IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGI-T (MT-3) // "^ ^ ,<" c^ ^ /.';. M/ .eart was all aglow, and his eyes suffused with tears. Jhe had taught him to pray, and to read his Bible, [t was her presence that pervaded the home life as an Itmosphere ; and after her death her very memory jcmed a tender and subtle influence, moulding, soft- (ning, elevating and building up a nobler and purer lanhood. So tender was the gratitude which he lerished towards his mother's memory, that on one his first visits to the old land he made a pilgrimage Cork and sought diligently for the grave of her rhose sunshine of love had brightened his early life, id helped to make him the genial, domestic man lat he was. Unable to find his mother's last resting- lace in the churchyard to erect a stone over it, he paced in the church in which the soldiers with their imilies worshipped, a beautiful memorial window, [he subject is "The Raising of Lazarus," and the jene is well delineated by the artist. In the circle 'ti t:! ii 22 A MERCHANT PBINCE. above, are the words of the Saviour, " I am the resur- rection and the life." The inscription is as follows : Ubis window i3 placed bere bp 3obn /iDacDonalb, Uoronto, CanaDa, in loving remembrance of bis motber, ]Eli3?betb /Ibac&onal&, interrt^ in tbe cburcb^arb of tbis cburcb, X837. This church is no other than the famous St. Anne de Shandon, remarkable for its commanding position, its picturesque appearance, and its lofty steeple whose chime of bells has been immortalized by the pen of the inimitable Father Prout — Rev. F. Mahoney — who was buried in this churchyard. The well-known ballad is not only exquisite in itself, but is also a rich tribute of fond recollections to his native city, and the " magic spells " of childhood : " With deep affection And recollection, I often think on Those Shandon bells, Whose sound so wild would, In the days of childhood, Fling round my cradle Their magic spell. " On this I ponder, Wher'er I wander, And thus grow fonder, Sweet Cork, of thee ; With thy bells of Shandon, That sound so grand on The pleasant waters Of the River Lee." II. BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. 'The* days of infancy are all a dream, How fair, but oh ! how short they seem ; 'Tis Life's sweet opening spring. The days of youth advance ; The bounding limb, the ardent glance. The kindling soul they bring ; It is Life's burning summer time. — Robert Southey. As the rose-tree is composed of the sweetest flowers and the sharpest thorns ; as the heavens are sometimes fair and some- times overcast ; alternately tempestuous and severe ; so is the life of man intermingled with hopes and fears, with joys and sorrows, with pleasures and with pains. — Robert Burns. Well, then, our course is chosen ; spread the sail, Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings well ; Look to the helm, good master ; many a shoal Marks this stern coast, and rocks where sits the siren. Who, like ambition, lures men to their ruin. —Scott. Warriors, and where are warriors found, If not on martial Britain's ground ? And who, when waked with notes of fire, Love more than they the British lyre ? — Scott. m BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. A DVICES having oeen received of the continued r\ progress of the Rebellion in Canada, Her Majesty's ships of war, the Inconstant and the Pique, were ordered to Cork for the conveyance of the 93rd to Halifax, The Inconstant sailed on the sixth of January, 1838, and reached its destination on the twenth-ninth of the same month, making the passage in twenty-three days. The frigate Pique did not put out to sea till the twenty-third, and then encountered one of the most boisterous passages across the Atlan- tic that could possibly be experienced, and it was not until the fifth of March that she cast anchor in the harbour of Halifax. Mr. A. M. Smith, of this city, who was one of the 706 soldiers on board, savs that he was sea-sick for five weeks out of the six, and that the main-deck was never dry for twenty-four hours in succession. Two men were washed overboard and lost in the 1 passage. Mr. Macdonald, in after years, gave a poetic des- [cription of one of the terrible storms that burst upon [them, in which this stanza occurs : 26 A MERCHANT PRINCE. " I heard a sea break o'er the ship That roused me from my sleep, As if some mighty thunder-peal Had rent the vessel to her keel, And caused her oak-built frame to reel And founder in the deep ; Even now I think I hear the cries That rose that night and pierced the skies." Never were tempest- tossed pilgrims more gladdened by the sight of shore than were these passengers of the frigate Pique rejoiced to set foot on the soil of British America. Here young Macdonald attended for a time Dal- housie College. This institution was founded in 1820 by Lord Dalhousie as a seminary for the higher branches of education upon a broad, liberal basis, open to all sects of religion and to all occupations, " to gentlemen of the military as well as the learned professions." The building was erected upon the Parade, and was commodious, but the college had been struggling long for an existence. About this time there was a union with Pictou Academy, and Dr. McCulloch, who had built up that institution, was elected to the presidency of Dalhousie. Associated with him were two other professors, Rev. James Mcintosh and Rev. Alexander Romans. We know little of his student life here, but he seems to have been diligent and faithful in his work during the session which he attended. His scholarship was general but not accurate. He had attended the Regimental School under a good BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. 27 teacher, who did his duty by him ; but the constant change of place, and frequent interruptions must have sadly interfered with the continuity of teaching and with progressive and well ordered study. But his mind was quick and versatile, his memory retentive ; he was an eager and constant reader, and alreadv had mastered the elements of an English education, as well as the rudiments of the classics. The opening stages generally show the character, and suggest the issues of the whole journey. The lad missed the inspiration and intellectual stimulant of a mother's love and care, but his father gave attention to the development of his son's mind, and was ready to furnish him with every advantage. After some months spent on the sea- board, the regiment was ordered to proceed to Upper Canada. Rebellion was rife, and over the land stretched the dark shadow of approaching conflict. The regiment reached Toronto on the sixth of November, which continued to be its headquarters until June, 1843. Here young Macdonald attended the Bay Street Academy, then under the headmastership of Mr. John Boyd. This teacher possessed, in a wonderful degree, the power of developing the minds and quickening the intelligence of his pupils. He was himself a man of more than ordinary ability, the father of Hon. John A. Boyd, who, after rising with distinction through the several grades of the legal profession, became Vice-Chancellor, and is now the Chancellor of Ontario. In the Bay Street Academy young Mac- donald worked hard and successfully, progressed 28 A MERCHANT PRINCE. rapidly in his studies, making his mark as an active, alert, thoughtful young fellow, with a practical turn of mind, full of enthusiasm, and not easily daunted. Among his fellow-students were a goodly array of well-known, and even prominent Canadian names, and the soldier-boy distinguished himself among these in more ways than one, but chiefly in the study of languages, having won several prizes, and carried off the medal in classics. The object aimed at in this Academy was not merely information, but preparation for actual life. He was not shut up in a boarding- school, and deprived of the humanizing influences of family life. He lived at home while attending this excellent private school, and many happy days were spent by him on the grounds of the Old Fort. His old regimental teacher speaks of the unusual serious- ness of the lad. He had not known much of the buoyant, elastic, volatile, airy spirit of childhood ; nor had he experienced much of the joys of boy- hood. The discipline of the Bay Street Academy was not of the mildest kind. The teacher was a " brisk wielder of the birch and rule." His home life was austere enough, and at times the atmosphere was most depressing, for every misconduct met with cruel punishment. Of all the changes that have come over this century none is more remarkable than that which has taken place in the relationship between parents and children. It was then the almost invariable practice to rule children by severity ; now an opposite extreme pre- vails. There was no gentle mother to plead for the BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. 29 boy, and the fear wiih which the parent was regarded sometimes made life oppressive ; but young Macdonald took the floggin(^s which his stern father gave him as light-heartedly as possible. He made good use of his time and opportunities, and those earlier years were years in which he was graduating for the great work of life. When the regiment received orders to leave Toronto, Major-General Sir Richard Armstrong expressed the high satisfaction which their conduct had afforded him from the time he had assumed the command in Canada West. He referred to their superb appearance when under arms, their regularity in instruction and the performance of field movements, and the uniform good behaviour of the men in barracks and in quar- ters. Certainly no such company was ever seen in this city. Wellington once said that the English army was composed of the scum of the earth, but this could never be said of these Highland soldiers. ' As splendid looking men as could be found in the world, they would march to Church on Sabbath with steady step and in quiet order, each soldier carrying a Bible in his hand, the band accompanying them, not to give mar- tial music on the way, but to assist in the service at the house of worship. They left Toronto amid tre- mendous cheering, the band playing " Auld Land Syne " and " Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled." Young Macdonald did not accompany them. He cut his cable in the old land and remained to carve out his fortune in this new country. His father continued with the army until June, 1846, when he resigned his position 1 30 A MERCHANT PRINCE. i Pilili and gave up the life of the soldier for that of the civilian. He also came out to Canada, settled in Toronto, and established a druggist business on Yonge Street, opposite Shuter. He married again and had five children besides John and Alexander, the two children by his first wife. He was a typical Scotch- man, with all the eccentricities and peculiarities of the Highlander, thoroughly honest, stern in his morality, most rigid in his piety, a strict Presbyterian. The old military man was one of the right stamp — honest as the day, transparent as plate glass, well educated, as is common with the Scotch, and greatly respected by all who knew him. He lived quietly and methodically ; rejoiced to see his eldest son surrounded with all the comforts of material prosperity and advancing in the regard of men ; and then, at the mellow age of sixty-seven, he passed peacefully from earth to heaven on the 19th October, 1866. Young Macdonald never lost interest in the regi- ment to which his father belonged, and in which he had spent his boyhood days. He alwaj^s referred with pride to his connection with it. He continued to rejoice in its brilliant achievements in the field, and to follow the fortunes of his many soldier- friends of the regiment. How proud he was that in the Cri- mean War his old regiment earned the distinctive title of the " Thin Red Line," and was the only infan- try regiment entitled to bear upon its colors " Bala- clava." At this terrible charge, when the Turks ran away. Sir Colin Campbell, the loved chief, rode along the front and said : " Stand steady men ! There is no BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. 31 retreat from here ! Everj^ man may have to die where he stands ! " The regiment answered, with a cheer, " Aye, aye, Sir Colin, and it' needs be we will do that ! " No wonder when the Russian cavalry came dashing against that thin red streak, tipped with a line of steel, the impetuous rush was broken by the splendid front of Gaelic rock, and rolled back in defeat. So, during the Indian Mutiny, they be-, haved with their old-time valour when at Cawnpore, Captain Lumsden fell as he was waving his sword and calling to his countrymen, " Come on, men, for the honour of Scotland ! " and Adrian Hope expired in the prime of his young manhood, with the whispered word to his aide-de-camp, " Say a prayer with me ; " and the most difficult and daring achievement of the centuries — the relief of Lucknow — was accomplished when Sir Colin Campbell, the gray-haired chief ain^ with his force of only 4,000 men, opposed by ten times that number of regularly-trained soldiars, supplied with all the munitions of war, and holding an almost impregnable position, yet stormed and carried one fortress after another, and finally brought away in safety every living man, woman and child shut up in the residency. No wonder Mr. Macdonald was proud of this regiment which, more than any other, is endeared to every Scotchman because of its untar- nished name and glorious record of achievements. In July, 1881, the title of the regiment was changed to that of the 2nd Battalion Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Mr. Macdonald was to the last interested in keeping 32 A MEllCIIANT i'KLNCE. up the character and dignity of this coips, and addinj^ if possible to its greater lustre. When visiting the old land he would go almost any distance to see his be- loved refjiment. He loved to make mention of the bravery of his soldier-friends, among them William McBean, who, by exemplary good conduct, bravery and zeal, rose step by step from a private soldier until he received the brevet of colonel ; and died in June, 1878, as a Major- General, receiving the honour of a full military funeral. "Others," he writes, "laid them down to die on the heights of Alma ; some before Sebastopol ; others rest near Balaclava, with which place as the ' thin rc.i line ' their name is imperish- ably associated. Others found their resting-place in the Black Sea ; others at Lucknow ; others at Cawn- pore." Shortly before his death, while the movement for the formation of a Highland Regiment in Toronto was in its infancy and beset with many difficulties, he gave every encouragement to Mr. Alexander Fraser and to the other ardent young mfen who were promot- ing the scheme ; and it is not too much to say that to his ready and practical counsel, as well as to the enthusiasm with which he entertained their views on the subject, was due, to a very considerable extent, the confidence which inspired them from the very beginning, that the citizens of Toronto would stand by them and that their efforts would be crowned with success. It can be easily understood, therefore, how it would have rejoiced his heart had he lived to see such a regiment an accomplished fact, and to witness its BOYHOOD AND YOUTH IN CANADA. 