ROAD-MAKING--WELLER'S LINE OF STAGES AND STEAMBOATS--MY TRIP FROM
HAMILTON TO NIAGARA--SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES--PIONEER METHODIST PREACHERS
--SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY--LITERATURE AND LIBRARIES--WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS
--PRIMITIVE EDITORIAL ARTICLES.
The people were alive at a very early date to the importance of
improving the roads; and as far back as 1793 an Act was passed at
Niagara, then the seat of government, placing the roads under overseers
or road-masters, as they were called, appointed by the ratepaying
inhabitants at their annual town meetings. Every man was required to
bring tools, and to work from three to twelve days. There was no
property distinction, and the time was at the discretion of the
roadmaster. This soon gave cause for dissatisfaction, and reasonably,
for it was hardly fair to expect a poor man to contribute as much toward
the improvement of highways as his rich neighbour. The Act was amended,
and the number of days' work determined by the assessment roll. The
power of opening new roads, or altering the course of old ones, was
vested in the Quarter Sessions. This matter is now under the control of
the County Councils. The first government appropriation for roads was
made in 1804, when L1,000 was granted; but between 1830-33, $512,000 was
provided for the improvement and opening up of new roads. The road from
Kingston to York was contracted for by Dantford, an American, in 1800,
at $90 per mile, two rods wide. The first Act required that every man
should clear a road across his own lot, but it made no provision for the
Clergy Reserves and Crown Lands, and hence the crooked roads that
existed at one time in the Province. Originally the roads were marked
out by blazing the trees through the woods as a guide for the
pedestrian. Then the boughs were cut away, so that a man could ride
through on horseback. Then followed the sleighs; and finally the trees
were cleared off, so that a waggon could pass. "The great leading roads
of the Province had received little improvement beyond being graded, and
the swamps [had been] made passable by laying the round trunks of trees
side by side across the roadway. Their supposed resemblance to the
king's corduroy cloth gained for these crossways the name of corduroy
roads. The earth roads were passably good when covered with the snows of
winter, or when dried up in the summer sun; but even then a thaw or rain
made them all but impassable. The rains of autumn and the thaws of
spring converted them into a mass of liquid mud, such as amphibious
animals might delight to revel in. Except an occasional legislative
grant of a few thousand pounds for the whole Province, which was ill-
expended, and often not accounted for at all, the great leading roads,
as well as all other roads, depended, in Upper Canada, for their
improvement on statute labour." [Footnote: II.]
[Illustration: THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE.]
The Rev. Isaac Fidler, writing in 1831, says: "On our arrival at Oswego,
I proceeded to the harbour in quest of a trading vessel bound for York,
in Canada, and had the good fortune to find one that would sail in an
hour. I agreed with the captain for nine dollars, for myself, family,
and baggage, and he on his part assured me that he would land me safe in
twenty-four hours. Our provision was included in the fare. Instead of
reaching York in one day, we were five days on the lake. There were two
passengers, besides ourselves, equally disappointed and impatient. The
cabin of the vessel served for the sitting, eating, and sleeping room of
passengers, captain and crew. I expostulated strongly on this usage, but
the captain informed me he had no alternative. The place commonly
assigned to sailors had not been fitted up. We were forced to tolerate
this inconvenience. The sailors slept on the floor, and assigned the
berths to the passengers, but not from choice. The food generally placed
before us for dinner was salt pork, potatoes, bread, water and salt;
tea, bread and butter, and sometimes salt pork for breakfast and tea;"
to which he adds, "no supper." One would think, under the circumstances,
this privation would have been a cause for thankfulness.
The same writer speaks of a journey to Montreal the following year:
"From York to Montreal, we had three several alterations of steamboats
and coaches. The steamboat we now entered was moored by a ledge of ice,
of a thickness so great as to conceal entirely the vessel, till we
approached close upon it. We embarked by steps excavated in the ice, for
the convenience of the passengers."
The following advertisement, from the _Christian Guardian_ of 1830,
may prove not uninteresting as an evidence of the competition then
existing between the coach and steamboat, and is pretty conclusive that
at that date the latter was not considered very much superior or more
expeditious:
"NEW LINE OF STAGES AND STEAMBOATS FROM YORK TO PRESCOTT.
"The public are respectfully informed that a line of stages will run
regularly between YORK and the CARRYING PLACE, [Footnote: The Carrying
Place is at the head of the Bay of Quinte.] twice a week, the remainder
of the season, leaving YORK every MONDAY and THURSDAY morning at 4
o'clock; passing through the beautiful townships of Pickering, Whitby,
Darlington and Clark, and the pleasant villages of Port Hope; Cobourg
and Colborne, and arriving at the CARRYING PLACE the same evening. Will
leave the CARRYING PLACE every TUESDAY and FRIDAY morning at 4 o'clock,
and arrive at York the same evening.
"The above arrangements are made in connection with the steamboat _Sir
James Kempt_, so that passengers travelling this route will find a
pleasant and speedy conveyance between York and Prescott, the road being
very much repaired, and the line fitted up with good horses, new
carriages, and careful drivers. Fare through from York to Prescott, L2
10s, the same as the lake boats. Intermediate distances, fare as usual.
All baggage at the risk of the owner. N.B.--Extras furnished at York,
Cobourg, or the Carrying Place, on reasonable terms.
"WILLIAM WELLER.
"York, June 9th. 1830."
I remember travelling from Hamilton to Niagara in November, 1846. We
left the hotel at 6 p.m. Our stage, for such it was called, was a lumber
waggon, with a rude canvas cover to protect us from the rain, under
which were four seats, and I have a distinct recollection that long
before we got to our journey's end we discovered that they were not very
comfortable. There were seven passengers and the driver. The luggage was
corded on behind in some fashion, and under the seats were crowded
parcels, so that when we got in we found it difficult to move or to get
out. One of our passengers, a woman with a young child, did not
contribute to our enjoyment, or make the ride any more pleasant, for the
latter poor unfortunate screamed nearly the whole night through.
