Here, single-handed, in the bush, I battled on for years;My heart sometimes buoyed up with hope; sometimes bowed down with fears.I had misfortunes not a few, e’en from the very first;But take them altogether, “Bright,” thy death’s the very worst.
Here, single-handed, in the bush, I battled on for years;My heart sometimes buoyed up with hope; sometimes bowed down with fears.I had misfortunes not a few, e’en from the very first;But take them altogether, “Bright,” thy death’s the very worst.
Here, single-handed, in the bush, I battled on for years;My heart sometimes buoyed up with hope; sometimes bowed down with fears.I had misfortunes not a few, e’en from the very first;But take them altogether, “Bright,” thy death’s the very worst.
Here, single-handed, in the bush, I battled on for years;My heart sometimes buoyed up with hope; sometimes bowed down with fears.I had misfortunes not a few, e’en from the very first;But take them altogether, “Bright,” thy death’s the very worst.
Here, single-handed, in the bush, I battled on for years;
My heart sometimes buoyed up with hope; sometimes bowed down with fears.
I had misfortunes not a few, e’en from the very first;
But take them altogether, “Bright,” thy death’s the very worst.
And again he writes,
How can I ever clear the land? How can I drag the wheat?How can I keep my credit good? How can my children eat?
How can I ever clear the land? How can I drag the wheat?How can I keep my credit good? How can my children eat?
How can I ever clear the land? How can I drag the wheat?How can I keep my credit good? How can my children eat?
How can I ever clear the land? How can I drag the wheat?How can I keep my credit good? How can my children eat?
How can I ever clear the land? How can I drag the wheat?
How can I keep my credit good? How can my children eat?
The reader of these lines, perhaps, at the moment, a judge of the supreme court, a member of parliament, or a minister of the Gospel, will instantly look back to his boyhood’s days and see the meek-eyed oxen standing before the log-cabin door, from which issues the form of his father, bearing a long slender switch, which he twirls round in front of the gentle animals as he says “haw, Buck, gee, Bright”; and again he will see them struggling in the yoke, their wide-spreading horns clashing together as they draw the great logs into a heap for the burning; and seeing the result of the early settlers’ efforts in the magnificent stretches of cleared land, and waving fields of grain, he will sing, with our poet, in patriotic strain:
Hurrah! for the grand old forest land,Where freedom spreads her pinion;Hurrah with me, for the maple tree,Hurrah! for the new Dominion.
Hurrah! for the grand old forest land,Where freedom spreads her pinion;Hurrah with me, for the maple tree,Hurrah! for the new Dominion.
Hurrah! for the grand old forest land,Where freedom spreads her pinion;Hurrah with me, for the maple tree,Hurrah! for the new Dominion.
Hurrah! for the grand old forest land,Where freedom spreads her pinion;Hurrah with me, for the maple tree,Hurrah! for the new Dominion.
Hurrah! for the grand old forest land,
Where freedom spreads her pinion;
Hurrah with me, for the maple tree,
Hurrah! for the new Dominion.
It is, though portrayed in the humblest language, a very pathetic picture he draws of “Old Hannah,” poor old woman, husband and children all gone, sitting, on the Sabbath morn, on the doorstep of her desolate home, with her Bible on her knee, looking as sweetly patient as only those purified by affliction can look, and silently teaching us to thank God for the suffering that alone can fit us for the kingdom of heaven. We quote these lines:
In her faded widow’s cap;She is sitting aloneOn the old grey stoneWith her Bible in her lap.. . . . . .Her years are o’er three score and ten,And her eyes are waxing dim,But the page is brightWith a living light,And her heart leaps up to HimWho pours the mystic harmonyWhich the soul can only hear,She is not aloneOn the old grey stone,Though no earthly friend is near.
In her faded widow’s cap;She is sitting aloneOn the old grey stoneWith her Bible in her lap.. . . . . .Her years are o’er three score and ten,And her eyes are waxing dim,But the page is brightWith a living light,And her heart leaps up to HimWho pours the mystic harmonyWhich the soul can only hear,She is not aloneOn the old grey stone,Though no earthly friend is near.
In her faded widow’s cap;She is sitting aloneOn the old grey stoneWith her Bible in her lap.. . . . . .Her years are o’er three score and ten,And her eyes are waxing dim,But the page is brightWith a living light,And her heart leaps up to HimWho pours the mystic harmonyWhich the soul can only hear,She is not aloneOn the old grey stone,Though no earthly friend is near.
In her faded widow’s cap;She is sitting aloneOn the old grey stoneWith her Bible in her lap.. . . . . .
In her faded widow’s cap;She is sitting aloneOn the old grey stoneWith her Bible in her lap.. . . . . .
In her faded widow’s cap;
She is sitting alone
On the old grey stone
With her Bible in her lap.
. . . . . .
Her years are o’er three score and ten,And her eyes are waxing dim,But the page is brightWith a living light,And her heart leaps up to HimWho pours the mystic harmonyWhich the soul can only hear,She is not aloneOn the old grey stone,Though no earthly friend is near.
Her years are o’er three score and ten,
And her eyes are waxing dim,
But the page is bright
With a living light,
And her heart leaps up to Him
Who pours the mystic harmony
Which the soul can only hear,
She is not alone
On the old grey stone,
Though no earthly friend is near.
For his poem, “Halls of Holyrood,” Mr. McLachlan, in a world-wide competition, won the prize offered some years ago by theGlasgow Workmannewspaper, for a national song for Scotland. In 1863 he was appointed by the Canadian government to lecture throughout Great Britain in favor of emigration to Canada. He has also lectured in the principal Canadian towns and villages on various subjects. He speaks with much earnestness and simplicity. As a poet, we would say, Mr. McLachlan has written many pretty musical pieces, while all his work evinces much force, fervor, and simplicity. Here is a line of great beauty that he gives birth to when he speaks of the humming bird as
Wandering spirit of the flowers.
Wandering spirit of the flowers.
Wandering spirit of the flowers.
Wandering spirit of the flowers.
Wandering spirit of the flowers.
And here is a pretty stanza from “Indian Summer”:
Down from the blue the sun has driven,And stands between the earth and heaven,In robes of smouldering flame;A smoking cloud before him hung,A mystic veil, for which no tongueOf earth can find a name;And o’er him bends the vault of blue;With shadowy faces looking throughThe azure deep profound;The stillness of eternity,A glory and a mystery,Encompass him around.The air is thick with golden haze,The woods are in a dreamy maze,The earth enchanted seems.Have we not left the realms of careAnd entered in the regions fair,We see in blissful dreams?