33 splendid bearing and steady movements as it passed in review to receive its colours at the hand of Mrs. Merritt, on that famous morning in the Queen's Park, in the presence of the Governor-General and suite, and the congregated citizens of Toronto, who are now so proud of the "Kilties," as they love to call the gallant 48th Highlanders. With all this he did not love war. But he loved and shared the martial spirit of his uncon(juered and uncomiuerable race ; and while jhc was a man of peace, a true follower of the Prince of Peace, the prowess and bravery so closely allied with the heroism found on the field of battle, as well [as in the less glittering and humble walks of life, entered largely into his character. He believed that the cultivation of the military spirit developed courage ^hich lies at the root of all manliness and the lofty [deals of duty. " So close is glory to our dust, So near is God to man, When duty whispers low, ' Tliou must,' The youth replies, * I can.' " III. STARTING LIFE-CONVERSION. " Within Tliy circling power 1 stand, On every side I tind Thine hand ; Awake, asleep, at home, abroad, I am surrounded still by God." Our lives are albums, written through With good or ill, with false or true ; And as the blessed angels turn The pages of our years, God grant they read the good with smiles. And blot the ill with tears. — John G. Whittier. Whatever progress may be made in science, art and literary culture, Christianity will be still there, as what these rest against and imply ; as the indispensable back -ground, the three-fourths of life. — Mathetv Arnold. m STARTING LIFE— CONVERSION. YOUNG MACDONALD'S school-days closed with his fifteenth year, when he left his father's house to plunge into the " world and wave of men,' and entered upon the duties of a junior clerk in a mercantile establishment. Of his entrance upon busi- ness he thus writes : " It was in April, 1840, that the Rev. Mr. Leach, pastor of St. Andrew's Church, took me into the phice of busl. ess of Mr. John Thompson, of this city, a member of his congregation, to see if he could find an opening for me. Here Mr. Leach was unsuccess- ful. From that we went to the business house of Walter Macfarlane, the '' Victoria House," on the cor- Iner of King Street and Market Place. Here also Mr. Leach failed, neither of these gentlemen at the time having any opening for a lad of fifteen. He then, without my knowledge, corresponded with the house [of C. & J. Macdonald & Co., Gananoque, then one of jthe most important concerns in Canada, and arranged [for my entrance into the house. Neither member of the firm ever havinir seen me, or havino; heard from le, I was taken entirely upon his recommendation, [ere I attended the ministry of the Rev. H. Gordon. " Thus it came to pass that at the very threshold of iy business life I was placed under obligation to two jarly missionaries of the Church of Scotland. To the first I was entirely indebted for the situation rhich determined my subsequent course. This position )rought me under the pastoral oversight of the second, 38 A MERCHANT PRINCE. nm ii'i'r III and thus began a friendship which extended through- out their lives. " If there is one thing of greater i'nportance than another to a young man entering upon life, it is that he should do so under such conditions as will furnish him with the best illustrations of all that is implied in upright and honourable transactions. Under just such conditions was it my rare good fortune to begin my business life in the firm to which reference has been made, where during my two years' residence not one transaction, I venture to say, ever took place which would not bear the closest scrutiny. The partners in the firm were the Honourable John Mac- donald, and his nephew, William Macdonald." Who can tell how much this early association with business men of sagacity, activity and perfect reliabil- ity had to do with his own character for integrity and that high standard of mercantile honour which he always maintained ? It was also his good fortune to find in his fellow clerks young men of energy, ambition and active force, who have since made a deep impress upon their times. Among these were J J. C. Abbott, who afterwards became Premier of the Dominion, and John Bell, the well-known solicitor of the Grand Trunk Railway. It is no small thing for a young country that its ablest sons should thus find recognition and gain positions where their gifts and capacities can be used to the best advantage. After a stay of two years in Gananoque, he re- turned to Toronto, and on the 30th May, 1842, en- tered the establishment of Mr. Walter Macfarlane, known as the " Victoria House." There are turn- ing points in every life, and in the house ofj STARTING LIFE— CONVERSION. 39 Walter Macfarlane young Macdonald was to reach the crisis that was to give shape to his whole future life, and in which must be found the secret of his suc- cess. In the house itself there were fifteen young men, and Macdonald was the youngest. He had not been lono- here before one of the most ass aming of the clerks ordered him to take out a parcel. It was a large one, and had to be carried for a mile. It was a terrible mortification, and he at once replied that he had not come there to carry parcels. Without further cere- mony the clerk found his way to the employer, and said in loud tones, " That boy refuses to take these parcels out." " Oh, very well," was the reply, " tell him to go about his business." The boy's determin- ation was taken in a moment ; it was to eat humble pie, and, quick as thought, the parcel was picked up and he was nearly out of sight before the message from his employer could reach him. His situation was saved, and his future, to some extent, decided. Several of the young men were very fast and very unreliable, enemies alike to their employer and to themselves. Some of them were moral young men — one only was thoughtful and pious. Into the room with this young man the boy was put as a companion. He found it irksome to room with one whose fixed purpose seemed so different from his own. Young Macdonald then went to bed, and rose without prayers. He had been religiously trained, and during his school days had kept alive an intensely devout spirit, but for two years he had been living among prayerless young men ; he had imbibed their worldliness, and m 40 A MERCHANT PRINCE. 'II now in the city, had determined to drink more fully into the spirit and adopt the habits of the ungodly. " Eternity," he writes, " will reveal many strange things, and doubtless among others, will show the strange way in which I was led to that house, to that room, to that young man, and back to God, from whom I had wandered." He says : " There are incidents which often occur, too trifling to excite attention at the time, yet, as one sees afterwards, big with results and destined to change the whole of one's after-life. The establish- ment I was entering was the most extensive retail dry goods concern in Upper Canada. My home was to be under the roof of my employer, and I had assigned to me a room, large and lofty, in which there was a young man who was to be my room-mate. It was not long before I found, very greatly to my surprise, that he was a Methodist. I say surprised, for had it been possible for me to have had anything to say in the matter I would have willed it otherwise — not that I had anything against the young man, nor was there any reason that I should think of him other than kindly, but hitherto I had never been associated with any other than Presbyterians, and had always looked upon Methodists with a kind of mistrust. I cannot well describe my disappointment when I found myself associated with a room-mate who was my senior by two or three years, and a Methodist. Each, in church matters, went his own way ; he to the old rough-cast church on George Street, where worshipped the British Wesleyans ; I to St. Andrew's, on Church Street. As to the structures, the churches externally and inter- nally were as different as thej'^ well could be. The St. Andrew's Church, for those days, might with great propriety be said t<. be a pretentious building. It was built of brick, and plastered to imitate stone ; had STARTING LIFE— CONVERSION. 41 a handsome .spire, an ecclesiastical appearance, while the location was central and commanding. The other was as unpretentious as a church buildinf]f could well be ; size, about 35 x 60 feet ; rough-cast ; the whole structure worth probably from $2,000 to $2,500, as plain as wood and rough-cast could make it, and accommodating from three to four hundred people." The young man here referred to was Mr. T. S. Keough, and the acquaintance ""ipened into a warm and lasting friendship which coloured the whole of his career. In his daily journal he records that he had determined to " see life ; " had begun to delight in various amusements on the Lord's Day and to seek the acquaintance of the irreligious. But his plastic nature was to be changed and his entire religious life shaped through the influence of a faitliful companion. No wonder he continues : "It seems fitting just here, to notice how much the happiness and well-being, the misery or wretchedness of our lives depends upon the companionships which as young lads we form. Indeed, as I look back upon the past, I am persuaded that greater in importance than even home-training, all important as that is, as regards the future of the young man, is the selection which he makes of his companions. If the selection is in every way desirable from the standpoint of God's Word, he may be said to be placed in circumstances of safety ; if, on the other hand, he is thrown into close company with those who disregard God's Word, His day, His house, he is placed in circumstances of the greatest peril ; all the greater, if such companions are kind-hearted, genial, and unselfish, as such young men so often are; circumstances which may so shape I his life as to mean ruin, and ruin only, of soul and ■' n 42 A MERCHANT PRINCE. i 1 body, the blighting of every prospect, the dissipating of every fondly cherished hope. ' Taking my own case as a fair example, what might the result have been had circumstances been different ? I find myself in a room with a stranger, one whom I had never seen, but with whom I had much of my time at least to be associated, without a relative on this continent, so far as I knew. What more natural than that we should go to the same places, do the same things, mix with the same com- pany ? Certainly no better than other lads of my age, and possibly not much worse, I was ready most assuredly to offer no violent objection to anything which meant fun, and would not have been unwilling to have " seen life." " What if the inclinations of my young friend lay in that direction, what if he was in the habit of spend- ing his evenings in some saloon, of visiting the play, of going to the opera, nay, what if he were in the habit of visiting those abodes which lead down to death ? Would he have invited me to accompany him ? Would I have gone ? " How wonderfully does God lead us ! What safe- guards docs He throw around us ! What barriers does He set up to save us from breaking through, lest we perish ! How He leads us in ways which we had not known ! How He directs our steps and brings us under the power of influences of which we had never dreamt, that our own happiness may be secured and His own glory promoted. In none of the hurtful ways to which I have referred was the influence of my friend to be exerted. Here I found a young man who had given his heart to God, singularly pure in his life and in his conversation. Without cant on the one hand, without gloomy misanthropic views on the other, thoroughly consistent among those who were STARTING LIFE— CONVERSION. 43 careless. It* we were to be companions it must be upon the lines upon which he was walkin^^." Let us see what the result was. On a Sabbath evening in the early autumn of 1842, he was found for the first time in a Methodist chapel. The preacher was the Rev. John C. Davidson. The pulpit, like everything else in the church, was severely plain. The choir sat within the communion rail. The leader was Mr. Booth ; Alderman Baxter, then a slender young man, was a member — his father, strangely enoutrh, being the leader of the choir in St. Andrew's Church. The singing was very good ; none better was there in the city. He was much pleased with the service, and as there was no evening service in vSt. Andrew's he found himself going each Sunday evening to the George Street Church ; yet doing this without the remotest intention of transferrincj his allegiance from the one church to the other, or ever dreaming that he was to live or die other than a Presbyterian. In like manner the week evening services on Monday and Thursday attracted him, there being neither preaching nor a prayer-meeting service during the week at St. Andrew's. " The case therefore stood thus : I attended two services weekly of the church to which I belonged — the Presbyterian — and though not connected with it by membership was fully resolved never to leave; and three weekly services in the church to which I did not belong — the Methodist. The senior preacher on the cir- cuit was Bev. Matthew (afterwards Doctor) Richey. When it is claimed that he was the most eloquent preacher in the city, the statement is one which will not mi 44 A MERCHANT PRINCE. be questioned. He was an Irishman; he must have been then about forty years of age, of fine presence, voice so full, deep and musical, that it might well be said to be phenomenal ; faultless as a reader, it was a rare treat to hear him read the Word of God. His pulpit efforts were marked by a solemn and devotional spirit; his prayers were in striking contrast to that hasty, irreverent manner which characterizes the approaches of so inany in our day, to the throne of grace. Little wonder was it that his name at that time would at- tract as many as the building would hold, and more." Mr. Macdonald was greatly charmed with the pulpit ministrations of this highly gifted man. He attended a special meeting which was held during the last week of 1842, and was closed with a watch-night service, the first of the kind he had ever attended. The ser- vice was in charge of Dr. Richey. Mr. Macdonald says : " I remember the sermon well, as being one of great impressiveness. About three minutes before midnight the preacher, in his devout way, said : ' We will spend the remaining moments of the old year upon our knees before God, in silent prayer.' Every- thing was new to me, the death-like stillness which reigned throughout the church was descriptive of that solemnity which everyone seemed to feel ; then the overwhelming silence was broken by the deep, full, solemn voice of the minister, as he gave out the lines: " 'The arrow has flown; the moment is gone ; The millennial year Rushes on to our view, and eternity's near.' " This service left a deep religious impression upon his mind ; and on February 10th there began another STARTING LIFE — CONVERSION. 