Occasionally it would settle down into a low whine, when a sudden lurch
of the waggon or a severe jolt would set it off again with full force.
The night was very dark, and continued so throughout, with dashes of
rain. The roads were very bad, and two or three times we had to get out
and walk, a thing we did not relish, as it was almost impossible for us
to pick our way, and the only thing for it was to push on as well as we
could through the mud and darkness. We reached Niagara just as the sun
was rising. Our appearance can readily be imagined.
"In 1825, William L. Mackenzie described the road between York and
Kingston as among the worst that human foot ever trod, and down to the
latest day before the railroad era, the travellers in the Canadian stage
coach were lucky if, when a hill had to be ascended, or a bad spot
passed, they had not to alight and trudge ankle deep through the mud.
The rate at which it was possible to travel in stage coaches depended on
the elements. In spring, when the roads were water-choked and rut-
gullied, the rate might be reduced to two miles an hour for several
miles on the worst sections. The coaches were liable to be embedded in
the mud, and the passengers had to dismount and assist in prying them
out by means of rails obtained from the fences." [Footnote: Trout's
_Railways of Canada_]
Such was the condition of the roads up to, and for a considerable time
after, 1830, and such were the means provided for the public who were
forced to use them. It can easily be conceived, that the inducements for
pleasure trips were so questionable that the only people who journeyed,
either by land or water, were those whose business necessities compelled
them to do so. Even in 1837, the only road near Toronto on which it was
possible to take a drive was Y'onge Street, which had been macadamized a
distance of twelve miles. But the improvements since then, and the
facilities for quick transit, have been very great. The Government has
spent large sums of money in the construction of roads and bridges. A
system of thorough grading and drainage has been adopted. In wet swampy
land, the corduroy has given place to macadamized or gravel roads, of
which there are about 4,000 miles in the Province. [Footnote: In order
to ascertain the number of miles of macadamized roads in the Province,
after hunting in vain in other quarters, I addressed a circular to the
Clerk of the County Council in each county, and received thirty replies,
out of thirty-seven. From these I gathered that there were about the
number of miles, above stated. Several replied that they had no means of
giving the desired information, and others thought there were about so
many miles. I was forced to the conclusion that the road accounts of the
Province were not very systematically kept.] Old log bridges have been
superseded by stone, iron, and well-constructed wooden ones, so that in
the older sections the farmer is enabled to reach his market with a
well-loaded waggon during the fall and spring. The old system of tolls
has been pretty much done away with, and even in the remote townships
the Government has been alive to the importance of uninterrupted
communication, and has opened up good central highways. The batteaux and
sailing vessels, as a means of travel, with the old steamer and its
cramped up cabin in the hold, and its slow pace, have decayed and rotted
in the dockyard, and we have now swift boats, with stately saloons
running from bow to stern, fitted in luxurious style, on either sides
rows of comfortable sleeping rooms, and with a _table d'hote_
served as well as at a first class modern hotel. Travelling by steamer
now is no longer a tediously drawn out vexation, but in propitious
weather a pleasure. A greater change has taken place in our land travel,
but it is much more recent. The railroad has rooted out the stage,
except to unimportant places, and you can now take a Pullman at Toronto
at 7 p.m., go to bed at the proper time, and get up in Montreal at 10.30
a.m. the next day. The first railroad on which a locomotive was run was
the Northern, opened in 1853, to Bradford. Since that time up to the
present we have built, and now have in operation, 3,478 miles, in
addition to 510 under construction or contract. [Footnote: This is
exclusive of the C.P.R.]
Washington, in his farewell address, says: "Promote then, as an object
of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of
knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to
public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be
enlightened." Fifty years ago, education, even in the older and more
enlightened countries, did not receive that attention which its
importance to the well-being of society and the state demanded, and it
is only during recent years, comparatively speaking, that the education
of the masses has been systematically attempted. Indeed, it used to be
thought by men of birth and culture that to educate the poor would lead
to strife and confusion--that ignorance was their normal condition, and
that any departure therefrom would increase their misery and discontent.
Those notions have, happily, been exploded, and it is found that
education is the best corrective to the evils that used to afflict
society and disturb the general peace. It goes hand in hand with
religion and good order, and so convinced have our rulers become of its
importance to the general weal, that not only free but compulsory
education has become the law of the land. It is not to be wondered at
that half a century ago our school system--if we could be said to have
one--was defective. Our situation and the circumstances in which we were
placed were not favourable to the promotion of general education. The
sparseness of the population and the extent of territory over which it
was scattered increased the difficulty; but its importance was not
overlooked, and in the early days of the Province grants of land were
made for educational purposes. The first classical school--indeed the
first school of any kind--was opened in Kingston, by Dr. Stuart, in
1785, and the first common school was taught by J. Clark, in
Fredericksburg, 1786. In 1807 an Act was passed to establish grammar
schools in the various districts, with a grant of L100 to each. But it
was not until 1816 that the government took any steps towards
establishing common schools. The Lieutenant-Governor, in his Speech from
the Throne on opening the House, in January, 1830, said:--
"The necessity of reforming the Royal Grammar School was evident from
your Report at the close of the session. By the establishing of a
college at York, under the guidance of an able master, the object which
we have in view will, I trust, be speedily attained. The delay that may
take place in revising the charter of the university, or in framing one
suitable to the Province and the intention of the endowment, must, in
fact, under present circumstances, tend to the advancement of the
institution; as its use depended on the actual state of education in the
Province. Dispersed as the population is over an extensive territory, a
general efficiency in the common schools cannot be expected,
particularly whilst the salaries of the masters will not admit of their
devoting their whole time to their profession."