Down from the blue the sun has driven,And stands between the earth and heaven,In robes of smouldering flame;A smoking cloud before him hung,A mystic veil, for which no tongueOf earth can find a name;And o’er him bends the vault of blue;With shadowy faces looking throughThe azure deep profound;The stillness of eternity,A glory and a mystery,Encompass him around.The air is thick with golden haze,The woods are in a dreamy maze,The earth enchanted seems.Have we not left the realms of careAnd entered in the regions fair,We see in blissful dreams?
Down from the blue the sun has driven,And stands between the earth and heaven,In robes of smouldering flame;A smoking cloud before him hung,A mystic veil, for which no tongueOf earth can find a name;And o’er him bends the vault of blue;With shadowy faces looking throughThe azure deep profound;The stillness of eternity,A glory and a mystery,Encompass him around.The air is thick with golden haze,The woods are in a dreamy maze,The earth enchanted seems.Have we not left the realms of careAnd entered in the regions fair,We see in blissful dreams?
Down from the blue the sun has driven,And stands between the earth and heaven,In robes of smouldering flame;A smoking cloud before him hung,A mystic veil, for which no tongueOf earth can find a name;And o’er him bends the vault of blue;With shadowy faces looking throughThe azure deep profound;The stillness of eternity,A glory and a mystery,Encompass him around.The air is thick with golden haze,The woods are in a dreamy maze,The earth enchanted seems.Have we not left the realms of careAnd entered in the regions fair,We see in blissful dreams?
Down from the blue the sun has driven,
And stands between the earth and heaven,
In robes of smouldering flame;
A smoking cloud before him hung,
A mystic veil, for which no tongue
Of earth can find a name;
And o’er him bends the vault of blue;
With shadowy faces looking through
The azure deep profound;
The stillness of eternity,
A glory and a mystery,
Encompass him around.
The air is thick with golden haze,
The woods are in a dreamy maze,
The earth enchanted seems.
Have we not left the realms of care
And entered in the regions fair,
We see in blissful dreams?
Here our poet has left the logging-field and is enjoying the beauties of nature, while giving more attention to the rhythmic tone of the muse. We understand that Mr. McLachlan is now writing forGrip, and we have seen some lines of his entitled “May Song” which, as a lyric, is far in advance of his previous work. We give the first stanza:
Now morn is ascending from out the dark sea,A light crimson veil hanging o’er her;The lark leaves her nest on the bonny green lea,And flutters aloft to adore her.And, oh, how the living beams revel and leap!In purple and gold to enfold her;And how the wild cataract roused on the steep,Is shouting with joy to behold her.
Now morn is ascending from out the dark sea,A light crimson veil hanging o’er her;The lark leaves her nest on the bonny green lea,And flutters aloft to adore her.And, oh, how the living beams revel and leap!In purple and gold to enfold her;And how the wild cataract roused on the steep,Is shouting with joy to behold her.
Now morn is ascending from out the dark sea,A light crimson veil hanging o’er her;The lark leaves her nest on the bonny green lea,And flutters aloft to adore her.And, oh, how the living beams revel and leap!In purple and gold to enfold her;And how the wild cataract roused on the steep,Is shouting with joy to behold her.
Now morn is ascending from out the dark sea,A light crimson veil hanging o’er her;The lark leaves her nest on the bonny green lea,And flutters aloft to adore her.And, oh, how the living beams revel and leap!In purple and gold to enfold her;And how the wild cataract roused on the steep,Is shouting with joy to behold her.
Now morn is ascending from out the dark sea,
A light crimson veil hanging o’er her;
The lark leaves her nest on the bonny green lea,
And flutters aloft to adore her.
And, oh, how the living beams revel and leap!
In purple and gold to enfold her;
And how the wild cataract roused on the steep,
Is shouting with joy to behold her.
Here is good word-painting, and shows what heights our poet is capable of attaining. We would say, in conclusion, that we think Mr. McLachlan should be looked upon as a benefactor to his country, in that he has thrown a halo over the humblest home. Well would it be, for those who are seized with the “brick and mortar craze” of the present day, to pause and read “The Old Settler’s Address to his Old Log House,” before he lays the foundation stone of the new brick mansion that too often leads to ruin, and sometimes to disgrace.
O’Connor, Hon. John, Q.C., Puisne Judge of the Divisional Court of Queen’s Bench, who died at Cobourg, on the 3rd November, 1887, was of Irish descent. His parents, both of whom were named O’Connor, were representatives of two distinct branches of that family, and emigrated in 1823 from Kerry to Boston, Massachusetts, where deceased was born, in January, 1824. Four years later his parents removed to Canada, and settled in Essex county, Ontario, where he grew to manhood. When about nineteen years of age he sustained an accident which materially influenced his future career. While cutting timber on his father’s farm a heavy tree fell upon him, jambing one of his legs in the brushwood. Young O’Connor struggled hard to liberate the limb, but failed, and as night was fast approaching, and a biting frost prevailed, he feared he might be frozen to death. There was no hope of assistance. Under these desperate circumstances the young fellow took out his jackknife, cut off the limb, and crawled to his home over the snow, bleeding profusely. This disabled the future judge for manual labor, and from that date he devoted all his energies to study. Mr. O’Connor was called to the bar in 1854, settled down to practice in Windsor, and was successful, not only in gaining a profitable business, but in acquiring a good deal of local influence, political and otherwise. He was also a member of the Michigan bar. He filled the offices of reeve of Windsor, warden of Essex, and chairman of the Windsor School Board. In politics, he was a Conservative, and in religion a Roman Catholic. Mr. O’Connor represented Essex in the Canadian Assembly for a short period, and he was member of the same constituency in the House of Commons from 1867 to 1873, being one of Sir John Macdonald’s cabinet from 1872 till it resigned in 1873. Defeated in Essex in 1874, he was out of Parliament until 1878, when he was elected for Russell county, and again became a member of the Conservative government, holding the portfolios successively of president of the Council, postmaster-general, and secretary of state. From the cabinet he went to the bench, having been a judge of the Ontario Queen’s Bench since September, 1884.
