CHŒUR.

Ce bruit sourd, etc., etc.

Some time after, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the reserve

militia. His intention had been to devote his life to politics, and the

practice of his profession, having adhered for some time in politics, to

the views of the late Hon. Joseph Cauchon, subsequently

lieutenant-governor of Manitoba; but in 1861, he was offered, by the

administration of Sir George Cartier, and accepted the office of joint

prothonotary of the Superior Court, and still retains the position.

Having exhibited such a taste for literature in his early youth, it is

not surprising to find him with a strong tendency to poetry, which was

developed so far that he is familiarly known as one of the poets of

Lower Canada, for he has written some of the most graceful poems and

lyrics published in this country. Upon the occasion of the visit of his

Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to Canada in 1860, M. Fizét was

invited by Sir Hector Langevin, at that time mayor of Quebec, to compose

the ode of welcome for that city to the young prince, which was much

admired, and for which he was complimented and received the thanks of

our good Queen’s son. Mr. Fizét was jointly with the Hon. M. A.

Plamondon, the founder of the Canadian Institute of Quebec (“l’Institut

Canadien de Québec”) of which he afterwards became president, and for

several terms subsequently held, and still holds, the office of honorary

president. In 1856, while holding this office, he offered thirty pounds

for the best essay on the subject: “Quels seraient les moyens à adopter

pour créer en Canada une littérature nationale.” In 1878, he also put up

to competition a prize of twenty-five pounds, to be adjudged by the said

institute for the best essay on the following subject: “Eloge de

l’agriculture; de l’état de l’agriculture dans la province de Québec;

des moyens à prendre pour en activer le progrès.” Hon. Senator Fabre, at

present Canadian agent in Paris, France, in a public lecture delivered

in Quebec, said, regarding the subject of this sketch, Mr. L. G. C.

Fizét, “Imagination charmante, au vol gracieux; poète délicat, au vers

élégant.” Most of his published poems have appeared in _La Ruche

Littéraire_, _Les Soirées Canadiennes_, _La Littérature Canadienne_, _Le

Foyer Canadien_, _Le journal de l’Education_, and some of the leading

French journals. The following extracts from “L’Histoire de la

Littérature Canadienne,” by Lareau, of Montreal, may possibly tend to

show the high repute in which M. Fizét is held in that city. In 1867,

Mr. Fizét obtained the silver medal, at a poetical competition, opened

to all comers, by the Laval University, on the following subject, viz.,

“The Discovery of Canada.” The competitors were numerous, and the report

of the jury, speaking of his poem, read as follows; “A happy variety of

rhythm, adapted with great art to the different parts of the subject, a

great elevation of style and ideas, life and brilliancy, real lyrical

inspiration which sustains itself nearly from one end of the poem to the

other. The first two chants have merited a very particular mention for

their loftiness of ideas, and the sustained beauty of the

versification.” In 1873, M. Fizét was preparing a complete edition of

his poems and lyrics, most of which were unpublished when his

manuscripts were burnt and lost in the Court house of Quebec, which was

destroyed by fire on the 1st of February, of that year. Ever since, his

numerous official and other occupations have prevented him from devoting

any of his time to the restoration of his lost manuscripts, and the

further culture of literature, but with the high commendation he has so

deservedly received, emanating from the source it does, it may well be

remarked, that Quebec, with honest pride, gratulates itself that she

possesses such a poet and scholar in one of her sons, as we find the

subject of our sketch, who in various situations, some of them very

trying, as we are told, has always shown a kindly disposition, a high

sense of honor, a remarkable combination of powers, great sagacity,

integrity of motive, energy of character and undaunted will-power as

testified by general report. His motto is, “Fais ce que dois, advienne

que pourra.”

* * * * *

=Kilgour, Robert=, Paper Bag Manufacturer, Toronto, was born at

Beauharnois, province of Quebec, on the 29th April, 1847. His father,

William Kilgour, was a native of Edinburgh; and his mother, Ann Wilson,

a native of Loch Winnoch, in Scotland. Both came to Canada while young,

and after marrying settled in Beauharnois, where Mr. Kilgour carried on

the carpenter and building trade. Robert received his education at the

public school of his native town, and when a lad entered the office of

Messrs. Molson, of Montreal, where he remained for some time. He then

came to Toronto, and became book-keeper for Livingston, Johnson and Co.,

wholesale clothiers, and here remained until 1870. He then returned to

Montreal, and went into the paper bag business in partnership with J. C.

Wilson, and on the expiration of this partnership, in 1874, returned to

Toronto and established, with his brother, Joseph Kilgour, the business

of Kilgour Brothers, paper bag manufacturers, who are now carrying on

the largest business of its kind in Canada. Mr. Kilgour is a very active

citizen, and takes part in everything tending to elevate the race. For a

number of years he has been treasurer for the Young Men’s Christian

Association, and is also connected with several other benevolent

institutions. In politics he is a Reformer; and in religion a member of

the Presbyterian church. On the 15th July, 1886, he was married to

Clara, daughter of the late William Govan, manufacturer, who for a

number of years was one of Glasgow’s (Scotland) greatly respected

magistrates.

* * * * *

=Casgrain, Thomas Chase=, Q.C., LL.D., M.P.P., Advocate and Professor of

Criminal Law at Laval University, Quebec, was born in Detroit, Michigan,

on the 28th of July, 1852. He is descendant from one of the oldest

French families in Canada. His paternal ancestors belonged to an ancient

family at Ervault, in Poitou, France. The first who came to Canada was

Jean Baptiste Casgrain, an officer in the French army, who landed about

1750. His son, Pierre, was lord of the Seigniories of Rivière Ouelle and

L’Islet. Maternally he is descended from Jacques Babie, an officer of

the Regiment of Carignan-Salières, who landed in Quebec in 1665, and

whose descendants of that name have occupied high and responsible

positions in the country. His grandfather was the late Hon. Charles

Eusèbe Casgrain, lieutenant-colonel, unattached, who sat for Cornwallis

in the Lower Canada Assembly from 1830 to 1834, was a member of the

Special Council of Lower Canada from 1838 to 1840, and at his death held

the office of assistant commissioner of Public Works of Canada. His

father, the Hon. Charles Eugène Casgrain, C.M., M.D., is one of the

senators of the Dominion. He was educated in Quebec, and studied

medicine in McGill College, Montreal. He began the practice of his

profession in Detroit, U.S., in 1851, but removed to Sandwich in 1856,

and now resides at Windsor. He has held various prominent positions in

his country; and was created a knight of the order of the Holy Sepulchre

in 1884. He was called to the Senate in 1887. His mother is Charlotte

Mary Chase, a daughter of the late Thomas Chase, of Detroit, Michigan,

and Catherine Caroline Adelaide Bailli de Messein, of Quebec. Thomas,

the subject of our sketch, is the eldest son of this union. He was

educated in classics at the Quebec Seminary, in Quebec, where he

graduated with high honors in 1872, having stood at the head of his

class for five years. In mathematics, sciences, moral philosophy, at

Laval University, Quebec, and law, also at Laval, where he graduated a

master-in-law (licencié en droit), _summa cum laude_ in June, 1877,

carrying off the Dufferin medal for that year. He was called to the bar

in August, 1877, and settled in Quebec, where he began the practice of

law in partnership with Col. Guillaume Amyot, M.P., whom he left in 1881

to join the extensive law firm of Langlois, Larue, Angers & Casgrain.

Mr. Langlois having died, and Mr. Larue having been appointed a judge of

the Superior Court, Mr. Casgrain, in 1887, on his appointment as a

Queen’s counsel, became the senior partner of the firm of Casgrain,

Angers & Hamel, which has one of the most extensive practices in the

district of Quebec. He was appointed a member of the Law Faculty of

Laval University in October, 1878, and its secretary in November of the

same year. He was also appointed professor of Criminal Law in the same

institution, and granted the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in October,

1883. He represented the Crown in Quebec with the late Judge Alleyn, at

two terms of the Court of Queen’s Bench, criminal side, in 1882, and was

deprived of the office by Attorney-General Loranger, because his views

did not agree with those of the government on the sale of the North

Shore Railway to Mr. Sénécal. He was junior counsel for the Crown at the

trial of Louis Riel and other rebel leaders, at Regina, in July and

August, 1885. Mr. Casgrain was chairman in 1879 and 1880 of the Cartier

Club, a political organization; and is now one of the directors of the

Conservative Club of Quebec. He was elected a member of the Legislative

Assembly of the province of Quebec in October, 1886, by 196 of a

majority, after a severe contest in which the Riel cry was worked to its

utmost. His opponent was the Hon. Pierre Garneau, the leader of the

_Parti National_. He is a strong Conservative. He was offered the

position of stipendiary magistrate for Alberta, when it became necessary

to appoint a French magistrate, but he declined the honor. Mr. Casgrain

is a nephew of the Abbé H. R. Casgrain, a celebrated French Canadian

writer, and of P. B. Casgrain, Q.C., member of the House of Commons for

l’Islet. He married, in Quebec, on the 15th May, 1878, Marie Louise,

eldest daughter of the late Alex. LeMoine.

* * * * *

=McDonald, Alexander Roderick=, River du Loup (_en bas_), province of

Quebec, Superintendent of the Quebec and St. Flavie District of the

Intercolonial Railway, and President of the Temiscouata Railway Company,

River du Loup (_en bas_), Quebec, was born on the 9th of August, 1846,

at Montreal. His parents were James Ronald McDonald, and Adèle

Quevillon. He was educated at St. Hyacinthe College, and went through

the classical course. Mr. McDonald entered the railway service, April,

1864, as station master on the Grand Trunk Railway, from which position

he retired in October, 1871, to enter mercantile business in Kamouraska,

Quebec province; but in January, 1880, he again entered the railway

service as assistant superintendent of the Intercolonial Railway. In

October, 1881, he was promoted to be the district superintendent of the

same road, which position he now holds. In January, 1885, he formed a

company for the construction of a line from River du Loup, Quebec, to

Edmundston, in New Brunswick, under the name of the Temiscouata Railway

Company, of which he was elected president, and which office he has held

since. This line is now in an advanced state of construction, and will

be completed in the fall of 1887. In politics, Mr. McDonald is a

Liberal-Conservative, and in religion, a member of the Roman Catholic

church. He has been twice married. First on September 14th, 1866, to A.