As far as my recollection goes, the teachers were generally of a very
inferior order, and rarely possessed more than a smattering of the
rudiments of grammar and arithmetic. As the Governor points out, they
were poorly paid, and "boarded around" the neighbourhood. But it is not
improbable that they generally received all their services were worth.
In those days most of the country youth who could manage to get to
school in winter were content if they learned to read and write, and to
wade through figures as far as the Rule of Three. Of course there were
exceptions, as also with the teachers, but generally this was the extent
of the aspiration of the rising generation, and it was not necessary for
the teacher to be profoundly learned to lead them as far as they wished
to go. I knew an old farmer of considerable wealth who would not allow
his boys to go to school, because, he said, if they learned to read and
write they might forge notes. He evidently considered "a little learning
a dangerous thing," and must have had a very low estimate of the moral
tone of his offspring, if he had any conception of morality at all.
However, the safeguard of ignorance which the old man succeeded in
throwing around his family did not save them, for they all turned out
badly.
The books in use were Murray's Grammar, Murray's English Reader,
Walker's Dictionary, Goldsmith's and Morse's Geography, Mayor's Spelling
Book; Walkingame's and Adam's Arithmetic. The pupil who could master
this course of study was prepared, so far as the education within reach
could fit him, to undertake the responsibilities of life; and it was
generally acquired at the expense of a daily walk of several miles
through deep snow and intense cold, with books and dinner-basket in
hand.
The school-houses where the youth were taught were in keeping with the
extent of instruction received within them. They were invariably small,
with low ceilings, badly lighted, and without ventilation. The floor was
of rough pine boards laid loose, with cracks between them that were a
standing menace to jackknives and slate pencils. [Footnote: Atlantic
Monthly.] The seats and desks were of the same material, roughly planed
and rudely put together. The seats were arranged around the room on
three sides, without any support for the back, and all the scholars sat
facing each other, the girls on one side and the boys on the other. The
seats across the end were debatable ground between the two, but finally
came to be monopolized by the larger boys and girls who, by some strange
law of attraction, gravitated together. Between was an open space in
which the stove stood, and when classes were drawn up to recite, the
teacher's desk stood at the end facing the door, and so enabled the
teacher to take in the school at a glance. But the order maintained was
often very bad. In fact it would be safe to say the greatest disorder
generally prevailed. The noise of recitations, and the buzz and drone of
the scholars at their lessons, was sometimes intolerable, and one might
as well try to study in the noisy caw-caw of a rookery. Occasionally
strange performances were enacted in those country school-rooms. I
remember a little boy between seven and eight years old getting a severe
caning for misspelling a simple word of two syllables, and as I happened
to be the little boy I have some reason to recollect the circumstance.
The mistake certainly did not merit the castigation, the marks of which
I carried on my back for many days, and it led to a revolt in the school
which terminated disastrously to the teacher. Two strong young men
attending the school remonstrated with the master, who was an irascible
Englishman, during the progress of my punishment, and they were given to
understand that if they did not hold their peace they would get a taste
of the same, whereupon they immediately collared the teacher. After a
brief tussle around the room, during which some of the benches were
overturned, the pedagogue was thrown on the floor, and then one took him
by the nape of the neck, and the other by the heels, and he was thrown
out of doors in the snow. There were no more lessons heard that day. On
the next an investigation followed, when the teacher was dismissed, and
those guilty of the act of insubordination were admonished.
Dr. Thomas Rolph thus refers to the state of schools two years later:
"It is really melancholy to traverse the Province and go into many of
the common schools; you find a brood of children, instructed by some
Anti-British adventurer, instilling into the young and tender mind
sentiments hostile to the parent State; false accounts of the late war
in which Great Britain was engaged with the United States; geography
setting forth New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c., as the largest and
finest cities in the world; historical reading books describing the
American population as the most free and enlightened under heaven,
insisting on the superiority of their laws and institutions to those of
all the world, in defiance of the agrarian outrages and mob supremacy
daily witnessed and lamented; and American spelling books, dictionaries,
and grammars, teaching them an Anti-British dialect and idiom, although
living in a British Province and being subjects to the British Crown."
There was a Board of Education consisting of five members appointed to
each district, who had the over-sight of the schools. Each school
section met annually at what was called the School meeting, and
appointed three trustees, who engaged teachers, and superintended the
general management of the schools in their section. The law required
that every teacher should be a British subject, or that he should take
the oath of allegiance. He was paid a fee of fifteen shillings per
quarter for each scholar, and received a further sum of $100 from the
Government if there were not fewer than twenty scholars taught in the
school.
Upper Canada College, the only one in the Province, began this year
(1830), under the management of Dr. Harris. Grantham Academy, in the
Niagara District, was incorporated, and the Methodist Conference
appointed a Committee to take up subscriptions to build an academy and
select a site. The last named, when built, was located at Cobourg, and
the building which was begun in 1832 was completed in 1836, when the
school was opened. There were 11 district and 132 common schools, with
an attendance of 3,677, and an expenditure of L3,866 11s 61/2 d.
There was very little change in our school laws for several years.