Moffat, William, Treasurer of the county of Renfrew, Pembroke, Ontario, was born on the 29th November, 1825, in Haddingtonshire, Scotland. His father, Alexander Moffat, came to Pembroke in 1840, and laid out the village (now town) of Pembroke. He was its first postmaster, and subsequently became an extensive mill owner. In his day he was a leading Reformer, and was on one occasion nominated by his party to represent it in the Legislative Council, but declined the honor. Mr. Moffat’s mother was Margaret Dickson Purvis, who died in 1834. Mr. Moffat, the subject of our sketch, is the eldest son of this worthy couple, and received his education in Bytown, now Ottawa. He worked with his father in his mills in the section of country where the family had settled, and which was then an almost unbroken wilderness, until he was twenty-three years of age, when he began the lumber business, and carried this on until 1865; and from that year he conducted his father’s business, which consisted of flour and woollen mills, until his death, on the 7th of April, 1872, when he, with his brother Alexander, continued the business, to which they have added oatmeal and saw mills, until 1878. The mills were on the site on which his father first built in 1840. Mr. Moffat has in his day taken an active interest in municipal affairs. He was reeve of the township of Pembroke for the years 1871 to 1874; and during 1872 to 1876 he was warden of the county of Renfrew. In 1875 and ’76 he occupied the position of reeve of the village of Pembroke; and he was also the first mayor of the town of Pembroke, holding that office in 1877 and 1878. In January, 1885, he was appointed treasurer for the county of Renfrew, and this office he continues to fill to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens. He was the projector of the Kingston and Pembroke Railway, and was one of its first directors. He is a member of the Masonic order. In politics he is a Reformer, and twice carried the standard of his party through political contests—one for the Dominion parliament and one for the Ontario legislature—but unfortunately was unsuccessful on both occasions. In religion he is a member of the Presbyterian church. In 1849 he was married to Isabella Ambrose Kennedy, who came from Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Ouimet, Hon. Aldric Joseph, Lieutenant-Colonel, LL.B., Q.C., Montreal, M.P. for Laval County, and Speaker of the House of Commons at Ottawa, was born at Ste. Rose, Laval county, on the 20th May, 1848. He belongs to one of the oldest families in the district of Montreal, they having settled there over a century ago. His father was Michel Ouimet, a justice of the peace, and his mother, Elizabeth St. Louis Filiatrault. Hon. Mr. Ouimet was educated at the Seminary of St. Therese de Blainville, and graduated a LL.B. at Victoria College, Cobourg, Ontario, in 1869. He studied law in the office of Edmund Barnard, in Montreal, and was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1870, and since that period he has successfully practised his profession in Montreal, being the head of the law firm of Ouimet, Cornellier and Emard. On the 11th October, 1880, he was appointed a Queen’s counsel. In 1874, he was elected a member of the Board of Roman Catholic School Commissioners for Montreal, and has ever since taken a direct interest in educational matters. He is now a director of the Montreal City and District Savings Bank, and of the Credit Foncier Franco-Canadién; and president of the Laval Agricultural Society. A number of years ago he joined the volunteer movement, and was promoted to a captaincy in the Mount Royal Rifles. He is now lieutenant-colonel of the 65th battalion of rifles, and as such commanded his battalion throughout the North-West campaign in 1885. He did good service to his country in the Edmonton district, by pacifying the Indians, and persuading the Half-breeds to support the Dominion government. He is chairman of the council of the Dominion Rifle Association. He was first returned to the Dominion parliament in November, 1873, to his present seat, in place of the Hon. Joseph Hyacinthe Bellerose, who was called to the Senate in October of that year, and was re-elected by the same constituency by acclamation in 1874, 1878, and 1882. He was again elected at the general elections held in 1887. He was unanimously chosen speaker of the House of Commons on the 13th April, 1887, and now fills that high office with dignity and impartiality. Hon. Mr. Ouimet is a Liberal-Conservative in politics, and was returned as an independent supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald’s administration. He is a thorough Canadian, and has great faith in the future of Canada and of the Canadian nation. He supports a protective tariff, and any other well-devised scheme for the improvement of the country. In 1882 he voted for commercial independence. He seems to have at an early period of his life struck out for himself an independent career, and thus far he has succeeded. On the 30th July, 1874, he was married to Theresa, daughter of Alfred La Rocque, of Montreal, by Emelie Berthelot, and the fruit of the union has been four children.
Whelan, Hon. Edward, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.—The late Hon. Edward Whelan was born of humble parents, in the county of Mayo, Ireland, in the year 1824, and having received a fair common school education, when quite a boy he emigrated to Nova Scotia, and apprenticed himself to the Hon. Joseph Howe as a printer. At the age of nineteen he came to Prince Edward Island, and commenced writing for some of the public newspapers, and the brilliancy and force of his articles soon brought him into public notice, and shortly afterwards he assumed the editorship of a newspaper calledThe Palladium, in which the cause of the tenantry was ably espoused, and the foundation laid for a vigorous campaign, which resulted in the establishment of the present system of responsible government, and the abolition of the rental system, which was then as obnoxious to the people of Prince Edward Island as it is at present to the people of his native land. At the early age of twenty-one years, looking but a mere boy, he was elected to represent the second district of Kings county in the local legislature, and shortly afterwards having, in conjunction with the Hon. George Coles, succeeded in obtaining responsible government for the province, was chosen a member of the first government formed under the new constitution, and was co-leader with Mr. Coles for several years; when, finding that his position as a member of the Executive Council interfered with his freedom in discussing public questions, he retired from the council, retaining the office of Queen’s printer. His ready pen and eloquent tongue were ever ready to defend the causes he had espoused, and sometimes he would reply to the attacks of his opponents with such keen severity, that, feeling their inability to cope with him in a paper warfare, he was dragged into the courts on charges of defamation of character. And his eloquent and able defence before the court on one of those occasions won for him the admiration of the judges, lawyers, and all who heard him, convincing not only the court and jury, but all who heard or read his eloquent address to them, that he was no slanderer, but only an exponent of public wrongs. He continued to represent the second district of Kings county for over twenty years, during which time his popularity never abated. When the confederation of the British provinces was proposed, he warmly espoused the project, sincerely believing that its accomplishment would materially add to the prosperity and development of his adopted country; and although the party with whom he formerly worked were for the most part opposed to the scheme, and although he knew that the project was held in small favour by the great majority of his constituents, he nevertheless openly advocated what his honest convictions assured him was for their true welfare, although at the expense of his present popularity and interest. And now, after a lapse of over twenty years, the province almost unanimously acknowledges that he was not only honest and sincere in his criticisms, but right in his judgment, and a movement is on foot to erect a statue to his memory in the principal square in Charlottetown. He was one of the delegates to the Quebec convention for the confederation of the provinces, where he made many friends, and did credit to himself and the province he represented. The “Canadian Biographical Dictionary” of 1881 contains the following tribute to his worth:—“Amongst the most noted statesmen and orators in Prince Edward Island fifteen and thirty years ago was Edward Whelan. A self-taught man and sagacious politician, at the age of eighteen he came to the island, and shortly afterwards entered upon a brilliant career of journalism, having great power with the pen, and wielding it on the side of the people. In the local parliament, of which he was a member for a score of years, he was a great power, the premier part of the time, and one of the most courageous spokesmen of his party (the Liberal at all times). Few men in this province, living or dead, have done more service in getting important measures through parliament and extending civil liberty through the island. . . . Mr. Whelan was a Roman Catholic, and his death is reported to have been the triumph of faith.” The following is an extract from a speech by J. C. Underhay, M.P.P., at a meeting at Morell Bear in the fall of 1886, in advocacy of erecting a monument to his memory:—“No marble monument is needed to perpetuate the memory of Edward Whelan in this province. Our free schools, free lands, and self-government, with the well-tilled fields and comfortable homes, which all over the province have taken the place of the rude structures and neglected farms of the rent paying era, are all monuments to his memory more lasting than freestone or marble. But the people of Prince Edward Island need to erect a monument to his memory to tell to future generations that we, who were the immediate recipients of the benefits his patriotic heart, his gifted intellect, and his eloquent tongue secured for us, are not ungrateful for or forgetful of the great benefits he was so largely instrumental in securing for this province.” In 1851 Mr. Whelan married Mary Major, daughter of George Hughes, of the commissariat department at Halifax, by whom he had two daughters, who died some time previous to his own decease, which took place on the 10th of December, 1867. He had one son, a promising young man, who perished by the upsetting of a boat in Charlotte Harbor on the 1st of July, 1875, casting a deep gloom over the city, and so adding to the bereaved wife and mother’s already overflowing cup of affliction, that the chief justice was heard to say on the occasion that if ever there was a time when the miracle of raising the widow’s son could be fitly repeated it was then. His widow is still living, and, in consideration of the great public services rendered to the country by her husband, receives an annual grant from the legislature. Her whole existence seems to be wrapt up in the memory of her departed husband, and the one great desire of her life is to live to see a suitable monument erected to his memory.