Blondeau, of St. Paschal, who died 10th of February, 1873; and secondly,

on May 16th, 1881, to Marie Langevin, of Quebec, sister of Sir Hector L.

Langevin, minister of Public Works of Canada, and of his Lordship the

bishop of Rimouski.

* * * * *

=Clark, Rev. W. B.=, Quebec.—This worthy divine was born at Biggar,

Lanarkshire, Scotland, on January 27th, 1805. His father was William

Clark, a respectable country merchant, who died when his son was only

two years old. Thus in the providence of God the charge of a family of

six devolved on his widow, Janet Brown, who did her best to bring them

up in the fear of the Lord, to provide for their wants, and give them a

good education. William was educated chiefly at the parish school of

Biggar, where he obtained a knowledge of the elements of Greek, with a

pretty accurate and extensive knowledge of Latin. But when he was ready

to go to college, in consequence of family reverses he could not be

sent. He remained some time at home therefore, and got a still more

extensive acquaintance with the Latin classics. But he was anxious to do

something for his own support, and betook himself to teaching. By the

assistance of James Hogg, the “Ettrick Shepherd,” he was enabled to open

a small school in the parish of Yarrow. Mr. Hogg kindly provided a

school-room, with an apartment and free board for the teacher in the

farm house of Mont Benger. This farm was rented by the poet, and was

situated about a mile from the cottage of Altrive Luke, where he

resided, and the house was occupied only by a servant, who looked after

the cattle, etc. At that time Mr. Hogg had no children of his own old

enough to be instructed, but he interested himself in this school partly

for the accommodation of the neighbors, and partly, perhaps, from

kindness to the young teacher, who had been introduced to him the year

before by Henry Scott Riddell, who afterwards married his sister—the

Eliza of one of his popular songs. During his leisure hours, Mr. Clark

wrote a tale, which he showed to the shepherd, who made a large addition

to it, and published it in _Constable’s Magazine_, and generously gave

the money paid for it to the young teacher. At the close of April, when

some of the young people had to resume field work, the school at Mont

Benger had to be broken up; but Mr. Clark found employment at Manor, in

Peeblesshire, where two farmers, for their own children’s sake,

organised a school, in the house of one of whom—Mr. Murray, of

Cademuir—the teacher was kindly and freely boarded. In the beginning of

November, 1822, Mr. Clark entered the University of Edinburgh, having

saved money enough to pay all personal and college expenses during the

session. On going to Edinburgh, Mr. Hogg furnished him with a letter of

introduction to Professor Pillans, who treated him very kindly and

presented him with a free ticket to his class. In this class he gained

two prizes, one on the direct and indirect forms of speech, and another

for superiority in private studies. At the close of the session he

returned to his old employment at Manor, where he remained till the

following November, when he went home to Biggar, where he taught a short

time, and then accepted a school at Roberton, in Lanarkshire. About this

time his mother died, and shortly afterwards, his own health failing, he

returned to Biggar, and spent the summer and fall in teaching a son of

Mr. Gillespie, Biggar Park. At the opening of the college session of

1824, he had not saved money enough to support himself and pay the

necessary college expenses; but an old lady, a friend of the family,

lent what was necessary to make up the deficiency. During this session,

he seems to have devoted his energies chiefly to Latin, and gained a

prize for an essay on the eighth satire of Juvenal. At the close of this

session he received an appointment as tutor in a large boarding school

at Eddleston, in Peeblesshire, where he remained for eighteen months. It

was here that a favorable change took place in his spiritual condition.

He had for a long time had doubts and difficulties on the subject of

religion; but at this time, after a careful study of “Chalmers’

Evidences of Christianity,” his doubts were removed, his difficulties

solved, and he became a believer in revealed truth, so far as the

exercise of the intellectual faculties could make him so. From this time

he had a deep conviction that the reading of the heathen classics had

deeply injured his moral and spiritual condition. The contempt which an

intelligent mind cannot but feel for the heathen mythology, seems to

have confirmed his doubts in regard to religion altogether. And it is

indeed surprising that Christian people should encourage the study of

the heathen classics to the neglect of the ancient Christian classics.

In this way we believe that unspeakable mischief is done. And there is

no excuse for it; for some of the ancient Christian classics wrote

sufficiently pure Greek and Latin. We have often been surprised that the

dialogue entitled Octavius, of Minutius Felix, and the letters of

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, should not have been generally introduced

into our schools and colleges. Their latinity is beautiful, and their

religious and moral teaching such as cannot fail to exercise a

beneficial influence on all who read them with attention. The same thing

may be said in regard to the writings of Justin Martyr, whose Greek, if

not so pure as that of Xenophon or Plato, is sufficiently good for all

practical purposes. His first Apology, addressed to the emperor

Antoninus Pius, is especially valuable, and ought to be read by all

students of divinity. On leaving Eddleston, at the end of October, 1826,

he had saved money enough to pay the little debt which he had contracted

the year before, and to meet all his expenses during the ensuing session

at college. But before returning to Edinburgh, a friend had procured for

him abundance of private teaching, so that he had now money enough and

to spare. From this time he had private teaching enough, so that he no

more required to lose a session at college. But what was of more

importance, his faith in the glorious truths of the gospel was now

confirmed, and he was growing slowly in grace and Christian experience.

In 1828, Mr. Clark entered the Divinity Hall the same year in which Dr.

Chalmers came to the University of Edinburgh as professor of divinity.

It is needless to say that he profited greatly by the teaching of that

devout and extraordinary man, who not only communicated instruction in

the most effective and memorable manner, but infused somewhat of the

fire of his own soul into the minds of his students. Mr. Clark not only

made great progress in the systematic knowledge of divine truth, but

imbibed something of the spirit of his master. One of the exercises

prescribed to Mr. Clark was an exegesis on the subject, “An Christus sit

colendus summo cultu deo patri debito?” that is, “Ought Christ to be

worshipped with the supreme worship due to God the Father?” This led him

to an investigation, on biblical principles, of the grand fundamental

truths of the gospel, which resulted in a firm conviction in his mind of

the truth of the grand evangelical principles embodied in the

Westminster Confession of Faith. The preparation of this discourse

produced a most salutary effect on his mental character; but it did

more, it deepened his religious convictions, and called forth in his

soul more lively emotions of gratitude and love to the God of salvation.

Soon after this, Dr. Chalmers recommended Mr. Clark for one of the

government bursaries, and it was conferred upon him. The bursary was one

of ten pounds a year; but it had been vacant for a year, so that he got

twenty pounds sterling the first year and ten pounds a year for the two

succeeding years. With his revenue from private teaching, this placed

him in very comfortable circumstances. And as he succeeded about this

time to a small property left him by his father, he had now more than

sufficient for all his wants. In the summer of 1832, Mr. Clark was

licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Biggar, but as there

was at that time a superabundance of preachers in connection with the

Established Church, no opening appeared for him in that line, so he

continued his labors as a private teacher. His work now consisted almost

exclusively in assisting in their studies young gentlemen attending the

Edinburgh Academy. About this time a society was formed by the preachers

of the Establishment in Edinburgh for voluntary missionary labors among

the poor in the most destitute parts of the city. Mr. Clark was chosen

by the venerable Dr. Inglis to labor in his parish of Old Greyfriars,

and the scene of his operations was the Cowgate, with the closes

extending from it to the Lawn market and High street. Dr. Inglis soon

after this died, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Sym, a young man of

fine talents, very popular as a preacher, and of genuine Christian

character. Mr. Clark was soon after his appointment introduced to Mr.

Sym, when he engaged him at a respectable salary as his assistant, to

labor among the poor of the parish. As Old Greyfriars was a collegiate

charge, his services were not required in the parish church; but he

preached regularly in an old church in the Cowgate, whose spire is still

visible from the South Bridge. At that time it had passed out of the

hands of the church, and was the property of the Society of Hammermen,

who kindly gave the use of it for missionary meetings. It was in this

church that the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was

held, and it has now happily passed into the possession of the Free

Church. The scenes of poverty and wretchedness and vice which Mr. Clark

had to encounter in his visits among this people were often

heartrending. On one occasion, when urging a poor woman to attend the

church, he was met by the reply, “Oh, sir, our thoughts are mainly taken

up about how we are to get the next meal of meat.” It was not uncommon

to find houses in which there was no bed, and only some litters of

straw, or even shavings, as a substitute. This was afterwards the scene

of Dr. Guthrie’s labors when he became colleague to Mr. Sym, in the

parish of Old Greyfriars, and no doubt furnished the materials for his

book on the sins and sorrows and sufferings of the great cities of the

old world. When Mr. Clark’s health was beginning to fail, he was

relieved from the severe and often painful work which he had to perform

in the Cowgate and its closes. In 1835 he was recommended by Dr.

Chalmers to Lady Maxwell, of Springkell, who had requested him to send a

young man to take charge of the parish of Half-Morton. This parish was

then in a peculiar condition. It was still a distinct parish _quo ad

civilia_, but was united, _quo ad sacra_ to the parish of Langholm, of

which the minister was a Pluralist, having to preach three Sabbaths in

the month at Langholm and one at Half-Morton. A suit was afterwards

instituted in the Court of Tiends for the separation of the two

parishes, which was successful; and in 1839 Mr. Clark was presented by

the Crown to the resuscitated parish of Half-Morton. Meanwhile he had

been married to a distant relation of his own, Jane Brown, a daughter of

James Brown, of Edmonston, but as there was no suitable residence for

them in the parish, they had to reside at Longtown, a village of

Cumberland, on the English side of the border, till a manse was built at

Half-Morton. Here they spent four years in comfort and happiness, till

the disruption took place, when they had to leave their pleasant home.

