Toronto of Old Part 13

Mr. Dunn, named above as donor of an organ to the second St. James', had provided the previous wooden church with Communion Plate. In the _Loyalist_ of March 1, 1828, we read: "The undersigned acknowledges the receipt of 112 18 5 from the Hon. John Henry Dunn, being the price of a superb set of Communion Plate presented by him to St. James' Church at this place. J. B. Macaulay, Church Warden, York, 23rd Feb., 1828."

Before leaving St. James' Church and its precincts, it may be well to give some account of the steps taken in 1818, for the enlargement of the original building. This we are enabled to do, having before us an all but contemporary narrative. It will be seen that great adroitness was employed in making the scheme acceptable, and that pains were shrewdly taken to prevent a burdensome sense of self-sacrifice on the part of the congregation. At the same time a pleasant instance of voluntary liberality is recorded. "A very respectable church was built at York in the Home District, many years ago"--the narrative referred to, in the _Christian Recorder_ for 1819, p. 214, proceeds to state--"which at that time accommodated the inhabitants; but for some years past, it has been found too small, and several attempts were made to enlarge and repair it. At length, in April 1818, in a meeting of the whole congregation, it was resolved to enlarge the church, and a committee was appointed to suggest the most expeditious and economical method of doing it. The committee reported that a subscription in the way of loan, to be repaid when the seats were sold, was the most promising method. No subscription to be taken under twenty-five pounds, payable in four instalments."

"Two gentlemen," the narrative continues, "were selected to carry the subscription paper round; and in three hours from twelve to thirteen hundred pounds were subscribed. Almost all the respectable gentlemen gave in loan Fifty Pounds; and the Hon. Justice Boulton, and George Crookshank, Esq., contributed 100 each, to accomplish so good an object. The church was enlarged, a steeple erected, and the whole building with its galleries, handsomely finished. In January last (1819)," our authority proceeds to say, "when everything was completed, the pews were sold at a year's credit, and brought more money than the repairs and enlargement cost. Therefore," it is triumphantly added, "the inhabitants at York erect a very handsome church at a very little expense to themselves, for every one may have his subscription money returned, or it may go towards payment of a pew; and, what is more, the persons who subscribed for the first church count the amount of their subscription as part of the price of their new pews. This fair arrangement has been eminently successful; and gave great satisfaction."

The special instance of graceful voluntary liberality above referred to is then subjoined in these terms: "George Crookshank, Esq., notwithstanding the greatness of his subscription, and the pains which he took in getting the church well finished, has presented the clergyman with cus.h.i.+ons for the pulpit and reading desk, covered with the richest and finest damask; and likewise cloth for the communion-table." "This pious liberality," the writer remarks, "cannot be too much commended; it tells us that the benevolent zeal of ancient times is not entirely done away. The congregation were so much pleased," it is further recorded, "that a vote of thanks was unanimously offered to Mr. Crookshank for his munificent present." (The pulpit, sounding-board, and desk had been a gift of Governor Gore to the original church, and had cost the sum of one hundred dollars.)

When the necessity arose in 1830 for replacing the church thus enlarged and improved, by an entirely new edifice of more respectable dimensions, the same cool, secular ingenuity was again displayed in the scheme proposed; and it was resolved by the congregation (among other things) "that the pew-holders of the present church, if they demanded the same, be credited one-third of the price of the pews that they purchased in the new church, not exceeding in number those which they possessed in the old church; that no person be ent.i.tled to the privilege granted by the last resolution who shall not have paid up the whole purchase money of his pew in the old church; that the present church remain as it is, till the new one is finished; that after the new church is completed, the materials of the present one be sold to the highest bidder, and the proceeds of the same be applied to the liquidation of any debt that may be contracted in erecting the new church, or furnis.h.i.+ng the same; that the upset price of pews in the new church be twenty-five pounds currency;" and so on.

The stone edifice then erected (measuring within about 100 by 75 feet), but never completed in so far as related to its tower, was destroyed by fire in 1839. Fire, in truth, may be said to be, sooner or later, the "natural death" of public buildings in our climate, where, for so many months in every year, the maintenance within them of a powerful artificial heat is indispensable.

Ten years after the re-edification of the St. James' burnt in 1839, its fate was again to be totally destroyed. But now fire was communicated to it from an external source--from a general conflagration raging at the time in the part of the town lying to the eastward. On this occasion was destroyed in the belfry of the tower, a Public Clock, presented to the inhabitants of Toronto, by Mr. Draper, on his ceasing to be one of their representatives in Parliament.

In the later annals of St. James' Church, the year 1873 is memorable.