Underhay, John Collier, Farmer and Land Surveyor, Bay Fortune, M.P.P. for Kings, First District, was born at Bay Fortune, in Kings county, in the province of Prince Edward Island, on the 15th of January, 1829. He is the only surviving son of William Underhay, who emigrated to Prince Edward Island from Devonshire, England, in the year 1818, and married Marianne Withers, daughter of James Withers, of the Commissariat department, Somerset, England, and sister to J. C. Withers, the present Queen’s printer of Newfoundland. The first months of their married life were spent in one of the houses on Lord Townshend’s estate, which Captain Marryat gives an account of the building of for the Irish emigrants. It was first occupied by Pat. Pierce, who murdered Abel, the steward or agent, at whose place the officers of the ship in which the “naval officer” sailed stayed while Lord Townshend was settling his new tenants on his estate, the nearest part of which was only about a mile and a half from the harbor where the warship was lying, and close to which the agent, Edward Abel, lived. After several removals, each one diminishing the stock of money brought from the old country, until it was about exhausted, they settled on the land which now comprises the premises where the subject of this sketch was born, and now resides. He received there a good common school education, and he completed his studies with Robert Blacke Irving, who was then one of the best mathematicians in the province. Having at a very early age closely identified himself with the party who was contending for responsible government, free schools, and free lands. At the age of twenty-four years he was appointed a justice of the peace, the youngest person ever appointed to that office in the province. Some years after he was appointed a commissioner of the court for the trial of small debts at Bay Fortune, and occupied the position of presiding judge in that court until those courts gave place to the present county courts. In 1868 he connected himself with the Independent Order of Good Templars, and in 1870 was elected grand chief of the province, a position which he has since filled for two successive terms. In May, 1884, he was a delegate to the Washington session of the Right Worthy Grand Lodge, and was placed on several important committees; and has ever since his connection with the order taken a leading part in the temperance movement. In 1874, he contested, unsuccessfully, the first legislative council district of Kings county, but in 1879 he was returned to represent the first district of Kings county in the House of Assembly. At the general election in 1882 he contested the second district unsuccessfully; but at the next general election, in 1886, he was returned for that district, which he now represents, in conjunction with the leader of the government. He was formerly a Liberal in politics, but lately has allied himself with the Liberal-Conservatives, whom he thinks more fully represent the principles of the old Liberal party of his province. As a justice of the peace Mr. Underhay has demonstrated more successfully than any other officer in the province that the Canada Temperance Act was workable in all its provisions, and only wanted public sympathy and support to make it effectual in the suppression of the liquor traffic. He has been the presiding magistrate in over fifty suits for violation of its provisions, and not one of these has been set aside or judgment reversed by subsequent legal proceedings. During the survey for the Prince Edward Island Railway, he suggested several alterations as to location, which time has demonstrated, and it is now generally conceded, would have been great improvements had they been adopted, and would have materially added to the utility of the line. He, however, succeeded, in opposition to the official engineers, in getting the present line through Souris to the Breakwater—a route which, although universally admitted to be the best, was declared by the engineers in charge to be impracticable. This route has proved to be not only by far the most convenient, but the cheapest to construct. He was brought up a member of the Church of England, but living amidst a Presbyterian community, he is a regular attendant and supporter of the Presbyterian church, and has for over fifteen years held the offices of secretary and treasurer to the congregation. He took an active and leading part in the erection of the new church at Bay Fortune. He has been a trustee for the school district in which he resides continuously for nearly a quarter of a century; and on every occasion that he was a candidate for a seat in the legislature he received an almost unanimous vote from the settlers for several miles around, without regard to political or other party distinction. He is taking a leading part in the present movement for the erection of a monument to perpetuate the memory of the late Hon. E. Whelan, who, in conjunction with the Hon. G. Coles, obtained for the province self-government, free schools and free lands, and many other liberal reforms. On the 17th September, 1856, Mr. Underhay was married to Rosaline, daughter of the late Hon. James Craswell, M.L.C., a descendant of Sir Edward Craswell.
Read, John, Secretary-Treasurer and Manager of the Stratford Gas and Electric Light Company, Stratford, Ontario, was born in South Petherton, Somersetshire, England, on the 20th August, 1838. His parents were John and Susan Read. He received his education in his native parish, and also attended for a short time Billing’s Academy, near where he was born, receiving a very meagre education, having to leave school when only thirteen years of age to accompany his parents to America. Shortly after his coming to Ontario, in February, 1852—he having arrived in Canada in September, 1851—he was apprenticed to the late Mark Holmes, in London, to learn the trade of carriage-making; and having faithfully served his time and worked some time as a journeyman, he removed to Stratford in May, 1862, which city he made his place of abode. In 1865 he entered into partnership with John Humphrey, and they carried on the business of carriage and waggon makers for some years. In 1875 he became a building contractor, and continued as such until 1883, when he abandoned business, and accepted the position of secretary-treasurer and manager of the Stratford Gas and Electric Light Company, which office he still holds. Mr. Read has been in public life for about twenty years, and has held during that time the various offices of councillor, reeve, and public and high school trustee. He has always taken a great interest in the improvement of the city, and worked hard to secure for it a public cemetery, under one management, in which the remains of both Protestants and Catholics may be consigned to mother earth. He also took an active part in the erection of the high and public school buildings, which are a credit to the young city of Stratford. Mr. Read belongs to the order of Oddfellows, and is a past representative of that body. He is a Conservative in politics, and has held for several years the office of president of the Conservative Association of Stratford. He, too, has been president of the North Perth Agricultural Society, and while he held office the new fair grounds were purchased and buildings erected thereon. In religion he is an adherent of the Methodist church. He was married on the 1st September, 1874, to Mary E. Taylor, whose parents are of Irish descent, and live in Ohio, United States.
