerable, but I manage
to glean the sense of the few words the driver
occasionally shouts out. As we go on, the regu-
lator is hauled further over until it stands half-way
across, our speed increasing until we seem to be
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE. 93

skimming over the ground. This does not go on
long. As we approach Willesden the regulator is










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KU
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THE DRIVER.

pushed back again, and the brake put slightly on
by pulling another lever.
We have come the five-and-a-half miles in nine
94 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

minutes, but that is slow travelling for the Mam-
moth. We do not tarry long, but the few minutes’
quiet serve for me to learn the names of some of
the more important handles which have been
puzzling me. ‘The reversing gear, injectors,
dampers, and feeds are pointed out to me by the
driver. Our little chat serves as a capital intro-
duction, and by the time our three minutes are up
we are excellent friends. We get the signal, our
whistle sounds, and we are off to Rugby.

We are out of London. The train is now well on
its way, and the engine seems to rise to the occa-
sion, occasionally encouraged by the attention of
Hadfield, the driver. By the time we are through
Harrow the regulator is nearly right over, and we
are going fifty-five miles an hour. I have plenty
to do to watch my companions. Both the driver
and his mate are completely taken up with their
duties. The driver, steady and herculean in build,
stands on the left of the footplate. Huis gaze is
fixed on the circular window through which he
notes the signals ahead. His hands are on the
reversing gear wheel. Going through stations, his
hand generally finds its way to the regulator,
ready to shut off steam in case there is anything
wrong.
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE. 95

The fireman is meanwhile equally busy in
another way. livery few minutes he touches the


















—, eS SS SS
SSS

SS










THE FIREMAN,

driver, who, knowing the signal, opens the fire-box
lever, exposing the glowing flames within, and half
roasting our legs while the stoker shovels up some
96 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

coal, which he shoots in with the aim and regu-
larity of a finished marksman. Much coal is not
put on at a time; little and often is the rule, and
four or five shovelfuls are shot in every five
minutes, each shot being directed to a different
part of the fire-box, so as to keep the heat level,
and each lot of coal finding its billet with an
exactitude quite wonderful considering the motion.

Between the firings the steam is attended by
the ever-active fireman. The injectors are looked
to, the dampers adjusted, and the water feeds
turned, as frequent examinations of the steam-
gauge show to be needed. Besides these duties,
the fireman has to break up coal ready for the next
firing, to water it so as to retard too speedy com-
bustion, and to keep the footplate cool by water-
ing from the stand-pipe, by means of a flexible
hose. These numerous jobs fill up the time till
more coal is wanted, when the whole round is
again gone through.

We are now going fifty miles, and the motion is
certainly enlivening. Our speed causes a strong
wind, which, added to that blowing against us,
makes it a matter of extreme difficulty to hold my
hand out over the side. We are rounding the
curve leading to Watford, and very pretty the train
A RIDR ON AN ENGINE. 97

looks as I lean over the side in a gale of wind to
admire the spick and span appearance of our fifteen
coaches.

Just before running through Watford the driver
leaves his corner for the first time. We are near-
ing a watering-place. The water is in a con-
tinuous tank or reservoir, some half-mile long.
The tank lies in the centre of the way between the
rails, and is reached by a hollow scoop which is
pushed down into the water from the tender. The
fireman draws a bar out to release the treadle, the
driver stands on it, and we are in the midst of a
* gtorm of rain, the water being dashed up some feet
over the tender so as to wet us thoroughly in its
descent. The whole process lasts but a few
moments. The driver gets back to his place, the
whistle sounds, and we are in Watford tunnel.

The effect of the tunnel on the rider on the foot-
plate is curious and rather exciting. The noise is
deafening, and in intensity is fully equalled by the
darkness. All is pitch. I keep my eyes on the
window, steadying myself by the rail, as we are
going sharp and occasionally sway a little, and
presently discern a ray of light, which gradually
increases as we near the end, and finally emerge
into daylight. Thus, without hitch or hindrance,
ae 7
98 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

we race along until Tring is passed. From
London to Tring is all up bank, but thence to
Bletchley is down-hill.

The regulator is hard over now, and we rush
along full sixty miles in a style as exciting as it
is glorious. The sky, which has been overcast,
suddenly clears, the sun comes out, illuminating
the fields, where the reapers are beginning to
gather in the corn. The air is fresh and delicious.
Thus it is that we tear along—a mile a minute.
The endless round of the stoker’s duties is being
gone through as steadily as ever. He coals,
steams, waters, and keeps an eye on the train
behind. The driver remains at his post like a
statue. His eyes never leave the window, his
hands are always either on the regulator or re-
versing gear. The signals are all right for us, and
sO We spin away towards Rugby.

There were several other things which took me
by surprise on the Mammoth. The furious jolting
I had expected to experience was entirely absent.
Going round the sharp corners we swayed a good
deal, while the footplate was rarely quite steady ;
but the amount of motion was never excessive, and
hardly more than I have experienced on far slower
conveyances. The motion of a camel, the vibra-
A RIDE ON AN ENGINE. 99

tion of a torpedo boat, the average droschky of a
German watering-place—all these are far more un-
pleasant in their jolting than was the Mammoth
going over sixty miles an hour.

Another thing that puzzled me sorely was the
apparent rate of speed. We were going sixty
miles and more. ‘There could be no question
about that. To look out through the window we
appeared to be going about ten. Our motion was
so steady, and the beat so slow and regular, as to
give an entirely different impression to the actual
fact. I afterwards obtained a partial explanation
of this mystery. The triple cylinder engines give
only two beats for each revolution of the wheels,
instead of four. The effect of this steady beat, at
a much slower rate than the speed, is to steady
the locomotive, and apparently reduce the speed,
though, as a matter of fact, the engine is going
faster than the usual type of four-beat engine
could do.

We arrive at Rugby at 11.50. From here to
Crewe it is the same. The rushing motion, the
blowing of the wind, which now and again actually
sounds the whistle by stretching the communica-
tion cord, the perpetual firing, the taking up water,
the regular sound of the beats—all these so engross
100 A RIDE ON AN ENGINE.

my attention as to make the time fly as rapidly as
do the miles, and we are entering Crewe at 1.34,
punctual to the minute, long before I had had half
enough of my interesting ride.

School Newspaper.
“SNOWED-UP.”

G Dy Pm HE story of the adventures of the train
a zN from the North of Scotland, due at

eee Newcastle at half-past one on Tuesday





morning (1892)—snowed-up all night on
© Chevington Moor, and ultimately rescued

with difficulty—reads like some tale of the
hardships of shipwreck off a stormy and treacherous
coast.

Among the passengers was the Marquis of
T'weeddale and party, who bore the uncomfortable
incident wonderfully well; but many ladies and
children suffered severely, by shock to the nerves
and from hunger and exposure. The fine snow
penetrated through every chink and cranny into
the carriages, producing great misery. From the
business-like narrative of the driver of the train,
and from the personal experiences of passengers,
it is possible to construct a clear and sufficiently
exact account, a story full of excitement and

adventure.
101
102 “¢ SNOWED-UP.”’

The train took its departure from Edinburgh,
with all well on board, at ten minutes past five
on the afternoon of Monday last. It had come
from further north, and at the time mentioned
consisted of eleven fish-waggons and ten passenger
coaches. At Belton Junction they were two hours
late, and presently found the line blocked in front
of them; whereupon John Dodd, the driver,
detached his engine and went manfully to the
rescue, but failed in the attempt.

Proceeding backward, in the direction of his
train, which he had left stationary on the line,
Dodd got stuck in a drift, and there remained
all night, the snow coming up ‘nearly level with
the dome.” ‘Tt was an awful night,” says Dodd;
and he and the stoker remained without food until
the arrival of a compassionate signalman with a
parcel of provisions at seven o’clock next morning.
The poor fellow was not able to rejoin his train
until four o’clock on Wednesday. Fortunately
the men were able to keep up a small fire all the
time.

Meanwhile, the passengers by the now engine-
less express appear to have been worse off than
the driver and his mate. Brought suddenly to
a standstill, they were from the first kept in a












































































































































































































































































































































































SNOWED-UP.
104 “¢ SNOWED-UP.”’

state of suspense, some say for twenty-four, others
for forty-eight hours.

Taking up Dodd’s story, at Chevington Moor
the train appears to have become embedded so
firmly in the snow that two engines, which appear
to have been sent to the rescue, unknown to Dodd,
from a station in the rear, could not move it.
Nothing, therefore, remained to the passengers
but to stay where they were all night.

The country roads were utterly impassable, and
all signs of the railway metals had disappeared.
For miles the landscape stretched, east, west,
north, and south, a trackless desert of snow. On
the weather side the carriages were blocked up by
the drift to the middle of the windows; and soon
night came on, enshrouding these poor frost-bound
creatures in total darkness. They would have
given anything for only a few candles. As the
hours wore on, weak women fell into hysterics,
and even brave men almost despaired of being
extricated from that terrible position.

All were tired and hungry. At length, and after
a long search, a few daring spirits, wandering
from carriage to carriage, came upon some fisher-
girls possessed of a large box of herrings, which
they were conveying to friends at Scarborough.
“¢ SNOWED-UP.”’ 105

Next a couple of loaves rewarded the foragers,
who likewise found ‘‘a few delicacies,” extracted
without leave from hampers “ in transit by parcels
post.” Fish and bread, together with a few rabbits
—traced in the snow—were duly concocted into
a stew by the cook of the Pullman car, and the
one hundred passengers made a meal as best they
could under the disastrous circumstances.