Several very important details in Mr. c.u.mberland's n.o.ble design for the building had long remained unrealized. The tower and spire were absent: as also the fine porches on the east, west, and south sides, the turrets at the angles, and the pinnacles and finials of the b.u.t.tresses.

Meanwhile the several parts of the structure where these appendages were, in due time, to be added, were left in a condition to shew to the public the mind and intention of the architect.

In 1872, by the voluntary munificence of several members of the congregation, a fund for the completion of the edifice in accordance with Mr. c.u.mberland's plans was initiated, to which generous donations were immediately added; and in 1873 the edifice, of whose humble "protoplasm" in 1803 we have sought, in a preceding section, to preserve the memory, was finally brought to a state of perfection.

By the completion of St. James' Church, a n.o.ble aspect has been given to the general view of Toronto. Especially has King Street been enriched, the ranges of buildings on its northern side, as seen from east or west, culminating centrically now in an elevated architectural object of striking beauty and grandeur, worthy alike of the comely, cheerful, interesting thoroughfare which it overlooks, and of the era when the finial crowning its apex was at length set in its place.

Worthy of special commemorative record are those whose thoughtful liberality originated the fund by means of which St. James' Church was completed. The Dean, the Very Rev. H. J. Grasett, gave the handsome sum of Five thousand dollars. Mr. John Worthington, Four thousand dollars.

Mr. C. Gzowski, Two thousand dollars. Mr. J. Gillespie, One thousand dollars. Mr. E. H. Rutherford, One thousand dollars. Mr. W. Cawthra, One thousand dollars. Mr. Gooderham and Mr. Worts, conjointly, One thousand dollars. Miss Gordon, the daughter of a former ever-generous member of the congregation, the Hon. J. Gordon, One thousand dollars. Sums, in endless variety, from Eight Hundred dollars downwards, were in a like good spirit offered on the occasion by other members of the congregation, according to their means. An a.s.sociation of young men connected with the congregation undertook and effected the erection of the Southern Porch.

Let it be added, likewise, that in 1866, the sum of Fourteen thousand nine hundred and forty-five dollars was expended in the purchase of a peal of bells, and in providing a chamber for its reception in the tower--a free gift to the whole community greatly surpa.s.sing in money's worth the sum above named: for have not the chimes, with all old-countrymen at least, within the range of their sound, the effect of an instantaneous translation to the other side of the Atlantic? Close the eyes, and at once the spirit is far, far away, hearkening, now in the calm of a summer's evening, now between the fitful wind-gusts of a boisterous winter's morn, to music in exactly the same key, with exactly the same series of cadences, given out from tree-embosomed tower in some ancient market-town or village, familiar to the listener in every turn and nook, in days bygone.

And further, let it be added, that in 1870, to do honour to the memory of the then recently deceased Bishop Strachan, the congregation of St.

James "beautified" the chancel of their church at a cost of Seven thousand five hundred dollars, surrounding the s.p.a.cious apse with an arcade of finely carved oak, adding seats for the canons, a deca.n.a.l stall, a bishop's throne, a pulpit and desk, all in the same style and material, elaborately carved, with a life-like bust in white marble of the departed prelate, by Fraser of Montreal, in a niche constructed for its reception in the western wall of the chancel, with a slab of dark stone below bearing the following inscription in gilded letters:--

"NEAR THIS SPOT REST THE MORTAL REMAINS OF JOHN STRACHAN, FIRST BISHOP OF TORONTO, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE NOVEMBER THE 1ST, 1867, IN THE NINETIETH YEAR OF HIS AGE AND THE TWENTY-NINTH OF HIS EPISCOPATE. HIS CONSPICUOUS LABOURS, FORESIGHT, AND CONSTANCY IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH AND COMMONWEALTH, AS AN EDUCATOR, AS A MINISTER OF RELIGION, AS A STATESMAN, FORM AN IMPORTANT PORTION OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF WESTERN CANADA. DURING THIRTY-FIVE YEARS HE WAS RECTOR OF THIS CHURCH AND PARISH. IN REMEMBRANCE OF HIM, THE CONGREGATION HAVE BEAUTIFIED THE CHANCEL AND ERECTED THIS MEMORIAL. EASTER, 1870."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

XI.

KING STREET: DIGRESSION NORTHWARD AT CHURCH STREET: THE OLD DISTRICT GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

Immediately north of the church plot, and separated from it by an allowance for a street, was a large field, almost square, containing six acres. In a plan of the date 1819, and signed "T. Ridout, Surveyor-General," this piece of ground is ent.i.tled "College Square."

(In the same plan the church reservation is marked "Church Square;" and the block to the west, "Square for Court House and Jail.") The fact that the Jail was to be erected there accounts for the name "Newgate Street,"

formerly borne by what is now Adelaide Street.