Pope, Hon. Joseph, ex-Auditor and Manager of the Savings Bank, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 20th June, 1803, at Turnchapel, Devon, England. His father was Thomas Pope, of Padstow, Cornwall, England, and his mother, Annie Hase, of Barnstaple, Devon, England. His grandfather was a substantial yeoman, who occupied his own estate. Joseph was the sixth and youngest son, and his brothers almost all distinguished themselves in their professions and callings. He received his education at West Hore, parish of Plymstock, Devon, England, and landed in Prince Edward Island in 1819, one year later than his brothers, William and John, who had established themselves there as merchants and shipowners. John returned to England in 1823, and William in 1828, leaving Joseph to carry on the business on his own account at Bedeque, where he afterwards remained for thirty-two years. In 1830 he was elected to represent Prince county in the Legislative Assembly, and occupied a seat in the house for twenty-three consecutive years, during which period he was twice speaker for two full terms. In June, 1839, he was appointed to a seat in the Executive Council, and in 1851, upon the introduction of responsible government, was reappointed to the Executive Council, and appointed treasurer of the island. In 1831 he was appointed a justice of the peace; in 1832, a commissioner for taking special bail, and for the recovery of small debts; also a sub-collector of customs, and collector of inland revenue at Bedeque; in 1833, a deputy receiver of land tax for Prince Edward Island; in 1837, a high sheriff of Prince county; in 1843, a commissioner under the Act for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors; in 1842, a commissioner for managing public shares in Steamboat Company; and in 1844, a commissioner of Oyer and Terminer. In 1838, the Hon. Mr. Pope was sent to Canada, with the Hon. J. H. Howland, Joseph Howe, Sir William Young, Dr. Dalrymple, and others, to confer with Lord Durham regarding federal union, and he received the special approbation of His Majesty William IV., for upholding the laws of the colony. In 1847, with the Hon. Edward Palmer (now chief justice), he was sent by the inhabitants with a petition to Her Majesty, signed by four thousand two hundred electors, and approved of by the legislature, praying for the removal of Lieut.-Governor Huntley; and whilst in England, he conferred with Lord Gray with regard to the introduction of responsible government, of which he was always an ardent advocate. On his return to the island with Sir Donald Campbell (a new governor), he received the thanks of the Assembly and people. As a member of the Assembly, he originated the erection of the Colonial Building, and obtained, through the influence of Lady Mary Fitzroy, a grant from the Imperial government towards the erection of an insane asylum. With Dr. Dalrymple, he obtained a satisfactory settlement of the glebe lands, and was chiefly instrumental in bringing in the Road Compensation Act. In 1838 he moved the resolution for the separation of the Legislative and Executive councils. In 1853, Hon. Mr. Pope resigned office, and was absent from the island for about fifteen years. In 1868 he returned, and in 1870 he was re-appointed to his old office of treasurer and manager of the Savings Bank. In 1873, after confederation, he was appointed by the Dominion government dominion auditor and manager of the Savings Bank, and his appointment was confirmed by order-in-council in November of the same year. But the Hon. Mr. Pope being a staunch Conservative, he was dismissed from this office by the Mackenzie government a few weeks after they came into power. However, he was almost immediately afterwards appointed provincial treasurer by the Island government, and two years later, commissioner of Crown and Public lands, which office he held until his reappointment as auditor and manager of the Savings Bank, in June, 1880. On the 30th of June, 1883, he retired from office, and has since resided at Summerville, Prince Edward Island. The Hon. Mr. Pope has for many years taken an interest in military affairs. As early as 1828, he was appointed captain in the Prince county militia; in 1837, he was major commanding; and in 1853, he was gazetted lieutenant-colonel. In religion, he is a member of the Church of England. He has been married three times, but had no children except by his first wife, Lucy, who was a daughter of Captain Colledge, of the First Royal Regiment of foot, of which the Duke of Kent was colonel. His only children, William Henry, and James Colledge, are both mentioned in this volume. He spent the year 1848 in Great Britain, and there married Eliza M. Cooke, of Liverpool, his present wife. In 1853 he fitted up a vessel and started for Australia, but owing to the sufferings of his wife from seasickness, had to abandon the voyage at Liverpool, where he then remained for the next fifteen years.
McCallum, George Alexander, M.D., Dunnville, Ontario, was born in Toronto, on the 23rd April, 1843. His parents were George McCallum, who was a native ofJedburgh, Scotland; and Jane Sangster, of London, England. The father’s family were of Highland origin, and the mother’s Lowland Scotch. Dr. McCallum was educated at Stouffville, Ontario, and at the age of seventeen, having gained a second-class certificate he began teaching school, and for two years taught at Ringwood, township of Markham. He then took up the study of medicine, under the late Dr. Andrew Lloyd, at Stouffville, and graduated M.D. at Victoria University, Cobourg, in 1866, and began the practice of his profession. He moved to Dunnville in 1868, since which time he has enjoyed a large practice. In 1882 Dr. McCallum entered political life and contested the county of Monck for a seat in the Dominion parliament, against Lachlan McCallum, but the county having been gerrymandered a short time before, he was defeated by a small majority. In 1887, at the general election of that year, the doctor again presented himself for parliamentary honors, but was defeated by Arthur Boyle. This time the county had been further manipulated by the new Franchise Act. He has always been a staunch Liberal; and in religion he is an adherent of the Presbyterian church. Dr. McCallum was married to Flora Eakins, of Sparta, Ontario, on the 21st September, 1870, by whom four children have been born, two sons and two daughters.