45 series of meetings which were destined to exert a transforming influence upon his character and life. He becarpe interested in personal religion ; then pow- erfully convicted of sin, and sought earnestly the assurance of God's favour. A long struggle with pride took place before he could take the deciding step, and go forward for prayer. The very night that he surrendered his will and yielded his heart, he was owned and blessed of God. Divine light, and love, and joy were poured into his being, and he received the remission of sins, and justi- fication through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. In his " Recollections of British Methodism in Toronto," he refers thus to his coming forward as a seeker : " There are those who object to any manifestations in public assemblies, such as have been referred to. The result of my own thinking on the matter, after an experience of forty-eight years, has taught me that the man who will stand up in a public assembly and thereby show his determination not only to be a Christian, but his desire to secure the prayers of God's people to strengthen him in his determination, is in earnest. That which prevents a man from taking this step is not a conviction that he does not stand in need of God's grace, hut pride. The step once taken, this pride is humbled, the man hasobtained the mastery over himself, he has proclaimed to his worldly associates that he intends to lead a new life. In one word, he has virtually said with the prodigal, * I will arise and go to my Father.' He is not far from the kingdom ; he has gone to meet the Christ who is waiting to re- ceive him. " Does it need an effort ? It needs the effort of his entire nature, and if he is sincere, it will help him a 46 A MERCHANT PRINCE. thousanfl times more than all the promises to consider the matter and weif]fh its responsibilities. There are thousands of earnest workers in the Church to-day who liave to thank God that He, by His fjrace, enabled them when invited to do so, to stand up and confess Him, to^stand up and^acknowledjjje their need of Him, and who, in this way, were helped to find Christ. And tliere are thousands to-day who re<^ret tliat when such opportunities were offered, shame prevented them from availing themselves of such invitations." This was lus spiritual birth, the beginninor of a divine life, and his whole after life was but the o^rowth, the unfoldinjnf of what he then received. This try " great spiritual event is the key to his character and his work as a man. The end of religion is conduct. Ethical means practical — it relates to practice or con- duct. The grace which he then received passed into habits and dispositions, and gave him his many-sided excellences. Shortly after, he joined the Methodist Church, but not without much thought and spiritual conflict. There were the early influences of home and Christian training in another Church ; there was the new-found Saviour and the affluent peace that had sprung up in his heart through the agency of Methodism. He observes : " Here was a young lad, eighteen years of age, too young to be noticed ; certainly too young to initiate any change in Church life, attracted to a Church against which he was strongly prejudiced, drawn from one to which he was as strongly attached, from one to which all his friends belonged. Why was it that he should have become a Methodist, when under STAIlTlNf} LIFE — CONVEIISION. 47 ordinary circumstances he sliould have continued to be a Presbyterian ? " I found myself j)lace(l in circumstances of diffi- culty, conscious beyond doubt that a new direction had been j^iven to my life, throu^li the instrumentality of the Methodist Church ; ecjually conscious that it was my duty that my church relationship must he with the Presbyterian C'hurch. What was 1 to do :* b'irst, it appeared to me tluit it was my (hity to make myself familiar with the teachinjif of the l*reshyterian Church. Havinrr thus resolved, it did not take me loii,i( to act ; that very day I went to the book store of Jlunh Scohie, Kin<; Street, and purchased a copy of the " Confession of Faitli." I hegan to examine it with a mind fully made up to endorse all that was contained in it. It would have appeared to me the most profound folly to (juestion aught which it set forth. I expected from it to gather light, and know- ledge, and strength. " I soon found myself in a difficulty. If I was implicitly to accept the Confession of Faith, many passages of Scripture to me were incomprehensible. 1 closed the book, determined to read no more, but to go for my light and teaching to the Word of God. I bought Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary, and turned to the article described by him at the close of the Acts, 2nd chapter, as that awful subject, the fore- knowledge of God. The article on the ' Decrees ' in the Confession perplexed me ; the reasoning of Dr. Clarke attbrded me no satisfactory solution. The fact was that the wind tliat bloweth where it listeth had blown upon me, and brought with it the awakening of a new life — a life wdiich had to gather strength and vigour from daily conflict with those who were actively engaged in church life, and from the same source from which they gathered theirs. The con- elusion was slowly but painfully reached, that this I't 48 A MERCHANT PRINCE. to be obtained in a church whose public services for the week, apart from the was not religious Sabbath School, were all embraced in the one morn- ing service on the Lord's Day. And thus the step was taken. The severance was made, and I had passed away from the church under whose influence I had seen the light, and to which all my friends belonged." His new spiritual life responded loadily to the doctrines, institutions and ministries of Methodism. He was its child, not by descent, but by real kinship. It met his wants, satisfied his desires, and he was in sympathy with its aims and methods. On Wednesday, March 15th, he attended a class- meeting for the first time, and with quick insight he perceived its value as a means of grace. The leader was Richard Wordsworth, and the class met in his house on Richmond Street. Mr. Macd' nald says : " The whole thing, to me, was new > hear men speaking of their unfaithfulness, expressing their fixed purpose anew to consecrate themselves to God's service, and soliciting the prayers of God's people to help them in their purpose ; and to hear the leader, a man of experience, who had himself passed through just such mental conflicts, counsel them from his own knowledge of God's goodness, and present to them for their consideration the unfailing promises of God's Word, was something which I had never conceived, was something which I felt was of inestimable value to every young Christian, was something which might, with great advantage, be adopted by all the churches, and which now, after a lengthened experi- ence, I regard as one of the most valued means for the strengthening of Ggd's children iji the Pivine life, STAUTING LIFE — CONVERSION. 49 No better barometer is there by which the spiritual life of the members of the Methodist Church can be gauged than that which is furnished by their attend- ance upon the class-meeting. If careless and inditler- cnt ; if the world preponderates, the class-meetinjg is irksome. If men are living to God, it is a delight." He entered the George Street Sabbath School, of which Mr. Alexander Hamilton was superintendent, and soon became a teacher. He bought the Wesleyan .standard works, and so studied them that the doc- trints and traditions of the Church passed into his life and became a part of himself. He was soon in the full round of religious activity, speaking in class and fellowship meetings, attending prayer-meetings and assisting in conducting them. He was placed on the Prayer Leader's plan, a department of Church work in which the young men went in companies, sometimes singing on the streets, then holding a cottage-meeting near -their field of labour extending from Berkeley Street on the east to the Asylum on the west. While his i 'igion v. as thus practical and experimental, ho was giving close attention to study. His young friend, Mr. Keough, greatly aided him ; their sympathies and secret hearts seemed to flow spontaneously together ; they were bound together by the most sacred ties of sanctified friendship. Over the George Street congregation he grows I enthusiastic, and while he has no desire to detract from the influence of the Canadian Methodists theuv worshipping in the Newgate Street Church, in helping [on the development of Methodism in the city and in tlic Dominion, yet he says, " Greater far was the 60 A MERCHA> 1 i To be honest as this world goes, is to be one man i)icked out of ten thousand. — Shakespeare {Hamlet). Study economy. Do not let your house be too big for :'our income. At the outset go to sea in i\ small but well made bark ; you can sail a three-master when you have gained experience enough, and can conunand the necessary capital. — Rev. Samuel Osgood, D.D. I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an " honest man." — George Washington. ? ■■ ■■■i COMMENCING BUSINESS. IT is a well-known fact of history that the Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Prime Minister of England, the illustrious statesman and leader of the Liberal party, was in youth on the eve of taking religious orders. In like manner, the merchant-prince of Toronto came very near becoming a minister of the Gospel. With- out doubt he regarded the Christian ministry as the highest ideal of human usefulness ; but the state of his health was a sore detriment to his prospects for entering this field of service to God and humanity. His throat was still troubling him, as it troubled him through life, and for the present there seemed nothing left him but to re-enter business. This would not prevent him from exercising his gifts as a local preacher, and thus fulfilling the great call of life. For well has Lowell sung : " God bends from out ths deep and says I gave thee the great gift of life ; Wast thou not called in many way? 1 Are not my heaven and earth at strife 1 " And are not the wrongs and evils in society, the sins and sorrows of individual life, a Divine call to use our best gifts and accjuirements in righting wrongs anu endeavouring to bring heaven and earth into har- 80 A MERCHANT PRINCE. mony ? The man who is unworldly, who has the good of his country and of his fellows at heart, will, by the very force of his own elevated character uplift others. There is no power on earth like the power of a holy, consecrated life, and everyone who is leading such a life is a minister of God to his fellows, and no matter what his occupation may be, is, by his own saintlin<.ss of character, lifting others to higher altitudes. Mr. Macdonald, in entering the mercantile profes- sion instead of the responsible office of the ministry, did not cease to be a prophet and commissioned mes- senger of heaven. There is an exalted, as well as a low and grovelling idea of trade. The sole object of business is not profit and worldly aggrandizement True, some modification of the selfish principle may be said to lie at the root of all human action, and nowhere is this so marked and undisguised as in a profession whose direct and avowed object is tho getting of gain. At the same time, the world has always admired those who have been distinguished as honourable merchants. It was said of Tyre, the crowning com- mercial city of old, that " her merchants were princes and her traflickers the honourable of the earth." It has always been the use made of the wealth acquired in trade that has been the object of commendation and honour, rather than the mere success in accumu- lation. The true merchant makes no claim to benevolence or patriotism as his ruling motive in trade, but he does profess absolute justice and honour. The lull •('- la ' T COMMENCING BUSINESS. 81 morals of trade are of the strictest and purest char- acter. While the direct object is gain, profit, indivi- dual benefit, yet no deviation from truth is allowable ; there must be unblemished and inviolable integrity. There is no class of men from whom the golden rule of " doing 'into others as we would that they should do unto us " is more strictly demanded than among merchants. Mercantile honoi j is a most delicate thing, and will not bear the slightest stain. The man who, in business, is found to equivocate, is a marked man, while incorruptible integrity is almost uniformly the accompaniment of success, as it always is of sterlinof character. True it is that in the manifold operations of commerce there are many temptations to acts of dishonesty, more frequent perhaps than in other occupations ; and it must be confessed that, in not a few instances, poor human nature is found to yield to them ; yet rigid truthfulness is the rule which controls the actions of the honourable trader. Whilst, then, the selfish principle lies at the founda- tion of trade, there is no reason why the merchant himself should not be active in benevolence and in all Christian virtues ; indeed, that his whole life should not be a benediction to others. John Macdonald possessed in an eminent degree all the qualities which make a merchant prince. The corner-stone of his character was an earnest reliijfious belief ; and while his piety was of a rich and ardent type, he had also an integrity as firm as a rock, and an honour as unsullied as the stars. There are few events in a merchant's life more im- 6 82 A MERCHANT PRINCE. ' i^ ; H 1 M n i i. i. 11 portant than that which introduces him into active business on his own account. As a clerk he had been popular among customers for his alertness and cour- tesy. He was frank, gencous, energetic and upright, instinctively shunning evil practices and associates. An eager and constant reader, he had improved his mind, mastering manj'' solid works ; yet his chief schooling had been among men, and in efforts to solve the daily problems of life. Returning to Toronto, somewhat improved in health, he re-engaged with Mr. Macfarlane for a short period, when an opportunity opened for him to go into business for himself. He secured' a store on Yonge Street, west side, one door south of Richmond Street, which he made known as the Large 103. It was a tliree-story building, and had abundant accommodation for a dwelling-house ; but there was no other place of business on the street at the time. He had the offer of a good place of busi- ness on the principal thoroughfare, at a rent of 551,000 per annum, but he reasoned thus : " I am commencing business, not on my own means, but on a credit which I am obtaining chiefly from the confidence placed in my character. A larger place would require a large stock, a large staff of assistants, a large expense, while a large interest account might make me dependent permanently upon my creditors. I should also have to contend, at great disadvantage, with those whose means would enable them to buy more advantageously than I could." He resolved, therefore, to take the smaller store. Mr. Macdonald details rather amus- ingly his efforts to open an account with some of the m' '! ...ri«■,«!0^S%iC"•«■«■^■;:^:^7::.. - .. ..r Premises in which John Macoonald hei^an husiucss iu October, 184^, known then as joj Yon^e Street, 2nd door South of Richmond Street, West side. ■ \{% w I fi. 84 A MERCHANT PRINCE. i ■! j! leading houses. It was little more than t yelve months since the crisis of 1847. Men had lost heavily by overtrading, and a more cautious policy was being pursued. Although each of the business men he ap- proached would have been willing to open an assort- ing account with him, not one of them would give him a stock of goods. One house had just succumbed to the terrible fall in the price of produce, and the senior partner of the firm, unable to bear the terrible reverse thus brought upon him, had gone into a field adjoining his own house, and put an end to his existence. The first wholesale establishment upon which he called was the one doing the largest trade. This house blandly declined to entertain his account, although selling to hundreds of men whose accounts proved so bad that in a very few years the whole fabric fell with a terrible crash. The next firm received him kindly enough, but with the same blank refusal. The third refused, assigning as the reason that their im- ports were only sufficient for their own regular custo- mers. He called upon three or four other firms, with no better success. " Little," he says, " did they know or think that the young man, whose account they had thus declined, was not only going to obtain credit, but to succeed not as a retail man only, but, in a few short years, become a direct importer, contest with them for the trade of the country, and do it successfully. Little did they think that, before one year, instead of his pleading with them for credit, they should be solicit- ing him for his trade, and that before ten vears his trade would become as large as theirs, and his credit as good, and his means as ample." COMMENCING BUSINESS. 