In the early days, when the destined future was but faintly realized, "College Square" was probably expected to become in time, and to continue for ever, an ornamental piece of ground round an educational inst.i.tution. The situation, in the outskirts of York, would be deemed convenient and airy.

For many years this six-acre field was the play-ground of the District Grammar School. Through the middle of it, from north to south, pa.s.sed a shallow "swale," where water collected after rains; and where in winter small frozen ponds afforded not bad sliding-places. In this moist region, numerous crayfish were to be found in summer. Their whereabouts was always indicated by small clay chimneys of a circular form, built by the curious little nipping creatures themselves, over holes for the admission of air.

In different places in this large area were remains of huge pine-stumps, underneath the long roots of which it was an amus.e.m.e.nt to dig and form cellars or imaginary treasure-vaults and powder-magazines. About these relics of the forest still grew remains of the ordinary vegetation of such situations in the woods; especially an abundance of the sorrel-plant, the taste of which will be remembered, as being quite relishable. In other places were wide depressions showing where large trees had once stood. Here were no bad places, when the whim so was, to lie flat on the back and note the clouds in the blue vault over head; watch the swallows and house-martins when they came in spring; and listen to their quiet prattle with each other as they darted to and fro; sights and sounds still every year, at the proper season, to be seen and heard in the same neighbourhood, yielding to those who have an eye or ear for such matters a pleasure ever new; sights and sounds to this day annually resulting from the cheery movements and voices of the direct descendants, doubtless, of the identical specimens that flitted hither and thither over the play-ground of yore.

White clover, with other herbage that commonly appears spontaneously in clearings, carpeted the whole of the six acres, with the exception of the places worn bare, where favourable spots had been found for the different games of ball in vogue--amongst which, however, cricket was not then in these parts included--except, perhaps, under a form most infantile and rudimentary. After falls of moist snow in winter, gigantic b.a.l.l.s used here to be formed, gathering as they were rolled along, until by reason of their size and weight they could be urged forward no further: and snow castles on a large scale were laboriously built; destined to be defended or captured with immense displays of gallantry.

Preparatory to such contest, piles of ammunition would be stored away within these structures. It was prohibited, indeed, in the articles to be observed in operations of attack and defence, to construct missiles of very wet snow; to dip a missile in melted snow-water prior to use; to subject a missile after a saturation of this kind, to the action of a night's frost; to secrete within the substance of a missile any foreign matter; yet, nevertheless, occasionally such acts were not refrained from; and wounds and bruises of an extra serious character, inflicted by hands that could not always be identified, caused loud and just complaints. Portions of the solid and extensive walls of the extemporized snow-fortresses were often conspicuous in the play-ground long after a thaw had removed the wintry look from the rest of the scene.

The Building into which the usual denizens of the six-acre play-ground were constrained, during certain portions of each day, to withdraw themselves, was situated at a point 114 feet from its western, and 104 from its southern boundary. It was a large frame structure, about fifty-five long, and forty wide; of two storeys; each of a respectable alt.i.tude. The gables faced east and west. On each side of the edifice were two rows of ordinary sash windows, five above, and five below. At the east end were four windows, two above, two below. At the west end were five windows and the entrance-door. The whole exterior of the building was painted of a bluish hue, with the exception of the window and door frames, which were white. Within, on the first floor, after the lobby, was a large square apartment. About three yards from each of its angles, a plain timber prop or post helped to sustain the ceiling. At about four feet from the floor, each of these quasi-pillars began to be chamfered off at its four angles. Filling up the south-east corner of the room was a small platform approached on three sides by a couple of steps. This sustained a solitary desk about eight feet long, its lower part cased over in front with thin deal boards, so as to shut off from view the nether extremities of whosoever might be sitting at it.

On the general level of the floor below, along the whole length of the southern and northern sides of the chamber, were narrow desks set close against the wall, with benches arranged at their outer side. At right angles to these, and consequently running out, on each side into the apartment, stood a series of shorter desks, with double slopes, and benches placed on either side. Through the whole length of the room from west to east, between the ends of the two sets of cross benches, a wide s.p.a.ce remained vacant. Every object and surface within this interior, were of the tawny hue which unpainted pine gradually a.s.sumes. Many were the gashes that had furtively been made in the ledges of the desks and on the exterior angles of the benches; many the ducts cut in the slopes of the desks for spilt ink or other fluid; many the small cell with sliding lid, for the incarceration of fly or spider; many the initials and dates carved here, and on other convenient surfaces, on the wainscot and the four posts.