Wallace, Rev. Robert, Pastor West Presbyterian Church, Toronto, was born on the 25th of April, 1820, at Castleblaney, county Monaghan, Ireland. His people were originally from Ayrshire, Scotland, and like the Ulster Presbyterians generally are called the Scotch-Irish. His father, Samuel Wallace, was in early manhood chosen as an elder, and long held a leading position in the church as such. For many years he acted as superintendent of a Sabbath school, and also conducted a prayer-meeting at his own house, where the young people were often examined in the Shorter and Brown’s catechisms. He was often sent for to visit the sick, and to draw up wills for the dying, and was the kind and sympathizing friend of the poor and afflicted, Roman Catholic as well as Protestant. He was greatly esteemed by all who knew him as a man of most loving and amiable disposition, and of great spirituality of mind, who held constant and intimate communion with his God and Saviour. Mr. Wallace’s mother, Agnes Stephenson, was born at Poyntzpass, county Armagh. Her brothers had as tutor a French officer of the old regime. Her elder brother, Robert, bought a commission as lieutenant in the regular army, and was shot in the battle of Coruna, under Sir John Moore, and died in London on his way home. Her younger brother, Thomas, was for some years a Presbyterian minister in Dublin, but died early. Robert, the subject of our sketch, was the youngest of four sons and five daughters. His father and family emigrated to Canada, in 1829, while he was still a little boy, and he attended school in Toronto for some time, his teacher being the late Mr. Barber, afterwards secretary of the School Board. The school was then called the Central School, on the corner of Adelaide and Jarvis streets, and it ultimately became the Collegiate Institute. His father purchased two hundred acres of college land, being No. 1, third concession East Chinguacousy, where Mr. Wallace lived some years, attending the public school there. He was early dedicated to the Gospel ministry by his father. When about twelve years of age he read the life of Rev. Levi Parsons, the first missionary to the Jews of Palestine sent out by the American Board from New England, and he then desired to be a missionary to the Jews of Palestine. But years after, when studying for the ministry, Rev. William Rintoul, of Streetsville, said to him that we needed all our young men for Canada, and he then resolved to give up that primary desire of his heart. Rev. Angus McColl, now of Chatham, Ontario, was the first of the Canadians who studied wholly in Canada for the Presbyterian ministry. He began in 1835. The Synod appointed Dr. John Rae, principal of the Grammar school at Hamilton, to take charge of any young men who might wish to study for the ministry. Mr. Wallace began his studies under Dr. Rae in February, 1838, and continued under his care during 1838, 1839, and 1840, taking the lead as head of the Grammar school most of the time (Mr. McColl taking lessons in private). During 1841 he studied with the Rev. Mr. Rintoul, of Streetsville, and Mr. Adam Simpson, of the Grammar school. In February, 1842, Queen’s College was opened, and Mr. Wallace, with six others, entered the theological classes under Rev. Dr. Liddell, principal, while also attending the Greek class under professor Campbell, along with John Mowat, now professor in Queen’s College. Mr. Wallace attended Queen’s College during three sessions, when, because of the disruption in Scotland, he and five others—that is six of the seven theological students—left Queen’s College and joined the Free Church of Canada, formed in June, 1844. Rev. Dr. Charles King, of Glasgow, was sent out by the Free Church as professor of theology in the new Free Church College at Toronto, called Knox College, after the heroic founder of the Church of Scotland. The synod appointed Rev. Henry Esson and Rev. William Rintoul to assist the Rev. Dr. King. The first session, 1844-5, was held in a small private house, the residence of Professor Esson, on James street, Toronto, and was attended by fourteen students. That was the last year of Mr. Wallace’s course. In April, 1845, he began his preaching tours over the land, and as the Rev. Mr. Rintoul wished the three young men who had finished their studies (Messrs. McColl, McKinnon and Wallace) to give at least a year to mission work, Mr. Wallace resolved to carry out his wishes, and he refused all calls to settle as a pastor until after fifteen months of most laborious work. The Rev. Mr. Rintoul advised him to accept the next call, as he saw that his health was breaking down with overwork and privation. During that time he travelled about six thousand miles on foot or on horseback, preached about four hundred times, and visited several hundred Presbyterian families scattered over the country from Kingston to Goderich. The roads were then in a primitive condition, and Mr. Wallace often travelled through rain and deep mud, his horse and himself covered with mud; and the fatigue was so great that he broke down several horses, and, at the same time, occasionally went without dinner in the new settlements. He thus organised or supplied in their earlier stages a large number of small congregations near Toronto, in Scarboro’, Markham, Vaughan, King, West Gwilliambury, Bradford, Inisfil, Chinguacousy, Toronto Township, Esquesing, Trafalgar, Oakville, etc., and a few times Stratford and other places up to Goderich, London Township and Westminster, besides preaching at Kingston, Belleville and places north of it. On the 15th July, 1846, Mr. Wallace was ordained at Keene, Otonabee, a place at that time very subject to fever and ague; and, as his constitution was very much run down, he was only three weeks there when he was stricken down by that disease till the close of the year 1847, when the doctor declared he was in danger of paralysis if he attempted to preach any more, and ordered him to return home and recruit. He remained at his mother’s during that winter, and regained his health, though with occasional symptoms of the old trouble. During the summer of 1848 he was sent by the Rev. Mr. Rintoul to take charge of the Free Church at the town of Niagara, a place free from malaria, and while there was greatly benefited. Towards the close of that summer he was advised to visit Ingersoll, and preach in a new church without a pastor. He did so, and was called and settled there in January, 1849. The congregation grew from being a handful of people to be a large, flourishing centre, and after some years the church had to be enlarged, which was done by erecting a gallery, without ventilators. The result was that soon after the re-opening, owing to the great heat from stove pipes meeting in front of the pulpit, Mr. Wallace took tonsillitis, or clergyman’s sore throat; and, after trying various remedies, was advised to resign his charge and visit Britain for the removal of his trouble. In January, 1860 he did so, and accepted the situation of agent for the French Canadian Missionary Society. In less than five months he collected over $4,000 for that mission in Canada, nearly double what had been collected the previous year. On the 30th June, 1860, he left for Britain, by the Allan steamerHibernian. He collected in Scotland and England between $4,000 and $5,000, and introduced the mission among the higher classes in London, by addressing the annual soiree of the Evangelical Alliance, and getting subscriptions from such men as Lord Lawrence and the late Duke of Marlborough. He had reason to believe that he could have raised twice as much in an ordinary year; but that year about $1,500,000 had been contributed in England for three special objects—the famine stricken in India, the friends of the massacred Christians at Damascus and on Lebanon, and towards the sixty thousand silk weavers at Coventry, thrown out of employment by free trade with France. He also preached in Dr. Cooke’s church, Belfast, and got a grant of £100 a year from the Irish Presbyterian church, which was afterwards increased to £200 a year. After an absence of eleven months he arrived home on the 23rd of May, 1861, fully restored in health and vigor. He continued to labor for the French Canadian Mission till June, 1862, when he accepted a call to Thorold and Drummondville, where he labored for over five years. During that time the membership of the church at Thorold more than doubled, and at Drummondville was about trebled. In October, 1867, he received a call to West Church, Toronto, where he was inducted by the presbytery on the 6th November, 1867. Since then he has received about one thousand eight hundred into church fellowship, and a new, commodious and well-built brick church, seating about one thousand, has been erected, and a good work carried on. West Church has now a membership of about seven hundred and forty communicants. In February, 1839, while Mr. Wallace was a student at Hamilton, the late John Dougall, of Montreal, gave an address on the duty of Christians to give up the use of all intoxicants, in order to set an example to others, and thus prevent them from becoming drunkards—on the principle set forth by the great apostle in Romans 14th, and 1st Corinthians, 8th chapter. Mr. Wallace at once accepted the principle, and took the total abstinence pledge, and ever since it has been one of the chief aims of his life to promote the cause of temperance, through total abstinence, as the only effective way of preventing drunkenness. He often lectured, even while a student, and