CHAP. XXI. ESSENTIALLY UNSOKDID. 471 



sanction any injustice of act or opinion towards those 

 associated with himself. On one occasion, during the 

 progress of the Liverpool and Manchester works, while 

 he had a strong party to contend with at the Board, the 

 conduct of one of his assistants was called in question, 

 as he thought unjustly, and a censure was threatened. 

 Rather than submit to this injustice to his assistant, Mr. 

 Stephenson tendered his resignation ; but it was not 

 accepted, and the censure was not voted. The same 

 chivalrous protection was on many occasions extended 

 by him to the weaker against the stronger. Even if he 

 were himself displeased with any one engaged about 

 him, any attack from another quarter would rouse him 

 in defence, not in the spirit of opposition, but from a 

 kind and generous impulse to succour those in difficulty. 



Mr. Stephenson, though a thrifty and frugal man, 

 was essentially unsordid. His rugged path in early life 

 made him careful of his resources. He never saved to 

 hoard, but saved for a purpose, such as the maintenance 

 of his parents or the education of his son. In later 

 years, he became a prosperous and even a wealthy man ; 

 but riches never closed his heart, nor stole away the 

 elasticity of his soul. He enjoyed life cheerfully, because 

 hopefully. When he entered upon a . commercial enter- 

 prise, whether for others or for himself, he looked 

 carefully at the ways and means. Unless they would 

 " pay," he held back. " He would have nothing to do," 

 he declared, " with stock-jobbing speculations." His 

 refusal to sell his name to the schemes of the railway 

 mania his survey of the Spanish lines without remu- 

 neration his offer to postpone his claim for payment 

 from a poor company until their affairs became more 

 prosperous are instances of the unsordid spirit in w r hich 

 he acted. 



Another marked feature in Mr. Stephenson's character 

 was his patience. Notwithstanding the strength of his 



