In an open space near the Central Station, between the Chronicle Office and the Lit. and Phil., there is a fine statue of George Stephenson, by the Northumbrian sculptor, Lough.  It is a full length representation of the great engineer, in bronze, with the figures of four workmen, representing the chief industries of Tyneside, around the pedestal—­a miner, a smith, a navvy, and an engineer.  At the head of Northumberland Street, on the open space of the Haymarket, stands a beautiful winged Victory on a tall column, crowning “Northumbria” typified as a female figure at the foot of the column.  This graceful and striking memorial is the work of T. Eyre Macklin, and is in memory of the officers and men of the North who fell in the Boer War of 1899-1902.  Two other noteworthy statues in the town are those of Lord Armstrong, near the entrance to the Natural History Museum at Barras Bridge, and of Joseph Cowen, in Westgate Road.

THE KEEL ROW

  As I came thro’ Sandgate,
  Thro’ Sandgate, thro’ Sandgate,
  As I came thro’ Sandgate,
  I heard a lassie sing
      “O weel may the keel row,
      The keel row, the keel row,
      Weel may the keel row
      That my laddie’s in

  “O who is like my Johnnie,
  Sae leish,[5] sae blithe, sae bonnie;
  He’s foremost ’mang the mony
  Keel lads o’ coaly Tyne
      He’ll set and row sae tightly,
      And in the dance sae sprightly
      He’ll cut and shuffle lightly,
      ’Tis true, were he not mine!
  [Footnote 5:  Leish = lithe, nimble.]

  “He has nae mair o’ learnin’
  Than tells his weekly earnin’,
  Yet, right frae wrang discernin’,
  Tho’ brave, nae bruiser he! 
      Tho’ he no worth a plack[6] is,
      His ain coat on his back is;
      And nane can say that black is
      The white o’ Johnnie’s e’e
  [Footnote 6:  Plack = a small copper coin, worth about one-third of a
  penny.]

He wears a blue bonnet,
Blue bonnet, blue bonnet,
He wears a blue bonnet,
And a dimple in his chin
O weel may the keel row,
The keel row, the keel row,
Weel may the keel row
That my laddie’s in.”

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V.

ELSWICK AND ITS FOUNDER.

Sailed from the North of old
The strong sons of Odin;
Sailed in the Serpent ships,
“By hammer and hand”

                        Skilfully builded.

* * * * *

Still in the North-country
Men keep their sea-cunning;
Still true the legend,
“By hammer and hand”

                        Elswick builds war-ships.

—­(Northumbriensis).

For a mile and a quarter, along the north bank of the Tyne, stretch the world-famed Elswick Works, which have grown to their present gigantic proportions from the small beginnings of five and a half acres in 1847.  In that year two fields were purchased as a site for the new works about to be started to make the hydraulic machinery which had been invented by Mr. Armstrong.