still more frequently since, and several times he has published sermons and pamphlets on the subject, such as “Temperance from the Bible Standpoint,” while labouring, as a member of the executive of the Ontario Temperance and Prohibitory League, to secure the Scott Act, which was carried at Ottawa as the result of a petition signed by about five hundred thousand persons. While residing at Ingersoll he leavened the county of Oxford with his views, and thus prepared the way for the Scott Act there. A few years ago he was appointed to prepare a tract for the executive of the Ontario Alliance, entitled, “The Lesson of Statistics; or, Facts and Figures on the Temperance Question,” five thousand copies of which were circulated. Since then he read a paper, by request, before the Toronto Ministerial Association, on “The Scriptural Argument for Prohibition,” which was published, by request, in theCanada Citizen, the organ of the Alliance. He also wrote, “The Scott Act and Prohibition the Hope of Canada,” published by the Methodist Book Room. Soon after the confederation of the provinces, Mr. Wallace wrote a pamphlet entitled “The New Dominion,” giving a description of the several provinces, with their various characteristics and resources. He has also written a good deal forThe Presbyterianand other papers, on Missions, the Sabbath, etc. His life has been a very busy one, a hard worker, working generally twelve to fifteen hours a day ever since he entered on his course of studies for the ministry. He has received about three thousand into church membership, and supplied or fostered a large number of stations in their earlier stages. He has several times been moderator of his own presbytery, at London, Hamilton, and Toronto, and has been honored by his brethren by being made president of the Toronto General Ministerial Association, and also president of the Toronto Presbyterian Ministerial Association. He was married at Ingersoll, Ontario, on the 3rd September, 1850, to Marianne Barker. Mr. Wallace had only one son, now the Rev. F. H. Wallace, M.A., B.D., born at Ingersoll, county of Oxford, on the 5th of September, 1851. He has had a very brilliant career as a student. After studying some years at the High School of Drummondville, Niagara Falls, he came out “head boy” of Upper Canada College in 1869, carrying off the Governor-General’s prize, and several other prize books. During his course at Toronto University, he held the three first scholarships in classics, modern languages, and general proficiency, and when he graduated he obtained the gold medal in classics. He took part of his theological course in Knox College, Toronto, and studied two sessions at Drew Theological Seminary, New Jersey, where he took his degree of B.D. Then he went to Germany, and spent the session of 1876-77 at Leipsic University. He has since been in the Methodist ministry in Toronto, Cobourg and Peterboro’. He has lately been appointed professor of New Testament Exegesis in Victoria University, Cobourg. Mr. Wallace had only one daughter who grew up to maturity. She held a first position all through her course of study, and was married in December, 1879, to Rev. Donald Tait, of Berlin, Ontario, and died in September, 1881, greatly beloved, leaving one little boy behind her, Francis Wallace Tait, who, through the kindness of his father, is still left with his grandparents.
Dobell, Richard Reid, Timber Merchant, Quebec, was born in 1837, at Liverpool, England. His father, George Dobell, was a successful tradesman in Liverpool, and well known for his strict integrity and stern independence. Richard Dobell, the subject of our sketch, secured his education at the Liverpool College, and came out to Quebec in August, 1857. For many years he carried on the business of timber merchant, under the name of Richard Dobell & Co.; but since 1885 the firm has been conducted under the title of Dobell, Beckett & Co., with a branch house in London, England. Mr. Dobell has always been deeply interested in the trade and prosperity of Quebec. He served as president of the Board of Trade, and was delegated by the Dominion Board of Trade to organize a conference in London to consider the advisability of a closer fiscal policy between Great Britain and her colonies. He is a member of the Executive Council of the Imperial Federation League in London, and is a firm advocate of a closer union being established between all the British colonies. He has been a member of the Quebec Harbor Commission since it was re-organized by the government, and was mainly instrumental in the construction of the Louise basin and docks. He is a Conservative in politics; and in religion a member of the Church of England. He is married to Elizabeth Frances, eldest daughter of Sir David MacPherson, and has three sons and two daughters.
Carrier, Charles William, Manufacturer, Lévis, province of Quebec, was born at St. Henri de Lauzon, county Lévis, on the 20th January, 1839. He was one of the first pupils of the College of Lévis, having entered that institution in the year it was founded. He went through the usual course of studies, and showed himself one of the brightest pupils of the school. In 1855 he took a situation as clerk in the commercial house of L. & A. Carrier, where he remained six years, gaining the highest step in the ladder by hard work, integrity, and attention to business. In 1861 he opened a store on his own account, and in a few years was at the head of an extensive business. In the year 1864, a young mechanic, of Lévis, Mr. Lainé, asked Mr. Carrier to give him the help of his experience and money to establish an iron foundry in Lévis. Many a less enterprising or more timid man would have refused, under the specious plea that he was doing a prosperous business, and could see no reason why he should abandon a sure trade to embark into a risky undertaking. Not so with Mr. Carrier; he saw at a glance that the enterprise had a good chance of success, would be the means of giving employment to a large number of people, and enthusiastically concentrated all his skill and interest in the advancement of the town of Lévis. Time amply proved that he was right in his surmises. In 1872, eight years after its foundation, the small foundry had grown up to the immense “Carrier-Lainé” works, known all over the country. In this undertaking Mr. Carrier gave the full measure of his capabilities as a business man and manager. When he thought of establishing this new industry the building of wooden ships, which had been almost the sole support of the working population, was in the wane, so much so, in fact, that the question was anxiously asked how the deserted ship-yards were to be again put in operation, and what would be the outcome of the enforced idleness of willing workers. Mr. Carrier came just in time to raise the courage of the inhabitants of Lévis and put new life into trade. He had to create and organize everything. After twenty years of ceaseless toil he has succeeded in gathering as good a gang of iron workers as can be found in the province, and to-day the Carrier-Lainé works are among the first in the Dominion in extent, perfected machinery, and finish and solidity of work. Besides making a financial success of his enterprise, Mr. Carrier has earned the gratitude of his countrymen, for having opened the doors of his works to the aspiring youth desirous to learn. In a country where industrial schools are in an embryo state, it is opportune to recall to the memory of those who will come after us the name of the man who was the first to open new avenues to the young generation. The Carrier-Lainé workshop has been a nursery from which have issued mechanics of all kinds, who are eagerly sought after in all the great centres of industry. How many families owe the future of their children to this good man? Mr. Carrier was beloved by his employees, chiefly on account of the interest he took in their welfare. For each and every one of them he had a word of encouragement or a good advice. Unlike the majority of employers who have become wealthy, he knew and instinctively felt that a little consideration to an employee at the right time is never out of place. In times of depression he never closed his works, even temporarily. “Profits are not large these times,” he would say, “but my workmen earn a living, and I am glad of it.” Such an example might be advantageously followed in many quarters. In the midst of his numerous occupations, Mr. Carrier found time to devote himself to everything tending to better the condition of the working classes. He was one of the founders of the Permanent Building Society of Lévis, and of the Loan and Investment Society of Quebec, having been a director of the latter company from its foundation until his death. Since 1870 he held a seat in the Council of Arts and Manufactures, over which he presided for two years. He devoted both his time and wealth to acts of charity and works of public interest. In 1882 he gave the town of Lévis a bronze statue of its founder, which is erected in Deziel square, and the municipal authorities have had the name of the generous donor engraved on the pedestal of the monument. Worn out by incessant labour, Mr. Carrier went to California to improve his health, but after a few months sojourn in that country he returned to his home, where he died on the 18th of September, 1887. In 1864 Mr. Carrier was married to Henriette Camille, the only daughter of Louis Carrier, who was the first mayor of Lévis, and occupied that position for seven consecutive years.