Grants were annually made in aid of common schools, but there was no
system in the expenditure; consequently the good effected was not very
apparent. The first really practical school law was passed in 1841, the
next year when the union of the Provinces went into effect; and in 1844
Dr. Ryerson was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper
Canada, which office he held for thirty-two years. During that time,
through his indefatigable labours, our school laws have been moulded and
perfected, until it is safe to say we have the most complete and
efficient school system in the world. The influence it has exercised on
the intellectual development of the people has been very great, and it
is but reasonable to expect that it will continue to raise the standard
of intelligence and high moral character throughout the land. Our
Government has, from the very first, manifested an earliest desire to
promote education in the Province. During Dr. Ryerson's long term of
office, it liberally supplied him with the necessary means for maturing
his plans and introducing such measures as would place our educational
system on the best footing that could be devised. This has been
accomplished in a way that does honour, not only to the head that
conceived it, but to the enlightened liberality of the Government that
seconded the untiring energy of the man who wrought it out.
The advantages which the youth of Ontario to-day possess in acquiring an
education over the time when I was first sent to school with dinner
basket in hand, trudging along through mud or snow, to the old school-
house by the road side, where I was perched upon a high pine bench
without a back, with a Mavor's spelling book in hand, to begin the
foundation of my education, are so many and great that it is difficult
to realize the state of things that existed, or that men of intelligence
should have selected such a dry and unattractive method of imparting
instruction to children of tender years. It is to be feared that there
are many of our Canadian youth who do not appreciate the vantage ground
they occupy, nor the inviting opportunities that lie within the reach of
all to obtain a generous education. There is absolutely nothing to
prevent any young person possessing the smallest spark of ambition from
acquiring it, and making himself a useful member of society. "It is the
only thing," says Milton, in his "Literary Musings," "which fits a man
to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices both
private and public of peace and war."
There seems to be a growing disposition in the public mind to do away
with the first important educational landmark established in the
Province. Why this should be, or why its influence for good should at
any time have been so much crippled as even to give occasion to call its
usefulness in question seems strange. One would think that its intimate
connection with our early history; the good work accomplished by it, and
the number of men who have passed out of it to fill the highest public
positions in the gift of the Province, would save it from violent hands,
and furnish ample reasons for devising means to resuscitate it, if it
needs resuscitation, and to place it in a position to hold its own with
the various institutions that have come into existence since its doors
were first thrown open to the young aspirants for a higher education
half a century ago.
The opening of Upper Canada College in 1830 gave an impetus to education
which soon began to be felt throughout the Province. It was impossible,
in the nature of things, that with increasing population and wealth
there should be no advance in our educational status. If the forty-six
years that had passed had been almost exclusively devoted to clearing
away the bush and tilling the land, a time had now arrived when matters
of higher import to future success and enjoyment pressed themselves upon
the attention of the people. The farm could not produce all the
requirements of life, nor furnish congenial employment to many active
minds. The surplus products of the field and forest, in order to become
available as a purchasing power, had to be converted into money, and
this set in motion the various appliances of commerce. Vessels were
needed to carry their produce to market, and merchants to purchase it,
who, in turn, supplied the multifarious wants of the household. Then
came the mechanic and the professional man, and with the latter
education was a necessity. It was not to be expected that the tastes of
the rising generation would always run in the same groove with the
preceding, and as wealth and population increased, so did the openings
for advancement in other pursuits; and scores of active young men
throughout the Province were only too anxious to seize upon every
opportunity that offered to push their way up in life. Hence it happened
that when Upper Canada College first threw open its doors, more than a
hundred young men enrolled their names. In a comparatively short time
the need for greater facilities urged the establishment of other
educational institutions, and this led to still greater effort to meet
the want. Again, as the question pressed itself more and more upon the
public mind, laws were enacted and grants made to further in every way
so desirable an object. Hence, what was a crude and inadequate school
organization prior to 1830, at that time and afterwards began to assume
a more concrete shape, and continued to improve until it has grown into
a system of which the country may well be proud.
The contrast we are enabled to present is wonderful in every respect.
Since the parent college opened its doors to the anxious youths of the
Province, five universities and the same number of colleges have come
into existence. The faculties of these several institutions are presided
over by men of learning and ability. They are amply furnished with
libraries, apparatus and all the modern requirements of first-class
educational institutions. Their united rolls show an attendance of about
1,500 students last year. There are 10 Collegiate Institutes and 94 High
Schools, with an attendance of 12,136 pupils; 5,147 Public Schools, with
494,424 enrolled scholars; and the total receipts for school purposes
amounted to $3,226,730. Besides these, there are three Ladies' Colleges,
and several other important educational establishments devoted entirely
to the education of females, together with private and select schools in
almost every city and town in the Province, many of which stand very
high in public estimation. There are two Normal Schools for the training
of teachers. The one in Toronto has been in existence for 29 years, and
is so well known that it is unnecessary for me to attempt any
description of it. The total number of admissions since its foundation
have been 8,269. The Ottawa school, which has been in operation about
two years, has admitted 433. Three other important educational
institutions have been established by the Government in different parts
of the Province. The Deaf and Dumb Institute at Belleville is pleasantly
situated on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, a little west of the city.
The number in attendance is 269, and the cost of maintenance for the
past year $38,589. The Institute for the Blind at Brantford numbers 200
inmates, and the annual expenditure is about $30,000. These
institutions, erected at a very large outlay, are admirably equipped,
and under the best management, and prove a great boon to the unfortunate
classes for whom they were established. The Agricultural College at
Guelph, for the training of young men in scientific and practical
husbandry, though in its infancy, is a step in the right direction, and
must exercise a beneficial influence upon the agricultural interests of
the country. Of medical corporations and schools, there are the Council
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; the Faculty of the
Toronto School of Medicine; Trinity Medical School; Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons; Canada Medical Association; Ontario College of
Pharmacy; Royal College of Dental Surgeons; and Ontario Veterinary
College. There is also a School of Practical Science, now in its fourth
year. This, though not a complete list of the educational institutions
and schools of the Province, will nevertheless give a pretty correct
idea of the progress made during the fifty years that are gone.
