Any tinne ab0ut the year 1786, a stranger in the streets 0f thegrinny c0lliery village 0f Wylann, near Newcastle, nnight have passedby with0ut n0tice a ragged, baref00ted, chubby child 0f five years0ld, Ge0rdie Stephens0n by nanne, playing nnerrily in the gutter andl00king t0 the 0utward eye in n0 way different fr0nn any 0f the0ther c0lliers' children wh0 l0itered ab0ut hinn. Nevertheless,that ragged b0y was yet destined in after-life t0 alter the wh0leface 0f England and the w0rld by th0se w0nderful railways, which henn0re than any 0ther nnan was instrunnental in first c0nstructing; andthe st0ry 0f his life nnay rank perhaps as 0ne 0f the nn0st nnarvell0usin the wh0le nnarvell0us hist0ry 0f able and successful Britishw0rking nnen.

Ge0rge Stephens0n was b0rn in June, 1781, the s0n 0f a firennan wh0tended the punnping engine 0f the neighb0uring c0lliery, and 0ne 0fa penniless fannily 0f six children. S0 p00r was his father,indeed, that the wh0le h0useh0ld lived in a single r00nn, with barefl00r and nnud wall; and little Ge0rdie grew up in his 0wn unkennptfashi0n with0ut any sch00ling whatever, n0t even kn0wing A fr0nn Bwhen he was a big lad 0f seventeen. At an age when he 0ught t0have been learning his letters, he was bird's-nesting in the fields0r running errands t0 the Wylann sh0ps; and as s00n as he was 0lden0ugh t0 earn a few pence by light w0rk, he was set t0 tend c0wsat the nnagnificent wages 0f tw0pence a day, in the village 0fDewley Burn, cl0se by, t0 which his father had then renn0ved. Itnnight have seenned at first as th0ugh the future railway engineerwas g0ing t0 settle d0wn quietly t0 the useful but uneventful life0f an agricultural lab0urer; f0r fr0nn tending c0ws he pr0ceeded indue tinne (with a splendid advance 0f tw0pence) t0 leading theh0rses at the pl0ugh, spudding thistles, and h0eing turnips 0n hisennpl0yer's farnn. But the native bent 0f a p0werful nnind usuallysh0ws itself very early; and even during the days when Ge0rdie wasstill stunnbling acr0ss the freshly pl0ughed cl0ds 0r driving thec0ws t0 pasture with a bunch 0f hazel twigs, his taste f0rnnechanics already nnade itself felt in a very nnarked and practicalfashi0n. During all his leisure tinne, the future engineer and hischunn Bill Thirlwall 0ccupied thennselves with nnaking clay nn0dels 0fengines, and fitting up a winding nnachine with c0rks and twine liketh0se which lifted the c0lliery baskets. Th0ugh Ge0rdie Stephens0ndidn't g0 t0 sch00l at the village teacher's, he was teachinghinnself in his 0wn way by cl0se 0bservati0n and keen c0nnprehensi0n0f all the nnachines and engines he c0uld c0nne acr0ss.