After a tedious and dreadful night, morning
broke ; and, to reward their patience, the salvage
train came alongside in “a blinding storm of
show and wind.” The troubles of these unhappy
travellers, however, were not yet over.

The second train also stuck fast for a time,
and it was not without many adventures that
they reached Acklington Station, and as much
comfort as a country inn would be likely to
afford with seventy train-wrecked people huddled
into four rooms and a couple of kitchens.
After the rescue the deserted train continued
another day snowed-up, before it was dug bodily
out. Somewhat similar, if less romantic and
dangerous, experiences reach us from other quar-
ters, all testifying to the violence and severity
of the later snowstorms.

Daily Telegraph.














VE is a wizard!.” said the people of
AS H Redruth in Cornwall, when, about a
iS ui ~~, hundred years ago, they spoke of William
Murdoch, a Scottish engineer, who lived
Zo among them. A wizard! because he carried
a light to lighten his nightly walks? Nay,
that of itself was no unusual thing. All who could
afford to do so, did likewise, for in those days
no street lamps shed their friendly rays on the
darkened earth.
It was not the fact that Murdoch carried a light
that troubled his neighbours, but the means by
which he obtained his light. To them-the source

of that light was unknown, and therefore they
106



GAS. 107

regarded the bearer of it as the possessor of
magical powers, by means of which he could
perform strange and wonderful things.

A torch or a tallow candle enclosed in a lantern,
lighted the good people of Redruth through the
dark streets, but this Scottish engineer had
neither. He carried a bladder under his arm,
having a pipe attached to it, from the end of
which there was seen a light. To the startled
people, whom Murdoch met in his evening walks,
it would seem as if he carried a bag of fire, and
unable to understand from whence the light came,
they called the author of it a wizard.

But Murdoch did not stop when he had lighted
his own path. Without the aid of candles or lamps
he lit up his house, his office, and several large
works. Then people gave him another name;
instead of a wizard they called him an inventor.
That power, which they had regarded as magic, they
now said was the result of thought and hard work.

The bladder which filled Murdoch’s Cornish
neighbours with wonder contained coal gas. Not
that the Scotsman had been the first to make this
useful article, but to him the honour was due of
discovering how to use gas in the lighting of
houses, shops, and streets.
108 GAS.

But the oil lamps and the candles, which had
done good service long before gas was discovered,
or when the use of it was unknown, were not
easily displaced. A Gas Company, formed in
London in 1809, did not meet with much favour
from the general public or from learned men.

Sir Humphry Davy, one of the foremost men
of the time, and the inventor of the miner’s safety
lamp, regarded the lighting of a town with gas as
a most ridiculous idea, and scornfully asked if
the Gas Company intended to take the dome of
St. Paul’s Cathedral for a gasholder.

In spite of this, however, the new gas company
struggled on, and supplied many houses and shops
for nothing, to entice the public to regard the new
light with favour. The insurance companies raised
many objections, and the government gave much
trouble. People were afraid that the gasholders
or gasometers would explode, and so the com-
panies were compelled to enclose them in strong
buildings.

In those days the nature of gas was not under-
stood. People regarded it much as they do gun-
powder, and thought that only mischief could
follow the storing of a large quantity. They did
not know that if a light is put inside a gasholder
GAS. 109

it will at once go out. Gas by itself will neither
burn nor explode. It must first come in contact
with common air.

They also thought that buildings through which
gas-pipes were laid were in danger of taking fire.
When gas was first introduced into the House of



PUTTING ON COAL.

Commons, members were seen touching the pipes
with gloved hands, expecting to find them heated
by the gas which passed through them.

Gas is now used in all parts of the country, and
until a few years ago it was the brightest light at
our command to light up our houses and shops
110 GAS.

and streets. Recently the electric light has taken
the place of gas in some places, for street lighting
and for public works and other large buildings.
It is brighter, cooler, and cleaner than gas, but it
costs more.

How is gas made? In such a simple manner
that you may make some for yourself. Coal con-
tains gas. Get a common clay tobacco pipe.
Fill the bowl about three parts full of pounded
coal. Cover the top of the bowl with clay. When
the clay has become hard put the bowl of the pipe
into the fire or hold it over a lamp. In a little
while smoke will issue from the stem of the pipe.
Apply a light to this and it will burn with a bright
flame. The smoke is coal gas, and if you remove
the clay some cinder or coke will be found in the
bowl of the pipe.

The gas in common use is made in this way by
heating coal, only tobacco-pipes are not used. At
gas-works the coal is heated in large air-tight brick
or iron ovens called retorts. When coal is burned
in the open air we get from it smoke, flame, and
ashes. When it is burned in a retort we obtain
not only coal gas, but also other substances.

The retort is nothing but a long round vessel
like a large pipe, from six to eight feet long, and
GAS. 111

about eighteen inches in breadth. It is closed at
one end and open at the other. It has a closely
fitting door and a pipe fixed at the top for the
purpose of carrying off the gas as it is made.
The first thing to be done is to separate the gas
from the coke. By means of a furnace placed



DRAWING OUT THE COKE.

underneath the retort it is heated until it is red
hot. Then the door is opened, and coal, broken
into small pieces, is quickly put in and the door
securely closed. The heat drives off the gas, which
passes through the exit pipe, leaving behind the
coke.

The gas is then made pure and passed into the
112 GAS.

gasholder or gasometer. This is a large iron vessel
in shape like a huge cheese, and often of an im-
mense size. It is open at the bottom and stands
in a huge tank of water, and so hung with chains
and weights that it will float and rise as the gas
collects in it. As coal gas is lighter than common
air, and therefore much lighter than water, the
gasometer rises as it fills, and falls when the gas
is drawn off for use. Because it is so light coal
gas is used in balloons.

Large pipes lead from the gasometer, under-
ground, where it is needed. At the spot where
it enters our houses and shops it is caused to pass
through a small box called a meter, which measures
and keeps an account of the gas that is used. In
this way those who supply the gas can tell how
much has been burned, and we pay for it at the
rate of so much per thousand feet. Five feet of
gas will give one good light for an hour—a light
equal to that which would be given off by about
twenty candles—at the cost of less than a farthing
per hour.

When the gas leaves the meter it is conducted
all over the building by means of small pipes.
Gas brackets and chandeliers, which are con-
structed to give one or more lights according to
GAS. 113

the size of the room to be lighted, are attached
to the walls or suspended from the ceiling. The
pipes pass through the brackets and chandeliers,
and at the ends of the pipes burners are fixed.
They are of various kinds. The best burners are
so constructed as to prevent the escape of unburnt
gas, and to give the best light that can be obtained
from the amount of gas used.

Besides being our chief source of light at the
present time, coal gas is often used for heating
purposes—to warm rooms, in various manufac-
tures, and for cooking. It is cleaner than a coal
fire, thoroughly under command, and it may be
lighted or put out at a moment’s notice.

When gas escapes and collects in any closed-in
place, where it mixes with common air, as in a
room or cupboard, it should not be approached
with a light, or an explosion may be the result.
We know something of the tremendous force it
exerts when we see it wreck buildings and destroy
life. But this tremendous power has now been
turned to a useful purpose, and gas engines,
requiring neither fire, boiler, nor steam, are driven
by a series of explosions of a mixture of gas and
alr,

From the waste product, which is separated

8
114 GAS.

from the gas in making it pure, we get an article
called ammonia, which is used in medicine, and
coal tar, a substance once regarded as so dirty and
useless that it was destroyed as soon as possible,
but now known to be a perfect mine of wealth.

From coal tar we get a spirit called naphtha, used
to burn in lamps and for other purposes; benzoline,
a substance used for removing grease from cloth,
kid gloves, and other articles of clothing; aniline,
from which are produced the beautiful colours
known as matve, magenta, rosaline, and a variety
of shades of blue, violet, green, orange, and crim-
son; and last of all a black solid substance called
asphalt.

It is only in recent years that justice has been
done to the memory of the inventor of gas-lighting.
In 1892, Lord Kelvin unveiled in the Hall of Heroes,
in the Wallace Monument at Stirling, a marble
bust of William Murdoch. His lordship said that
Murdoch was one of Scotland’s greatest sons, and
was certainly next to the immortal Burns, Ayr-
shiré’s greatest son, and it was a curious coincidence
that he and Burns were born within a short distance
of each other, and within a few. years of each other.

Having unveiled the monument amid loud cheers,
Lord Kelvin said they saw before them the bust of
GAS. 115

William Murdoch in the befitting company of Sir
Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, and James Watt.

After referring to Murdoch’s birthplace and his
acquaintance with James Watt, Lord Kelvin said
that it was in observing the properties of the rich
gas of the country, the sputtering of gas from a
lump of coal, that Murdoch developed gas lighting,
and he believed that his first experiments were
made with a teapot which he borrowed from his
mother. Murdoch’s enthusiasm, however, met
with a great deal of cold water, and he was afraid
he must confess that even James Watt himself
threw cold water on Murdoch’s idea of applying
eas for lighting.

But Murdoch was something more than the
inventor of gas-lighting. When at school he made
a wooden horse on which he and his brother rode
to and from school. That was the beginning of
that useful article, the tricycle, which, no doubt,
led to the bringing forward of the bicycle and to the
development of the large industry now connected
with it. Murdoch invented the locomotive engine,
and used to ride from pit to pit upon his road
engine, and it seemed to be very much on account
of the cold water that was thrown upon him that
he did not anticipate, by at least twenty or thirty
116 GAS.

years, George Stephenson in the great work which
he did.

