JOHN GIBSON, SCULPTOR.





In most cases, the working man who raises himself to wealth and
position, does so by means of trade, which is usually the natural
outgrowth of his own special handicraft or calling. If he attains,
not only to riches, but to distinction as well, it is in general by
mechanical talent, the direction of the mind being naturally biased
by the course of one's own ordinary occupations. England has been
exceptionally rich in great engineers and inventive geniuses of
such humble origin--working men who have introduced great
improvements in manufactures or communications; and our modern
English civilization has been immensely influenced by the lives of
these able and successful mechanical toilers. From Brindley, the
constructor of the earliest great canal, to Joseph Gillott, the
inventor of the very steel pen with which this book is written;
from Arkwright the barber who fashioned the first spinning-machine,
to Crompton the weaver, whose mule gave rise to the mighty
Manchester cotton trade; from Newcomen, who made the first rough
attempt at a steam-engine, to Stephenson, who sent the iron horse
from end to end of the land,--the chief mechanical improvements in
the country have almost all been due to the energy, intelligence,
and skill of our labouring population. The English mind is
intensely practical, and the English working man, for the last two
centuries at least, has been mainly distinguished for his great
mechanical aptitude, bursting out, here and there, in exceptional
persons, under the form of exceedingly high inventive genius.