They found a temporary residence at Annan, a town ten miles from the

church of Half-Morton. This distance from the scene of his labors

occasioned great additional labor and hardship to Mr. Clark, more

especially as he had often to preach in the adjoining parishes of

Canonbie and Langholm, where a strong feeling in behalf of Free Church

principles had been excited. During the summer of 1843, the preaching in

country places had to be done chiefly in the open air; but at Canonbie a

marqué, capable of sheltering several hundred people, was erected in a

pasture field near the road-side. Mr. Clark had officiated only two

Sabbaths in this place when he was interdicted by the Duke of Buccleugh,

who was the sole proprietor of the parish. The duke’s interdict was

obeyed, but preaching was immediately begun on the road-side, where

increasing numbers attended. A preacher was immediately procured for

Canonbie, and when Mr. Clark appeared after a few Sabbaths’ absence, he

chose for his text, Philippians i., 12: “I would ye should understand,

brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather

unto the furtherance of the gospel.” The opposition of the duke only

intensified the determination of the people. It is only justice,

however, to his grace to add, that some time afterwards he granted a

site for a church and manse with a piece of land on easy terms. Towards

the close of 1843, Mr. Clark was called to Maxwelltown, a suburb of

Dumfries, but the presbytery refused to release him from Half-Morton. In

the spring of 1844, however, difficulties having arisen in the

congregation of Maxwelltown, the call to him was renewed. This time the

presbytery withdrew their opposition to his removal, and he was

transferred to Maxwelltown in the spring of 1844. With a good manse and

large and beautiful garden which he had planted with the choicest fruit

trees, and in the midst of a satisfied and increasing congregation, here

Mr. Clark lived with his family in great happiness and comfort till the

spring of 1853, when, under the impression that he was called of God, he

removed to Canada. This was a great trial to him, more especially as his

wife, who was in delicate health, was unwilling to go. She was too good

a woman, however, to resist what her husband believed to be a call from

God, and, trusting in the Lord, consented to go. In February, 1853, Mr.

Clark sailed for New York alone, thinking it better to leave his family

to come out the following summer. On reaching New York, he proceeded

immediately to Quebec, which he reached on the 1st of March, and

immediately entered upon his labors there. He was treated with great

kindness by the late James Gibb, of Woodfield, who very handsomely kept

him in his house till the arrival of his family in September. Mrs. Clark

was very feeble when she arrived at Quebec; the sea voyage appeared to

have weakened her, and she did not improve much by the change of air and

rest which she now enjoyed. And when the cold weather set in, she began

gradually to sink. But she had perfect faith in Jesus, no complaint

escaped her lips, and in February, 1854, she died in the full assurance

of a blessed resurrection. Instead of enlarging on her beautiful

character now, it will answer the purpose better to insert a poem which

Mr. Clark wrote on the occasion of her death:—

With a sorrowful heart,

She prepared to depart

From dear old Scotland’s shore;

For well she knew,

That its mountains blue,

Her eyes should behold no more.

But when duty called,

No danger appalled

That heart so devoted and true.

She had left, for the truth,

The sweet manse of her youth,

And now bade her country adieu.

In weakness and pain,

O’er the dark, stormy main,

She came to this old fortress town;

Where, in slow decay,

She wasted away,

My faithful Jeanie Brown.

But severe though her pain,

She did not complain;

For it taught her, she told us, to see

More clearly the woe,

In the regions below,

From which the redeemed are set free.

By St. Lawrence’s side,

As he rolls, in his pride,

To the great Atlantic down,

By a walnut’s shade,

The dear dust we laid

Of my sweet Jeanie Brown.

And now she sleeps,

Where the green wave sweeps

Past the ocean’s river’s shore;

But I’ll meet her again,

In that blessed domain,

Where the weary part no more.

Mr. Clark remained unmarried for sixteen years, when he was united in

marriage to Amelia Torrance, widow of Thomas Gibb, of Quebec. She has

been to him a wise counsellor, a true and affectionate wife, and while

she was able, a help meet for him in his great work. After some time,

however, she was seized with rheumatism, which at first gave little

inconvenience; but it gradually increased in severity, till at last, in

the winter of 1872, it completely prostrated her. Towards the summer of

1873 she recovered a little, and it was thought advisable to try the

effect of a sea voyage upon her. Mr. Clark, also feeling his strength

giving way, after having labored in Quebec for upwards of twenty years,

thought himself justified in resigning that important and laborious

charge. Accordingly they sailed for the old country in the autumn of

1873; and Mrs. Clark felt more benefit from the sea voyage than from all

the medical treatment which she had received. After visiting Mr. Clark’s

sister, the widow of Henry Scott Riddell, at Tiviot Head, they spent the

winter partly at a hydropathic establishment, near Melrose; partly in

Edinburgh, and partly in Dumfries. They then started for the south,

spending a short time in London, a week in Paris, and then started for

Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, famous for its hot sulphur springs. After

spending some time there they returned to Scotland, through Switzerland

and France, arriving in Edinburgh near the end of May, a little before

the closing of the Free Church General Assembly. They spent the

remainder of the summer very pleasantly among their friends in the rural

parts of the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Dumfries, and in the

neighborhood of Glasgow, from which port they sailed, and reached Quebec

in safety in September, 1874. Mr. Clark was now too old to think of

looking after another ministerial charge, but preached occasionally at

Quebec and elsewhere as circumstances required till 1880, when he was

called to be professor of Church History in Morin College, Quebec, which

situation he still holds. While in Half-Morton he prepared a book for

family worship, which was published by T. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, and

obtained a large circulation. While in Maxwelltown, after the death of

his only son, he wrote a little volume entitled, “Asleep in Jesus,”

which was also published by the Nelsons, and extensively circulated.

This little book was afterwards published in Philadelphia without the

author’s knowledge. Mr. Clark produced another little work, entitled

“The Promise of the Spirit,” which was published by Robert Kennedy, at

Prescott. This book did not attract much attention, and was never

republished.

* * * * *

=Thompson, Hon. John Sparrow David=, Q.C., Minister of Justice and

Attorney-General of the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, was born at Halifax,

on the 10th of November, 1844. He is a son of John Sparrow Thompson, a

native of Waterford, Ireland, who, after coming to this country, was for

a time Queen’s printer, and afterwards superintendent of the money order

system of Nova Scotia. Hon. Mr. Thompson chose law as a profession, and

was called to the bar of Nova Scotia, in July, 1865, and appointed a

Queen’s counsel in May, 1879. He was for six years alderman of the city

of Halifax, and for five years a member of the Board of School

Commissioners, being for some time chairman of the board. He was also a

member of the Senate of the University of Halifax. He was for the last

two years of his residence in Halifax honorary lecturer in the Halifax

Law School, on evidence and the construction of statutes. He entered the

political arena in 1877, and was elected for Antigonish county a member

of the Nova Scotia legislature, by a majority of 517. He was returned by

the same constituency at the general election of 1878, and was appointed

attorney-general in 1878, and was again elected by acclamation. In 1882,

on the retirement of the Hon. Mr. Holmes, he was chosen premier and

attorney-general; and at the election that followed that year, he was

returned by a majority of over five hundred. In July, 1882, he resigned

office, and was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Nova

Scotia. This office he held until the 25th of September, 1885, when he

resigned, and was chosen by Sir John A. Macdonald to fill the important

offices of minister of justice and attorney-general for the Dominion of

Canada. He sat in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia from December,

1877, until his elevation to the bench in 1882; and was first elected to

the House of Commons, at Ottawa, in October, 1885, and re-elected at the

general election of 1887, for Antigonish. Hon. Mr. Thompson in politics

is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion is a member of the Roman

Catholic church. In 1870, he was married to Annie E. Affleck, daughter

of Captain Affleck, of Halifax, and has a family of five children.

* * * * *

=MacLean, Alexander=, Parliamentary Printer, Ottawa, was born on the 9th

December, 1834, in the township of Dumfries, county of Brant, Ontario.

His parents were John MacLean and Isabella McRae, both natives of

Inverness, Scotland, from which country they emigrated, and settled in

Canada. Alexander received his education in the public and grammar

schools, and remained at home, his father being a farmer, taking a share

of the farm work, until he was twenty years of age. He subsequently

taught school for a while, and also served for some years as a

mercantile clerk. He abandoned these pursuits for the newspaper press,

to which he had become a casual contributor, and became the publisher,

in 1865, of the Cornwall _Freeholder_, then the home organ of the late

Hon. Sandfield Macdonald, and continued its publisher until shortly

after that gentleman’s death, in 1872. He then joined the staff of the

Toronto _Globe_, as its Ottawa correspondent, and this position he held

for several years, until he became (with Mr. Roger) one of the

contractors for the printing of the Senate and House of Commons, and of

the government at Ottawa, and such he has been for the last fourteen

years. Mr. MacLean is a justice of the peace for the united counties of

Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry; a director of the Metropolitan Street

Railway Company; of the Canadian Granite Company, both of Ottawa; and of

the Cornwall Gas Company. He is also interested in several other public

enterprises. He early joined the Masonic order, and is now a past

worshipful master. He is a Liberal in politics, and in religion, belongs

to the Presbyterian denomination. On November 20th, 1863, he was married

to Sarah, daughter of John Smith, St. George, county of Brant.

* * * * *

=Perrigo, James=, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S., (Eng.), Montreal, was born in

the city of Montreal in 1846. His parents were John Perrigo and Eleanor

Reeves. The doctor’s family have always been Conservative in politics,

and we find that in the war of 1812 his grandfather served against the

Americans; and it was in consequence of his patriotic services on this

occasion that he escaped being expelled from the country during the

troublesome times of 1837, he having commanded the rebels in the

skirmish that took place near Beauharnois in that year. He received his

education at McGill University, and afterwards went to England, where he

further prosecuted his medical studies, and while there he was elected

honorary secretary of the Obstetrical Society of London. Returning to

Montreal in 1872, he began the practice of his profession, and now

occupies a front rank as a medical practitioner in that city. He is a

professor of surgery in Bishop’s College Medical School. In religion Dr.

Perrigo is an adherent of the Episcopal form of worship; and in politics

is a Liberal-Conservative. In 1885 he was married to Marion G., daughter

of the late H. Chandler, who, during his lifetime, was a merchant in

Montreal.