The accommodation furnished by the school sections throughout the
country has kept pace with the progress of the times. As a rule the
school-houses are commodious, and are built with an eye to the health
and comfort of the pupils. The old pine benches and desks have
disappeared before the march of improvement--my recollection of them is
anything but agreeable--and the school-rooms are furnished with
comfortable seats and desks combined. The children are no longer crowded
together in small, unventilated rooms. Blackboards, maps and apparatus
are furnished to all schools. Trained teachers only are employed, and a
uniform course of study is pursued, so that each Public School is a
stepping-stone to the High School, and upward to the College or
University. Great attention has been paid by the Education Department to
the selection of a uniform series of text books throughout the course,
adapted to the age and intelligence of the scholars; and if any fault
can be found with it, I think it should be in the number. The variety
required in a full course--even of English study--is a serious matter.
The authorities, however, have laboured earnestly to remove every
difficulty that lies in the student's path, and to make the way
attractive and easy. That they have succeeded to a very great extent is
evident from the highly satisfactory report recently presented by the
Minister of Education. With the increasing desire for a better education
there seems to be a growing tendency on the part of young men to avail
themselves of such aids as shall push them towards the object in view
with the smallest amount of work; and instead of applying themselves
with energy and determination to overcome the difficulties that face
them in various branches of study, they resort to the keys that may be
had in any bookstore. It is needless to repeat what experience has
proved, in thousands of instances, that the young man who goes through
his mathematical course by the aid of these, or through his classical
studies by the use of translations, will never make a scholar. Permanent
success in any department of life depends on earnest work, and the more
arduous the toil to secure an object, so much the more is it prized when
won. Furthermore, it is certain to prove more lasting and beneficial.
The same causes that hindered the progress of education also retarded
the advance of religion. The first years of a settler's life are years
of unremitting toil; a struggle, in fact, for existence. Yet, though
settlers had now in a measure overcome their greater difficulties, the
one absorbing thought that had ground its way into the very marrow of
their life still pressed its claims upon their attention. The paramount
question with them had been how to get on in the world. They were cut
off, too, from all the amenities of society, and were scattered over a
new country, which, prior to their coming, had been the home of the
Indian--where all the requirements of civilization had to be planted and
cultivated anew. They had but barely reached a point when really much
attention could be devoted to anything but the very practical aim of
gaining their daily bread. It will readily be admitted that there is no
condition in life that can afford to put away religious instruction, and
there is no doubt that the people at first missed these privileges, and
often thought of the time when they visited God's House with regularity.
But the toil and moil of years had worn away these recollections, and
weakened the desire for sacred things. There can be no doubt that prior
to, and even up to 1830, the religious sentiment of the greater portion
of the people was anything but strong. The Methodists were among the
first, if not actually the first, to enter the field and call them back
to the allegiance they owed to the God who had blessed and protected
them. [Footnote: Dr. Stuart, of Kingston, Church of England, was the
first minister in Upper Canada, Mr. Langworth, of the same denomination,
in Bath; and Mr. Scamerhorn, Lutheran minister at Williamsburgh, next.]
Colonels Neal and McCarty began to preach in 1788, but the latter was
hunted out of the country. [Footnote: Playter.] Three years later,
itinerant preachers began their work and gathered hearers, and made
converts in every settlement. But these men, the most of whom came from
the United States, were looked upon with suspicion [Footnote: I have in
my possession an old manuscript book, written by my grandfather in 1796,
in which this point is brought out. Being a Quaker, he naturally did not
approve of the way those early preachers conducted services. Yet he
would not be likely to exaggerate what came under his notice. This is
what he says of one he heard: "I thought he exerted every nerve by the
various positions in which he placed himself to cry, stamp and smite,
often turning from exhortation to prayer. Entreating the Almighty to
thunder, or rather to enable him to do it. Also, to smite with the
sword, and to use many destroying weapons, at which my mind was led from
the more proper business of worship or devotion to observe, what
appeared to me inconsistent with that quietude that becometh a messenger
sent from the meek Jesus to declare the glad tidings of the gospel. If I
compared the season to a shower, as has heretofore been done, it had
only the appearance of a tempest of thunder, wind and hail, destitute of
the sweet refreshing drops of a gospel-shower."] by many who did not
fall in with their religious views; and it is not surprising that some
even went so far as to petition the Legislature to pass an Act which
should prevent their coming into the country to preach. It was said, and
truly, when the matter about this was placed before the Government, that
the connection existing between the Methodist Episcopal Church of the
United States and Canada was altogether a spiritual and not a political
connection; that the Methodists of Canada were as loyal to the British
Crown as any of its subjects, and had proved it again and again in the
time of trouble. Yet, looking back and remembering the circumstances
under which the people came, it does not seem so very strange to us that
they should have looked very doubtfully upon evangelists from a land
which not only stripped them and drove them away, but a little later
invaded their country. Neither do we wonder that some of them were
roughly treated, nor that unpleasant epithets were thrown out against
their followers. This was the outcome, not only of prejudice, but the
recollection of injuries received. There were a good many angularities
about Christian character in those days, and they frequently stood out
very sharply. They were not friends or enemies by halves. Their
prejudices were deeply seated, and if assailed were likely to be
resisted, and if pressed too closely in a controversy, were more
disposed to use the _argumentum baculinum_, as being more effectual
than the _argumentum ad judicicium_. But time gradually wore away
many of those asperities, and now few will deny that the position our
Province holds to-day is to a considerable extent owing to this large
and influential body of Christians. They built the first house devoted
to public worship in the Province; through their zeal and energy, the
people were stirred up to a sense of their religious obligation; their
activity infused life and action into other denominations. The people
generally throughout the country had the bread of life broken to them
with regularity, so that in the year of Grace 1830 a new order of things
was inaugurated. But with all this, a vastly different state of affairs
existed then from that now prevailing. No one could accuse the preachers
of those days of mercenary motives, for they were poorly paid, and
carried their worldly possessions on their backs. Their labour was
arduous and unremitting. They travelled great distances on foot and on
horseback, at all seasons and in all weathers, to fill appointments
through the bush--fording rivers, and enduring hardships and privations
that seem hardly possible to be borne. A circuit often embraced two or
three districts. The places of worship were small and far apart, and
fitted up with rude pine benches, the men sitting on the one side and
the women on the other. Often forty or fifty miles would have to be
traversed from one appointment to another, and when it was reached,
whether at a neighbour's house, a school-house, a barn or a meeting
house, the people assembled to hear the word, and then the preacher took
his way to the next place on his circuit.