85 le is Is ifc He succeeded in obtainiiiGf a credit with the whole- sale establishment of Bowes & Hall, and his first in- voice amounted to X461. His assistants wcreayouni^ lad ci tliirteen, and a young man who had been in business on his own account. Two days were con- sumed in checkini;, markini; and arranijinor the stock. The first thing he did was to go and effect an insur- ance upon upon his goods. The next thing was to get circulars printed, setting forth the place in which he was to be found, and what he had to offer. On the third day he took down the shutters, and looked proudly at his name over the door, in connection with which might be read: "Staple and fancy dry goods." He had many friends, for during six years he had filled a situation in one of the larefest establishments in the city, entering it as a boy to take the cash and carry parcels, and steadily working his way up until he occupied the first position in the house. As soon as he announced to the public that he was a competitor for a share of their patronage, among those who gathered early about him to encourage and help him, were the friends he had formed under Chris- tian associations. They were glad to wish him suc- cess in his venture, small and unpretending though it was. His capital was meagre, but he was not ashamed of small begmninsrs. The amount of his stock was small, but he made the most of it. He had placed fixtures on one side only of his shop ; and on the other were shrubs and flowers, tastefully arranged and displayed in such a way as to give the place a full and well-stocked appec-rance. On the 27th of September, i( II III 86 A MEHCIIAKT PRINCE. 1849, he opened business. The amount of cash which he took on that day was £14 17s. 9d. ; on the 28th, £10 17s. 7d.; on the 29th, £9 16s.; on the 30th, £10 4s. Id. On the 28th he paid Bowes & Hall £14 10s. 2d. , on the 29th, £11 Os. lid.; on the 30th, £9 15s. It was refreshing to iine To stamp the iiiarriaj^e l)oi1(l divine J The stream of pure and genuine lovo Derives its current from aljove ; And earth a second h^den shows, Where'er the healing water flows." All day he toiled with effort, streni^th and will, and at nii^ht in the ^' douxe inthuitt'," oi his younf]f wife, talked over his affairs and clierished prospects, or gave his spare moments to reading, and turned frag- ments of time to golden account. Before the commencement of the fall trade, Mr Macdonald determined to take stock again, though he had been only ten months in business. When he had balanced his books, he arrived at the following results -. His sales had amounted to £*1,18G 14s. 2 id., and after deducting expenses, he transferred to the credit of pipofit and loss the sum of £300 8s. Gid. He adver- tised extensively and judiciously, never exaggerating in the least degree, but using his talent for versifica- tion to bring before the public the valuable goods at No. 103. His son, Mr. J. Fraser Macdonald, has shown me a copy of the North American, published in Toronto by William. McDougall & Company, bear- ing date of June 9th, 1855, in which is found the following advertisement : THE LARGE 103 YONGE STREET, TORONTO, JOHN MACDONALD, Respectfully invites attention to his very large stock of seasonable dry-goods, etc., etc. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k^O it A 4^ k A ..> MP. . M 1.0 iMlliiM iirs IIM 1112.2 I.I 2.0 1.8 1.25 U ill 1.6 Photographic Sciences Coiporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 C'.. &»- Wr- ■ A. 90 A MERCHANT FHINCE. lii The advertisement ends ,vith a poem on Reformation in Trade, the closing lines of which are : " The bonnets, for instance, which a few years ago Would cost you a dollar and a quarter or so, A much liner style you now can procure For less than a quarter of that sum, I am sure. Nor did you then think the terms very hard. If you bought a good print for a shilling per yard, But now you may purchase for lialf of that price A cloth quite as good, and a style just as nice. Will you call at Macdonald's, if only to try. From his well-sorted stock, how che^ip you can buy 1 And we venture to say, when you look through his store. You will wonder you never have found it before. 'Tis a three-storey house, with the front painted white, Which makes its appearance both graceful and light. With very large figures that you plainly may see. Describing his number as one hundred and three." His business for the first nine months was some- thing over $12,000 ; for a like period from March 1st, 1851, to January, 1852, it was over $16,000. All the while his capital was increasing, and he was now in a position to dictate terms with the firm from which he bought, who were ready to offer him inducements to continue his tra ^3 with them. He was also in a position to buy wherever he pleased, and felt that he could now do so without doing any injustice to the firm\hat had first given him a start. When the business of Taylor & Stevenson was established, Mr. Macdonald became one ot their princi- pal customers. One of the partners, Mr. C. C. Taylor, was a young man about his own age, of good address, active and pushing, his intimate friend and companion, COMMENCING BUSINESS. 91 and the firm gave Mr. Macdonald the special privi- lege of selecting from the invoice-book desirable and cheap lines of goods before their arrival, which were laid aside for his examination and approval. He was not slow to secure those lots which paid him extra profits. The arrangement was mutually advan- tageous, as Mr. Macdonald became their most valuable customer, bought from them largely, paid them promptly, sold their goods quickly, which yielded him a good profit, and enabled him to add to his capital. After a year or so he began to job, not that he laid himself specially out for that business, but a friend who was about commencing business came to him, thinking that he could depend upon being well and honestly treated. This was no other than William Gooderham, who became a steady customer, and a friendship was ripened, which continued un- abated to the end of life. Hitherto the jobbing business which he had done had been either with those who took an interest in him and desired his success, or those who, coming into his shop, were led to make a parcel in some of the lines he had to offer. Now he resolved on taking the road and seeing what impression he could make on small traders in the country. He got his samples carefully prepared, taking with him only lines which he knew would be considered cheap by even the closest buyers, hired a horse and buggy, and on a rainy morning in the month of May, 1852, went forth dreaming of the future. That day he took orders to a considerable amount, and returned, feeling that his 92 A MERCHANT PRINCE. •Ml 1: 01 r.i- journey had been a success. He felt Uiat all he wanted was capital, to enable him to do a jobbing trade as large as any house in the country. He possessed a thorough knowledge of his business, U'lderstood the requirements of the country, was energetic, could buy well, and knew that with means he conld soon out-distance houses of reputed wealth, that had been long established. For a little a feeling of restlessness and impatience came over him, but it was only for a little ; and then came the determination to work and wait. It was a wise one, and well for him that he had not sufficient capital, until he had acquired the experience to employ it wisely. It was a blessing that he was unable to attempt a large trade, until he had been taught the perils of a small one, and for this he was thankful in after years. Though he never inherited a dollar, yet the means came with the experience. His wealth was gradually acquired, and a wise and overruling Providence continually blessed the labour of his hands. His success in the jobbing confirmed his purpose. He would be a wholesale merchant, and that ere lonsf. He had made this resolve, and waited anxiously for indications which would warrant him in taking steps in that direction. His shop was enlarged ; the staff had already grown to four; the shelves on both sides were well filled, and the basement turned to account for reserve goods. Yet th^ pressure for room continued, and nothing remained but to take part of the upstairs and convert it into a room for stock. Immediately above the stairs were the words, " Wholesale upstairs," COMMENCING BUSINESS. 93 He was now firmly established, was doing well, and always at his business. He employed no book-keeper, but when his store was closed he posted up his books, and made out his accounts. About this time came a pressing request to endorse a note. He quickly made up his mind, and answered, " No.' That answer was for his entire business career. Had he yielded to this first request he would have been ruined ; he would have done the friend who made it no good, and would have lost his friendship. He took his own decided course — kept his friend ; and, still better, was able to assign to others that he had refused this friend. Here was a breaker which lay early in his course ; he steered skilfully through it, and felt that he had got his craft out into deep water, where there was less danger than near a rocky coast. Nor did he carry money in his pocket. When he wanted money he took it out of his till, and never did this without making an entry of it, and charging it to his own personal account. Alert, vigorous, ambitious, with natural business talents, an experienced salesman, anxious to secure confidence and customers, he now began to feel the pressure of increased business responsibilities. But his activity and earnestness were not confined to his dry-goods store. Though not physically strong, yet he was abundant in labours for the spiritual good of those about him. In the Richmond Street Church, of which he was a member, he found ample scope for various forms of Christian labour. He was the super- intendent of the Sabbath School, and a leading oflficial 94 A MERCHANT PRINCE. of the circuit. He was In demand on the neighbour- ing circuits for sermons and missionary addresses, and he thus acquired that readiness, fitness and zeal in Christian work which distinguished his whole career. His success in business was steady, and with the increase of means he exhibited a growing spirit of large and wise liberality. In the midst of r.U this activity, a deep shadow fell upon his heart and home. His beautiful young wife was sinking into an early grave, and after a brief married life of four years, consumption seized her as its prey, and she was thus early "crowned and blessed." She left behind two children, the first a perfect little human flower, named Jessie, unfolded her tender life only just enough to " smell sweet and blossom in the dust;" the second survived — the gentle and beloved Amy — who grew up to lovely womanhood, when she, too, passed on before her father to the "house of many mansions." These sharp family sorrows chastened his spirit, but they were not allowed to interfere with his duties, or his wonderful activity and zeal. Mr. Macdonald was a born merchant. He was ready in resource, and thoroughly enjoyed the stir and strain of commercial life. His plans were far- reaching, and they were pushed with resolute self- reliance, tireless energy, and unwavering faith. He was ready to seize upon a situation with quick and comprehensive grasp. He was one of the first to see the advantage of separating the dry-goods entirely from other departments of trade, and here his marked COMMENX^ING BUSINESS. 95 individuality cropped out. Just as in complicated trades, the work is divided into a number of processes, and the division of labour effects a saving of time and material, as well as gives increased dexterity to the workman ; so he perceived that with moderate capital, and with a small stock of goods, greater skill and success could be secured in a particular department by having his attention directed exclusively to that work than to have it range through many other departments of trade. He had achieved success in the retail business, and he saw before him a wider field, where he could carry on the same business on a larger scale in the whole- sale. The story is told of John Jacob As tor, that while yet a stranger in New York, and in the narrowest circumstances, as he passed by a row of houses which had just been erected and were the talk of the town, he said to himself, "I'll build one day a greater house than any of these on this very street." He accomplished the prediction. So John Macdon- ald saw before him in the wholesale business a broad field of enterprise, and with that far-seeing spirit which anticipates the future, he grasped the assurance of success. Shakespeare says, " We must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures." The time and tide, without which the best powers and strongest purposes do not avail, soon came to him, and we find him fairly launched upon an extensive trade. VI. WHOLESALE MERCHANT. Ill Ijabor is the true aloheinist wliich beats out in patieut trans- mutation the baser metals into srold. — W. Moday Punshnn, D.D. •' Business is what it is made to be." We have not wings, we cannot soar, But we have feet to scale and climb, By slow degrees, by more and more, The cloudy summits of our time. — Lotigjellow. Still let thy mind be bent, still plotting where And when, and how, the business may be done. — Herbert. Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. " — Pa,iil. WHOLESALE MERCHANT. FROM the moment Mr. Macdonald commenced business for himself, small trader thouj^h he was, he had in him the constant presentiment of a wide career. The characteristics which afterwards distinjTuished him in his widely-extended sphere, at once manifested themselves. He was remarkably energetic, active, and attentive to business. He had tact, promptness, order, hopefulness, straightforward- ness and honour. He was genial, courteous, large- hearted and liberal. His integrity won for him respect and confidence ; and his business capabilities and success led him to contemplate enlargement. His force of purpose and enthusiasm were amazing, and the results which they brought him were natural and inevitable. He knew there was a high career before him . ne felt it in his veins like new wine, and this incited him to larger schemes and to take in a wider horizon. A gracious Providence was marking; out a path for him, and soon v/e find him entering upon an extensive wholesale business. The first difficulty was to get the retail business off his hands. Mr. Marma- duke Pearson, who had been a partner with Thomas Thompson, Sen., in the firm of Thompson & Pearson, was, however, just then proposing to enter business for himself. He was ready to take Mr. Macdonald's 100 A MERCHANT PUINCE. ■ 1! ! business, purchase his stock, and assume his liabilities. Accordingly, in 1853, our subject moved to more capacious premises on Wellington Street, in the centre of the business portion of the city, and nearly opposite the present premises of the firm. He made arrange- ments with Mr. James Frazer, of Nova Scotia, to go to Great Britain and buy his goods for him for one season, obtaining from him, at the satne time, a letter to the well-known Glasgow firm of William Kidston & Sons, who shipped all Mr. Frazer's goods. He was enabled to make an arrangement with this firm which lasted over many years, and which proved highly satisfactory to both parties. Mr. Macdonald was wont to express to his friends the sore disappointment which he felt at his first interview with the senior partner of this great firm. The unpretentious looking little office, a few dying coals in a small grate, and the sur- roundings generally, seemed to suggest anything but great wealth, with luxurious environments. How- ever, when he learned from mercantile circles the standing of the house and the high estimation with which it was regarded, both on account of the extent of its transactions and the honourable principles upon which they were conducted, especially when he had succeeded in obtaining an open credit of several thou- sand pounds, matters assumed an entirely different aspect, and that little office shone with a brightness which carbon could not give. The arrangements made with this house enabled him to purchase his goods at first hand and save his discounts; and, although he paid this firm well on to ^100,000 in WHOLESALE MERCHANT. 