At the age of forty-four he was working for £50
a year. He had several times the offer of £500 a
year, but he refused it. After that he thought of
starting in business on hisown account, and instantly
his salary was advanced to £1,000 a year. He
patented a process for the recovery of coal tar
colours and other substances from coal, but it was
so much before the time that he never made any
money by it. He was also the inventor of what is
known as iron cement.

In the early days of gas-lighting Murdoch
employed a thimble for a burner, and his lord-
ship, though no one he had spoken to remembered
it, had a recollection that when he was young the
gas-burner used to be called ‘the thimble.”
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?

OME of the most famous inventions of
modern times, and certainly those which
strike the ordinary mind as the most
\ wonderful and mysterious, are connected
@ with electricity. The word itself is in con-
stant use, and the force known by this name
is applied in a variety of ways to do the same work
as steam, yet, strange to say, though studied for
hundreds of years, our knowledge of its nature and
power is very limited.

In fact, most learned men who have spent their
lives in making experiments are unable to give us
a simple definition of this wonder-working power.
They can tell us where it can be found, and they
know how to use it, but they cannot explain what
it really is.

Thales, an old Greek philosopher, who lived
upwards of two thousand years ago, is said to

have discovered that when a piece of amber is
117


118 WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ?

rubbed with silk it will attract or draw towards
itself like bodies, such as bits of dry paper or
leaves, but why it does so is not known.

Dr. Gilbert, of Colchester, published a book in
1600 in which he gave all the facts then known
about magnetism and electricity. He discovered
that other things besides amber, such as sealing-
wax, glass, and sulphur, will, when rubbed, attract
other bodies. He was the first to describe this
force under the name of electricity. It is derived
from ‘‘ elektron,”’ the Greek word for amber.

A variety of experiments made by different
persons from time to time added to Giulbert’s
statement. It was found that a sulphur ball when
rubbed would at first attract ight substances and
afterwards repel them, although he did not know
the reason of this. Then it was found that amber
or glass rubbed with flannel would produce light,
and that the same result would follow if two lumps
of sugar were rubbed together, and that many
other substances had the same property.

After this it was also discovered that all elec-
trical substances when rubbed will also become
luminous or give out light by friction. An illus-
tration of this is seen when we stroke a cat’s back
in cold weather. We hear a snapping sound and
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ? 119

feel a tingle in our fingers, and if it is done in the
dark we see sparks: this is because the rubbing
wakes up the electricity in the cat’s fur and in the
hand. It shows that there is electricity in us as
well as in the cat.

The next important discovery made in connec-
tion with electricity was that it would pass from
one body to another, but not always. It moves
over some things very freely, and over other things
with great difficulty or scarcely at all. Thus cer-
tain bodies which will receive electricity from other
bodies are called conductors, while on the other
hand those bodies which will not receive it are
called non-conductors. It is on this discovery
that many of the practical uses of electricity are
based.

Then another important fact was brought to
light. It was found that there are two kinds of
electricity existing in the same bodies, that the
rubbing simply separates them, and that one kind
is never produced without the other. These two
kinds are called positive electricity and negative
electricity.

The usual way of producing electricity is by
means of an electrical machine which is made for
that purpose. This machine consists of the body
120 WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ?

which is rubbed, usually a glass cylinder; the
rubber, generally a leather cushion stuffed with
hair, and the prime conductor on which the
electricity is collected and kept.

This electricity can be stored in what is called
a Leyden jar. It received this name because the
first one was made at Leyden in Holland. It is
a glass jar coated outside and inside with tinfoil,
excepting a small part at the top. A brass rod
with a knob at the end goes through the cork and
- down into the jar until it touches the inside coating
of tinfoil. The jar is charged with electricity by
placing the knob about half an inch from the
conductor of the machine, when sparks will pass
from the conductor to the knob of the jar. The
electricity is kept from escaping by the attraction
of the opposite electricity on the outer coating of
the jar, the two being separated by the non-con-
ducting jar itself.

Now, if the two coatings are connected by a
conductor, the two electricities will rush together
and the jar will discharge its contents. This will
be seen if one hand is placed on the outside coating
and the other brought near the brass knob on the
top of the jar. The charge will then pass through
the body, and a painful shock, chiefly at the wrists,
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ? 121

elbows, and across the chest, will be felt. This,
which is called an electric shock, is really the
same as a slight stroke of lightning.

Once, while making experiments, a Dutchman
received an electric shock which caused him
considerable alarm. In fact, he said that he
would not undergo the experience again for the
crown of France. After the first fear had passed
away and the operator had obtained a greater
control over the machine, it became quite the
fashion for people to take an electric shock just
for the novelty of the thing, and the Heyden jar
became a popular plaything.

A number of persons, by holding each other’s
hands, can take a shock at the same time, pro-
vided the person at one end of the line puts one
of his hands on the outside of the jar, and the
person at the other end touches the knob at the
top of the jar. Then the shock will pass
through the bodies of all the persons at the
same time.

If we put together a number of Leyden jars, and
join their knobs with wire so that they can all be
discharged at once, we form what is called an
electrical battery. Such a battery, however, must
be carefully used, as there is enough electricity in
122 WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ?

one to kill a person as quickly and in the same
way as if struck by lightning.

When electricity flows along a conductor,
though quietly and unseen, it is called an electric
current, which flows over thousands of miles of
wire as quickly as a flash of lightning, and it is
by using electric currents that we are able to
telegraph to the most distant parts of the world.
The currents, used in telegraphing, are obtained
from a kind of battery first made by an Italian
named Volta, and therefore called the Voltaic
battery.

We have several times spoken of lightning, and
it may not be generally known that electricity and
lightning are the same thing. This discovery was
made by Benjamin Franklin, an American, who
was anxious to find out what electricity was. He
also attempted to find out the reason why there
existed conductors and non-conductors, or why
some bodies would allow the electricity to pass
through them and others would not.

After many careful and interesting experiments
he was led to the belief that electricity was not
created or produced either by friction or any other
process whatsoever, but that it was present every-
where, and that everybody contained some quantity
WHAT IS ELECTRICITY ? 123

of this mysterious force, though what its nature
was and how great its power no one could decide.

The discovery which made Franklin’s name
famous in the history of science resulted from the
simple experiment of drawing the lightning from
the clouds by means of a silk kite, to which was
attached a pointed wire. The experiment was
tried in an open field during a heavy thunder-
shower, Franklin standing under an open shed
which afforded him shelter from the rain.

He first noticed that the fibres of the kite string,
which he held in his hand, were separating as in
the passage of the electric current, and by means
of a small metal key attached to the cord he
obtained the electric spark and the shock and
charged a Leyden jar, as well as performing other
electrical experiments.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

OL eX IR HUMPHRY DAVY, the inventor of
lx the miner’s safety lamp, was the first to
(ape call the attention of the world to the fact
gy” that light could be produced by means of
@ an electric current. This discovery was not

put to any practical use, because its produc-
tion was beset with so many difficulties. In fact
it was seen from the beginning, that unless some
means were devised of producing the electric
current on a large scale, that the electric light
would be too costly for general use.

To understand how light is produced by
electricity we must remember that light is
generally produced by raising a body to a high
temperature and the heat made sufficiently great
to give out rays called a flame. There are various
ways of heating bodies, one of which is by forcing
a strong current of electricity to pass through it.

The energy expended in this process takes the
124





NS


THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 125

form of heat. The plan is to send the electric
current along two wires, one of which is positive
and the other negative: these wires meet at the
point where the light is required. If the wires
were joined—that is, were continuous and of the
same thickness throughout—there would be no
light. ‘This, however, is not the case; they are
either brought within an inch of each other with-
out touching, or they are joined by means of some
kind of thin thread or thinner wire. What is the
result ? As soon as the electric current comes to
the place where it is interrupted, it either leaps
across the gap between the two ends, or forces its
way along the thin thread or wire which unites
them. In doing this the energy put forth to
accomplish it produces the bright white heat
which is known as the electric light.

The arc light is produced by keeping the ends
of the two wires separate. At the end of each
wire is attached a stick of carbon, and the electric
current leaps from carbon point to carbon point,
becomes white with heat, and the space between
them is filled by a kind of flame or clouds of
particles of white-hot carbon.

The carbon is usually made of powdered coke.
This is formed into a paste and baked hard. The
126

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

light is very intense, and the electric current
breaks off minute grains from one point and

CARBON POINTS.



carries them to the other. In
this way one carbon point be-
comes more pointed, and the
other carbon point forms a
hollow at the end like a cup.
It will therefore be seen that
the change which takes place
in the carbon points gradually
widens the distance, and the are
of light lengthens accordingly.
It is therefore necessary to
push the points forward from
time to time that the proper
distance between them may be
maintained. If this is not done,
the light will go out, as the
current will not continue to pass
from point to point. Some de-
vice is therefore needed to keep
the carbon points in arc lamps
the right distance. This makes
the system more costly. There

is also another objection to it. The brilliance of
the light is also too great for small rooms.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 127

Edison, who had for some time been busy with
numerous inventions, all connected with electricity,
invented a new lamp for the electric light in 1879.
His plan was not to leave the two ends of the
wires apart and use carbon points, but to join them



INCANDESCENT LAMP.

by means of thinner wire or some kind of filament
or threadlike substance, which would not be easily
consumed. The filament he enclosed inside a
small glass globe, from which as much air as pos-
sible had been exhausted.
128 THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

The chief difficulty was to find a material of
which to make the filament. The substances first
tried were not a success. The heat was too great
for them, and though they burned for a time they
were at length consumed. In 1881 Edison made
a lamp which burned continuously day and night
for sixty days. This was the first incandescent
lamp—‘ incandescent’? means to burn with a white
or glowing heat.