On the benches and at the desks enumerated and described, on either side, were ordinarily to be seen the figures and groups which usually fill up a school interior, all busily engaged in one or other of the many matters customary in the training and informing the minds of boys.

Here, at one time, was to be heard, on every side, the mingled but subdued sound of voices conning or repeating tasks, answering and putting questions; at another time, the commotion arising out of a transposition of cla.s.ses, or the breaking up of the whole a.s.sembly into a fresh set of cla.s.ses; at another time, a hushed stillness preparatory to some expected allocution, or consequent on some rebuke or admonition.

It was manifest, at a glance, that the whole scene was under the spell of a skilled disciplinarian.

Here, again, the presiding genius of the place was Dr. Strachan. From a boy he had been in the successful discharge of the duties of a schoolmaster. At the early age of sixteen we find that he was in charge of a school at Carmyllie, with the grown-up sons of the neighbouring farmers, and of some of the neighbouring clergy, well under control. At that period he was still keeping his terms and attending lectures, during the winter months, at King's College, Aberdeen. Two years afterwards he obtained a slightly better appointment of the same kind at Denino, still pursuing his academical studies, gathering, as is evident from his own memoranda, a considerable knowledge of men and things, and forming friends.h.i.+ps that proved life-long. Of his stay at Denino he says, in 1800: "The two years which I spent at Denino were, perhaps, as happy as any in my life; much more than any time since." "At Denino,"

the same early doc.u.ment states, "I learned to think for myself. Dr.

Brown [the parish-minister of the place, afterwards professor at Glasgow,] corrected many of my false notions. Thomas Duncan [afterwards a professor at St. Andrew's] taught me to use my reason and to employ the small share of penetration I possess in distinguis.h.i.+ng truth from error. I began to extend my thoughts to abstract and general ideas; and to summon the author to the bar of my reason. I learned to discriminate between hypotheses and facts, and to separate the ebullitions of fancy from the deductions of reason. It is not to be supposed that I could or can do these things perfectly; but I began to apply my powers: my skill is still increasing."

Then for two years more, and up to the moment of his bold determination to make trial of his fortunes in the new world beyond the seas, he is in charge of the parish-school of Kettle. We have before us a list of his school there, March the 22nd, 1798. The names amount to eighty-two.

After each, certain initials are placed denoting disposition and capability, and the direction of any particular talent. Among these names are to be read that of D. Wilkie, afterwards the artist, and that of J. Barclay, afterwards the naval commander here on Lake Erie. We believe that Thomas Campbell, author of the Pleasures of Hope, was also for a time under his care.

In the history of Dr. Strachan's educational labours in Canada, the school at York presents fewer points of interest than that at Cornwall, which is rendered ill.u.s.trious by having had enrolled on its books so many names familiar in the annals of Upper Canada. Among the forty-two subscribers to an address accompanying a piece of Plate in 1833, there are Robinsons, and Macaulays, and McDonells, and McLeans, and Joneses, and Stantons, and Bethunes; a Jarvis, a Chewett, a Boulton, a Vankoughnet, a Smith of Kingston, an Anderson; with some others now less known.--So ill.u.s.trative is that address of the skill and earnest care of the instructor on the one hand, and of the value set upon his efforts by his scholars, on the other, after the lapse of many years, that we are induced to give here a short extract from it.

"Our young minds," the signers of the address in 1833 say, referring to their school-days in Cornwall--"our young minds received there an impression which has scarcely become fainter from time, of the deep and sincere interest which you took, not only in our advancement in learning and science, but in all that concerned our happiness or could affect our future prospects in life." To which Dr. Strachan replies by saying, among many other excellent things--"It has ever been my conviction that our scholars should be considered for the time our children; and that as parents we should study their peculiar dispositions, if we really wish to improve them; for if we feel not something of the tender relation of parents towards them, we cannot expect to be successful in their education. It was on this principle I attempted to proceed: strict justice tempered with parental kindness; and the present joyful meeting evinces its triumph: it treats the sentiments and feelings of scholars with proper consideration; and while it gives the heart and affections full freedom to shew themselves in filial grat.i.tude on the one side, and fatherly affection, on the other, it proves that unsparing labour accompanied with continual anxiety for the learner's progress never fails to ensure success and to produce a friends.h.i.+p between master and scholar which time can never dissolve."

Notwithstanding the greater glory of the school at Cornwall, (of which inst.i.tution we may say, in pa.s.sing, there is an engraving in the board-room of the Toronto Mechanics' Inst.i.tute,) the lists of the school at York always presented a strong array of the old, well-known and even distinguished, Upper Canadian names. This will be seen by a perusal of the following doc.u.ment, which will also give an idea of the variety of matters to which attention was given in the school. The numerous family names which will at once be recognized, will require no comment.--The intervals between the calling up of each separate cla.s.s for examination appear to have been very plentifully filled up with recitations and debates.