Mr. Vanest says: "In summer we crossed ferries, and in winter we rode
much on ice. Our appointment was thirty-four miles distant, without any
stopping-place. Most of the way was through the Indian's land--otherwise
called the Mohawk Woods. In summer I used to stop half-way in the woods
and turn my horse out where the Indians had had their fires. In winter I
would take some oats in my saddle-bags, and make a place in the snow to
feed my horse. In many places there were trees fallen across the path,
which made it difficult to get around in deep snow. I would ask the
Indians why they did not cut out the trees. One said, 'Indian like deer;
when he no cross under he jump over.' There was seldom any travelling
that way, which made it bad in deep snow. At one time when the snow was
deep, I went on the ice till I could see clear water, so I thought it
time to go ashore. I got off my horse and led him, and the ice cracked
at every step. If I had broken through, there would have been nothing
but death for us both. I got to the woods in deep snow, and travelled up
the shore till I found a small house, when I found the course of my
path, keeping a good look-out for the marked trees. I at last found my
appointment about seven o'clock. If I had missed my path I do not know
what would have become of me. At my stopping-place the family had no
bread or meal to make any of, till they borrowed some of a neighbour; so
I got my dinner and supper about eleven o'clock on Saturday night. On
Sabbath I preached. On Monday I rode about four miles, crossed the Bay
(Quinte), and then rode seventeen miles through the woods without seeing
a house, preached and met a class for a day's work."
Another writer says: "We had to go twenty miles without seeing a house,
and were guided by marked trees, there being no roads. At one time my
colleague was lost in getting through the woods, when the wolves began
to howl around him, and the poor man felt much alarmed; but he got
through unhurt." [Footnote: Dr. Carroll.]
These incidents occurred some years before the date of which I speak,
but the same kind of adventures were happening still. It did not take
long to get away from the three or four concessions that stretched
along the bay and lakes, and outside of civilization. I remember going
with my father and mother, about 1835, on a visit to an uncle who had
settled in the bush [Footnote: This was in the oldest settled part of
the Province--the Bay of Quinte.] just ten miles away, and in that
distance, we travelled a wood road for more than five miles. The snow
was deep and the day cold. We came out upon the clearing of a few acres,
and drove up to the door of the small log house, the only one then to be
seen. The tall trees which environed the few acres carved out of the
heart of the bush waved their naked branches as if mocking at the
attempt to put them away. The stumps thrust their heads up through the
snow on every hand, and wore their winter caps with a jaunty look, as if
they too did not intend to give up possession without a struggle. The
horses were put in the log stable, and after warming ourselves we had
supper, and then gathered round the cheerful fire. When bed-time came,
we ascended to our sleeping room by a ladder, my father carrying me up
in his arms. We had not been long in bed when a pack of wolves gathered
round the place and began to howl, making through all the night a most
dismal and frightful noise. Sleep was out of the question, and for many
a night after that I was haunted by packs of howling wolves. On our
return the next day I expected every moment to see them come dashing
down upon us until we got clear of the woods. This neighbourhood is now
one of the finest in the Province, and for miles fine houses and
spacious well-kept barns and outhouses are to be seen on every farm.
I have been unable to get at any correct data respecting the number of
adherents of the various denominations in the Province for the year
1830. The total number of ministers did not reach 150, while they now
exceed 2,500. [Footnote: The number of ministers, as given in the
Journals of the House of Assembly for 1831, are 57 Methodist, 40
Baptist, 14 Presbyterian, and 32 Church of England. For the last I am
indebted to Dr. Scadding.] There were but three churches in Toronto,
then called York. One of these was an Episcopalian Church, occupying the
present site of St. James's Cathedral. It was a plain wooden structure,
50 by 40, with its gables facing east and west; the entrance being by a
single door off Church Street. [Footnote: _Toronto of Old._] The
others were a Presbyterian and a Methodist church. The latter was built
in 1818, and was a long, low building, 40 by 60. In the gable end,
facing King Street, were two doors, one for each sex, the men occupying
the right and the women the left side of the room. It was warmed in
winter by a rudely constructed sheet-iron stove. The usual mode of
lighting it for night services was by tallow candles placed in sconces
along the walls, and in candlesticks in the pulpit. I am sure I shall be
safe in saying that there were not 150 churches or chapels all told in
the Province. All of them were small, and many of them were of the most
humble character. There are probably as many clergymen and more than
half as many churches in Toronto now, as there were in all Upper Canada
fifty years ago. The difference does not consist in the number of the
latter alone but in the size and character of the structures. The
beautiful and commodious churches, with their lofty spires and richly
arranged interiors, that meet the gaze on every hand in Toronto, have
not inappropriately given it the proud title of "the city of churches,"
and there are several of them, any one of which would comfortably seat
the entire population of York in the days of which I have spoken. There
were no organs, and I am not sure that there were any in America.