The reason the thin thread or filament burned
so much longer than the carbon, without being
consumed, was because the filament was enclosed
in the air-tight glass globe. There being so little
oxygen present the filament is not burned up,
though it slowly undergoes a change, which at last
causes it to break. Then a new one is required to
continue the light.

The incandescent light was shown at the Paris
Electrical Exposition, and the inventor was
awarded five gold medals and a diploma of honour.
This was the highest honour the Congress could
confer on him. In 1892 the Prince of Wales pre-
sented Hdison with the medal of the Society of
Arts. As president, the Prince wrote to the in-
ventor saying, ‘It is a source of satisfaction to me
that the last name on this distinguished list should
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 129

be that of one who has done so much for the
advancement of science as yourself.”

It was soon seen that the incandescent lamp is
the most suitable for ordinary use, and especially
for indoors. While sufficiently brilliant to make it
superior to gas as an illumination, it is softer and
mellower than the arc light. It is also more
regular and can be more easily controlled.

In a short time the demand for incandescent
lamps was so great that it could not be supplied,
and in 1891 it is said that more than a million
were in use. Further, the principle had been
applied in a variety of forms, where the arc hght
would scarcely have served at all. Generally the
arc light is used out of doors and in lighthouses,
where a very powerful light is of the first impor-
tance.

The streets of some of our large towns, railway
stations, public works, and a great many places of
business are lighted by electricity; it is also used
in all our battle-ships and larger merchantmen.
The light in some of our lighthouses is very power-
ful, and is equal to that produced by millions of
candles. The search light is one of the most
powerful forms of the electric light, and is of im-
mense service at sea. By its means a given area

9
130 THE ELECTRIC LIGHT.

can be lighted up, and everything on the surface of
the water disclosed to view within the range of its
power. Instantaneous photographs can also be
taken in a moment.

Electric lamps can be charged and carried about
as easily and much more safely than candles or oil
lamps. They require no matches to light them,
and there is no oil to spill or candle grease to drop
about. Small lamps of this kind are fixed in rail-
way carriages, and may be used by passengers on
payment of a penny. ‘Ticket collectors also find
them exceedingly useful and much nicer to handle
than the cumbrous oil smelling lamps.

In fact it is quite impossible to mention the
numerous forms in which the electric light now
renders good service. It has even been adapted to
light the miner at his dangerous calling, so that
with his new safety lamp he may not work in fear
of being suddenly blown into eternity.

Perhaps the most remarkable purpose to which
the electric light has been recently put, is that of
lighting up the interior of the human body so that
a doctor may see inside his patient. This is done
by means of a small glass bulb in which is con-
tained an incandescent lamp. The lamp is passed
into the patient’s stomach, the electric current is
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. 131

turned on and the doctor is then able to see
through the front wall of the body. Further, by
means of a strong electric light, it is also possible
to photograph parts of the body, so as to show the
bones and the internal organs. The value of this
to medical men is very great, and will no doubt be
instrumental in saving the performance of un-
necessary operations, and assisting the doctor
when it is required to discover the hidden cause
of various ailments.






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VG ON exhibited on hills and headlands served
Was o) in ancient times to give warning of





es ~ danger, or to announce tidings of joy.
gs Signals so simple in their character were

not capable of much variety of expression,
but even beacon lights might be made to indicate
different kinds of news.

Signalling by means of semaphores was one of
132
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 133

the best forms of quickly conveying news about
one hundred years ago. They were invented by an
Englishman, though first regularly used in France.
They consisted of towers built on elevated places
at five to ten miles-apart. On the top of each
tower was the apparatus by which signals were
made from one station to another. The apparatus
or semaphore consisted of an upright post like a
mast, with two arms very similar to those on
railway signals. The arms were worked from
within the tower, and watchmen, through tele-
scopes, were constantly on the alert for signals.

These ‘ sight telegraphs,’ as we may call them,
were only effective in daylight and in clear
weather. During the Peninsular War a dispatch
was received in London by this means of com-
munication. The message caused great conster-
nation, and the English Government was very
much concerned to learn the extent of the sup-
posed disaster, which had just been communicated
to them.

The message as received from Portsmouth was
brief but expressive. It was ‘“‘ Lord Wellington
defeated.”’ Before there was time to take any
steps in the matter another message came, which
ran as follows: ‘‘ Lord Wellington defeated the
134 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

French,” &c.. It seems that a fog had come on
suddenly and interrupted the communication.
This, and other like instances, showed that some
better means was wanted, by which important
information could be quickly conveyed.

The idea of using the electric current for con-
veying signals occurred to several persons a long
time before it was put into practice. It is said
that Galileo, the great astronomer, spoke of a
secret art by which, through the sympathy of
magnetic needles, it would be possible to converse
at great distances. Then, one hundred years later,
Morrison, a Scottish doctor, wrote about an expe-
ditious method of conveying intelligence from one
place to another by means of electric power.

Another hundred years passed away, and we
find Wheatstone and Cooke at work, endeavouring
to perfect an instrument for this purpose. Cooke,
who had been an officer in India, and had returned
to recruit his health, was studying in Germany,
when, while witnessing some experiments, he
noticed a current of electricity passed through a
long wire set a magnetic needle at the end quiver-
ing under its influence.

This experiment caused him to think that it
might be possible to use electricity for telegraphic
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 135

purposes; he therefore devoted himself entirely to
the task, and in a few weeks he had constructed a
telegraph with several wires, by which a number
of signals could be conveyed. He then came to
London and endeavoured to persuade the directors
of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, then in
its infancy, to adopt his telegraph.

He found, however, that he was unable to over-

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come the difficulty of sending to a distance suffi-
cient electric power to work the magnet on which
its action depended. This caused him to have an
interview, in 1837, with Professor Wheatstone of
King’s College, London, who had already made a
number of experiments in the same direction.
Wheatstone had discovered the rate at which
the electric current travels, and had found that
while it only moved at the rate of about 15,000
136 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

miles a second through an iron wire, the speed
through a copper wire was 200,000 miles a second.
He had also laid down several miles of wire, and
had discovered how to send the greatest number of
signals over a limited number of wires.

Both Cooke and Wheatstone had knowledge
which the other one did not possess, and therefore
they eagerly formed a partnership, and the same
year—that is, in 1837—they patented a telegraph
with five wires and five needles. The new inven-
tion was tested between Euston Square and Cam-
den Town, in the presence of a number of gentlemen
who were interested in it, and it proved a complete
success.

America, however, claims the honour of the
invention of the electric telegraph for Samuel
Morse, who, during a voyage to New York, con-
ceived the idea which he vainly attempted to -
patent in England in 1837. There is no doubt
that Morse, if not the actual or prior inventor, is
entitled to equal credit with Wheatstone and
Cooke. What they did for the Old World he did
for the New. Further, the Morse system has been
found the most suitable for general work, and is of
world-wide use.

The word telegraph means ‘“ far writer,” and
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 137

therefore it is a general name for any means of
conveying intelligence other than by a spoken
message. It has, however, now come to be under-
stood as referring to the sending of messages along
wires by means of electricity.

A telegraph may be said to consist of three
separate parts—a battery to generate the elec-
tricity; wires by which the electric current is
carried to a distance, and an instrument which
records the signs, which are used instead of the
letters of the alphabet. The farther a message
has to be conveyed, the stronger must the battery
be for the purpose.

Telegraph wires are in this country generally
stretched upon high poles. In order to prevent
the electricity from escaping, or from running
down the poles to the earth, which would happen
if the wire touched the poles, the wire is fastened
to glass knobs, glass being a non-conductor. Thus
the electricity, being kept to the wire, will flow
freely from one place to another. We must, how-
ever, remember that the wires will have to be
connected with a battery to make the current flow.
Further, the two ends of the wires must be brought
together.

If we construct a telegraph between London and
138 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

Liverpool, we can send a message between the two
places on a wire which has one end at London
and the other end at Liverpool. How then, you
ask, is the circuit completed, so that the electric
current may flow round and round? Is it not
necessary to have another wire between the two
places? Men thought so at one time, but now we
know that if the two ends of the wire are put down
into the ground the earth itself will carry the
current back just as well, if not better, than a
second wire.

The current must flow freely or we cannot tele-
graph. It is by stopping the current quickly, and
then letting it flow again, that we are able to make
signals. When the flow of electricity round a
circuit 1s stopped, the circuit is said to be broken,
and when it is allowed to go on again it is said to
be closed. The circuit is broken and closed by
means of an instrument called a key, which is
made a part of the electric circuit. And the dots
and dashes by means of which nearly all telegraph
signalling is conducted, are made by closing and
breaking the circuit.

In our post-offices and railway stations the
single needle telegraphic instrument is commonly
used. It is the cheapest to make and to maintain,
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 139

but the utmost speed that messages can be sent by
it is, at the rate of about thirty-five words a minute.
The instrument is worked by moving a handle to
the right and to the left, and special skill is needed
to work it slowly. Speed, however, can only be
obtained by long practice.

The Sounder instrument is much quicker, and
on it no visible signal is made. The message is



THE TELEGRAPH CLOCK.

read from a succession of sounds. Fach signal
consists of two taps or ticks with a longer or
shorter interval of silence between the two sounds.
Thus a short and a long signal are shown on paper
as a dot and a dash. .

