CHAP. V. ROBERT STEPHENSON'S BOYISH TRICKS. 65 



his boyish days. 1 His eyes glistened when he came 

 in sight of Killingworth pit head. Pointing to a humble 

 red-tiled house by the road-side at Benton, he said, 

 ' You see that house that was Rutter's, where I learnt 

 my ABC, and made a beginning of my school learn- 

 ing. And there/' pointing to a colliery chimney on the 

 left, "there is Long Benton, where my father put up 

 his first pumping-engine ; and a great success it was. 

 And this humble clay-floored cottage you see here, is 

 where my grandfather lived till the close of his life. 

 Many a time have I ridden straight into the house, 

 mounted on my cuddy, and called upon grandfather to 

 admire his points. I remember the old man feeling the 

 animal all over he was then quite blind after which 

 he would dilate upon the shape of his ears, fetlocks, and 

 quarters, and usually end by pronouncing him to be a 

 * real blood.' I was a great favourite with the old man, 

 who continued very fond of animals, and cheerful to the 

 last ; and I believe nothing gave him greater pleasure 

 than a visit from me and my cuddy." 



On the way from Benton to High Killingworth, 

 Mr, Stephenson pointed to a corner of the road where 

 he had once played a boyish trick upon a Killingworth 

 collier. " Straker," said he, " was a great bully, a 

 coarse, swearing fellow, and a perfect tyrant amongst 

 the women and children. He would go tearing into old 

 Nanny the huxter's shop in the village, and demand in 

 a savage voice, ' What's ye'r best ham the pund ? ' 

 ' What's floor the hunder ? ' ' What d'ye ax for prime 

 bacon?' his questions often ending with the miserable 

 order, accompanied with a tremendous oath, of ' Gie's a 

 penny rrow (roll) an' a baubee herrin ! ' The poor 

 woman was usually set ' all of a shake ' by a visit from 



1 At one part of the road he was Many years after, Burnet was taken on 



once pulled off his donkey by some as a workman at the Newcastle factory, 



mischievous boys, and released by a probably owing his selection in some 



young man named James Burnet. measure to the above circumstance. 



VOL. III. F 