* * * * *

=Medley, Rev. Charles Steinkopff=, B.A., Rector of Sussex, New

Brunswick, is of English birth, having been born in Truro, Cornwall, on

the 16th September, 1835. He is a son of the Right Rev. John Medley,

D.D., bishop of Fredericton, and Christiana Bacon, a granddaughter of

the great English sculptor of that name. The Rev. Mr. Medley received

his early education in the classics and mathematics at Marlborough

College, Wiltshire, England, and came out to New Brunswick in 1855, his

father having preceded him. Shortly after his arrival he entered King’s

College, Fredericton, where he took the arts course. He studied theology

under his father. In June, 1859, he was ordained deacon by his father,

and the following year priest. He was first sent to the mission of

Douglas, York county, New Brunswick, where he labored fifteen months,

serving meanwhile as a school trustee, and doing good religious and

literary work. At the end of this period Rev. Mr. Medley returned to

Fredericton to assist his father in the Cathedral. After a short

residence in Fredericton he removed to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where

he was incumbent of St. Mary’s Church for three years, and then returned

to New Brunswick in 1867, to become rector of Sussex. Since his

settlement here he has done good work for the Master. A neat and tasty

church edifice has been erected, with black ash and pine sheathing, one

of the finest houses of worship of its kind in the province. The old

church whose place it took was one of the earliest built in this part of

New Brunswick, Sussex having been settled by U. E. loyalists. It is

situated about half a mile from the village, and, like the residence of

the rector a few rods from it, has beautiful rural surroundings, and is

a most inviting place for man to worship God. Rev. Mr. Medley was

appointed canon to the cathedral at Fredericton in 1869; and rural dean

in July, 1880. He is an excellent scholar, a polished writer, a sound

theologian, and has a pleasant delivery in the pulpit. Canon Medley was

married on the 21st April, 1864, to Charlotte, daughter of Robert Bird,

of Birdtown, York county, New Brunswick.

* * * * *

=Macdonald, Charles De Wolf=, B.A., Barrister, Pictou, Nova Scotia, was

born on the 23rd October, 1854, at Pictou, N.S. His father was the late

Alexander Cameron Macdonald, Q.C., barrister, who, during his lifetime,

represented the county of Pictou in the Nova Scotia legislature for

eight years, and occupied the position of speaker in the House of

Assembly, previous to the confederation of the provinces. His mother,

who still survives, Sarah Amelia De Wolf, is a descendant of a

well-known loyalist family, of German noble origin. Charles received his

primary education at Pictou Academy; matriculated in 1869 at Dalhousie

College, Halifax, when fifteen years of age, taking the first provincial

scholarship, and, making the highest aggregate each year; graduated in

1873. He took first prizes throughout his course for Latin, Greek,

French and German. Since leaving college he has made a special study of

modern languages, and is now widely known as a linguist. He adopted law

as a profession, and was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia in 1875,

when only twenty-one years of age. For the past twelve years he has

practised in Pictou, and is now one of the leading barristers in the

county. Mr. Macdonald has always taken a deep interest in military

affairs, and is a lieutenant in the 78th Highlanders, Colchester, Hants

and Pictou volunteers. He is a Liberal in politics, and is an active

politician. From 1882 to 1885, in addition to his usual law practice, he

edited the Pictou _News_, which was the first paper to advocate the

repeal of the federal compact, and ranks among the best conducted

weeklies in the Maritime provinces. He is a member of the Presbyterian

church.

* * * * *

=Bethune, John Lemuel=, M.D.C.M., M.P.P. for the county of Victoria,

Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, was born at Loch Lomond, Richmond

county, N.S., in 1850. His parents were Roderick Bethune, postmaster,

and Mary Bethune, who came from the Highlands of Scotland to Cape Breton

about fifty years ago. The Rev. Thomas McLauchlin, F.S.A.S., in his

“Celtic Gleanings,” says that the descendants of the Beatons, or

Bethunes, or as they styled themselves, McVeaghs (McBeths), in a family

tree contained in an old manuscript of theirs still in existence, trace

themselves up to Nial of the Nine Hostages, King of Ireland. One Ferchar

Bethune came into prominence by being the means of curing King Robert

II. of Scotland of a painful and dangerous disease, and there is among

the Scottish registers of charters a copy of a charter from that king

conveying to Bethune, as an expression of his gratitude, possession of

all the islands on the west coast of Scotland from the Point Store in

Assynt to that of Armidale in Farr. How long Ferchar’s descendants were

physicians is not known, but they can be traced back as such by means of

existing documents for three hundred and fifty years from the middle of

last century. However, the great progenitor of the race would seem to be

a certain Fergus the Fair, probably the Fergus Bethune who lived in the

year 1408, and was then physician to McDonald of the Isles of Islay.

There are several MSS. belonging to this family in existence. One is a

small quarto in vellum, now in possession of David Laing, of the

Edinburgh Signet Library. It was written by John Beaton, who flourished

in 1530. It is full of comments on the writings of Constantius and other

medical continental writers of that period. It also contains a long

treatise on astrology, and another on the phenomena of color as an

indication of health or disease. This and other writings of theirs

indicate an amount of cultivation in the Gaelic to qualify it for being

the language of science from which it has sadly declined. Dr. Bethune,

the subject of our sketch, was educated at the Normal School in Truro,

and in Dalhousie University, where he took the degree of M.D.C.M. in

1875, and then began the practice of his profession. In 1881 he was

appointed paymaster, with the honorary rank of captain, in the 94th

battalion Argyll Highlanders, and the same year was made census

commissioner. He is a justice of the peace, coroner, commissioner of

schools, and is a commissioner for taking affidavits, etc., in the

Supreme and County courts of Victoria county. He takes an interest in

all movements for the good of his fellow men. He is a past master of St.

Mark’s lodge of the Masonic brotherhood; and is also a member of the

Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of Nova Scotia. He occupied a

seat in the municipal council from 1879 till 1886, when he resigned; and

for three years from June, 1880, he was warden of the county. The doctor

was for three years secretary of the Liberal-Conservative Association of

Victoria county; and at the general election held in 1886 he was

selected to represent his adopted county, as an Independent, in the

House of Assembly of Nova Scotia. His religious views are in accordance

with the teachings of the Presbyterian Church of Canada. He was married

January 20th, 1885, to Mary C., only daughter of the late Robert A.

Jones, registrar of deeds for Victoria county, who was a descendant of a

Jones, a loyalist, who came to Cape Breton at the time of the American

rebellion, and to whom was granted large tracts of land at Big Baddeck,

Washabuck and other places in Cape Breton.

* * * * *

=Hatt, Samuel Staunton=, Quebec, Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod,

Legislative Council, province of Quebec, was born at Chambly, Quebec

province, on the 18th February, 1844. He is the eldest son of the late

Augustus Hatt, and of Charlotte Emelie de Salaberry, of Chambly. He is

also a grandson of Colonel de Salaberry, the hero of Chateauguay, and of

the Hon. Samuel Hatt, of Chambly. Mr. Hatt received his education at the

High School of St. Johns, and at St. Hyacinthe College. He received his

civil service certificate when only about sixteen years of age, and in

1861 entered the Militia department. He served on the frontier at St.

Albans during the time of the Fenian raids, with the rank of captain and

adjutant; and also commanded a detachment, at Huntingdon, of the 3rd

Administration battalion, under command of Lieut.-Colonel Taylor. While

Captain Hatt was stationed at Laprairie, he and the men under him

rendered great service in subduing a fire which endangered the whole

town, and were afterwards publicly thanked by the municipal council for

the important service rendered on the occasion. Mr. Hatt was appointed

under Royal commission Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod for the Province

of Quebec, on the 23rd December, 1867, and still holds this office. He

was married in 1883, to Mrs. N. F. Hoole, of Philadelphia, United

States.

* * * * *

=McMaster, Hon. William.=—Senator McMaster, who died in Toronto, on the

morning of Friday, 23rd September, 1887, was a good representative of

that class on whom we bestow the title of merchant princes. He was born

in 1811, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, and his father was the late

William McMaster, a linen merchant, who did business for many years in

the county where the subject of our sketch was born. His son’s early

education was a very careful one, he having attended a private school,

the best in the parish, presided over by Mr. Halcro, one of the most

eminent teachers in the north of Ireland. In 1833, Mr. McMaster left

Ireland, and on the 9th of August of the same year he came to Toronto.

Since then the town of seven thousand people, with only two brick houses

in it, has become the flourishing metropolis, with a population of over

one hundred thousand, and the social and commercial centre of the

leading province of a great dominion. In that time the young immigrant,

with his capital of only brains, energy, and good habits, had become one

of Canada’s most noted citizens, an object of emulation to all young

men, and of gratitude to the many who have been benefited by his

practical kindness. Landing in New York at the age of twenty-two, he was

advised to proceed to Canada to enter into business with a son of the

British consul, who had established himself in a trading business west

of Toronto. Proceeding by the old-time flying express route along the

canal, the young fortune-seeker found himself in Oswego, whence a trip

across the lake in a steamer brought him to Toronto. Life in Canada West

at that time was not altogether attractive to a young man conscious of

his ability to fill a large sphere, and it did not take young McMaster

long to decide that in Toronto, if anywhere in the province, he must

look for success. He entered the service of Mr. Cathcart, who at that

time kept a dry-goods establishment on King street, opposite the old

Court-house, now York Chambers. Before two years had passed his

assistant had grown so valuable to him, that Mr. Cathcart could not

afford to run any risk of losing him, so offered him a partnership. This

was accepted, and for ten years the firm went on prospering well. At the

end of that time the senior partner retired, leaving the whole business

in Mr. McMaster’s hands. The concern up to this time had been doing a

wholesale and retail business, but shortly after assuming control, Mr.

McMaster resolved to confine his attention solely to wholesale. New

premises were opened on Yonge street, below King, and here the success

which had attended the young merchant continued and increased.

Subsequently a handsome building was erected, adjoining the Montreal

Bank, on Yonge street. But other business connections which he had

formed demanded his whole attention, and in 1865 he sold out his

interest to his two nephews, who had been associated with him. These

continued the business until the death of A. R. McMaster and the

retirement of W. F. McMaster, when the firm was re-organised with the

accession to its ranks of H. W. Darling, under the title of McMaster,

Darling & Co. This was about eighteen months ago. The present firm

occupy handsome warerooms on Front street near Yonge. The causes which

contributed to the great success which Mr. McMaster met with in this

business are those which characterize the career of almost every

successful business man. Even during those times when there was the

greatest temptation to “display” and to bid for a large business, Mr.

