ladder whose topmost rung led him so high that he himself must almost
have felt giddy at the unwonted elevation.

Shortly after, young Stephenson gained yet another promotion in being
raised to the rank of brakesman, whose duty it was to slacken the engine
when the full baskets of coal reached the top of the shaft. This was a
more serious and responsible post than any he had yet filled, and one
for which only the best and steadiest workmen were ever selected. His
wages now amounted to a pound a week, a very large sum in those days for
a skilled working-man.

Meanwhile, George, like most other young men, had fallen in love. His
sweetheart, Fanny Henderson, was servant at the small farmhouse where he
had taken lodgings since leaving his father's home; and though but
little is known about her (for she unhappily died before George had
begun to rise to fame and fortune), what little we do know seems to show
that she was in every respect a fitting wife for the active young
brakesman, and a fitting mother for his equally celebrated son, Robert
Stephenson. Fired by the honourable desire to marry Fanny, with a proper
regard for prudence, George set himself to work to learn cobbling in his
spare moments; and so successfully did he cobble the worn shoes of his
fellow-colliers after working hours, that before long he contrived to
save a whole guinea out of his humble earnings. That guinea was the
first step towards an enormous fortune; a fortune, too, all accumulated
by steady toil and constant useful labour for the ultimate benefit of
his fellow-men. To make a fortune is the smallest and least noble of all
possible personal ambitions; but to save the first guinea which leads us
on at last to independence and modest comfort is indeed an important
turning-point in every prudent man's career. Geordie Stephenson was so
justly proud of his achievement in this respect that he told a friend in