CHAP. XV. THE RAILWAY NAVVIES. 323 



be distinguished by a sort of savage manners, which 

 contrasted strangely with those of the surrounding popu- 

 lation. Yet, ignorant and violent though they might 

 be, they were usually good-hearted fellows in the main 

 frank and open-handed with their comrades, and 

 ready to share their last penny with those in distress. 

 Their pay-nights were often a saturnalia of riot and 

 disorder, dreaded by the inhabitants of the villages 

 along the line of works. The irruption of such men 

 into the quiet hamlet of Kilsby must, indeed, have pro- 

 duced a very startling effect on the recluse inhabitants 

 of the place. Robert Stephenson used to tell a story of 

 the clergyman of the parish waiting upon the foreman 

 of one of the gangs to expostulate with him as to the 

 shocking impropriety of his men working during Sun- 

 day. But the head navvy merely hitched up his trow- 

 sers, and said, " Why, Soondays hain't cropt out here 

 yet ! " In short, the navvies were little better than 

 heathens, and the village of Kilsby was not restored to 

 its wonted quiet until the tunnel-works were finished, 

 and the engines and scaffoldings removed, leaving only 

 the immense masses of debris around the line of shafts 

 which extend along the top of the tunnel. 



In illustration of the extraordinary working energy 

 and powers of endurance of the English navvies, we 

 may mention that when railway-making extended to 

 France, the English contractors for the works took with 

 them gangs of English navvies, with the usual plant, 

 which included wheelbarrows. These the English navvy 

 was accustomed to run out continuously, loaded with 

 some three or four hundredweight of stuff, piled so high 

 that he could barely see, over the summit of the load, the 

 gang-board along which he wheeled his barrow, whereas 

 the French navvy was contented with half the weight. 

 Indeed, the French navvies on one occasion struck work 

 because of the size of the English barrows, and there 

 was an emeute on the Rouen Railway, which was 



Y 2 