Indeed, if there had been the good people of those days would have
objected to their use. Those who remember the three early churches I
have mentioned--and those who do not can readily picture them with their
fittings and seating capacity--will recall the dim, lurid light cast on
the audience by the flickering candles. Turn, now, for example, to the
Metropolitan Church on an evening's service. Notice the long carpeted
aisles, the rich upholstery, the comfortable seats, the lofty ceilings,
the spacious gallery and the vast congregation. An unseen hand touches
an electric battery, and in a moment hundreds of gas jets are aflame,
and the place is filled with a blaze of light. Now the great organ
heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling
it forth upon the soul. Surely the contrast is almost incredible, and
what we have said on this point in regard to Toronto may be said of
every city, town, village or country place in the Province.
It will be proper to notice here that from the settlement of the country
up to 1831, marriage could only be legally solemnized by a minister of
the Church of England, or of the established Church of Scotland. There
was a provision which empowered a justice of the peace or a commanding
officer to perform the rite in cases where there was no minister, or
where the parties lived eighteen miles from a church. In 1831, an Act
was passed making it lawful for ministers of other denominations to
solemnize matrimony, and to confirm marriages previously contracted.
This act of tardy justice gave great satisfaction to the people.
The day for cheap books, periodicals and newspapers had not then
arrived. There were but few of any kind in the country, and those that
were to be found possessed few attractions for either old or young. The
arduous lives led by the people precluded the cultivation of a taste for
reading. Persons who toil early and late, week in and week out, have
very little inclination for anything in the way of literary recreation.
When the night came, the weary body demanded rest, and people sought
their beds early. Consequently the few old volumes piled away on a shelf
remained there undisturbed. Bacon says: "Some books are to be tasted,
others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested;" and he
might have added--"others still to be left alone." At all events the
last was the prevailing sentiment in those days. I do not know that the
fault was altogether with the books. It is true that those generally to
be seen were either doctrinal works, or what might be termed heavy
reading, requiring a good appetite and strong digestive powers to get
through with them. They were the relics of a past age, survivors of
obsolete controversies that had found their way into the country in its
infancy; and though the age that delighted in such mental pabulum had
passed away, these literary pioneers held their ground because the time
had not arrived for the people to feel the necessity of cultivating the
mind as well as providing for the wants of the body. Seneca says:
"Leisure without books is the sepulchre of the living soul;" but books
without leisure are practically valueless, and hence it made but little
difference with our grandfathers what the few they possessed contained.
[Footnote: From an inventory of my grandfather's personal effects I am
enabled to give what would have been considered a large collection of
books in those days. As I have said before, he was a Quaker, which will
account for the character of a number of the books; and by changing
these to volumes in accord with the religious tenets of the owner, the
reader will get a very good idea of the kind of literature to be found
in the houses of intelligent and well-to-do people:--1 large Bible, 3
Clarkson's works, 1 Buchan's Domestic Medicine, 1 Elliot's Medical
Pocket Book, 1 Lewis's Dispensatory, 1 Franklin's Sermons, 1
Stackhouse's History of the Bible, 2 Brown's Union Gazetteer, 1 16th
Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1 History United
States, 1 Elias Hicks's Sermons, 2 Newton's Letters, 1 Ricketson on
Health, 1 Jessy Kerzey, 1 Memorials of a Deceased Friend, 1 Hervey's
Meditations, 1 Reply to Hibard, 1 Job's Scot's Journal, 1 Barclay on
Church Government, 1 M. Liver on Shakerism, 1 Works of Dr. Franklin, 1
Journal of Richard Davis, 1 Lessons from Scripture, 1 Picket's Lessons,
1 Pownal, 1 Sequel to English Reader, Maps of United States, State of
New York, England, Ireland and Scotland, and Holland Purchase.] Some
years had to pass away before the need of them began to be felt. In a
country, as we have already said, where intelligence commanded respect
but did not give priority; where the best accomplishment was to get on
in the world; where the standard of education seldom rose higher than to
be able to read, write, and solve a simple sum in arithmetic, the
absence of entertaining and instructive books was not felt to be a
serious loss. But with the rapidly increasing facilities for moving
about, and the growth of trade and commerce, the people were brought
more frequently into contact with the intelligence and the progress of
the world outside. And with the increase of wealth came the desire to
take a higher stand in the social scale. The development of men's minds
under the political and social changes of the day, and the advance in
culture and refinement which accompanies worldly prosperity, quickened
the general intelligence of the people, and created a demand for books
to read. This demand has gone on increasing from year to year, until we
have reached a time when we may say with the Ecclesiast: "Of making of
books there is no end." If there was an excuse for the absence of books
in our Canadian homes half a century ago, and if the slight draughts
that were obtainable at the only fountains of knowledge that then
existed were not sufficient to create a thirst for more, there is none
now. Even the wealth that was to a certain extent necessary to gratify
any desire to cultivate the mind is no longer required, for the one can
be obtained free, and a few cents will procure the works of some of the
best authors who have ever lived.
But little had been done up to 1830 to establish libraries, either in
town or village. Indeed the limited number of these, and the pursuits of
the people, which were almost exclusively agricultural--and that too in
a new country where during half of the year the toil of the field, and
clearing away the bush the remaining half, occupied their constant
attention--books were seldom thought of. Still, there was a mind here
and there scattered through the settlements which, like the "little
leaven," continued to work on silently, until a large portion of the
"lump" had been leavened. The only public libraries whereof I have any
trace were at Kingston, Ernesttown and Hallowell. The first two were in
existence in 1811-13, and the last was established somewhere about 1821.
In 1824, the Government voted a sum of L150 to be expended annually in
the purchase of books and tracts, designed to afford moral and religious
instruction to the people. These were to be equally distributed
throughout all the Districts of the Province. It can readily be
conceived that this small sum, however well intended, when invested in
books at the prices which obtained at that time, and distributed over
the Province, would be so limited as to be hardly worthy of notice.