Sedgewick, Robert, Q.C., Barrister, Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Aberdeen on the 10th May, 1848. His father, the Rev. Robert Sedgewick, D.D., was born in Paisley, Scotland, was a minister of the United Presbyterian church, and for several years pastor of the U. P. Belmont street Church, Aberdeen. In 1849 he came to Nova Scotia, and was inducted as the minister of the congregation of Musquodoboit, where he died in 1885. His wife was Anne Middleton, a native of Perth, Scotland. The Rev. Dr. Sedgewick was the author of several works, which at the time of their publication attracted considerable attention; among others, that on “The Proper Sphere and Influence of Women in Christian Society;” “Amusements for Youth,” and “The Papacy: the Idolatry of Rome.” His eldest son, the Rev. Thomas Sedgewick, of Tatamagouche, N.S., a graduate of King’s College, Aberdeen, was, in the year 1886, the moderator of the Synod of the Presbyterian church in the Maritime provinces, and is a leading member of that communion. Robert Sedgewick entered as an undergraduate at Dalhousie College, Halifax, N.S., in November, 1863, where he obtained the degree of B.A. in May, 1867. In 1868, he commenced the study of the law in the office of the late John Sandfield Macdonald, premier of Ontario, at Cornwall, and in November, 1872, he was called to the bar of Ontario. He was admitted by Act of Parliament to the bar of Nova Scotia in May, 1873, in which province he has since practised his profession. In 1880 he was made a Queen’s counsel by the Dominion government. In 1885 he was appointed and now holds the office of recorder of the city of Halifax. In 1874 he unsuccessfully contested the county of Halifax in the Conservative interest for the local legislature. He was for four years an alderman of the city of Halifax, and for two terms he was a commissioner of schools for the same city. He was for several years president of the Alumni Association of Dalhousie College, and is now a governor of that university. He is also lecturer on Equity-Jurisprudence in connection with the Dalhousie Law School. In 1886 he was vice-president of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, and he is now a member of its council. He was for some years secretary of the North British Society and was eventually its president. Mr. Sedgewick is a Presbyterian in religion and a Liberal-Conservative in politics. He is at present the senior member of the legal firm of Sedgewick, Ross, and Sedgewick, Halifax, N.S. In 1873 he married Mary Sutherland Mackay, eldest daughter of the late William Mackay, of Halifax, N.S.
Sangster, Charles, Kingston, Ontario, was born 16th July, 1822, at the Navy Yard, Point Frederick, Kingston. His father, who was a shipwright at a naval station on one of the upper lakes, died before his son was two years old. Mr. Sangster’s education was limited, so much so, indeed, that had he not studied zealously when he reached man’s estate, we could not probably now have included his name among our Canadian celebrities. At the age of fifteen he left school to seek employment, that he might aid in supporting his mother, and was received in the laboratory of Fort Henry during the rebellion of 1838. For ten years after this date he filled a humble position in the Ordnance office, Kingston. In 1849, seeing no prospect of promotion, he resigned and went to Amherstburg, where he edited theCourieruntil the death of its publisher, which event occurred in the following year. He then returned to Kingston, and filled the position of sub-editor of theWhig, which office he held till 1861, when he resigned. In 1864 he joined the staff of reporters for theDaily News, and in 1867 again resigned his post to enter the civil service at Ottawa. Through his writings, years ago, he established his claim to a place in the front rank of Canadian poets. In 1856 he published “The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay, and other poems.” Of this work, Mrs. Susanna Moodie says: “If the world receives them with as much pleasure as they have been read by me, your name will rank high among the gifted sons of song. If a native of Canada, she may well be proud of her bard, who has sung in such lofty strains the natural beauties of his native land;” while the LondonNational Magazineremarks: “Well may the Canadians be proud of such contributions to their infant literature; well may they be forward to recognize his lively imagination, his bold style, and the fulness of his imagery. . . . There is much of the spirit of Wordsworth in this writer, only the tone is religious instead of being philosophical. . . . In some sort, and according to his degree, he may be regarded as the Wordsworth of Canada.” In 1860 he published “Hesperus, and other poems and lyrics.” In “Hesperus,” a legend of the stars, it is said: “The poet essays a lofty flight.” Why not? How otherwise could he obtain a firm grasp of his subject, a matter too little thought of by many of our poets who bring the accessories so prominently forward that the subject is in danger of being utterly eclipsed? Even so is it with this poem, “Hesperus.” Though Mr. Sangster took a high flight, aye, even to the stars, to grasp his subject—and though he may have grasped it in his own mind, he has failed to delineate it clearly. We think in writing this poem, Mr. Sangster has been unduly swayed by some critic who was in love with the misty style of verse-writing so popular at the present day, which is considered most beautiful when most incomprehensible, as he does not often err in this way. It would be well if the young aspirant for the laurel-wreath would remember that poetic words thrown together promiscuously, or even with some attempt at form; aye, even with a perfect lyrical ring, will not make poetry, any more than a number of lovely tints, all in perfect harmony, thrown upon canvas will make a picture. There must be form as well as harmony of color, and the subject must stand boldly out from the accessories. We like much of Mr. Sangster’s writing; besides being good descriptive verse, it recalls pleasant scenes, illustrative of the simple amusements of the earlier settlers of our country, when there were no lectures, concerts, etc., and folk spent their evenings at home, or at little rustic gatherings, such as described by our poet in the “Happy Harvesters.” We quote the following: —