414 



[Proc. B.N.F.C., 



scientifically inclined. When in the solicitor's office he conceived 

 the idea of bettering his fellows, and, being a splendid penman, 

 opened a night-school to teach penmanship to such of his com- 

 panions as cared to avail themselves of his offer. My uncle was 

 among these. Out of this school there arose a friendship. They 

 could not continue the night-school during the Summer, and these 

 two betook themselves to the country in the good weather, which 

 was varied with swimming in the river Lagan, of which both were 

 fond and in which they were proficient. These walks were 

 continued for years, and after my uncle had branched away into 

 geological and botanical pursuits in which Mr. Neill did not 

 follow him, it was still their habit for many years to walk over the 

 Cave Hill every Christmas Day." 



James Neill, after serving his time in the solicitor's office, 

 became book-keeper, then manager, and finally owner of the 

 King Street Flour Mills, a business which has been successfully 

 developed by his sons, Neill Brothers, whose " Castalia " is so 

 well-known. 



These years of youth and early manhood were years of 

 strenuous labour as well as intellectual progress in Stewart's life. 

 Working with his father and sister in the shop by day, devoting 

 his evenings to study and acquiring that culture and knowledge of 

 many subjects which was remarkable in later life, and on holidays 

 hastening to the hills or Lagan or open country he loved so well. 



He was proficient at his trade, especially skilful, I am told, in 

 making skin-covered trunks. 



Stewart was a most remarkable instance of a self-educated 

 man, without school or college training, without means, yet in spite 

 of many difficulties at home instead of help, he acquired an excellent 

 general education, and learned to write such good idiomatic 

 English (as for example in the introduction to his Flora) as many 

 so-called well educated people might envy. 