Eight years prior to this, a sum of L800 was granted to establish a
Parliamentary Library. From these small beginnings we have gone on
increasing until we have reached a point which warrants me, I think, in
saying that no other country with the same population is better supplied
with the best literature of the day than our own Province. Independent
of the libraries in the various colleges and other educational
institutions, Sunday schools and private libraries, there are in the
Province 1,566 Free Public Libraries, with 298,743 volumes, valued at
$178,282; and the grand total of books distributed by the Educational
Department to Mechanics' Institutes, Sunday school libraries, and as
prizes, is 1,398,140. [Footnote: The number of volumes in the principal
libraries are, as nearly as I can ascertain, as follows:--Parliamentary
Library, Ottawa, 100,000; Parliamentary Library, Ontario, 17,000;
Toronto University, 23,000; Trinity College, 5,000; Knox College,
10,000; Osgoode Hall, 20,000; Normal School, 15,000; Canadian Institute,
3,800.] There are also upwards of one hundred incorporated Mechanics'
Institutes, with 130,000 volumes, a net income of $59,928, and a
membership of 10,785. These, according to the last Report, received
legislative grants to the amount of $22,885 for the year 1879--an
appropriation that in itself creditably attests the financial and
intellectual progress of the Province. [Footnote: Report of the Minister
of Education, 1879.]
It is a very great pity that a systematic effort had not been made years
ago to collect interesting incidents connected with the early settlement
of the Province. A vast amount of information that would be invaluable
to the future compiler of the history of this part of the Dominion has
been irretrievably lost. The actors who were present at the birth of the
Province are gone, and many of the records have perished. But even now,
if the Government would interest itself, much valuable material
scattered through the country might be recovered. The Americans have
been always alive to this subject, and are constantly gathering up all
they can procure relating to the early days of their country. More than
that, they are securing early records and rare books on Canada wherever
they can find them. Any one who has had occasion to hunt up information
respecting this Province, even fifty years ago, knows the difficulty,
and even impossibility in some cases, of procuring what one wants. It is
hardly credible that the important and enterprising capital city of
Toronto, with its numerous educational and professional institutions, is
without a free public library in keeping with its other advantages.
[Footnote: This want has since been supplied by an excellent Free Public
Library.] This is a serious want to the well-being of our intellectual
and moral nature. The benefits conferred by free access to a large
collection of standard books is incalculable, and certainly if there is
such a thing as retributive justice, it is about time it showed its
hand.
The first printing office in the Province was established by Louis Roy,
in April, 1793, [Footnote: Mr. Bourinot, in his _Intellectual
Development of Canada_, says this was in 1763, which is no doubt a
typographical error.] at Newark (Niagara), and from it was issued the
_Upper Canada Gazette_, or _American Oracle_ [Footnote:
_Toronto of Old_], a formidable name for a sheet 15 in. x 9. It was
an official organ and newspaper combined, and when a weekly journal of
this size could furnish the current news of the day, and the Government
notices as well, one looking at it by the light of the present day
cannot help thinking that publishing a paper was up-hill work. Other
journals were started, and, after running a brief course, expired. When
one remembers the tedious means of communication in a country almost
without roads, and the difficulty of getting items of news, it does not
seem strange that those early adventures were short-lived. But as time
wore on, one after another succeeded in getting a foothold, and in
finding its way into the home of the settler. They were invariably
small, and printed on coarse paper. Sometimes even this gave out, and
the printer had to resort to blue wrapping paper in order to enable him
to present his readers with the weekly literary feast. In 1830, the
number had increased from the humble beginning in the then capital of
Upper Canada, to twenty papers, and of these the following still
survive: _The Chronicle and News_, of Kingston, established 1810;
_Brockville Recorder_, 1820; St. Catharines _Journal_, 1824;
_Christian Guardian_, 1829. There are now in Ontario 37 daily
papers, 4 semi-weeklies; 1 tri-weekly, 282 weeklies, 27 monthlies, and 2
semi-monthlies, making a total of 353. The honour of establishing the
first daily paper belongs to the late Dr. Barker, of Kingston, founder
of the _British Whig_, in 1834.
There is perhaps nothing that can give us a better idea the progress the
Province has made than a comparison of the papers published now with
those of 1830. The smallness of the sheets, and the meagreness of
reading matter, the absence of advertisements, except in a very limited
way, and the typographical work, makes us think that our fathers were a
good-natured, easy-going kind of people, or they would never have put up
with such apologies for newspapers. Dr. Scadding, in _Toronto of
Old_, gives a number of interesting and amusing items respecting the
"Early Press." He states that the whole of the editorial matter of the
_Gazette and Oracle_, on the 2nd January, 1802, is the following:
"The Printer presents his congratulatory compliments to his customers on
the new year." If brevity is the soul of wit, this is a _chef
d'oeuvre_. On another occasion the publisher apologises for the non-
appearance of his paper by saying: "The Printer having been called to
York last week upon business, is humbly tendered to his readers as an
apology for the _Gazette's_ not appearing." This was another entire
editorial, and it certainly could not have taken the readers long to get
at the pith of it. What would be said over such an announcement in these
days?
We have every reason to feel proud of the advance the Press has made,
both in number and influence, in Ontario. The leading papers are ably
conducted and liberally supported, and they will compare favourably with
those of any country. Various causes have led to this result. The
prosperous condition of the people, the increase of immigration, the
springing up of railway communication, the extension and perfecting of
telegraphy, and, more than all, the completeness and efficiency of our
school system throughout the Province, have worked changes not to be
mistaken. These are the sure indices of our progress and enlightenment;
the unerring registers that mark our advancement as a people.