The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson
Samuel Smiles
y, his love of fun began to show itself, and he was found able enough to hold his own among the other boys. As a scholar he was steady and diligent, and his master was accustomed to hold him up to the laggards of the school as an example of good conduct and industry. But his progress, though satisfactory, was by no means extraordinary. He used in after life to pride himself on his achievements in mensuration, though another boy, John Taylor, beat him at arithmetic. He also made considerable progress in mathematics; and in a letter written to the son of his teacher, many years after, he said, "It was to Mr. Bruce's tuition and methods of modeling the mind that I attribute much of my success as an engineer, for it was from him that I derived my taste for mathematical pursuits, and the facility I possess of applying this kind of knowledge to practical purposes, and modifying it according to circumstances." [Illustration: BRUCE'S SCHOOL, NEWCASTLE. [By R. P. Leitch.]] During the time Robert attended school at Newcastle, his father made the boy's education instrumental to his own. Robert was accustomed to spend some of his spare time at the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Institute, and when he went home in the evening he would recount to his father the results of his reading. Sometimes he was allowed to take with him to Killingworth a volume of the "Repertory of Arts and Sciences," which father and son studied together. But many of the most valuable works belonging to the Newcastle Libr
