Not wishing to continue in this career, however, he opened a small retail dry goods store in New York, and began business on a humble scale.  Here he remained until the age of twenty-one, manifesting no extraordinary business capacity, and in no way distinguished from the many small dealers around him.  Upon reaching his majority he returned to Ireland, to look after the inheritance left him by his grandfather.  The amount which thus came to him was nearly one thousand pounds, and the greater part of this he invested in “insertions” and “scollop trimmings,” which he shipped to America by the vessel in which he returned.  He rented a little store, on his return, at 283 Broadway, and there displayed his stock, which met with a ready sale at a fair profit.

Without mercantile experience, and possessing little advantage, save his own Scotch-Irish energy and courage, Mr. Stewart started boldly on what proved the road to fortune.  No young merchant ever worked harder than he.  From fourteen to eighteen hours each day were given to his business.  He was his own book-keeper, salesman, and porter.  He could not afford to employ help.  Credit was hard to obtain in those days, and young merchants were not favorites with those who had such favors to bestow.  Mr. Stewart was one of the least favored, inasmuch as he was almost a total stranger to the business community in which he lived.  He kept a small stock of goods on hand, which he purchased for cash chiefly at the auction sales.  He was a regular attendant at these sales, and his purchases were invariably “sample lots”—­that is, collections of small quantities of various articles thrown together in confusion, and sold in heaps for what they would bring.  He had these purchases conveyed to his store, and after the business of the day was over, he and his wife would take these “sample lots,” and by carefully assorting them, bring order out of the confusion.  Every article was patiently gone over.  Gloves were redressed and smoothed out, laces pressed free from the creases which careless bidders had twisted into them, and hose made to look as fresh as if they had never been handled.  Each article being good in itself, was thus restored to its original excellence.  The goods were then arranged in their proper places on the shelves of the store, and by being offered at a lower price than that charged by retail dealers elsewhere in the city, met with a ready sale.  Even at this low price the profit was great, since they had been purchased for a mere trifle.  For six years Mr. Stewart continued to conduct his business in this way, acquiring every day a larger and more profitable trade.  Here he laid down those principles of business and personal integrity from which he has never departed, and which have led-him to the honorable position he now holds.