By this method a skilled operator can read the
instrument faster than he can write down what he
hears, so that the limit of speed is the rate at
which a man can write. The sender of a message
140 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

does not work a handle, but simply taps the tele-
graph key, taking care to distinguish between the
length of the sounds.

By an ingenious instrument the dots and dashes
of which a message consists are written in ink on
a slip of paper at the office where the message is
received. In the General Post Office narrow slips
of pale green paper may be seen slowly unwinding
from an instrument which looks something like a
sewing-machine. If one of these strips is examined,



















it will be found to contain a series of long and short
strokes in black ink, and as the strips can be cut
up and given to several persons to write out in
long hand, the limit of speed is that of the sender
not the receiver.

There is, however, another system contrived by
Professor Wheatstone, by which the insertion of a
strip of paper at one end of the line prints the
characters in the way already described at the
other. In this method the strip of paper is
punched with holes to represent the characters,
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 141

and these holes affect the electric current in such
a way, that dots and dashes are produced at the
other end of the line.

It is by this means that messages can be sent at
the astonishing rate of over four hundred words a
minute. So that a speech made in one part of the













THE TRANSMITTER.

country can be read in the newspapers in another
part within a few hours of its delivery. Press or
newspaper messages are sent at a much cheaper
rate than private messages, and some newspapers
have the entire use of special wires between certain
points during the evening and night.
149 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

When the telegraph was first invented, only one
message was sent at a time over one wire. ‘This,
however, was not sufficient to meet the demands
of the system. To remedy this defect Edison
invented a plan by means of which four separate
messages could be sent, two in each direction, over





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THE PERFORATOR,

a single wire at the same time. Tven this, how-
ever, has been improved upon, and an instrument
has been invented by which six messages may
travel at the same time.

A visitor to the General Post Office, London,
may see some strange and wonderful sights.
Standing in the battery room, one can scarcely
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 143

believe that the chemical process, which is taking
place in the immense nuinber of jars on the miles
of shelves, is enabling men who live hundreds of
miles apart to communicate with each other.
From the battery room, wires are conducted to
the switch-board, in the instrument-room, and
from thence to the instruments themselves. ‘ We
have all heard,” says a visitor, ‘the click-click of
a telegraph instrument in a railway station or post-
office. Imagine five miles of such instruments,

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and 1,400 telegraphists at work at once. Looking
along the galleries we see rows of broad writing-
tables, at which men and women sit face to face
separated by their instruments and generally by a
glass screen, above which are shaded lamps and
trays to hold telegraph forms. The vista is end-
less, for the galleries run round the four sides of
the building and across its centre, light being
adimitted on the inner sides by means of small
quadrangles, and the building covers very nearly
an acre of ground. Lately an additional story has
144 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

been added to the building, and over this also
the telegraphists and their instruments have
flowed.”

In the General Post Office, which is the largest
telegraph-office in the world, there are between
two and three thousand telegraphists, of whom
several hundred are women. Five out of every
eight messages which are sent over the post-office
wires, pass through the General Post Office, and
these amount to more than thirty millions of
messages during the year. 3

In the British Isles there are altogether between
seven and eight thousand offices, from which
telegrams may be sent, and not less than 200,000
miles of wires. Between London and Paris there
are more telegraphic wires than between the
French capital and any town in France or any
town on the Continent. While twelve wires
connect London and Paris, there are only four
from that city to Berlin, and two to Brussels.

At the present time there are fourteen cables
crossing the Atlantic. A message of not more
than twelve words is charged sixpence to any part
of the British Isles, but a message to Canada or
the United States of America costs from one
shilling to one shilling and ninepence per word.
i

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FOUR MESSAGES OVER ONE WIRE.
146 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

To Central America the charge is 5s. 3d. per word,
and to Brazil from 6s. 2d. to £1 8s. 10d.

Submarine, or under the sea, cables are made
by enclosing copper wire in a coating of gutta
percha. The Atlantic cable consists of seven thin
copper wires twisted together and encased in gutta
percha. It is then coated with tarred hemp, and
is protected outside by an iron wire rope, composed
of strands of fine wire. The gutta percha, being a
good non-conductor, the wires are completely in-
sulated, and the iron wire gives the cable strength,
and weight to sink to the bottom of the sea. The
best work done by the Great Hastern, during -her
unfortunate career, was the laying of the Atlantic
cable in 1865-6, which up to that time had been a
failure. .

A message sent by land is called a telegram and
by sea a cablegram. Within our own country we
usually expect a reply to a telegram in a short
time, provided always that there is no delay on the
part of the receiver of the message. A cablegram,
however, cannot be dealt with quite as quickly.
It must be remembered that a message from
London to New York has to change at Penzance
to the Atlantic cable, and another change at
Canso, Nova Scotia, to the New York wire.
THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH. 147

Then, of course, there is the time of delivery, &.
urther, at certain times and under certain con-
ditions there is delay resulting from the over-
crowding of the wires.

Recently there was a good illustration of the
speed which can be attained over long distances,
when the wires are free and the operators waiting
to receive the message. From a meeting held in



















































































































































































































THE “ GREAT EASTERN’ LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

the Albert Hall a message was sent to Teheran in
Persia. The lines were cleared for this purpose,
and the instant the Prince of Wales pressed the
button of the instrument, the click of the receiver
informed those who were present that the electric
current had been to Persia and back.

The forms handed into the telegraph-offices are
kept for three months, during which the Post
Office will produce them to the sender and
148 THE ROMANCE OF THE TELEGRAPH.

receiver, but to no one else. At the end of that
time they are destroyed. There is a machine
which will convert fifty-one tons of telegrams to
pulp in a month.
WeOs, UOC IIRC BIE G RINE,

Hither, thither, clear and quick ;
He who guides their speaking play
\ Stands a thousand miles away !
“ws ~ Here we feel the electric thrill .
Guided by his simple will ;
Here the instant message read,
Brought with more than lightning speed.
Sing who will of Orphean lyre,
Ours the wonder-working wire !



Let the sky be dark or clear,
Comes the faithful messenger ;
Now it tells of loss and grief,

Now of joy in sentence brief ;

Now of safe or sunken ships,

Now the murderer outstrips ;

Now of war and fields of blood,
Now of fire, and now of flood.

Sing who will of Orphean lyre,

Ours the wonder-working wire!
149
150

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

Think the thought and speak the word,
It is caught as soon as heard ;
Borne o’er mountains, lakes, and seas,
To the far antipodes.
Melbourne speaks at twelve o’clock,
London reads ere noon the shock.
Seems it not a feat sublime ?
Intellect has conquered Time !
Sing who will of Orphean lyre,
. Ours the wonder-working wire!

Marvel! triumph of our day,
Flash all ignorance away ;
Flash sincerity of speech,
Noble aims to all who teach ;
Flash till Power shall learn the Right,
Flash till Reason conquer Might ;
Flash resolve to every mind,
Manhood flash to all mankind !
Sing who will of Orphean lyre,
Ours the wonder-working wire!
THE TELEPHONE.

(Cree
A HE telephone is still more wonderful than

ae the telegraph. The two instruments are
‘ SH related to each other and are both in-
tended to serve the same purpose—that
ae is, the conveyance of messages to a distance.

The telegraph records the message by means
of symbols, and is therefore called ‘“ the far writer,”
and the phonograph reproduces the spoken words,
and is called ‘the far sounder.”’

They are both worked by means of electric
currents, sent along wires laid down or stretched
on poles for that purpose, and they both require a
sender and a receiver at the places to and from
which the messages are sent.

The value of both of these inventions to busy
men and in cases of emergency cannot be set
down in figures. Both of them have become
necessary to us, and, like the steam-engine and the

railway, are greater savers of time and labour.
151


152 THE TELEPHONE.

The special advantage of the telephone is that
it enables a person, without using writing materials
or employing a messenger, to send a message or
ask a question and receive an answer at once. To
do this, however, it is necessary that those who
are asking and answering the questions shall be,
the one at one end of the telephone and the other
at the other. Unless used in person, it has no
advantage over the telegraph, except that of speed.
Spoken messages can be sent quicker than where
a machine has to be worked.

The value of the telephone lies in the ease with
which it can be carried to any number of places—
houses, shops, offices, and factories—from and to
which spoken messages can be sent. Many busi-
ness men have the telephone in both their houses
and their offices. If detained at home they can
give instructions to their clerks or workmen at the
office, and from the office they can speak to their
families at home. They can also send orders to
other places of business, and buy and sell through
the telephone as easily ag calling upon each other.
Even where a visit is necessary, time can be
saved by first inquiring through the telephone if
the person one wishes to see is in or disengaged.

By means of the telephone, sermons and
THE TELEPHONE. 153

addresses and concerts may be heard without
leaving home, and in this way public speakers and
singers may address, or sing to, a great many
persons, who are at the time far apart from one
another, and at some distance from the place
where the address or song is being given or sung.

For some time it was thought that the telephone
would only be of use for comparatively short
distances, but recent experiments have shown that
by means of it a conversation can be carried on
between two points a thousand miles apart. The
distance that a human voice can be carried
depends on the substance of which the conductor
is made and the perfection of the electric current
which passes over it. Under perfect conditions
which, however, it is almost impossible to obtain,
there would be practically no limit to the distance.

There really is no such thing as perfect con-
ductors and perfect non-conductors of electricity,
for all bodies are conductors in some degree. ‘The
best conductors offer some resistance to the
passage of electricity, and the greater that re-
sistance the feebler will the current be. Then
again, no matter what materials are used to
insulate the wires, some of the electricity will
escape or ‘be carried off.
154 THE TELEPHONE.

