provision for damages
done in course of traffic by the "waggoners." The public were to be free
"to use with horses, cattle and carriages," the roads formed by the
company, on payment of the authorised rates, "between the hours of seven
in the morning and six in the evening," during winter; "between six in
the morning and eight in the evening," in two of the spring and autumn
months; and "between five in the morning and ten in the evening," in the
summer months of May, June, July, and August. From this it will be
obvious that the projectors of the line had themselves at first no very
large conceptions as to the scope of their project.

One day, in the spring of 1821, two strangers knocked at the door of Mr.
Pease's house in Darlington; and the message was brought to him that some
persons from Killingworth wanted to speak with him. They were invited
in, on which one of the visitors introduced himself as Nicholas Wood,
viewer at Killingworth, and then turning to his companion, he introduced
him as George Stephenson, engine-wright, of the same place.

Mr. Pease entered into conversation with his visitors, and was soon told
their object. Stephenson had heard of the passing of the Stockton and
Darlington Act, and desiring to increase his railway experience, and also
to employ in some larger field the practical knowledge he had already
gained, he determined to visit the known projector of the undertaking,
with the view of being employed to carry it out. He had brought with him
his friend Wood, for the purpose at the same time of relieving his
diffidence, and supporting his application.

Mr. Pease liked the appearance of his visitor: "there was," as he
afterwards remarked when speaking of Stephenson, "such an honest,
sensible look about him, and he seemed so modest and unpretending. He
spoke in the strong Northumbrian dialect of his district, and described
himself as 'only the engine-wright at Killingworth; that's what he was.'"

Mr. Pease soon saw that our engineer was the very man for his purpose.
The whole plans of the railway were still in an undetermined state, and
Mr. Pease was therefore glad to have the opportunity of profiting by
Stephenson's experience. In the course of their conversation, the latter
strongly recommended a _railway_ in preference to a tramroad. They also
discussed the kind of tractive power to be employed: Mr. Pease stating
that the company had based their whole calculations on the employmen