McMaster steadily refused to allow his business to grow beyond the basis

of his own capital. His caution in this respect enabled him to tide over

the hard times of 1857 and other bad years, and even during the depth of

the hard times to do a profitable trade. Rivals overtaken by the

financial storm, with all canvas spread, were wrecked. Yet while

pursuing this cautious policy he showed, by the way in which he enlarged

his establishment, that there was nothing niggardly about his

management. Whenever he deemed the circumstances favorable for the use

of his capital he used it freely, and thus added yearly to the magnitude

of his returns. He left commercial life in order that he might make the

greater success of the financial operations in which he had become

interested. He had been for some time director of the Montreal Bank and

of the Ontario Bank, and now he purposed throwing himself, with all his

customary energy, into the organization of a new concern. The charter

was procured and the company organized on a sound basis, and Mr.

McMaster was chosen the first president of the new Bank of Commerce,

which was the title chosen. That was about twenty years ago, and the

position of honor and trust which he then achieved he retained until

about a year ago, when advancing years compelled him to relinquish the

presidency and simply to give to the bank as a director the benefit of

his immense business experience. He was succeeded in the presidency by

Henry W. Darling above mentioned. During all the time of Mr. McMaster’s

Canadian life, Toronto has been making, year by year, a strange

history-record. Four years after Mr. McMaster’s arrival came the

rebellion under William Lyon Mackenzie, which, with the tremendous

agitation leading up to and following it, naturally interfered very much

with the operations of peace-loving merchants. Immense political changes

took place, changing the province from a mere crown colony, with

practically no such thing as political freedom, to a self-governing

country with representative institutions, and manhood suffrage in the

near distance. The city itself had to expand north, east, west, and even

south, for the Esplanade works redeemed in all a great tract of land

from the bay, and made sites for some of the largest buildings in the

city to-day. Railway communication, then unknown, had to be made to all

parts of the province, and the city had to bear its share of the expense

of the facilities thus afforded. Though never afraid to express his

opinions in favor of a liberal policy, Mr. McMaster kept out of active

political life long after his friends would have had him a

representative of the people, had he agreed to put himself up for

election. At length, however, the crisis came which brought him out.

North York and South Simcoe were at that time united for the purpose of

elections to the Legislative Council of the province. There was a

vacancy in the constituency, and John D. Gamble became the Conservative

candidate. He was a strong man, and although it was known that York

would give a majority against him, it was fully believed that unless he

was opposed by the very strongest man who could be put up against him,

Tory South Simcoe would far more than neutralise this vote. In their

dilemma the Liberals applied to Mr. McMaster to act as their

standard-bearer. At first he strenuously opposed the idea, but seeing

that it was to the interest of what he believed to be true that he

should accede to their wishes, he finally did so. Though he prosecuted

his canvass with his characteristic energy, the Liberal candidate set an

example of moderation and forbearance in conducting the campaign utterly

unknown in those days, and (more’s the pity) very little practised

since. Though not pretending to any talent of oratory, Mr. McMaster

conducted himself while on the platform with such transparent honesty

that even the Tory stronghold was captured, and beside a majority of

1,100 in York, he came out with a majority of about 300 in Simcoe,

giving him such a sweeping victory that even his friends were astonished

and his opponents confounded. The elections for the Council then took

place once every eight years, and Mr. McMaster would doubtless have

stood for re-election, but that in the meantime confederation took

place, and under the new order of things he was called upon to take his

seat in the Senate. During the whole of his political life he gave close

attention to the duties devolving upon him. He never sought to move the

house by eloquence, but in committee, where measures are really

elaborated, and where most of the work, except the talking, is done, he

was found keenly alive to all that passed, and ever exerting an

influence in favor of liberal and progressive measures. But however

great his commercial success, Mr. McMaster’s name will be best

remembered on account of the many generous acts which have been

associated with it. For many years he has been the pillar and mainstay

of the Baptist denomination in Toronto. His own congregation—that now

worshipping in the beautiful building on the corner of Jarvis and

Gerrard streets—owes much to his vigorous initiative and substantial

pecuniary aid. Mr. McMaster and his present wife, contributed $50,000

toward the fund for building the church, and in addition to this, Mrs.

McMaster paid for the organ, one of the finest instruments in the

country; and about four years ago the worthy Senator surprised his

co-trustees, at a meeting called for the purpose of considering the best

means of providing for the church debt, by pulling out of his pocket a

deed, showing that a few hours before the meeting he had discharged all

the debt. The Baptist book-room and _The Canadian Baptist_ were

purchased mainly with his money, and put in such a form that the

enterprises now practically belong to the denomination. To his

munificence is due the successful condition of the Superannuated

Ministers’ Society of the Baptist Church. Upper Canada Bible Society, a

non-sectarian institution, owes much to him. To add to all these

instances there could be brought forward a long list of public and

private benefactions, but the whole of them are overshadowed by the

magnificent gift which he has presented to his fellow-Christians in the

Baptist College, now one of the chief ornaments of Toronto. During the

last years of his life Mr. McMaster devoted much attention to the

development of his plans for the advancement of education. When he

founded Toronto Baptist College, at a cost of $100,000 paid to the

Toronto University authorities for the ground, and $90,000 for

furnishing the building, he only thought of putting up a structure at

his own expense, and endowing the presidency, looking to the

denomination to provide the means, through annual collections, for the

support of two other chairs. But with the development of the college and

its increasing prosperity from year to year, he saw the necessity of

adding two more professors to the staff, and subsequently two additional

professors, making a staff of six besides the president. Seeing that the

denomination was sufficiently burdened with its large home and foreign

work, he relieved it of all responsibility for the support of the entire

staff, whose aggregate salaries amount to $14,500 annually; and by his

will it is provided that McMaster University will ultimately receive,

subject to the payment to the Home Missionary Society of $2,000, about

$800,000, in addition to what the testator gave for the same object

during his lifetime. At the beginning of the discussion of the

university confederation question, on the recommendation of some of the

educational leaders in the Baptist denomination, Mr. McMaster proposed

to found an arts college in Toronto, in affiliation with Toronto

University, on condition that the denomination would raise the amount of

$88,000 for the more thorough endowment and equipment of Woodstock

college, which was to continue as a preparatory school. Of this sum he

himself proposed to contribute $32,000. After considerable effort had

been made to secure the sum proposed, it was found that the denomination

was not in hearty sympathy with the scheme, for very little of the

necessary amount was ever subscribed. However, in the spring of 1886, at

a time when, to all appearances, the confederation scheme had failed

through the refusal of several of the more prominent colleges of Ontario

to enter confederation, it was proposed to Mr. McMaster that he should

transfer to Woodstock college the amount which he had intended for the

establishment of an arts college in Toronto. After mature consideration

he cheerfully acceded to the proposal, believing that the preservation

and enlargement of Woodstock college, with its traditions and

associations, were of more importance to the welfare of his people than

the establishment of the arts college in Toronto. Within a few weeks of

the announcement of Mr. McMaster’s donation, nearly $50,000 was secured

by the Rev. Drs. Rand and MacVicar for new buildings and equipment at

Woodstock, from members of the denomination. It was then felt by the

leaders of the denomination that Woodstock had the prospect of

sufficient funds in the near future to warrant the development of its

curriculum into a full university course. Accordingly a committee was

appointed to obtain the charter, which was granted by the Ontario

Legislature at its session in 1887, and in accordance with a universal

feeling amongst the Baptists of the country, the name of McMaster

University was given to the new institution. This charter embraces both

Woodstock and Toronto Baptist colleges. The Hon. Mr. McMaster during his

lifetime held several important financial and other offices. As well as

being a director of the Bank of Commerce, he was a member of the

University Senate, president of the Freehold Permanent Building and

Savings Society, vice-president of the Confederation Life Association,

director of the Toronto General Trusts Company; of the Wellington, Grey

and Bruce Railway Company, etc. His whole estate is valued at

$1,200,000. He had been twice married—first, in 1851, to Miss

Henderson, of Hew York, who died in 1868; secondly, in 1871, to his

present wife, Susan Molton, widow of James Fraser, of

Newburgh-on-the-Hudson, N.Y. He had no children.

* * * * *

=Rutherford, John=, Justice of the Peace for the County of Grey, Owen

Sound, Ontario, was born at Toronto, on the 9th February, 1839. His

parents were Peter Rutherford and Martha Henderson, who died when he was

a mere lad—the mother in 1844 and the father in 1846. The late James

Lesslie, who then published the Toronto _Examiner_, adopted the orphan

and educated him in the Toronto Academy. In this benevolent gentleman’s

family he remained until 1851. During this year he was bound out as an

apprentice to Christie & Corbet to learn the trade of iron moulder at

Owen Sound, and at this trade he worked for six years. In 1857, business

becoming very depressed throughout the country, especially that in iron,

Mr. Rutherford was forced to look for some other means to earn a

livelihood. Having fortunately learned during his boyhood, in the

_Examiner_ office, the art of setting type, he found temporary

employment as a compositor on the old _Comet_ newspaper; and some time

afterwards got on the staff of _The Times_. A few years later on, he, in

conjunction with David Creighton, now M.P.P. for North Grey, bought out

this paper, which was conducted by them, under the firm name of

Rutherford & Creighton, until 1868, when the partnership was dissolved

and the plant divided, Mr. Creighton retaining _The Times_ and Mr.

Rutherford the job department. Since then his business has steadily

grown, bookbinding has been added, and his office is now one of the

institutions of the thriving town of Owen Sound. He was a member of the

town council in 1875, ’76, ’77 and ’79; High School trustee in 1884,

’85, and ’86, and has been re-appointed to fill the office for another

term. He was chosen by acclamation to fill the office of mayor for 1885

and 1886, and faithfully served the people during his term. In August,

1866, he joined the Masonic brotherhood, and is now a past master of St.

George’s lodge. He is also second principal of Georgian Chapter, No. 56,

R.A.M. He takes a deep interest in the Ancient Order of United Workmen,

and is one of its past district deputy masters of the Georgian district.

Mr. Rutherford is an adherent of the Methodist church; and in politics

is a Liberal-Conservative. He has been twice married, and has had a

family of ten children, nine sons and one daughter; two of his sons have

died.