101 commissions, yet it was money well laid out, since no goods had ever come to Toronto better bought than his. From the start, the other liouses found it diffi- cult to compete with Mr. Macdonald, both on account of the (juality and the prices of his staples. A strong friendship also sprung up between them. Mr. Mac- donald named his eldest son after the great ship owner, merchant and banker, whose acknowledged worth of character, sound judgment, enlightened and judicious views on all commercial matters, steadfast Christian principle and abounding liberality, made him a man after his own heart. Only one ripple of trouble ever occurred during their long business rela- tions together. His goods were all shipped by the sailing vessels of this firm, and in the season of 1855 the ship Shandon, which contained the whole of his importations, was lost, and he had no goods fo«' his customers. What was he to do ? Coleridge says : " A bitter and perplexed ' What shall T do ? ' Is worse to man than worse necessity." The power of quick decision is part of the outfit which makes a man equal to the occasion. He had the faculty of penetrating at once into the heart of things, and saw at a glance what was the proper thing to do. Decision is concentrated force, and it did not take him long to decide. He was put upon his mettle and would try a I'use de guerre. In the emergency he hastened to New York, bought a large stock of goods on credit, and then opened them out, writing at the same time to the Glasgow firm to inform them what he had I 102 A MERCHANT PRINCE. done. The firm was at first indignant at what seemed to them his rash action, and threatened to close the account. However, they soon came to see that Mr. Macdonald had acted in a prompt, high-minded and judicious manner ; that he was equal to the occasion, of ready resource, and master of his fate in the hour of opportunity. The diflficulty was speedily adjusted, the corner was safely turned, and the young merchant found himself upon the rising wave. The loss of the goods turned out to Mr. Macdonald 's gain, for he had not only the profit from the pwichase at New York, but the gain from the insurance paid him on his sunken goods, for then as now marine insurance allowed ten per cent, above the invoiced cost. The year 1857 was a disastrous one. Trade was very bad. A commercial panic existed throughout the country. Business houses were failing on every hand. Banks were breaking; money was scarce ; con- fidence gone. Men knew not whom to trust. In this time of mercantile distress, when every house seemed tottering, banks shutting down, no discounts, exchange scarce, Mr. Macdonald had no bills to meet, no paper to be discounted. He simply remitted as the money came in, and the (jlasgow establishment bore the brunt. Ke was thus enabled not only to tide over the awful crisis, but to keep adding to his capital, and brick by brick, round by round, story by story, built up his colossal firm. He lived economically, had few bad debts, had no overstocks, kept everything well assorted and in good condition. His cipital was doubling almost yearly, and he was laying the foundations WHOLESALE MERCHANT. 103 Icr broad and deep of one of the largest businesses on the continent. He was not only an excellent warehouse man, but he managed the finances himself. His forte was in counting-house management. He was able not only to buy at the lowest pricc.s for cash, but he was also able to dictate terms to his customers. He selected only the best, as his goods would readily sell. He sustained few losses, while the hon- our and repuia,tion of the house were always main- tained. He was especially fortunate in Manchester printed goods ; this branch of the tvade flourished greatly, and the house, like a strong oak, was year by year striking its roots more deeply, and spreading its branches more widely over the land. In August 14th, 1857, he was permitted to rebuild his home, and was united in marriage to Annie Eliza- beth, only daughter of Samuel Alcorn, Esq. His wife was prudent, affable, devoted, judicious and, like him- self, had no extravagant views, so that they lived to- gether very happily in a small house on George Street, until the time came for him to erect a permanent suburban home. The business had now assumed im- mense proportions, and the firm of John Macdonald Sz Co. was one of the principal trading houses of Canada, enjoying an enviable reputation for stability and business integrity. In the year 1862, he erected the premises which, with enlargements and improvements, are still occupied. The warehouse is built of cut stone, in Venetian-gothic style of architecture, and is one of the most handsome, convenient and commodious busi- ness houses in the city. It is a five-story structure, John Macdonald & Co's Wholesale Wakeuousk. Wellington Street View, WHOLESALE MERCHANT. 105 elegant and imposing in appearance. When first erected it far surpassed in size and ornate finish every other business establishment in Toronto ; and with all the improvements in warehouse architecture, it still holds its place among the chief architectural orna- ments of the business section of the commercial metropolis. The building extends from Wellington Street through to Front Street, and is entered from either street, although the principal entrance is on Wellinjjton Street. The firm of John Macdonald & Co., from the first, went on modestly, steadily, actively, always keeping abreast of the times; year by year increasing its trade, until at the time of the founder's death it ranked, as it still ranks, among the oldest, as well as the largest, in the Dominion. With one or two solitary excep- tions, every firm carrying on the wholesale trade when Mr. Macdonald entered the race, has disappeared, while his own seems founded on a rock. How was it that, commencing with so slender capital, such signal success has been achieved? First, there was Mr. Macdonald's own energetic spirit. His temperament was active, persevering, indefatigable ; and he infused the same spirit throughout the house. From the out- set of his mercantile career, he embarked on a bold and somewhat original course. He was reaJy to mark out a new path to success. The custom at that time was to sell goods at a certain advance upon the sterling cost. This advance was supposed to cover interest, exchange, duty and profit. Mr. Macdonald took his stand against this custom, and although he 106 A MERCHANT PRINCE. m Hi i t' stood almost, if not entirely alone for years, he refused to sell floods on the steriinfif,but put on a round advance, and offered them at a certain, definite price. He be- lieved that the old mode offered room for deception, and tempted the wholesaler to dishonesty. He be- lieved that it was the more open and honest way to sell his goods in the currency of the country, and with no dating ahead. The old system has gone out of vogue, and all the wholesale houses of any standing in the country have simply followed Mr. Macdonald's example. This house, too, was one of the first to adopt the system of distinct departments, each department hav- ing its own buyor and its own staff of salesmen. Mr. Macdonald was a thorough organizer, and with keen foresight he saw that a great impulse would be given to the whole business by dividing into departments the more important articles of trade This would give the heads of these departments increased respon- sibility. It would make each staff of assistants more active and spirited, and promote a healthy rivalry in the departments. Recognizing the division of labour, as a means to the best results in almost every kind of employment, he saw that continued applica- tion to a particular department of goods would make experts in that special line, and that, other things being equal, experts make success. Along with his own quickness and shrewdness, his honourable deal- ings and integrity, he gathered about him associates of like character. His knowledge of character was marked, and his employees were young men of stirl- WHOLESALE MKRCHANT. 107 ing qualities, who seemed to catch his own energy and his generous, frank manner of doing business. He would have nothing of trickery or over-reaching, of lying or fraud of any kind. In his diary of 1873 we find the very basis of his success in what he calls : " HOW TO ADD TO YOUR BUSINESS LARGELY EVERY MONTH, EVERY WEEK, EVERY DAY." " Buy well. Keep your stock well and constantly assorted. Be attentive and courteous to the humblest customer. Have a perfect organization of your staff Let every man attend to the business for which he is best fitted. Fulfil every promise you make to customers. Execute every order with promptness and fidelity. Study the interest of every customer, as the best means of securing your own. Be up to the requirements of the age. Advertise your business. Do it regularly, truthfully, thoroughly. Keep no drones about you. Keep none about you who are not true to your interests. Earn a reputation for upright dealing by practising it. Be prompt in the discharge of everj?' engage- ment. Maintain over the whole a ceaseless over- sight, and conduct the whole with un- tiring energy. V f 108 A MERCHANT PRINCE, Conduct your entire business on the princi- ples of God's Word, which contains the grandest commercial maxims in exist- ence. The observance of these simple rules will secure continuous prosperity, continued confidence, ultimate wealth, and a stain- less commercial choracter. These were the high principles on which he contin- ually acted, and they secured the desired results. For some time after the custom of employing com- mercial travellers had become established in Montreal, and had been generally adopted hy the trade, Mr. Macdonald continued to employ no travellers. Not that he had any objection to these " ambassadors of commerce," but he preferred that customers should come to the warehouse and select for themselves. For many years he maintained his business with not a single representative of his house on the road. But the custom had taken such deep root, and become so essentially a part of the trading system of the country, that in the end he gave up his own peculiar- ity and adopted it. The reasons for his holding out so long against the custom may be found in the fol- lowing reminiscence of their first traveller, given by one of the linn, Mr. Paul Campbell : " In the year 1867, commercial travelling being well established in Montreal, and several houses in Toronto having adopted the system, Mr. Macdonald was induced to try it. At that time the mileage of railroad v/as limited, and it was thought best to send ■ i" I • » WW WHOLESALE MERCHANT. 109 out a team and equipment, so that the many places removed from railway communication mi^ht be visited. An expensive equipment, a fine pair of .young lively horses (they proved too lively) and a rioj were bought, and an old country traveller of experience was en- gaged. The traveller engaged was a Mr. J,, who, although a man of ability, had one failing more common in the early days of travelling than now, but this fault was unknown to the firm. On a bright morning the traveller, his horses and his samples left the warehouse with the hope of success on the part of the firm, and many promises on the part of the traveller ; but promises and excuses were the only resultants of that trip. He would strike a town, and straightway something hurtful would strike him. He was fertile, however, in excuses ; they came thickly in, explaining his want of success. He reached Col- lingwood and put up at a well-known hostelry kept by the genial Charley C . The patience and for- bearance of the firm being exhausted, he was requested to return, and a few days after he entered the ware- house much demoralized, stating that those horses had finally parted company with him about Holland Landing, after nearly killing him. There was in the employ of the firm at that time, as cashier, a gallant young ofiBcer of the Queen's Own, who had dis- tinguished himself on the field of Ridgeway, Lieut. F. H. He at once volunteered to go after the horses, but returned two mornings afterwards a wounded soldier again, with an arm in a sling, and otherwise badly battered, also minus the horses. They proved too much for the infantry ofl^cer. In the end they were brought home by Mr. Bond, of this city, and for a month or so afterwards there came in little mementoes in the way of bills for damages done to various vehicles and other property, which were quietly I 110 A MEHCHANT I'lUNCE. I settled. The equipment was sold, and the house became famous afterwards for advertising " no travel- lers employed, no goods sold on the sterling, and no dating ahead." Mr. Macdonald's first partner was a Mr. Lyle. After the first two or three visits to Great Britain by Mr. Maedonald liimself, Mr. Lyle undertook the buying for the house, and bought well and satisfactorily for many years. One of the gravest emergencies that ever came to any business was when three of his chief clerks — the buyer, the warehouse man, and the book-keeper, went out froui him to establish a new firm for them- selves. The action came as a complete surprise to Mr. Maedonald. The new firm would compete for his best customers, and though it had not the capital of the old house, yet the partners were accomplished salesmen and tireless workers, with all the buoyancy and ambition of youth. But the old master, with his boundless resource, marvellous business powers, and with the immense energy, promptness, courage and decision that had always characterised him, rose superior to the emergency and, surmounting the diffi- culty, gained the flood-tide, and still distanced all competitors. The trade went on increasing as if there had not been a jar ; but this circumstance ltd him to adopt the department system, although for a few years the entire management fell largely upon himself. Mr. Maedonald always entertained a very high conception of the dignity and responsibility of a ! WHOLESALE MERCHANT. Ill merchant, and ever sought to impress upon younf* men the necessity of cultivating in all business re- lations a character for honesty and integrity, as well as of making the best and noblest use of their oppor- tunities. His business in the mercantile world gave weight to his utterances, and in an address to the students of the British American Commercial College, on the "Elements Necessary to the Formation of Bus- iness Character," he says : " There are certain conditions which are essential to success in business. These, in addition to a sound mind in a sound body, may be summed up in three words — time, place, circumstance. No one, for ex- ample, would think of locating himself in a desert for the purpose of carrying on business. He must be where there is a population — a population which needs what he has to sell — a population which can pay for what it buys. " It is a common saying that the percentage of successful busine.ss men is not more than live per cent. Others with, I think, greater accuracy, claim that it is not higher than 2^ per cent. It may be somewhat startling to affirm that it is possible to n verse these figures, so that with the most favourable conditions, and the untiring application of sound business prin- ciples, the percentage of failure might not exceed 2?