"Order of examination of the Home District Grammar School [at York].

Wednesday, 11th August, 1819. First Day. The Latin and Greek Cla.s.ses.

Euclid and Trigonometry. Thursday, 12th August. Second day. To commence at 10 o'clock. Prologue, by Robert Baldwin.--Reading Cla.s.s.--George Strachan, _The Excellence of the Bible_. Thomas Ridout, _The Man of Ross_. James McDonell, _Liberty and Slavery_. St. George Baldwin, _The Sword_. William McMurray, _Soliloquy on Sleep_. Arithmetic Cla.s.s--James Smith, _The Sporting Clergyman_. William Boulton, jun., _The Poets New Year's Gift_. Richard Oates, _Ode to Apollo_. Orville Ca.s.sell, _The Rose_. Book-keeping.--William Myers, _My Mother_. Francis Heward, _My Father_. George Dawson, _Lapland_.--First Grammar Cla.s.s.--Second Grammar Cla.s.s.--_Debate on the Slave Trade_. For the Abolition: Francis Ridout, John Fitzgerald, William Allan, George Boulton, Henry Heward, William Baldwin, John Ridout, John Doyle, James Strachan. Against the Abolition: Abraham Nelles, James Baby, James Doyle, Charles Heward, Allan McDonell, James Myers, Charles Ridout, William Boulton, Walker Smith.--First Geography Cla.s.s.--Second Geography Cla.s.s. James Dawson, _The Boy that told Lies_. James Bigelow, _The Vagrant_. Thomas Gla.s.sco, _The Parish Workhouse_. Edward Glennon, _The Apothecary_.--Natural History.--Debate by the Young Boys: _Sir William Strickland_, Charles Heward. _Lord Morpeth_, John Owens. _Lord Hervey_, John Ridout. _Mr. Plomer_, Raymond Baby. _Sir William Yonge_, John Fitzgerald. _Sir William Windham_, John Boulton. _Mr. Henry Pelham_, Henry Heward. _Mr. Bernard_, George Strachan. _Mr. Noel_, William Baldwin. _Mr. s.h.i.+ppen_, James Baby. _Sir Robert Walpole_, S. Givins and J. Doyle. _Mr. Horace Walpole_, James Myers. _Mr. Pulteney_, Charles Baby.--Civil History.--William Boulton, _The Patriot_. Francis Ridout, _The Grave of Sir John Moore_. Saltern Givins, _Great Britain_. John Boulton, _Eulogy on Mr. Pitt_. Warren Claus, _The Indian Warrior_. Charles Heward, _The Soldier's Dream_.

William Boulton, _The Heroes of Waterloo_.--Catechism.--_Debate on the College at Calcutta_. Speakers: _Mr. Canning_, Robert Baldwin. _Sir Francis Baring_, John Doyle. _Mr. Wainwright_, Mark Burnham. _Mr.

Thornton_, John Knott. _Sir D. Scott_, William Boulton. _Lord Eldon_, Warren Claus. _Sir S. Lawrence_, Allan Macaulay. _Lord Hawkesbury_, Abraham Nelles. _Lord Bathurst_, James McGill Strachan, _Sir Thomas Metcalf_, Walker Smith. _Lord Teignmouth_, Horace Ridout.--Religious Questions and Lectures.--James McGill Strachan, Anniversary of the York and Montreal Colleges antic.i.p.ated for 1st January, 1822. Epilogue, by Horace Ridout."

In the prologue p.r.o.nounced by "Robert Baldwin," the administration of Hastings in India is eulogized:

"Her powerful Viceroy, Hastings, leads the way For radiant Truth to gain imperial sway; The arts and sciences, for ages lost, Roused at his call, revisit Brahma's coast."

Sir William Jones is also thus apostrophized, in connection with his "Asiatic Researches":

"Thy comprehensive genius soon explored The learning vast which former times had stored."

The Marquis of Wellesley is alluded to, and the college founded by him at Calcutta:

"At his command the splendid structures rise: Around the Brahmins stand in vast surprise."

The founding of a Seat of Learning in Calcutta suggests the necessity of a similar inst.i.tution in Canada. A good beginning, it is said, had been here made in the way of lesser inst.i.tutions: the prologue then proceeds:

"Yet much remains for some aspiring son, Whose liberal soul from that, desires renown, Which gains for Wellesley a lasting crown; Some general structures in these wilds to rear, Where every art and science may appear."