* * * * *

=Kerr, William=, M.A., Q.C., LL.D., Barrister, Cobourg, Ontario, was

born in the township of Ameliasburg, in the county of Prince Edward. He

is a son of the late Francis Kerr, formerly of Enniskillen, in the

county of Fermanagh, Ireland, who for some years taught school in Prince

Edward, and afterwards removed to the county of Hastings. After the

death of his father and mother, which occurred when he was a child, Mr.

Kerr removed with his half-sister and her husband to the township of

Clarke, where he worked on their farm and went to school. He prepared

for college under Dr. William Ormiston, now of the Collegiate Reformed

(Dutch) Church, New York, who at that time was the Presbyterian minister

at Newtonville, and kept a private academy. He entered Victoria College

at Cobourg as a senior matriculant in 1852, and graduated in the arts

department in 1855. The class consisted of four, all now living, viz.,

Dr. Carman, senior superintendent of the Methodist church; Dr. Moses

Aikins, the well-known physician in the county of Peel; Dr. E. B.

Ryckman, ex-president of the London Conference; and the subject of this

sketch. He studied law in the office of Smith and Armour at Cobourg, and

began the practice of his profession in the town of Cobourg, September,

1858. His brother, John W. Kerr, who was appointed county attorney and

clerk of the peace in 1877, on the elevation of Mr. Armour to the bench,

joined him in 1860. They have the largest practice in the united

counties of Northumberland and Durham. He entered the town council in

1862, and served as a councillor for five years. In 1867 he was elected

mayor, and was elected five times in succession by acclamation to the

same office. On presenting himself for the sixth time he was opposed,

but, after a hot contest, in which he was supported by the leaders of

both political parties, he was re-elected by 175 majority. Although

frequently urged to enter into political life, it was not until 1874, on

Mr. Armour’s (now Mr. Justice Armour) refusing the Liberal nomination

for the House of Commons, that he consented to do so, when he entered

the field about three weeks before the election, and defeated the Hon.

James Cockburn, the Speaker of the House of Commons, by 231 majority. He

was unseated, however, on petition, but was re-elected over the Hon.

Sidney Smith, ex-postmaster-general, by 155 majority. He was an

unsuccessful candidate in 1878, 1882, and 1885, being defeated by narrow

majorities, owing to the influence of the so-called national policy and

the opportune building of government works in his constituency, in the

years 1882 and 1885. In politics he is a strong Liberal, and a warm

admirer of the Hon. Edward Blake. For many years past he has been one of

the most active Liberals in the united counties of Northumberland and

Durham, taking part in all election contests in West Northumberland, and

lending a helping hand whenever occasion required in the neighboring

ridings. He was president of the Liberal Association of West

Northumberland from 1878 to 1882, and is vice-chancellor of Victoria

University, to which position he has been twice elected by the almost

unanimous vote of the graduates. He married Myra, third daughter of the

late John Field, a well known and highly respected merchant of Cobourg,

and sister of John C. Field, ex-M.P.P., and C. C. Field, M.P.P. Has

seven children, four sons and three daughters.

* * * * *

=David, Laurent Olivier=, Barrister, Montreal, M.P.P. for Montreal East,

was born at Sault-au-Récollet, county of Hochelaga, near Montreal, on

the 24th of March, 1840. His father was Major Stanislas David, of

Sault-au-Récollet. Young David was educated at the Seminary of Ste.

Thérèse, in which institution he underwent a thorough course of

classical studies. On his leaving college he entered the law office of

Mousseau & Labelle, and was admitted to practice at the bar of the

province of Quebec, in August, 1864. Like the majority of the French

Canadian youths who leave college possessing high class and interesting

lore, but totally unfit for the battle of life, Mr. David had to fight

his way through the world without help. As he had a natural _penchant_

for writing, and a facile pen, he soon made his way to the press and was

an able and welcome contributor to the daily newspapers and periodicals

of the time. In 1870, when George E. Desbarats, a son of the Queen’s

printer, founded _L’Opinion Publique_, a twelve-page pictorial weekly,

he was chosen as chief editor of the publication, and a better choice

could hardly be made. The paper was published until 1884, when it

collapsed, owing to various causes, after having reached a subscription

list of over fifteen thousand. It may be said that the newspaper failed

on account of having received too much encouragement, because in the

province of Quebec as elsewhere, a great number seem to think that when

they have subscribed for a newspaper, it does not matter much to the

publisher and editor whether the subscription is paid or not. Among the

_collaborateurs_ to _L’Opinion Publique_ may be more especially

mentioned the Hon. J. A. Chapleau, the late Hon. Justice Mousseau, A. C.

DeCelles, the present chief librarian of parliament, C. A. Dansereau,

the brilliant and gifted editor of _La Presse_, and many others. In

1874, Mr. David, in conjunction with Mr. Beausoleil, founded _Le Bien

Public_, a daily paper published in the interests of the Liberal party,

taking the place of _Le Pays_, the organ of the advanced liberals of the

province of Quebec, which had been founded on the ruins of _L’Avenir_,

the first Liberal paper of note in Canada, published by Messrs. Dorion,

and having on its staff at different periods, N. Aubin, L. A.

Dessaulles, Joseph Doutre, and a score of other Liberal writers. _Le

Bien Public_ was in turn superseded by _Le National_, founded by the

late Hon. M. Laframboise, who lost both his money and his health in the

enterprise, and was finally rewarded by his party with an appointment to

the bench a few years before his death. _La Patrie_ was the next

journalistic Liberal venture, in 1879, and, for a wonder, it proved a

financial success under the energetic and able management of Honoré

Beaugrand. _Le Temps_ also came out as an exponent of liberal views in

1881, but the shareholders having fallen into the same error as their

predecessors, placed a man totally unfit for the position at its head;

and as a natural consequence the paper lived only a few months. A

fearless exponent of the Liberal programme, _La Patrie_ probably did

more to advance the cause of liberalism in the province of Quebec than

any other newspaper. Mr. Beaugrand, who is not only an able financier,

but also a judge of literary merits, grouped together the young writers

of the new school, led by Buies and Fréchette. In their ranks were found

Arthur Globensky, the graceful poet; the late T. H. Bienvenu, the

profound political writer; Ernest Tremblay (now editor of _L’Union_, St.

Hyacinthe); J. E. Robidoux, M.P.P. for Chateauguay, and a score of

others. Mr. David, who is an uncompromising Liberal, and who never

faltered in his political principles, was a more or less frequent

contributor to most of these newspapers. Besides his contributions to

the press he found time to publish a volume entitled “Biographies et

Portraits de nos principaux Canadiens-Français,” and another entitled

“Patriotes de 1837-38.” The mantle of the greatest and most popular

tribune whom French Canada will forever honor and remember, Papineau,

who contributed more than any other to preserve intact the rights and

privileges guaranteed to the conquered race by the Treaty of Utrecht,

may be said to have fallen on the shoulders of Mr. David; no national

fête, no popular demonstration is complete without him; and since 1864

he has taken an active part in all the national movements. He is

considered in the province of Quebec as the standard-bearer of national

ideas; yet he is ever willing and ready to grant to other races the

rights he asks for his own race. His pen and voice (he is a fluent and

agreeable speaker) have always been employed in the defence of right and

to elevate the standard of public opinion among his countrymen, and to

convince them that true and effective patriotism, national and religious

strength consist more of deeds than of words and noisy affirmations and

declarations, and he often said boldly on public platforms that he would

not encourage injustice towards other nationalities to please his

countrymen, even should the madness of a few irresponsible

penny-a-liners, who are paid to carry on their nefarious work, goad them

to reprisals. In 1886, Mr. David presented himself to the suffrages of

the voters of Montreal East, and carried the day against two formidable

opponents, the Hon. L. O. Taillon, premier of the province, probably the

most influential man the Conservatives could bring forward, and Adélard

Gravel, the nominee of the Labor party, who polled the entire labor vote

of the constituency. The Reformers, however, rallied around their

standard-bearer, and by presenting a united front, succeeded in electing

him by a handsome majority. Mr. David was a partner in the law firm of

Longpré and David. Mr. Longpré was appointed September, 1887,

prothonotary of the Superior Court for the district of Montreal by the

Mercier administration. In religion he is a Roman Catholic of broad

views. He married, in 1868, Albina Chenet, a daughter of Pierre Chenet.

She died in August, 1887. He is the father of eleven children, one son

and ten daughters.

* * * * *

=Mountcastle, Clara H.= (“Caris Sima”), Clinton, Ontario, is the third

surviving daughter, and seventh child of the late Sydney Harman

Mountcastle, and Frances Laura, his wife, and was born in Clinton,

Ontario, on the 26th of November, 1837. She is descended on her father’s

side from James, eldest son of Lord Claude Hamilton, who was created

Baron of Mountcastle and Kilpatrick on the 10th July, 1606; and on her

mother’s side from an eminent civil engineer, who died in the year 1811,

aged 92, and was buried at Preston, East Lothian, Scotland, where the

following lines are inscribed on his tombstone:—“To the memory of

Andrew Meikle, who steadily pursued the example of his ancestors, and by

inventing and bringing to perfection a machine for separating corn from

straw, constructed on the principle of velocity, rendered to the

agriculturists of Britain and other nations a more beneficial service

than any hitherto recorded in the annals of ancient or modern science.”