* per cent., while the percentage of success would necessarily be 97i. per cent. But you will readily take in all that this implies ; without my going elaborately into details, it implies, for example, that the supply ought in no case to exceed the demand ; it implies in each the maximum amount of ability ex- erted under the most favourable conditions. " I am going to refer now to elements that are absolutely necessary to the formation of a business 112 A MERCHANT TRINC'E. ! i 1: I: character, as forminj]f the foundation upon which it must rest, and which, it' lacking, will imperil the safety of the whole. " I am goinj? to look into the remote past and see if I can find any axioms whose force has been acknow- ledged and acted upon by the wise and thoughtful ; and whether these axioms maintain the place in our day which they did in the past, and whether they are likely to remain unchanged in the future. The elements to which I would refei are two. The first Truth, the second Honesty. And the axioms which I find as having reference to these are : " First, ' Buy the truth, and sell it not ' ; and " Second, ' A false balance is abomination to the Lord.' " What is meant by a false balance ? Not the beam merely which is always so adjusted as to place the customer at a disadvantage, but the selling a thing for what it is not ; taking advantage of the inexperience of the customer to secure one's own profit. All this has been declared to be abomination to the Lord. " That was as it used to be. How is it to-day ? It is the same to day. Truth and honesty are the essen- tial qualities in a bond between individuals, in a treaty between nations ; truth and honesty afford the only real security in the multiplied and ramified transactions of trade ; truth and honesty are bulwarks which protect the nation — more powerful far are they than those behind which are placed bristling cannon and armed men. In one word, they are the pillars upon which the whole fabric of society rests, and are as unalterable and imperishable as is the nature of Him from whom they come. Buy the truth, then, and sell it not. " I come now to consider the matter of thorough- ness. What do I find in ancient records to throw light upon this aspect of the case. This I find ; WHOLESALE MERCHANT. 113 " ' A workman that needaih not to he aahawetV " Few men muster all the details of their calling. Have we not illustrations of this every day ? Why did that lawyer lose that case ? Want of application and thorouf^h mastery of it. Why did that pliysician lose that patient 'i He was weak in some essential element. The sense of this weakness paralyzed his action, and the patient slipped through his fingers. Why did that merchant fail ? Because he had never made himself familiar with the minute details of his business. Obtain a thorough mastery of the details of your business. " I have touched upon truth, honesty and thorough- ness. I now come to touch upon energy. " ' Whatsoever thy hand Jindeth to do, do it ivith thy might' *' Whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honest, do ; but do it with your might. Throw j^our being into it ; be in earnest. Whatsoever is worth doing well ; do nothing by halves. It* vou think that business success is to be achieved by half-heartedness, or by an energy which is put forward by fits and starts, you make a very great mistake. There is in business, as in everything else, no royal road to success. It is work, work — hard work. It is at it, and always at it. The business world has no room for idlers. There is in it, as there is in all other callings and professions, plenty of room at the top. " Look at fifty labourers working on some great work, and a keen-sighted man in five minutes will pick out the man who is going to occupy the position of foreman, and that perhaps before the sun goes down. Go into a warehou.se or into an office, and you will not be long there before you will pick out the man, or the men, who are of service to that office or warehouse ; who are going to make their work felt ; 8 doing, is worth 114 A MEIK'HANT l»RINrty- He cherished kindly relations with the pastors as thev came in succession : Revs. W. L. Rutledore, F. H. Wallace, B.D. ; H. M. Manning, Geornre Leach, R. N. Burns, B.A. ; George J. Bishop and John V. Smith ; and constant references are made in his diaries to sermons preached by them, and helpful influences received in the sanctuary. The results of his Christian teaching and example in his own neighbourhood will abide continually. He laboured directly for the spiritual good of his fellows, and watched continually for opportunities to reach individuals ; and many intelligent, active, trustworthy church m'embers bear glad testimony to his fidelity in leading them to the Saviour, and confirming them in every good work. On the Official Board, when church matters were being discussed, his generous nature manifested itself in his thoughtful regard for the opinions and feelings of his brethren. The management of a large business, where one's every wish is a command, encourages sometimes a dictatorial spirit, and often men that are successful in their own affairs are unable to work harmoniously in harness with their brethren. They assume magisterial airs, and wish to be referred to in all things. Not so Mr. Macdonald. He always showed a considerate regard for the opinions of his brethren, and with singular tact would draw out the views of the humblest brother before final action was taken on any matter. Church Erection. He was always interested in church building, for he believed that a house of worship in any commun- •~Tir 150 A MERCHANT PRINCE. ity gave promise of permanent religious influences. When the Metropolitan Church, that monument to the energy, enterprise and influence of the Rev. William Morley Punshon, was to be erected, Mr. Macdonald became one of the original trustees, and not only con- tributed liberally of his means, but from its inception to its completion, gave of his time and activity to the great undertaking. In his diary for 1873 we And the following : " Thursday, April 4th. A day never to be forgotten. The Metropolitan Church dedicated The opening hymn, Rev. W. M. Punshon. The opening prayer. Rev. Dr. Wood. Tlie lessons, Rev. Geo. Cochran. The sermon, Rev. Dr. Tiffany, of Newark, N.J. The effort to collect money, Mr. David Preston, De- troit. All marked by divine power. $21,000 sub- scribed. Evening meeting. Was called upon to preside. Rev. Dr. Tiffany and Rev. Mr. Punshon the speakers. Over $5,000 additional subscribed." Mr. Macdonald believed that to Dr. Punshon we were not only indebted for a new departure in pulpit services, but, also, for stimulating all denominations to that wonderful extension of church buildings which are at once the pride and glory of our land. He says : " The great church-building movement of Ontario dates from the period of the erection of the Metropoli- tan Church. If this should be doubted by any one, let him take the trouble to ascertain the date of the erection of the splendid churches that adorn Toronto ; ■ i CHURCH RELATIONS. 161 let him ascertain when the churches in every city, town and hamlet in Ontario, which are pretentious and modern in their character, were erected, and he will find, with very few exceptions, that they date after the Metropolitan Church. The movement as- sumed something of the form of an epidemic, and was not confined to the Methodist Church, for it seized all the denominations ; and churches began to arise, beautiful in their architecture, commodious in their internal arrangements, and so admirably adapted for church work, with their schools and class-rooms, that it may with fairness be claimed that to-day, Canada, in the number, beauty and arrangements of its churches stands ahead of any country in the world." Next to Dr. Punshon's influence was his own in this direction, for he not only assisted many of the churches in the city, but contributed also to the erection of others all over the Province, aiding many churches outside the bounds of Methodism. Indeed, whenever appeals were made to him, and he was reasonably convinced of the worthiness of the request, he would give such an amount as he thought the cir- cumstances warranted. He was opposed to excessive expenditures for merely building purposes. He cared not for " Storied windows richly dight, " Casting a dim, religious light;" he preferred the plain structure. He was in such demand at the inauguration of these church edifices that he had preserved no less than thirty silver trowels, presented to him by Boards of m ^=^fr 152 A MERCHANT PRINCE. " Trustees on the occasion of the laying of the corner- stone. These trowels are of elegant workmanship, and are now heir-looms of the family. Missions. From the day of his conversion, he began to think and work for missions. He felt an individual respon- sibility in the salvation of the world, and to the utmost of his power did he aid in this work, by gifts, prayers and counsel. He was a member of the Mis- sionary Committee of the Methodist Church for more than a quarter of a century, and was its Lay-Treasurer for a good portion of this time. His broad views and earnest spirit, his high sense of i-he obligation and . ability of the Church to extend its labours at home and abroad, made him eager to enlarge the sphere of missionary operation, and take advantage of every opportunity of fulfilling the Master's last command. He not only took part in the deliberations of the committee, but was frequently called upon to make addresses at its annual public meetings. His words were always earnest ^nd inspiring, and he showed a thorough acquaintance with every department of the missionary field, as well as with the workers em- ployed. He took a deep interest in the complimentary breakfast given to the pioneer missionaries to British Columbia, the Rev. E. Evans, D.D„ E. White, E. Rob- son and A. Browning, in December, 1858, when the Mayor of the city, together with clergymen and re- presentatives of all the Protestant Churches gave, in CHURCH IIELATIONS. 1 •'i*5 em- the old St. Lawrence Hall, a farewell banquette these* first gospel messenc^ers to that infant colony then rising upon the western slopes of the continent. On May 8th, 1868, he presided at the farewell breakfast given in the Richmond Street Church to the Wesleyan missionaries to the North-West, Revs. Geo. Young, D.D., E. R. Young, P. Campbell, and Geo. McDougall ; on which occasion he said that their appointment would add the last link that was want- ing to complete the chain of missionary enterprise which would now stretch across the continent. Presid- ing at the forty-third anniversary of the Missionary Society, held in Guelph, in the November of that year,he pleaded the cause of Red River and the Great Lone Land ; and maintained that there was wealth enough in the Methodist Church to send the gospel to every pagan in British North America within twelve months. At this meeting, Mr. Macdonald in- troduced a resolution to increase the minimum allow- ance to missionaries from $450 to $500, which, after some discussion, was adopted. He was anxious to see Canada represented in the foreign field, and, with Dr. Punshon, was one of the prime movers for the establishment of the mission to Japan. His diary of Thursday, October 10th, 1872, bears this record : " Missionary Committee at St. Catharines. Subject of mission to Japan introduced. Committee decided to commence it, and entrusted the matter to the Committee on Consultation and Finance; in Toronto." Concerning the establishment of this mission, Mr. Macdonald thus writes : 154 A MERCHANT PRINCE. li " It was at the Missionary Committee, held at St. Catharines, that it was resolved definitely to enter upon the Japan mission. It had been brought before the Committee, held in the preceding year, and failed; and now met with considerable opposition. At a favourable point of the debate a slip was handed to Dr. Punshon, on which was written : ' If tried now, it would carry.' He wrote on the slip, and returned : ' The chief difficulty is the man, if we had him I would be more hopeful.' This paper, so full of significance, is still in my possession. It being the last subject of debate, he said : * Brethren, let us pray to-night about this matter ; we will then be better able to judge in the morning.' The morning came, the matter was brought up, and the Church, through its Missiona 'y Committee, had committed itself to the establishment of a foreign mission. How wonderful have been the results of that action ; how the fears of all the brethren who opposed it, conscientious as they were, have proved groundless; how it surpassed all the sanguine expectations of those who promoted it ; how it has stimulated the great missionary enterprise of our Church ; how it has led to the formation of our invaluable Woman's Missionary Association ; how it has intensified the missionary spirit in all the sister churches, is matter of history." At the last meeting of the Board which he ever attended, held in London, he pressed upon the Com- mittee with great earnestness the duty of establishing a mission on the islands of Martinique and Gaudaloupe, and saw in such a mission possibilities of large use- fulness in promoting the enlightenment and Chris- tianization of the entire group of West Indian Islands, that peerless zone of jewels in our nation's diadem. CHUIU'H RELATIONS. 155 in Methodist Union. He took a deep interest in the union of the different branches of the Methodist household, and an active part in the negotiations which led to the union of lcS74, as well as that larger union of 1883, which gave to the Dominion from "sea to sea" a united Method- ist Church. From the time that lay delegation was introduced into the councils of the Church, he was an influential member of the Toronto Annual Confer- ence, and a delegate of all the General Conferences held. Frateiinal Delegate. At the first General Conference of September, 1874, he was appointed, with the Rev. John A. Williams, D.D., fraternal delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church of the United States. These representatives proceeded to the Baltimore Conference, in May, 1876, and were most heartily welcomed. Mr. Macdonald was particularly happy in his address, at the close of which, in response to a ques- tion by Dr. Keid, one of the secretaries of the Mission- ary Society, he raised a storm of applause by stating that the average contribution per member of the Church which he represented was $1.85 per member. General Conference. He was always a prominent figure on the floor of the General Conference. Ready in debate, wise in counsel, warm in sympathy, and with largeness of in 156 A MEFICHANT PRINCE. It > vision, the princely merchant, the Irtrtrc-minded states- man, the genuine philanthropist, the niuniticent friend of Missions, the devoted Christian, was always lis- tened to with interest, and his opinions carried great weight amontj his brethren. He was inclined to be conservative in all church matters, and was greatly opposed to the revision of the Hynm Book. At the General Conference of 1878, he pleaded for the old Wesleyan Hymnal. The points presented were : " 1. I am persuaded that if any such changes had been foreshadowed ps the Committee recommend, the Hymn Book Committee would have had its powers defined. " 2. The $25,000 or $30,000 which the Methodist people have invested in hynm books at this period of depression is another reason. " 3. The reference to profit by the Book Room is, to my mind, somewhat mercenary. Mr. Wesley's idea was that the books should be cheap. If our hymn books had been cheaper than they have been, our hymns would have been more widely known. The aim should be with the book in use to cheapen it, so as to bring it within the reach of the poorest of our people. " 4. I implore the Conference, on behalf of the half- million of persons in Canada who sing these hymns, to spare them as they are, and not sweep away from us the last vestige which binds us to the men to whom, not ourselves alone, but the world is so mucb indebted. I do this in behalf of the Method' ♦"• pp' of Canada, who have not asked for re vis' %t not want it. "5, The argument, to my mind, has u ,ag in . that the Church is no longer what it \va.