Another difficulty which has to be faced is what
is called induction—that is to say, all electric
currents influence each other and affect each
other’s free passage. When there are a great
many wires for the electric light, the telegraph,
and the telephone, a considerable amount of in-
duction takes place.

The voice or spoken message is sent along the
wire by means of a small machine consisting of a
magnate, round which there is a coil of wire, and
in front a thin iron plate. The voice of the
speaker causes the plate to vibrate or tremble.
This produces a current of electricity, which
passes along the wire to an apparatus exactly like
it at the other end, when the vibrations produce
similar sounds to those spoken.

When a person in London wishes to speak to a
person in Manchester he calls the attention of the
one in Manchester by making a signal which rings
a bell. On. receiving an answering signal, which
informs him that the person at the other end is
listening, he speaks clearly into the mouthpiece,
the words cause the iron plate to vibrate, and
vibrations pass over the wires, the iron plate in
Manchester vibrates, and the same sound is heard
that is being made in London. The same tele-
THE’ TELEPHONE. 155

phone can be used to talk through and to listen
with, but the usual form is that with a little box
which has a mouthpiece to speak into, and another
instrument to put to the ear. This saves the
trouble of changing when listening or speaking.

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e.
THE TELEPHONE.

The telephone as now used is a very recent
invention, though the idea of sending sound to a
distance is some hundreds of years old. Professor
Graham Bell patented his invention in America in
1876. He is not, however, an American, as he
156 THE TELEPHONE.

was born in Hdinburgh and is the son of Scottish
parents.

There are at the present time three different
kinds of telephones in use. These are known as
the Bell, the Gray, and the Edison, and are named
after their several inventors. The trunk or main
lines of the telephone—that is, those which connect
the various towns—have been taken over by the
Government, and, like the telegraphs, are con-
nected with the Post Office. The lines in each
town or district remain in the hands of the tele-
phone companies, and the local work is done by
them.

The connection between London, Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin was made in 1895.
There is also a connection between London and
Paris. The charge for a three minutes’ conver-
sation between London and Edinburgh is 4s. 6d.,
between Edinburgh and Dublin, 7s. 6d., and
between London and Paris, 8s. For the use of
local lines a yearly rent is paid.
THE PHONOGRAPH.

eB HE phonograph, as its name implies, is a
iN ‘“sound writer’’—that is, it is an instru-
‘°/ ment which writes down sounds and re-
~ produces them. Tivery word spoken and
gi” every sound made into a phonograph is
recorded at the time in such a manner that it
may be reproduced at any time and any number of
times. Itis really a kind of talking machine which
repeats everything that has been spoken into it.
While experimenting with the telephone, Edison
accidentally discovered this wonderful instrument.
He noticed that the vibrations of the voice caused
the fine steel point in the telephone to prick his
finger, and this gave him the idea to find some way
of recording the movements of the steel point.
Then he thought that if the point was made to
travel over the same surface again, the sounds
could be reproduced.



He began by experimenting with telegraph paper,
157


EDISON AND THE PHONOGRAPH.
THE PHONOGRAPH. 159

and to his great delight he found that the letters
recorded on it gave back the word spoken, though

































































































































































THE WAX-CYLINDER OR PHONOGRAM (HALF ACTUAL
SIZE), BEARING THE RECORD OF WORDS SPOKEN
BY BROWNING, APRIL 7, 1889.

faintly. He then constructed a machine, which
was the first phonograph. It was a very imperfect
160 THE PHONOGRAPH.

instrument, but it satisfied the inventor that a
talking machine was possible.

We must remember that all sounds make waves
in tHe air, and we hear them because, when they
strike the drum of the ear, they cause it to vibrate
or tremble. In the phonograph as in the telephone
a thin plate of metal acts like the drum of the ear,
and is caused to vibrate by the sound waves.

Now in the phonograph there is a small instru-
ment which writes down the vibration of the plate.
It is called the recording needle, and it works on a
roller covered with a tube or cylinder of wax. On
this wax the words are written.

The phonograph is very easily worked. All that
is required is some power—the hand, the foot,
steam, or electricity—to keep the roller turning
while the person is speaking. Having placed the
wax cylinder in position ready to receive the words,
and fixed the recording needle, the person speaks,
and at the same time sets the roller in motion.
The needle at once cuts or carves on the wax
cylinder certain marks which represent the sound
Waves.

The needle moves along the roller, and in this
way, as the roller turns round, it receives the
record in the form of a spiral groove, which runs
THE PHONOGRAPH. 161

round the roller from end to end. There are thus
two motions, the one of the roller revolving,
and the other of the needle passing along the front
of the machine.

To reproduce the sounds, the repeating needle,
which is blunt, takes the place of the recording

























































































































































































































































































































A MICROSCOPICAL ENLARGEMENT (400 TIMES
MAGNIFIED) OF PART OF THE WAX CYLINDER
OR PHONOGRAM, SHOWING THE INDENTA-
TIONS CAUSED BY BROWNING’S VOICE.

needle, and the person listens instead of speaks.
Then the roller is once more turned round, and as
the repeating needle passes over the marks made
by the recording needle, the sound is given back.
When a wax cylinder is full, it may be taken out

and put away, and another put in its place. The

cylinder can be kept for any length of time and
11
162 THE PHONOGRAPH.

put back into the machine as often as wished to
tell the story it contains.

No wonder the phonograph has been called
‘‘Tidison’s miracle,” for it is one of the most
wonderful instruments ever devised. Nor is there
any limit to the purposes to which it may be
applied where sound may be used. It can take the
place of a shorthand writer, and if need be the
cylinders themselves can be sent through the post
the same way as letters.

Lectures may be delivered, songs may be sung,
and pieces of music may be played by any number
of instruments into a phonograph, and reproduced
when required at some other time and place.

We set great value on the words of wise and
good men which we often read for our improvement
and guidance, but how much greater will the
impression and the pleasure be to hear the very
words spoken by these men in the tones in which
they were uttered during life! Famous singers
may also have their voices embalmed for the
benefit of future generations.

Edison one day held a phonograph levée at his
home in America. To the delight of his friends he
allowed them to hear the messages which had been
sent to him by princes, presidents, statesmen,
THE PHONOGRAPH. 163

soldiers, and other distinguished persons, and
which had been spoken into the phonograph.

There was a message from Queen Victoria,
another from the King and Queen of Italy, and a
third from the King of Greece, who expressed his
regret that the phonograph was not in existence in
the days of Homer.

‘‘T am delighted with this charming instrument,”’
said the Princess of Wales.

‘Yes, most wonderful, most marvellous,” added
the Prince.

The voices of Tennyson, Browning, and Cardinal
Manning were also heard, though these dis-
tinguished men were lying in their graves.

One of Hdison’s latest inventions does for the
eye what the phonograph does for the ear. This is
called the kinetoscope. It is described as ‘the
marriage of the phonograph with the camera—
the union in one instrument of sound and
sight.”’

This marvel is produced by means of a number
of instantaneous photographs, which follow each
other so quickly that the slightest gesture and
every changing expression of the face is seen, and
at the same time every sound is recorded. Thus
an actor or a singer, with every movement and
164 THE PHONOGRAPH.

gesture, appears to speak or sing as in the actual
performance.

When the kinetoscope was first exhibited in
London the Times said, ‘This instrument is to
the eye what Hdison’s phonograph is to the ear, in
that it reproduces living movements of the most
complex and rapid character. To clearly under-
stand the effect it is necessary to explain the cause,
but to appreciate the result—the working of the
invention—it must be witnessed. The moving and
apparently living photographs in the kinetoscope
are produced in the following manner. Mr. Edison
has a stage upon which the performances he pro-
duces are enacted.

‘“These performances are recorded by taking a
series of forty-three photographs in one second.
Thus every progressive phase of every single action
is secured, and the photographs are successfully
reproduced on a film of celluloid the length required
for a certain scene. When this film is passed before
the eye at the same rate of speed as that at which
the photographs were taken, the photographically
disjointed parts of a given action are united in one
complete whole.

“Thus, supposing a person to be a necogtanned
taking off his coat, as is done in one case, the suc-
THE PHONOGRAPH. 165

cessive views representing the phase of action at
every forty-third part of a second are joined up,
and the complete operation of taking off the coat
is presented to the eye as it would appear in reality.
In other words, the kinetoscope is a perfect repro-
duction of living action without sound.

‘““One scene represents a blacksmith’s shop in
full operation, with three men hammering iron on
an anvil, who stop in their work to take a drink.
Each drinks in turn, and passes the pot of beer to
the other. The smoke from the forge is seen to
rise most perfectly. In another view, a Spanish
dancer is shown going through her graceful
evolution, as is also Annabella in her serpentine
dance.” .
THE FIRST: SPINNERS AND
WEAVERS.




JESS than two hundred years ago, no
Se machine of any kind existed for the
é 7s spinning of yarn or thread. This work
oO, was done by the finger and thumb of the
e spinner, one thread at a time. The yarn was
also woven by hand into cloth. The shuttle,
which contained the weft or woof, had to be
thrown across the warp by each hand alternately.
In 1733 John Kay invented a fly shuttle. All
he did was to supply a handle and a spring, with
which the weaver was able to work the shuttle with
one hand. ‘This improvement was bitterly opposed
by the weavers, who were always afraid of any
changes which might, as they thought, enable the
manufacturers to use machinery instead of hand
labour.
The mob burst into Kay’s house, destroyed all

his machines, and threatened to take the inventor’s
166
SPINNING WHEEL.