Her maternal grandfather, James Meikle, held a prominent position in his

Majesty’s Ordnance Department, with headquarters in the Tower of London,

and was frequently consulted by the Duke of Wellington upon the defences

of the country during the Peninsular campaign. And we can well imagine,

from the massive intellect displayed in a portrait of this gentleman now

in possession of Miss Mountcastle, that the “Iron Duke” had no mean

adviser. Mr. Mountcastle, father of the subject of our sketch, was born

in London, England, on the 12th of January, 1803, and came to Canada in

1832, bringing with him his wife, who still survives, and two children,

who died shortly after his arrival. Having a small capital he purchased

land on the Huron Road, county of Huron, Ontario, and erected two

dwellings, at different periods, on the same. The latest of these is the

childhood’s home of “Caris Sima,” a small picture of which, executed in

oil, now hangs on the wall of her studio in Clinton, and represents a

low hewn log dwelling, with gables to the road, as described in her

poem, “Lost,” and literally embowered in trees and flowers. We clip the

following from an obituary notice that appeared in a local paper at the

time of her father’s death. Alluding to him, the writer says, “He made a

good clearing on his land, and erected a comfortable dwelling, which in

later years, as his young family grew up, became a seat of refined and

cordial hospitality, the remembrance of which will be long retained by

the many friends who were privileged to enjoy it.” Miss Mountcastle

received the chief portion of her education at home, under the direct

supervision of her parents. When a child she was dreamy and reflective,

rarely rousing from a state of abstraction unless to defend anyone whom

she thought injured or oppressed, or to comfort her pets when in pain or

trouble. Her sympathy with the dumb creatures of the universe was

intense. If she discovered a caterpillar on her clothes, she would try

to think where it came from, and would walk a long distance to restore

it to its “afflicted family.” Oftentimes would she carry tiny toads in

her little pinafore, and would take them in her hands to warm them,

saying “They were so cold, poor things.” And when a trap was set to

catch mice, she would listen for the click, then silently release the

little prisoner. In winter her chief pleasure seemed to be found in

gazing at the glowing embers in the wide, open fireplace, and she seldom

joined in the romps of the other children. She did not care for study in

these days. At twelve years of age she knew little more than her

letters, and was dubbed “the dunce of the family.” This roused in her a

desire to excel, and from that time she acquired the rudiments of

knowledge with remarkable rapidity. Long ere this she showed a decided

talent for drawing, which was carefully fostered by her father and

mother, both of whom possessed considerable artistic taste—her mother

being a good amateur artist, and her father an excellent judge of a

picture. Yet they were not qualified to bring forth the latent powers of

their child, else her name had been known long before 1870, when she

exhibited at the Provincial Exhibition at Toronto, carrying off five

prizes for paintings in water colors. From this time she made art her

profession, being utterly unconscious of a still greater talent yet to

be developed, and which her devotion to art as a means of livelihood

seems for a time to have entirely obscured. Though her father knew her

ability, and tried to induce her to write, yet her natural diffidence

prevented her, and it was not until 1879 that, through the urgent

entreaties of her sister Ellen, she turned her attention to literature.

Miss Mountcastle is, in every sense, what is termed “a late ripe.” Not

only was she backward in her studies as a child, but she remained a

child for an unprecedentedly long period of time. At the age of twenty

she was an unformed girl, and continued growing in stature for some

years afterwards. As an artist, we would say that her sketches are

masterly, and embrace almost every conceivable subject, but she has not

yet attained that high finish which only study under the best masters

can give. It is in the field of letters where she excels. The power, the

pathos, and passion of her writings bespeak for her a high place in the

literature of this and the future ages. Her first work, “The Mission of

Love,” published by Hunter, Rose and Co., Toronto, is well described by

J. E. Collins, in “The Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald,” as “a

garden in which there are several unseemly weeds growing side by side

with a number of delightful flowers.” These weeds were an error in

judgment. Many poets have erred in the same way, and afterwards tried to

suppress their early work, but the flowers are imperishable. As in art,

so also in literature, Miss Mountcastle’s genius is peculiarly

versatile. No poet living or dead ever wrote in such varied style. Hear

the music in “The Voice of the Waters.” Mark the light debonair tone in

“See that he be virtuously brought up,” and yet how full of feeling and

reverence; while the airy grace of her lyrics (valentines), combined

with rare delicacy of feeling, is inimitable, and shows the writer

entertains higher views of love than are likely ever to be realized in

this mundane sphere. And what exquisite delicacy of thought is apparent

in “Reflections on a Faded Rose,” “At the Falling of the Leaf,” “Day

Dreaming,” “Art Thou Thinking of Me?” etc. While what depth of pathos is

felt in the wailing of “Hope Deferred.” But it is in her unpublished

work, some of which we have seen, that her genius becomes more apparent.

Unsurpassed by modern poet is the verse wherein she reproaches the sea

for causing the death of Sappho, the celebrated Greek poetess:

Oh, sea, had’st thou no power to save,

Could’st thou not raise that glorious face;

Nor let thy suffocating breath,

That heaven-born life of song erase;

Nor calm that wild heart unto death.

And grand enough for Milton are the concluding lines:

Oh, cold, cold wave, that pressed her cheek,

I hear thy murmuring undertone.

For ages wilt thou sob and moan,

In vain repentance o’er thy deed:

The howling winds shall lash thy breast,

And zephyrs mourn around thy shore,

And murmur all thy rocks along;

And thou, who stilled the voice of song,

Thy deep great heart shall know no rest—

Shall know no peace for evermore.

Of Miss Mountcastle’s prose writing, we would say, that her novelette,

“A Mystery,” lately published by Hunter, Rose & Co., Toronto, shows, as

a first work, great ability. It is written in a pleasing, vivacious

style. We take the following extract from a local paper, which does it

no more than justice: “The plot is good, the moral inculcated equally

so. The characters are well sustained. There is much wit and dry humor

in their development, and the sketches of character and scenes show a

close observation of nature; and without being in any way sensational,

the interest in the story is well sustained to the end.” We would here

remark, that the beautiful lines that appear in this volume, under the

title of “Only a Little While,” emanate from the pen of the author’s

sister, Ellen, who has written several short poems of much merit. Miss

Mountcastle has written three essays on questions of the day, showing

great power and originality of thought, and is now engaged on a tale of

Canadian life, entitled, “Crow’s Hollow,” which we hope soon to see in

print. To sum up the whole, we feel assured that, though now

comparatively unknown, “Caris Sima” will ere long be recognized as one

of the greatest poets of her time, and likewise rank as one of the most

brilliant writers of fiction, on account of the vivid life, and intense

human feeling, that is evinced in all her writings, whether in prose or

verse. “Carissima,” that well-known Italian term of endearment, from

which she derives her _nom de plume_, was an appellation conferred upon

her in early girlhood by her father’s friend, the late Henry William

Cole, M.D., a physician of great ability, to whom she was much attached,

and is well adapted to the sweet, tender, womanly style of her writings,

which show that, though in childhood she dwelt in a wilderness, she was

reared in the lap of refinement. As a girl, “Caris Sima” was peculiarly

simple and unsophisticated, and these traits of character still cling to

her, as she, even now, gives little attention to the conventionalities

of life. In stature, she is tall and commanding. Her features, which are

irregular, are marked, when in repose, by an expression that might be

termed sad, severe or stern; but when she speaks or smiles, her whole

face illuminates like the sun breaking through a cloud, and she keeps on

illuminating with expressions as versatile as her genius. In conclusion,

we may say Miss Mountcastle is one of a family of twelve children, seven

of whom died in infancy and early childhood. Of her sisters, Ellen, the

eldest surviving, is, as we have already mentioned, a clever writer of

fugitive verse. Eliza, the second daughter, is an amateur artist, and we

may likewise say an amateur physician, as she studied medicine for six

years under the late Dr. Cole, and practises among her own family with

great success. The youngest, Alice, is married, and has one child, a

bright boy, who seems likely to follow in the footsteps of his mother’s

race. While her only surviving brother, Edmund Mountcastle, is a

practical engineer of rare abilities, and, as we have seen, a descendant

of the Andrew Meikle before mentioned, who was the first inventor of the

threshing machine now in use.

* * * * *

=Williams, Rev. John Æthuruld=, D.D., Toronto, a General Superintendent

of the Methodist church.—Dr. Williams is one of the most notable

figures in the history of Canadian Methodism. For over forty years he

has been intimately identified with its progress, and has deservedly,

and with universal acceptance, attained the highest position in the gift

of that church. Dr. Williams is a man who would anywhere command

attention. He bears his seventy years with wonderful vigor. His fresh

complexion, keen bright eyes, and remarkable alertness and energy, both

of body and mind, seem to belong to a much younger man. He comes of

sturdy Welsh stock, as his name—John Æthuruld Williams—indicates. He

was born at Caermarthen, in South Wales, December 19th, 1817. He early

lost his father, and was deprived of his only remaining parent at the

age of twelve. He was thrown into the world of London, and there learned

to develop that independence and energy of character by which he is

marked. He received a good education at the Academy of Hoxton, near

London. He came to Canada in his seventeenth year, and found a home in

the town of Prescott, where the early years of his Canadian life were

spent. He united with the Wesleyan Methodist church two years later, and

for some time was engaged in secular business. His talents and religious

zeal led to his entering the Methodist ministry in the year 1846, and to

his ordination in 1850. He soon reached a leading position in the

ministry, and in 1859 was elected chairman of the Owen Sound district.

Such was the fitness which he evinced for that office that he has

generally been elected chairman of the districts in which his pastoral

charge has been situated. He has occupied several of the leading pulpits

of the Methodist church: in Toronto, London, Port Hope, Brockville,

Milton, Simcoe, St. Thomas, Goderich, St. Catharines, etc. When the

London conference was organized in 1874, he was appointed its first

president, in which office he was continued for a second term. He was a

delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church of

the United States in 1876. In 1878 he received from Victoria University,

in recognition of his wide reading, his general culture, and his

distinguished ability, the degree of D.D. At the general conference of

1882 he was elected vice-president of that body; and at the united

general conference of 1883, at which arrangements for the unification of

Canadian Methodism were completed, he was unanimously elected president.

The duties of this delicate and difficult position, at an important

crisis in the history of the church, he discharged with such ability and

impartiality as to command the admiration of the entire body. At the

Centennial Conference of American Methodism, which met in Baltimore, in

1884, Rev. Dr. Williams and the Rev. Dr. Gardiner were the Canadian

delegates. On that occasion Dr. Williams read an able paper, which

commanded much attention, on the rise and progress of Canadian

Methodism. On the lamented death of Rev. Dr. Rice, in 1885, it was the

Rev. Dr. Williams whom the executive committee of the general conference

selected as his successor in the office of general superintendent till

the ensuing general conference. So ably did he discharge the important

duties of that office that the general conference of 1886, by an almost

unanimous vote, re-elected him to that position. In association with his

colleague, the Rev. Dr. Carman, he has travelled with indefatigable

energy throughout the length and breadth of the Dominion in promotion of

the varied interests of the church of which he is a general

superintendent.

