l; and one of the first sights with which
the boy was familiar was the coal-waggons dragged by them along the
wooden railway at Wylam.

Thus eight years passed; after which, the coal having been worked out,
the old engine, which had grown "dismal to look at," as one of the
workmen described it, was pulled down; and then Robert, having obtained
employment as a fireman at the Dewley Burn Colliery, removed with his
family to that place. Dewley Burn, at this day, consists of a few
old-fashioned low-roofed cottages standing on either side of a babbling
little stream. They are connected by a rustic wooden bridge, which spans
the rift in front of the doors. In the central one-roomed cottage of
this group, on the right bank, Robert Stephenson lived for a time with
his family; the pit at which he worked standing in the rear of the
cottages.

Young though he was, George was now of an age to be able to contribute
something towards the family maintenance; for in a poor man's house,
every child is a burden until his little hands can be turned to
profitable account. That the boy was shrewd and active, and possessed of
a ready mother wit, will be evident enough from the following incident.
One day his sister Nell went into Newcastle to buy a bonnet; and Geordie
went with her "for company." At a draper's shop in the Bigg Market, Nell
found a "chip" quite to her mind, but on pricing it, alas! it was found
to be fifteen pence beyond her means, and she left the shop very much
disappointed. But Geordie said, "Never heed, Nell; see if I canna win
siller enough to buy the bonnet; stand ye there, till I come back." Away
ran the boy and disappeared amidst the throng of the market, leaving the
girl to wait his return. Long and long she waited, until it grew dusk,
and the market people had nearly all left. She had begun to despair, and
fears crossed her mind that Geordie must have been run over and killed;
when at last up he came running, almost breathless. "I've gotten the
siller for the bonnet, Nell!" cried he. "Eh Geordie!" she said, "but hoo
hae ye gotten it?" "Haudin the gentlemen's horses!" was the exultant
reply. The bonnet was forthwith bought, and the two returned to Dewley
happy.

George's first regular employment was of a very humble sort. A widow,
named Grace Ainslie, then occupied the neighbouring farmhouse of Dewley.
She kept a number of cows, and had the privilege of grazing them along
the waggon-road. She needed