168 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

life if he dared to make any more. The masters,
on the other hand, welcomed the invention and
refused to give Kay any reward for his discovery.
At last he was forced to leave the country, and he
died soon afterwards in beggary and neglect.

Every improvement in weaving called for an
improvement in spinning. Sufficient yarn to keep
the looms going could not be obtained, so slow was
the process by which the work was done. Yet no
one was able to point out a better way, until one
day a slight accident happened in the house of a
poor weaver named James Hargreaves.

This man was waiting for yarn to continue his
labours at the loom, when his wife’s spinning
wheel happened to fall over on the floor. Havr-
ereaves saw that the wheel continued to revolve in
this position. This gave him the hint that a frame
might be constructed to enable one woman to work
a number of spools at the same time.

Acting upon the hint he had received, Hargreaves
set to work, and in a short time he made a machine,
which he called after his wife, Jenny, a ‘‘ spinnihg
jenny.” It was a great success, but no sooner was
the invention known than the ignorant spinners
attacked his cottage and demolished the result of
his labours.
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS. 169

Hargreaves and his wife with difficulty escaped
from the clutches of the angry, brutal mob, and
the rest of the inventor’s life was passed in a
weary struggle against starvation. Like Kay, he
too died unacknowledged, and his invention proved
to him the greatest misfortune of his life.

How often has history repeated itselfin the lives
of inventors! Strange as it may seem, it is
nevertheless true that the men who would profit
most by an improvement have generally been its
strongest and bitterest opponents, and some of the
world’s greatest benefactors have ended their lives
in poverty and wretchedness.

Now let us visit the town of Bolton in Lanca-
shire. A little over a hundred years ago this
thriving industrial centre was a small struggling
place of little importance, with narrow lanes and
alleys branching off from the main streets. In one
of these alleys a rude sign hung over a cellar. It
bore these words, ‘‘Come to the underground
barber; he shaves for a penny.”

Those who responded to this invitation and
descended into the cellar found the barber to be
a bright-eyed, active, keen-looking young man,
about twenty-one years of age. As he applied his
razor with great deftness, he asked his customers
170 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

about their various trades, and showed a lively
interest in what was going on in the world around
him.

Though he followed the employment of a barber
for a living, and spent most of his time in keeping
the chins of his neighbours clean, he was very
fond of machinery, and never lost an opportunity
of talking about the work carried on in the shops
and factories of the town. Nay, more than this,
he indulged in dreams of being able some time to
invent a machine which would make him both
famous and wealthy.

Finding that shaving for a penny did not leave
him any money after paying his expenses, he de-
termined to give up the business and start as a
wig-maker. Having invented a new way of dyeing
hair, he so managed to suit his customers that
he became the owner of a thriving business, and
was able to save a large sum of money.

One day he heard a number of weavers talking
about the great difficulty they had to obtain enough
cotton yarn or thread to form the weft of the cloth.
They were obliged to lose a good deal of time
waiting for a supply, and this meant a serious loss
in wages. The spinning-jenny, which had brought
about the persecution of James Hargreaves, was at
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS. 171

work, but even that did not produce enough thread
to meet the demand.

Richard Arkwright heard all that the weavers
had to say, and he asked them a great many
questions about their work. Then he obtained

nt

f



RICHARD ARKWRIGHT.

one of Hargreaves’ machines, and carefully ex-
amined it in every part; his one idea being to
invent a machine which would spin thread faster
and finer than the spinning-jenny.

Like many inventors, Hargreaves was so ab-
sorbed in his experiments that he thought of
172 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

nothing else, and as he paid little attention to his
business, he soon used all the money he had saved,
and poverty stared his family in the face. Yet he
struggled on, in spite of one disappointment after
another, feeling sure that he would at last perfect
the machine on which he had spent so much time
and money.

Model after model was thrown away on account
of some defect, until at last the machine was com-
pleted, which made Arkwright one of the greatest
inventors of all time. At once, as if by magic, the
old days of poverty passed away for ever. Ark-
wright’s spinning frame solved the problem which
had so long puzzled the manufacturers, and in a
short time it produced enough thread to satisfy
the demand.

Arkwright was one of the few inventors who
reaped the reward of years of toil and want. He
became the owner of several large mills; lived in
a stately country house, known as Willersley
Castle, was made High Sheriff of Derbyshire, and
was at length knighted by King George the Third.
Sir Richard Arkwright died in 1792 at the age of
sixty.

Samuel Crompton next appears on the scene.
The inventions of Hargreaves and Arkwright had
ine

ry

Hi















































































































































ARKWRIGHT AND HIS SPINNING MACHINE.
174 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

advanced the cotton industry by leaps and bounds,
but the manufacture of yarn was still capable of
improvement. Crompton, who was a weaver, saw
this, and he made up his mind to remedy the
defect. He was a very ingenious man, and for his
position in life exceedingly well educated. He
‘was not only fond of music, but he succeeded in
making the violin on which he performed.

Knowing how great was. the opposition of the
workmen to any improvements in the machinery
then in use, he carried out his experiments in the
most secret manner. For five years he worked in
an old mansion, which stood on the banks of a
river near Bolton, and at the end of that time he
had constructed a machine called a “ spinning
mule,” which turned out much better yarn than
any that had been previously produced.

The weavers and spinners no sooner heard of
his invention than they attacked his house and
smashed his machines to pieces. Before their
arrival he managed to take one to pieces and hide
it in the roof of the house, where it remained until
the rage of his enemies had subsided. Then he
put the mule together again, and in a garret
secretly spun his yarn.

The yarn he made was famous for its quality in
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS. 175

all the country round, and many attempts were
made to steal his invention. Crompton would not
allow any one to see the machine, and every effort











A HANDLOOM.

was made to defeat his vigilance. Ladders were
brought, and men climbed up to the windows of
his workroom to obtain a glimpse. It is said that
one determined man hid himself for several days
176 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

in the loft, from which he watched Crompton at
work through a gimlet hole, which he had managed
to bore in the ceiling.

Unable to take advantage of his invention, the
principle of which has remained to this day,
Crompton remained a poor man to the end of his
life. His friends endeavoured to obtain a Govern-
ment pension for him, but all that he received
was five thousand pounds. This sum was barely
sufficient to pay the debts he had incurred in the
creation of his machine.

Crompton died in 1827, andin 1862 a monument
was placed over his grave, and a statue erected to
his memory at Bolton. These memorials show
that his great work is now valued at its proper
worth, but it is sad to think that the man who did
such splendid service to the great industry of
cotton-spinning died in privation and neglect.

So many improvements were made in the spin-
ning of yarn to supply the demands of the weavers,
that at length the supply was far in excess of the
demand. The weavers had complained to Ark-
wright that they had not suflicient work because
they could not get yarn, and now the spinners in
turn complained that they wanted work because
there was too much yarn.
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS. 177

A country clergyman, named the Rev. Edmund
Cartwright, thought a good deal about the difficulty
that had arisen, and though he had never seen a
loom in his life he felt sure that some improvement
could be effected, which would enable the weavers
to turn all the yarn that was made into cloth. He
one day declared that ‘‘ Before long we shall have
‘weaving Johnnies’ as well as spinning Jennies.”

Throwing himself thoroughly into the scheme,
he began to work at the plans that were floating in
his brain.

‘“‘Fle was often observed by his family striding
up and down the room in a fit of abstraction, and ~
throwing his arms violently from side to side, like .
a weaver jerking the shuttles.”’

His experiments were at length successful, and
the power loom became an accomplished fact.
Henceforth cloth could be woven by steam power,
and turned out at a much greater rate than by the
handlooms so long in use. The value of the
service which Cartwright had rendered to the in-
dustries of England was incalculable, and yet the
old story of persecution and suffering was repeated.
Masters and men vied with each other in their
attempts to render the invention useless.

Cartwright spent a large fortune in carrying out

12
178 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

his plans, and in his old age was forced to earn a
bare living as an author. Yet even then he con-
tinued to invent one thing after another. He
devised machines for wool-combing, baking, rope-
making, and for many other purposes, and he
predicted that if his son lived to be a man he
would see both ships and land carriages impelled
by steam.

He received a Government grant for ten thou-
sand pounds in 1809, and died in 1823.

The improvements effected in spinning and
weaving cotton cloths soon resulted in a cry for
more raw cotton. The year (1785) in which
Cartwright’s power loom was invented, eighteen
million pounds of raw cotton was imported into
Hingland. In 1790 the supply had risen to thirty-
one million pounds, and in 1800 to forty-six. To
meet the ever-increasing demand it was necessary
to find some new way of more quickly cleaning the
raw cotton—that is, separating the cotton from the
seeds.

This work was done in the countries where the
cotton was grown. At that time our supplies
came from the West Indies, the countries in the
south of Europe, Brazil, the Hast Tasha, and the
United States of America.
THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS. 179

In 1793 cotton cleaning was done by hand, and
the process was so slow and tedious that one
person could only clean one pound a day. At this
time a young American, named Eli Whitney, was
staying at the house of a lady in Georgia, one of
the Southern States, when he heard of the diffi-
culty which was experienced in making cotton-
growing a paying industry.

Now Whitney was the son of a New England
farmer, who was in the habit of doing all the
making and mending on his farm. The lad had
therefore been accustomed to handle tools all his
life, and he had always shown a marked preference
for his father’s workshop. When he was only
twelve years old he pulled his father’s watch to
pieces and put it together again; made a very
good fiddle, and was famous for the manufacture
of nails, long bonnet pins, and curiously carved
walking-sticks. At college he also showed his
ingenuity by repairing the apparatus of one of the
professors, who was about to send it to Europe for
the purpose, as he supposed that no one in America
had sufficient skill to do it.

