A Leader by Example
George Stephenson won the admiration of French navvies by showing them how a Geordie works a shovel.
before 1846
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
George Stephenson won the admiration of French navvies by showing them how a Geordie works a shovel.
before 1846
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
George Stephenson was arguably history’s most influential engineer, yet he never really gave up being a Northumberland miner. He always retained his Geordie ordinariness, and was never happier than when he was among his fellow working men.
WHEN examining the works of the Orleans and Tours Railway, Mr Stephenson, seeing a large number of excavators filling and wheeling sand in a cutting, at a great waste of time and labour, went up to the men and said he would show them how to fill their barrows in half the time.
He showed them the proper position in which to stand so as to exercise the greatest amount of power with the least expenditure of strength; and he filled the barrow with comparative ease again and again in their presence, to the great delight of the workmen.
When passing through his own workshops, he would point out to his men how to save labour, and to get through their work skilfully and with ease. His energy imparted itself to others, quickening and influencing them as strong characters always do — flowing down into theirs, and bringing out their best powers.
The Orléans and Tours route was part of the Paris to Bordeaux line, one of a number of French lines built by British firms. The section between Orléans and Tours opened in 1846.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What was George Stephenson doing in France on this occasion?
He was inspecting a new railway’s progress.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The Orléans and Tours Railway opened in 1846. It was built by British contractors. The navvies were Frenchmen.