* * * * *

=Ker, Rev. Robert=, Rector of Trinity Church, Mitchell, Ontario.—The

subject of this brief biographical notice was born in the North of

Ireland, some time about the year 1842 or ’43, and is the eldest son of

the late Robert Ker, of Newbliss, county Monaghan. Having received an

excellent common school education, and being very zealous in

Sunday-school and other Christian work in his native place, it was

intended that he should enter the ministry of the Church of England; but

circumstances for the moment turned his thoughts in another direction.

So early as 1857, Mr. Ker organized a Young Men’s Christian Association

in his native town, and although quite unaware of the ultimate

development of the movement, or of the parties even then working in it,

the rules he drew up for the management of the association would be

found to be not much dissimilar from the leading features of Young Men’s

Christian Association work at the present. At a very early period Mr.

Ker evinced a marked taste for newspaper writing, and took an active

part in the controversy respecting the more general adoption of the

National School system of education by the Protestants of Ireland. He

vigorously denounced the system as an unworthy attempt to displace the

Bible in the public schools, and succeeded in arousing a good deal of

local hostility to the movement. About 1862 Mr. Ker entered the Normal

Training College in Dublin, where his abilities as a thoughtful

educationist attracted considerable attention, and he was awarded one of

the four scholarships at the disposal of the committee, and on

graduating from the institution he was one of three placed in the

coveted rank of first class. Mr. Ker was promptly appointed to Lord

Powerscourt’s chief school, which he taught with distinguished success

for several years, and was awarded four honorary certificates from the

Incorporated Society for the success of his pupils. Mr. Ker finally

resigned the position, and at the invitation of the late Major Knox,

proprietor of the _Irish Times_, Dublin, he became the special

correspondent for that journal in Belfast. Those were exciting days on

the Irish press, and very often the collecting of news involved a good

many personal risks, and the subject of this sketch had his full share

of them. Few of the leading public men of those days were unknown to Mr.

Ker, and many are the incidents which he relates of the events of that

stormy period, culminating, as it did, in the disestablishment of the

Irish Church. It was Mr. Ker who reported the famous speech made by the

Rev. John Flanagan respecting the kicking of the Queen’s crown into the

Boyne, and which aroused the wrath of the London _Times_, and set the

country in a blaze. Mr. Ker has occupied, at one time or another a

position on every leading Irish paper. Late in 1872 he came to Canada,

and was immediately engaged on the Toronto _Leader_, then an influential

factor in Canadian politics. He remained on the staff of the _Leader_

for some time, and while there edited the _Patriot_, well known for its

sterling defence of Protestant principles. In 1874, circumstances

appeared favorable for carrying out the never wholly-abandoned idea of

entering the ministry of the church, and after due matriculation Mr. Ker

entered Trinity College, Toronto, under Provost Whitaker, and

subsequently took charge of St. John’s High School, province of Quebec,

as principal, and it was while occupying that position that he was, in

1877, ordained to the diaconate by the Right Rev. Dr. Oxenden,

Metropolitan, who forthwith appointed him to the mission of Chelsea,

Templeton and Portland. This was a very trying district, entailing long

drives over bad roads, but Mr. Ker soon became a prime favorite, and was

greatly missed upon leaving. During his incumbency he had the debt paid

off the Chelsea church and a new one consecrated at Portland. The

following year he was advanced to the priesthood, and appointed to

succeed the late Rev. Dr. Clarke, as incumbent of St. Stephen’s Church,

Buckingham, province of Quebec. From there he was transferred to St.

Paul’s Church, Mansonville, and while there he was called, in 1880, to

the rectorship of Trinity Church, Quebec city. Rev. Mr. Ker labored in

the ancient capital for nearly seven years. Trinity congregation was by

no means wealthy, but he succeeded in gathering around him an earnest

body of workers, to whom he became greatly attached, and the

congregation returned the feeling very heartily. He purchased the church

building from the Sewell family at $8,300, and paid off $4,300 of the

amount within the year, leaving the balance as a mortgage upon the

building. During the seven years of the Rev. Mr. Ker’s pastorate in

Trinity Church, it was a great centre of attraction for the young, and

when he decided upon accepting a charge in Ontario, the feeling of

regret was wide-spread and profound. For about four years of his

residence in Quebec, Rev. Mr. Ker, in addition to his other duties,

filled the position of vice-rector in the Boys’ High School. He was also

appointed by the Lieutenant-governor-in-Council a member of the Board of

Protestant Examiners, and that body subsequently elected him their

secretary. Rev. Mr. Ker was also for a time inspector of the schools for

the Colonial Church Society in the district of Quebec, and

vice-president of the Quebec Teachers’ Association; so that, altogether

he has rendered good service to the country of his adoption. As to his

theological views, he wishes to be described simply as “a churchman,”

irrespective of party distinctions, which he looks upon as injurious and

uncalled for. In 1863 he was initiated into the Masonic order; and since

then has held a leading position in its ranks, having been elected

worshipful master of Albion lodge, and subsequently, in 1885, he was

elected to the position of grand chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Quebec,

and re-elected again in 1886. The Rev. Mr. Ker has been a constant

contributor to leading periodicals, and is an editorial writer of

recognized ability; in fact, in every sense he has been one of our hard

workers. As a preacher he is held in high esteem, for, while avoiding

sensationalism on the one hand and the dry conventionalities of ordinary

preaching on the other, he addresses himself in plain and forcible

language to the wants of his hearers, and denounces in vigorous terms

the prevailing hollowness of religious professors. He participated to

some extent in the controversies carried on by churchmen a few years

ago, but this he very sincerely regrets, believing as he does that

unquestioning loyalty to the Church and Christian forbearance to the

brethren are clear and imperative duties. On the 23rd August, 1874, he

was married at New Brighton, S. I., to Lizzie, youngest daughter of the

late Thomas Wilkin. Their family consists of three sons and two

daughters. The Rev. Mr. Ker is at present rector of Trinity church,

Mitchell, in the diocese of Huron; and his brother, the Rev. John Ker,

is rector of All Saints Church, Dunham, province of Quebec, in the

diocese of Montreal, and is esteemed by Bishop Bond as one of the most

active and most successful missionaries.

* * * * *

=Pelton, Sandford Harrington=, Q.C., Barrister, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia,

was born in New York, on the 28th September, 1845. His father was Milo

Sandford Pelton, who was of English descent, and his mother, Louisa

Maria Harrington, was a Nova Scotian. Sandford received his early

educational training at the public school of Antigonish, Nova Scotia,

and studied classics, mathematics, and the higher branches under the

Rev. R. F. Brine, Episcopal minister at Arichat, Cape Breton. He studied

law with the late Charles F. Harrington Q.C., of Arichat, who for some

time represented Richmond county in the Nova Scotia legislature, and

also with the Hon. Daniel Macdonald, formerly M.P.P. for Antigonish

county, and attorney-general for Nova Scotia. On the 22nd October, 1867,

he was admitted to the bar of Nova Scotia as a barrister and attorney,

and commenced business in Yarmouth, on the 20th November, 1867, and here

he has resided since, and has built up an extensive practice. He was

appointed by the Nova Scotia government, on May 27th, 1876, a Queen’s

counsel. Mr. Pelton is an active Mason, and occupies a prominent

position in the order; is a past district deputy grand master, and a

past junior grand warden of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia. In

temperance work, too, he has taken a hand, and is a member of several

societies. In politics, he is a Liberal, and worked actively for his

party during the last elections. He is an adherent of the Presbyterian

church. On the 16th November, 1869, he was married to Mary Georgina

Darby, youngest daughter of the late Captain Jos. W. E. Darby (who was

for some years employed by the Nova Scotia government in the fishery

protection service as commander of the cutter _Daring_, and died on

board that vessel in 1851; he made quite a name for himself by his skill

and ability in the discharge of his duties), and granddaughter of the

late Superintendent Darby, of Sable Island.

* * * * *

=Shakespeare, Noah=, General Agent, Victoria, British Columbia, M.P.,

for Victoria, was born at Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England, on the

26th of January, 1839. His parents were Noah and Hannah Shakespeare. The

father was a distant relation of William Shakespeare, the bard of Avon.

Mr. Shakespeare received his education in the public schools of his

native place. He left school at an early age, and being of an

independent turn of mind, and anxious to get on in the world, he worked

as hard and as long hours, as any lad in England. Having heard of

British Columbia as a field in which a young man might get on, he

determined to try his fortune in that far-off land, and accordingly left

England, and landed in Victoria, on the 10th of January, 1863, and has

since that time been a resident of the province. Arriving like many

another poor lad in Canada, without scarcely a penny in his pocket, he

availed himself of the first job that offered, namely, that of a place

in the Vancouver collieries. Here he faithfully performed the duties

assigned to him for some years, until he saw an opportunity of bettering

his condition. He then moved to Victoria city, and began to climb the

path which has since led to distinction. His first public position was

that of councillor, and being a workingman himself, his efforts during

the four years he was in the council, were always directed in favour of

the workingman. In 1882, he was elected mayor of the city, by a large

majority of the ratepayers, and never, it may be said, had Victoria a

better chief magistrate, and its affairs better managed than under his

administration. This same year he was elected president of the

Mechanics’ Institute; and at the general election of 1882, he was sent

to Ottawa, to represent Victoria in the House of Commons; and again

re-elected to the same position at the general election in the spring of

1887. In 1885, Mr. Shakespeare was elected to the presidency of the

British Columbia Agricultural Association; and in 1886, he was also made

president of the British Columbia Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of

which he was the principal organizer in Victoria. He is a friend of all

movements adopted for the good of his race. He was president of the

Anti-Chinese Association of Victoria, in 1879; was elected grand worthy

chief of the Grand Lodge of Good Templars of Washington Territory and

British Columbia, in 1877; again elected to the same position in 1878;

and in 1886, he filled the honourable office of president of the Young

Men’s Christian Association of Victoria. In 1884 he introduced and

succeeded in getting carried a resolution in favor of restricting

Chinese immigration into the Dominion of Canada. He is a justice of

peace for the Province of British Columbia. In politics, he is a

Liberal-Conservative; and in religion, an adherent of the Methodist

church. On December 26th, 1869, he was married to Eliza Jane Pearson.

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