This, then, was the man who formed the idea of
making a machine to clean cotton. He had no
tools to work with; but he had seen some made,
180 THE FIRST SPINNERS AND WEAVERS.

and in ten days his first model was constructed.
In three months the machine itself was per-
fected, and the cotton gin, as it was called, was
ready for use. By its means one man or woman
was able to do in a single day as much work ag
could be done by hand in several months.

The immense value of this invention was at
once recognised; through it planters of the
Southern States and many others became rich
from the use of it, but Eli Whitney was not one
of them. No country has a monopoly of greedy
and unscrupulous men who pile up wealth at the
expense of other people’s brains, and reap the
fruits of other men’s labours.

The man who did more than any other person
to create the great industry of the United States
died in 1825, in very poor circumstances. The
cotton planters stole his invention, and the Govern-
ment refused to pay him for the great benefits he
had conferred on his native country.
THE SEWING MACHINE.

\ HE sewing machine is beyond question
one of the most important labour-saving
inventions the world has ever seen. At
the present time sewing machines are
used in our homes, in workshops, and in
factories.

A quick sewer by hand makes about forty
stitches a minute. One woman or girl with a
sewing machine can do as much work as twenty
without, and the work will be done as well if not
better than the best sewer could do it.

Sewing machines are worked by hand and by
the feet. In shops and factories they are also
worked by gas engines and by steam power like
looms and other machines. Then they often
make more than a thousand stitches a minute.

Sewing machines are made to do both light and

heavy work. They will sew either fine silk or
181


182 THE SEWING MACHINE.

thick leather. They also hem, fell, make button-
holes, and perform all movements that can be
done with the needle.

The machine in the picture may be worked by
the hand or the feet. The balance wheel on the
right-hand side at the top is driven by a belt,
which passes round a larger wheel below. This
is set in motion by the treadle, which is so simple
that a little child can work it.

To work a machine by hand instead of by the
feet, the band or belt may be taken off, and the
balance wheel turned by means of a small handle.
The advantage of the treadle is, that the feet work
the machine, and leave the hands free to guide the
sewing.

The balance wheel guides the shaft, which passes
through the arm to a bar. This contains the needle,
and moves it up and down. The cotton reel, near
the balance wheel, supplies the needle with thread,
which passes over the arm.

Underneath the flat iron plate below the bar is
the shuttle, which contains the thread spool or reel
for the cotton. When the machine is in motion,
the shuttle meets the needle every time it passes
through the work, and catches the thread which
the needle brings down, locking it with the thread
THE SEWING MACHINE. 183

contained in the shuttle. This forms what is
known as the lock-stitch.

Now that we have described the machine it will
be easier to understand the stages of progress made

THRO






BELT GUIDEâ„¢
4). SAND WHEEL-—

LEG

i “BRACE BOLT

SEWING MACHINE.

in the invention of this useful article. The idea
of constructing a sewing machine seems to have
first taken form in England about one hundred
years ago, when a patent was taken out for a
184 THE SEWING MACHINE.

needle having an eye in the centre and being
pointed at both ends.

The needle of a sewing machine, while one of
the smallest parts, is certainly the most important,
for without it no sewing can be done, and the
difficulties the various inventors had to find the
right kind of needle for their purpose, shows how
much their success depended on this little instru-
ment. ,

In 1790 a machine was invented and patented
in England ‘‘for quilting, stitching, and making
shoes, boots, spatterdashes, clogs, and other
articles.’ This machine used a single thread,
and made a loop-stitch. The hole for the needle
was pierced by a perforated awl, which was worked
by a combination of cogs, prongs, wheels, and
spindles.

This machine was not simple enough for general
use, and from time to time other attempts were
made to construct a machine suitable for the pur-
pose. Experiments were carried on at the same
time in England, France, and America, and a
number of patents, for various appliances and
motions in connection with sewing, were taken
out in the different countries.

The credit of devising the first practical sewing
THE SEWING MACHINE. 185

machine belongs to Elias Howe, the son of a New
Hingland farmer. He was a native of the beautiful















































































































LOCK-STITCH.

town of Spencer, Massachusetts, United States.
His father was both a farmer and a miller, and as



NEEDLE.

Elias was lame in one foot from hig birth, small
of size and feeble in health, he was not of much
use on the farm.









SHUTTLE.

At an early age he took an interest in tools and
machinery. During his spare hours he mended



THREAD SPOOL.

furniture and showed considerable skill in making
various useful things. Then at sixteen he worked
186 THE SEWING MACHINE.

for some time in the mills in Lowell. After this he
found employment with an inventor, and although
he was earning but a small wage considering the
cost of living, he was imprudent enough to get
married.

The early days of his wedded life were full of
hardship and privation; but all was borne with
cheerful courage by him and his young wife.
Unfortunately his health, never strong, broke down
completely, and his wife and child were brought to
the brink of starvation. ;

It was while their fortunes were at this low
ebb that the idea struck Elias Howe which was
destined to give him a new object in life, and
which was to lead him, through many misfortunes
and miseries, to fame and fortune.

His awakening to the knowledge of his powers
of invention was as sudden as that of Hdmund
Cartwright, who invented the power-loom, and as
romantic as that of William Lee, the inventor of
the stocking-frame. Love, indeed, was the wizard
which called his inventive genius into action.

Howe sat by his young wife one day in their
dismal lodging, not knowing where the next day’s
food would come from, and with starvation staring
them in the face. His wife was sewing, and Howe
THE SEWING MACHINE. 187

was watching her fingers as they busily plied the
needle.

Suddenly the question occurred to him whether
a machine could not be made, which, imitating
the human fingers, would take stitches many times
faster than his wife could do. By a little thought
it seemed to him that such a machine might take
fifty stitches while his wife was taking one.

When once this idea had got fixed in his mind
it never left him. He went to work at once,
thinking out the plan of such a machine. He
first attempted to attain his object with a needle
which had its eye in the middle, and which was
sharp at both ends. Then, with difficulty, he
made, with pieces of wood and bits of wire, a
rude model, which, however rude it was, convinced
him that, with toil and patience, a real working
sewing machine could be constructed.

He moved to Cambridge, United States, where
his father was living, and he now had the good
fortune to fall in with a friend, George Fisher,
who lent him money to continue his experiments,
and soon after took Howe and his family into his
own house.

After the lapse of six months Howe had com-
pleted his first machine. He showed it to the
188 THE SEWING MACHINE.

Boston tailors, but some of them laughed him to
scorn, others feared that it would ruin the tailoring
trade if it were brought into use; not one of them
would purchase it. Then came a period of bitter
trials and ill-health, during which Howe depended
upon charity for sustenance. But not then, or
ever, did misfortune discourage his soul or shake
his faith.

As soon as he could raise enough money he took
a passage in the steerage of a sailing-vessel for
London, cooking his own food as he made the
cheerless voyage across the ocean. Then he gave
the use of his machine to a capitalist in London,
who, as soon as his workmen had learned how to
manage it, cast the inventor adrift.

Howe then pawned his clothes to pay for the
wretched supply of food which barely kept body
and soul together. After this he spent four months
in making a machine, which he sold for five
pounds. He then engaged himself as a steerage
cook, and returned weary, but never despairing,
to his native land..

He arrived in New York to learn that his
devoted wife was dying at Cambridge; and he
had not money enough to make the journey
thither. He earned it in a New York machine
THE SEWING MACHINE. 189

shop, and reached his wife’s bedside just in time
to see her die. So poor was he that he was forced
to borrow a suit of clothes in which to follow
her to the grave. A few days afterwards he heard
that the ship which contained all his worldly goods
had gone to the bottom of the sea.

Yet Elias Howe stoutly persevered, and rose
bravely above all his difficulties. At last the
sewing machine was introduced, successfully
established, and came into rapid demand on every
hand. At the age of thirty-five his income from
this great invention was £40,000 a year. Rich
and famous though he was, his later life was not
one of ease and idle luxury. He dispensed
generous and quiet charities; he was kind and
benevolent, and especially so towards women in
distress. When the civil war broke out in America
this lame millionaire enlisted in the army as a
private, shouldered his musket, and went into the
ranks ; and when, on one occasion, the pay of his
regiment was behindhand, he himself promptly
advanced money needed to supply the wants of
his fellow-soldiers.

Not long after the close of the war, Elias Howe,
not yet an old man, died, leaving the record of a
noble, generous, upright life, and a name ever to
190 THE SEWING MACHINE.

be honoured among the great inventors of the
age.

Compared with the machine of the present day,
Howe’s first sewing machine was a very rude affair,
but it formed the model of the present lock-stitch
sewing machine.. Its chief feature was the needle,
without which no sewing machine is possible.
Improvements were, however, required in the
setting of the needle and in the shuttle. Other
changes were also made by various makers, and
hundreds of patents for one device and another
were secured.

In 1854 several companies were engaged in the
manufacture of the sewing machine, and as differ-
ences arose between the various inventors the
question had to be decided in a court of law.
Then justice was done to Howe for his needle,
which was used by all the various makers, who
were required to pay the inventor a royalty.

Many large firms now supply the great demand
for sewing machines. A very large number is
made annually, and millions of them are in use
in various parts of the world. Among the best
known are the Singer, the Wheeler and Wilson,
the Howe, and the Wilcox and Gibbs.
he Gresham Press,
UNWIN BROTHERS,

WOKING AND LONDON.

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