- since )ur union with the New Connexion body. I will reuJily CHUUCII RELATIONS. 157 IS, accept any hymn which tho brethren of that Church will add by way of supplement ; but they, I am sure, no more than others, desire tho spoiling of tho old book which, next to tho Word of God, has boon made a means of grace to many millions. If there is anything in the argument, it will have as nmch force at some future day, when possibly the Methodist Episcopal Church and Primitive Methodists, and the Bible Christians may, with us, be all united in one common bond. " 0. The Hymn Book, as we have it to-day, is the result of careful revision, the perfected work of our founder, the strongest evidence of which is its having remained unchanged for a century. During that time it has spoken to the hearts of millions, with a power which no other book ever written, God's Word alone excepted, has ever spoken. It has to-day all the power it had when compiled ; it is as fresh and as precious to the Church of to-day as it was to the Church of the days of Wesley, and it is a work which is the heritage, not of the Methodist Church only, but of the Church throughout the world. When I think of the changes that have taken place in the arts and sciences, the changes in the thoughts of men and the modes of life ; when I think that within the last few years churches have arisen which are exerting a wondrous power in the earth, and that the identity of churches has been lost by being merged into sister communions ; when I think that empires have been dismembered and empires created, dynasties established and dynasties destroyed ; and then remember that this little book has outlived all that is perishable, is as fresh, as life- giving, as critically correct, as experimentally true, and as precious to the heart of every believer to-day as it ever was, and will be at the last day as it is now, I ask whether or not there is one man in this : m i 158 A MERCHANT PRINCE. Conference bold enoufrh to put his hand upon a heri- tage so precious, and rob the Church of that for which he can give no substitute ? " Spite of these hallowed and cherished associations, the Hymn Book was revised, and over three hundred of the choicest modern and ancient hymns added to our Methodist hymnology. Even after the new Hymn Book was authorized and published, Mr. Mac- donald struijfjled to retain the old collection ; but he at length yielded, and was brought to see that the Methodist hymnody had lost none of its richness and attractive beauty by the change. (Ecumenical Conference. He was a delegate to the first (Ecumenical Confer- ence held in City Road Chapel, in September, 1881, and presented a paper on " The Maintenance of Home Missions to the Most Degraded Populations." Among other observations, he remarks : " What can be done to better the masses of human beings who crowd together in all great centres of population, ignorant, indolent, vicious and degraded ? Is their condition hopeless ? In this city of London, where there are so many who love and serve God, what sight so sad as to see in such a city thousands of men and women from whom every vestige of all that is good and holy and pure has been effaced, and who, in this city of Gospel-light, se^m to have aban- doned all feelings of hope for this world and the next ; to see multitudes of young lads already old in crime, and who, unless relief coifie to them, and come soon, will assuredly swell the ranks of the criminal class. Sadder still to see thousands of young girls, CHURCH RELATIONS. 159 al between the ages of ten and fourteen, drifting away to a doom which appears inevitable; to see flocks of ^ helpless children growing up to form another genera- tion of the degraded — such of them, at least, as will survive the hunger and wretchedness, the neglect and cruelty, to which they are subjected. lights such as these, without looking into the gin- palaces — those sinks of all that is degrading — the dark lanes, loathsome alleys, crowded lodging-houses, where thieves and pickpockets and the vilest men and women congregate, are enough to cause the deepest pain of heart, enough to beget the most pro- found thankfulness to God that our own lot is so different, and enough to lead us searchingly to ask ourselves. What have we done, what do we intend to do to make this wretchedness and this sorrow less ? Can these older and more hardened men and women be saved ? these young lads, can they be rescued ? these young girls, can they be snatched from a life of shame too sad to contemplate ^ these helpless children, can they be reached before sin, with its defilement, has done its work ? can the bodies be saved as well as the souls ? A simple glance at the report of the London City Mission will, perhaps, furnish the best answer we can give to these questions : " The achievement of the shoe-black societies, as well as those of many kindred associations, have put to rest the question of hopelessness. None are too low to be raised, none too abandoned to be hopeless ; while the individual instances in which those who were once neglected street-arabs, vagabonds and pickpockets, become men holding prominent and re- sponsible positions, demonstrate that positions of trust and responsibility are open to those who are found in the ranks of the degraded, and that if deter- mined to live new lives, the past, however dark, does not bar their future advancement." 1 IGO A MERCHANT PRINCE. But how is this great wave of wretchedness and misery to be checked, and changed into all that is pure, and healthful, and life-giving ? God's Word must be in future, as it has been in the past, the great instrument arresting the attention, awakening the conscience, and exciting the understanding to the need of salvation. It must be put into the hands or brought to the homes of those who need it, by agents of unmistakable piety, tact and shrewdness, by those who not only are bringers of the Word, but lovers of the Word, not only readers of the Word, but those who have its truths treasured in their memories and in their hearts. It is but a waste of time to employ anyone in this work who does not love it for its own sake, who has not experienced a change of heart, who has not a love for the souls of men. Herein lies the whole groundwork of the system : " The love of Christ doth me constrain To seek the wandering souls of men ; With cries, entreaties, tears to save, To snatch them from the gaping grave." To-day, as in the days of Christ, " the harvest truly is plenteous, the labourers are few." Taking, by way of illustration, this great city, containing over 4,000,000, and adding to its population some 90,000 souls a year, it has, in connection with the London City Mission, 450 missionaries. But when the masses among whom they labour are considered, may it not be appro- priately asked, What are they among so many ? Upon this point the Lord Mayor, while presiding recently at Egyptian Hall, asked, " What are 450 missionaries for this great metropolis ? " And at the same meeting Lord Shaftesbury stated that 1,000 would not be one too many. If we rightly estimate the results sure to follow the ft*. ' ful efforts of every devoted worker CHURCH RELATIONS. 161 and lat is Word b, the ening ,0 the ids or iprents those ers, oi those ies and employ its own : heart, Herein in this field, then we may safely conclude that in this wide world there is not one more full of promise. If there is a field in the world where more than any other such efforts are needed, that field is the one found in this great city. Here is the deepest degradation, here ample ability to meet it in means and workers. . . . Let the Church unite in sending into this field without loss of time a greatly increased staff of workers ; Christian men await but the application to supply you with the means. Better still, let every Christian man and woman in this great city become a worker, not offering words merely, not simply reminding the degraded of their condition, not merely offering Christ to them as their Saviour when the only feelings of which they are conscious are the gnawings of hunger, and the only shelter which awaits them for the night, the canopy of heaven. Let such workers cheerfully minister to them of their substance, giving if it be but a tithe of what they daily spend upon super- fluities, realizing that the poor perishing body needs help as well as the soul. Let every Christian woman of this metropolis take their poor fallen sisters by the hand, many of whom are more sinned against than sinning, many of whom abhor the life, the sad life into which they have drifted, not passing them by as though God had forsaken them, but remember- ing the words of Him who said to an erring one, " Neither do I condemn thee ; go in peace and sin no more " ; then, indeed, will results follow such as never have been witnessed in this great metropolis ; and the glad tidings will be wafted to every quarter, and men and women everywhere will be led to labour as they have never done before for those that are outcast and degraded. :='(! n] 11 \-cal nor tnguage le shall kindli- ther, in hink of ning of 1 work, 1 of the family, d only, le, and ch has od and her in VIII. MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES. FT" ! J 4: > 1 r 1 When 1 think of the agencies which are ceaselessly at work to make this bad world better, I am thankful that I live. — Wm. Morley Fnnshon, LL.D. To serve with lofty gifts the lowly needs Of the poor race for which the God-man died, And do it all for love. Oh, this is great ! — J. G. Holland. We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. — Bailey. Life is not as idle ore, But iron dug from central gloom, And heated hot with burning fears. And dipped in baths of hissing tears, And batter'd with the shocks of doom, To shape and use. — Tennyson. MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES. !ii ONE would think that the attention which the active merchant gave to his extensive busi- ness, and the earnest Christian to liis Church worl^, would have absorbed all liis time. But a man oi his exhaustless resources and immense energy of char- acter could not fail to make his personality felt everywhere in the community. His activity and Christian work kept increasing. He was constantly engaged in some great, practical, good work. In this he received constant accessions of Divine strength, for no man can persist for years in a course of self- denying labours, prayer and activity unless he is drawing from the Fountain of all grace — our Lord Himself. It was only by the most persistent econ- omy of time, and the most complete surrender of himself to perpetual labour, that he was able to accomplish what he did. He did not enter into investments outside his regular business. He never speculated. The following incident took place when he was a boy. When leaving home, his father placed in his hands the sum of eight dollars. Shortly after, the embryo trader purchased an old watch for a chain which had cost him four dollars, and two dollars in cash, the balance left from his father's benefaction. This watch he sold for the sum of twelve dollars to 168 A MERCHANT PRINCE. a lumberman who had just returned from the woods, where he had been working for the company. Upon this transaction he expected to double his money, instead of which he lost chain, money and watch, for the lumberman never paid him a cent. It was a terrible blow at the time, but was one of the best things that could have happened to him, for he saw the danger of speculation, and it was his first and last venture of the kind. His reputation for ability, integrity and zeal in positions of trust caused him to be eagerly sought after to enter upon boards and corporations of trust. But he was cautious, and rarely embarked in such financial ventures. He was for a time a director of the Bank of Commerce, and was largely interested in the Canada Car Company, which required much attention, but brought small profit. With his accustomed sagacity, he saw that he must not scatter his forces in business affairs. Board of Trade. He was, however, active on the Board of Trade. Interested in the commercial prosperity of the city and the province, he devoted much time and judg- ment in devising plans for promoting and developing that prosperity. These combinations of merchants, manufacturers and traders, to promote the interests of commerce and aid the industrial advancement of cities and nations, are now a part of our modern civilization. His matured judgment, untiring devo- tion to business, and his unblemished integrity, gave him rank with the most honoured and successful of MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES. 1G9 Trade, city oping hants, erests jnt of odern devo- gave merchants, and made him very influential in the con- sideration of all questions pertaining to finance and the industrial interests of the city. Ho was enrolled among the earliest members of the Toronto Board of Trade, and always took an active part in its proceed- ings. As late as January, 1889, he presented a paper on the commercial relations between, Canada, the West Indies and British Guiana. In this paper, among other things, he said : " I have no doubt that there are in this gathering those whose business or inclination have brought them to these lovely islands of the sea. For them, nothing that I can say of their appearance, their pro- ducts or their people, will be new ; but there are others, and I am safe in saying by far the greater number, who have not the slightest conception that within five or six days' journeying from our own city, there are islands so strangely beautiful, so wonderfully productive — islands where perpetual summer reigns, and where — while with us winter has asserted its power, has robbed the forest of its foliage, and the fields of their verdure — there the palm trees bend their graceful forms — oranges, limes, bananas, and sapodillas, and indeed every kind of tropical fruit surround the passer-by, while tropical flowers skirt every road-side, and border many of the great cane fields, whose delicate green with the feathery arrow of the cane rises and bends to every breeze, as do the waves of the sea ; whose lofty moun- tain peaks rise to the height of 5,000 or 6,000 feet, and whose low lands present such pictures of loveli- ness, arising from their great fertility and marvellous vegetation, as are not to be surpassed on the face of the earth. It is under such circumstances that one realizes, to some extent, at least, the vastness and the 170 A MERCHANT PRINCE. power of the Britisli Empire, as they thus see it embracing within itself every climate, almost every class of people, and every {)rocluct of the earth. "In the month of July, when amid the icebergs of Labrador, in latitude somewhere about 52" 20' north, and when on that rocky coast at anchor by reason of the fog, the very first object that met my eye when the fog lifted was the ensign of St. George Hoatinir on one of Her Majesty's vessels stationed there to guard the interests of her Newfoundland fishermen ; and at the close of the year, as I found myself at British Guiana, in something like six degrees north of the etjuator, and where the mariner ofttimes takes his bearings from the Southern Cross, I found the same ensign Hoatini; from British merchant- ships, which had brought there the riches of many lands, over many seas, to take back to as many lands the products of Britain's colonies. "Steaming from about 52" 20' north, where our way lay through immense icebergs, sixty of which we would see in one day, and where the hardy Newfoundlander, amid snow and ice, plies his trade ; .steaming onward and southward to within six degrees of the equator, where the temperature of the ocean is 83", and where summer perpetually reign.s, I found on that great expanse of ocean continuous evidence of the dominance of British commerce. I found in every colony I visited not only that Britain had left upon each the mark of her prowess, but the blessings of her civilization. 