[23] No register was made of Robert Stephenson's birth, and he himself was in doubt whether he was born in October, November, or December. For instance, a dinner was given to him by the contractors of the London and Birmingham Railway on the 16th of November, 1839, that day being then supposed by his father to have been his birthday. When preparing the "Life of George Stephenson," Robert stated to the author that the 16th of December was the correct day. But, after the book had passed through four editions, he desired the date to be corrected to the 16th of October, which, on the whole, he thought the right date, and it was so altered accordingly. [24] The congregation in a church near Newcastle were one Sunday morning plentifully powdered with chips from the white ceiling of the church, which had been _crept under_, being above an old mine. "It is only the pit a-creeping," said the parish clerk, by way of encouragement to the people to remain. But it would not do; for there was a sudden _creep out_ of the congregation. The clerk went at last, with a powdered head, crying out, "It's only a creep."--"Our Coal-Fields and our Coal-Pits." [25] This incident was related by Robert Stephenson during a voyage to the north of Scotland in 1857, when off Montrose, on board his yacht _Titania_; and the reminiscence was immediately communicated to the author by the late Mr. William Kell, of Gateshead, who was present, at Mr. Stephenson's request, as being worthy of insertion in his father's biography. Mr. George Elliott, one of the most skilled coal-viewers in the North, was of the party, and expressed his admiration at the ready skill with which the difficulty had been overcome, the expedient of the boot being then unknown in the Northumberland and Durham mines. He acknowledged it to be "a wrinkle," adding that its application would, in several instances within his own knowledge, have been of great practical value. [26] As different versions have been given of this affair, it may be mentioned that the above statement is made on the authority of the late Robert Stephenson, and of George Stephenson himself, as communicated by the latter to his friend Thomas L. Gooch, C.E., who has kindly supplied the author with his memoranda on the subject. [Illustration: GLEBE FARM-HOUSE, BENTON. [By R. P. Leitch.]] CHAPTER IV. THE STEPHENSONS AT KILLINGWORTH--EDUCATION AND SELF-EDUCATION OF FATHER AND SON.