“The protagonist of our story, Charles Johnston, or “Charley” as he was known to friends, was born in Ballykilbeg, County Down, February 17, 1867.” “Soon after his enrollment, Charley met another new student, a ‘lanky youth, with shaggy black hair,’ named William Butler Yeats. The two boys would become fast friends. ‘Some instinct drew us together,’ Yeats would later say. ‘Willie Yeats and I gravitated together,’ Charley would confirm. They bonded over a shared interest in science, and enjoyed experimenting ‘in physics, chemistry, and electricity, with some homemade contrivances,’ to varying degrees of success. ‘[Yeats] was a rabid Darwinian,’ Charley would say, ‘and, like all new proselytes, longed for a convert; and I, as his school chum, was the natural prey.'”—”Charley”

Extensive story about Charles Johnston, including his friendship beginning in childhood with and influence on William Butler Yeats, such as their co-founding (along with George William “AE” Russell) of the Dublin Hermetic Society. Pretty wild to hear about Yeats being “a rabid Darwinian” in early days, given all that he was involved with later.