1 felt, as I never had realized before, under circumstances and condi- tions as opposite as they could well-nigh be, that at each extreme the power and influence of the empire were equally great, and equally great for good. Connected with such a power, I thought upon our possibilities of development; I thought upon our future ; I thought upon our destiny. But this was MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES. 171 the one thought which most impressed me — that our destiny was in our own luinds, and not in the hands of any foreijjn power, however near or liowever great, and realizing tliis fully, I felt that if in work- ing it out we were but true to tliose great underlying principles of truth and righteousness, which are the guarantees, not only of a nation's prosperity, but of a nation's stability — if we were but true to our country and true to ourselves — nothing could stand in the way of our progress, nothing, by any possibility, retard our development ; for then we should be pros- perous and contented at home, and we should be honoured and respected abroad." Sunday School Union. An enthusiastic worker in the Sabbath School, a teacher or officer in it during the larger part of his life, he took a lively interest in the Sunday School Union. He was always ready to aid -Mission Sunday Schools in new and remote districts, and believed them to be fountains of blessings. He was ready to second every measure that would promote the effi- ciency of Sunday Schools. He often acted as chairman of these Sunday School Teachers' Associations, and gave addresses at their anniversary meetings. The Sabbath. He loved and honoured the Sabbath, and every encroachment upon the sanctity of the Lord's Day met with his vigorous and constant opposition. In the unceasing warfare that has to be kept up against the enemies of God's Day, Mr. Macdonald could always be counted upon either as a soldier to fight or ^•: 172 A MERCHANT PRINCE. I a general to lead He believed that the domestic, political and religious life of a nation was advanced by guarding the Day of Rest, and sought to enforce the rights and obligations of this day, not only by speech, but by restrictive legislation. Every sense of humanity, kindness and justice in him was shocked by the perpetual, unbroken labour of the workingman on the Sabbath Day. In his travels over the continent, or along the rocky coasts of Newfoundland, wherever he found a settlement destitute of public worship on the Lord's Day, he would call the people together and preach to them the Gospel. When he visited the famous Yellowstone Park, he arrived with his daughter at the hotel on Saturday night. Next morning all the guests were out in carriages. Mr. Macdonald and his party alone remained. On Monday morning, as they entered the carriage, the driver said, " Are you the gentleman who refused to go out yesterday ? " " Yes, sir ; I am." " Well, you are the first tourist that I have met in sixteen years who refused to break the Sabbath. I have driven this carria,ge all that time, and could never get a Sunday to go to church." Temperance. The Temperance cause had also his active sym- pathy. In early life, when drinking habits were all but universal, he became an abstainer and an advo- cate of total abstinence. He had words of encouragement for the various Orders, Associations, and Bands of Hope; but he MANIFOLD ACTIVITIES. 173 had small confidence in aay reformation of the indi- vidual that did not include genuine conversion. He believed that as a religious movement the Temper- ance cause achieved its best results, and so the City Christian Temperance Mission had his constant sup- port. He was also a member of the Prohibitory Alliance, for in his deep and intelligent hatred of intemperance, he sought by every moral and legis- lative means to suppress this crime of crimes. Would that all our legislators could see the folly and sin of licensing men to sell this poison ! The liquor laws are an unspeakable infamy, and the traffic is one under whose curse the civilized world is everywhere groaning. Or ^:- '%'■ €f ^ w. 184 A MERCHANT PRINCE. gelical denominations, responded to the invitation of the Montreal Branch. Representatives from the American Alliance and from the parent Alliance in London were also in attendance. The conference continued for several days, with crowded audiences at each morning, afternoon and evening session. Papers were read, and discussions held on the most vital, theological, religious and moral questions of the day. On the second day Senator Macdonald gave a most effective address on " Capital and Labour." At the close of the conference a Dominion Evan gelical Alliance was formed. The headquarters of the new organization was to be in Montreal ; and in order to secure the influence and cc operation of Ontario, Mr. Macdonald was appointed its President. The honour was unexpected, but though his hands were full of work, yet he could not decline it. The agitation concerninor the Jesuit Estates Act and the appropriation of public funds to this Order followed, and during the year Mr. Macdonald resigned his position as President. But his interest in the Evan- gelical Alliance never wavered. He believed that it was accomplishing a great and glorious work through- out the world in diflfusing the spirit of brotherly love and union among all denominations, and among Christians individually ; in vindicating the cause of the oppressed, and promoting that peace and amity which should characterize the relationships of individ- uals, of churches, and of nations. IX. PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. A life in civic action warm, A soul on highest mission sent, A potent voice in Parliament, A pillar steadfast in the storm. —Tennyson's ''In Memoriam.' For some must follow, some command, Tho' all are made of clay. ■Longfellow. Party has, no doubt, its evils, but all the evils of party put together would be scarcely a grain in the balance when com- pared to the dissolution of honourable friendships, the pursuit of selfish ends, the want of concert in council, the absence of a settled policy in foreign affairs, and the corruption of separate statesmen. _^^^.^ j^^^^^ _g^^^^^j^^ PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. THE pursuit of politics as a profession is in har- mony with the best intellectual tendencies of our age. It is as necessary that we should have in our Houses of Parliament trained and skilled legis- lators, as that we should have able and professional administrators of the law. Why should not legislation become the business of one's life, just as jurisprudence is the business of the professional lawyer's life ? True, the methods of election present serious disadvantages to the study of politics as a science or to the follow- ing of it as a calling. A free State must be self- governing, and popular sjuffrage must be the ultimate sovereign. Hence, the people must be free to call for the services, not only of a class of educatec politicians, but also of those who never seriously contemplated a parliamentary career. For this reason politics can never become, like law or medicine, a close profession. Besides, the subjects that call for legislative inter- position are so multifarious that no special training, either theoretical or practical, could possibly embrace them all ; so that men of exceptional aptitude must be selected irrespective of any preliminary training. Whatever our training, when it comes to pursuits in life, Some will lead to courts, and some to camps ; To senates, some. 188 A MERCHANT PRINCE. Great interests must be represented by those who are particularly interested in them ; and so the rank and file of the Members of Parliament will always be representatives of special industries and interests. Mr. Macdonald was a citizen of great public spirit, gifted with exceptional insight into public affairs, and as his wealth and leisure increased, he was induced to enter the sphere of legislation. In June, 1863, he became a candidate for the representation of the Western Division of Toronto in the Provincial Parlia- ment. Though a moderate and independent man, he was on the Liberal side of politics. The requisition inviting him to permit himself to be put in nomination was a very large and influential one, signed by nearly a thousand of his fellow-electors, who expressed their confidence in him as an old resident, an enterprising and successful merchant, a man of ability and integrity, and in every way worthy to represent a progressive and improving city. Having allowed himself to be nominated, he at once entered the arena,, contesting the seat with the Hon. John Bev^erley Robinson, afterwards Lieut.-Gover- nor of Ontario. He appeared before the electors at meetings, setting forth with clearness and vigour his views ; but a personal canvass he would not under- take. He would take no personal means to secure a single vote. With that canvass so exhaustive as to amount almost to a preliminary election, he would have nothing to do. He was ready to fight an open battle, fairly and honestly ; but his nature was too sensitive and finely strung to descend to a personal PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. 189 solicitation of support. To his opponent he was generous, chivalric and courteous, and opposed to fraud, intrigues and chicanery of every kind. The result of the election was that Mr. Macdonald was triumphantly returned, the "noble ward" of St. John's alone giving him a majority of over 300. Toronto was lost to the Conservatives, Mr. A. M. Smith, the friend of his boy- hood, defeating Mr. Crawford in the east by a majority of over 500, and Mr. Macdonald's supporters giving him almost the same majority in the west. The con- test was an honourable one, and he was elected by the independent and honest vote of the people, as a man who would act in the House according to his honest, conscientious convictions. "What do you think of the House of Commons?" asked Lord Wolseley of Carlyle. The sage of Chelsea answered gruffly, " I think that it is a place in which there are 600 talking asses." Mr. Macdonald entered the House at an interesting period of Canadian history, and he was not a silent observer of the great political drama. He was an original speaker, an effective debater, and took a wide and independent range of outlook. He was not a fighting politician, nor a party man viewing everything from a party standpoint. Compared with many of the parliamentarians around him, he was as porcelain to pottery, being of so much finer material and superior qualities. The degrada- tion of politics filled him with sorrow and misgivings. But he cared for his country, as most men care for party, having no private ends to seek, and desiring only the public weal. There were burning questions I") fc 190 A MEUCHANT PRINCE. under discussion. One of these was the seat of Govern- ment : for the Parliament had, since the burning of the buildings in Montreal, been convening alternately at Toronto and Quebec. But the chief question was representation by population. By the constitutional Act of 1791, Canada had been divided into two pro- vinces, Upper and Lower, each having its own legisla- tion of two Houses, and its own Governor. Many abuses had crept in ; the Governors really had every- thing in their own hands, and worked through what is known as the " Family Compact." There was a long struggle for popular rights and responsible government, until the contest culminated in the re- union of the provinces by the Act of Union of 1840. This transferred the supreme power from the Crown to the representatives of the people. The " Clergy Reserves " continued to be a bone of contention until 1854, when the immense land grants were secularized, and the rectorial claims were commuted. But the provinces had been given a fixed and equal number of members in the Legislature. The population of the Lower Province was at first larger than that of Upper Canada. But the rapid growth of the west soon created a demand that this representation should be rectified in accordance with numbers. The disparity between the two provinces, in population, was growing wider and wider ; and the call from the British province, for a remedy of these inequalities, became more and more irresistible. The French re- fused the concession of this principle, on the ground that the apportionment had been made irrespective of li f- ■* PARLIAMENTARY LIFE. 191 numbers. The struj^gle was carried on with the ut- most vehemence, the Globe leadinjif, until, in 1857, Mr. George Brown moved in the House that representation should be based upon population, without regard to the separating line between Upper and Lower Canada. The resolution could not be carried, but the antagon- ism between the two Canadas became so great that legislation came to a standstill ; the political machinery- could not move ; there was a dead-lock. A select committee was appointed to find some solution for existing difficulties, and this committee expressed a strong feeling in favour of a Confederation, which should include all the North American colonies of Great Britian. Party hostilities were suspended, and a Coalition Government was formed with Confederation as its object. Delegates were appointed from the various provinces, and a great conference held. A scheme was promulgated, submitted to the Legisip .ure> and finally adopted. The debate on Confederation' which was opened in the Canadian Parliament, on the 6th of February, 1865, was a long and able one. Every aspect of the question, financial, commercial, political and military, was presented ; and Mr. Mac- donald made several able and effective speeches. It is needless to say that the resolutions of the Government were carried. The Confederation Act was passed by the Imperial Parliament, received the royal assent, and Her Majesty's proclamation was issued, bringing the Dominion of Canada into exist- ence on July 1st, 1867. Legally, Confederation was the act of the Home Government, yet the new Con- 192 A MEllOHANT PRINCE. I 11 stitution would never have been inauf^urated but for the action of the Colonial Lej^nslatures. One of Mr. Macdonald's main objections was that the scheme was not to be submitted to the people for approval. The Constitution would have gained in veneration had it been the act of the whole community. Strange that a plan so cordially supported by Parliament should not have been Submitted to the people at the polls. No doubt the Government lacked courage to appeal to the country for a constitutional expression of opinion. Had there been such an expression of public mind, many difficulties which have since arisen would have been averted, for the constitution of our great Canadian Confederation would have been made valid and sacred by the fiat of the whole people, and not by their acquiescence alone. As we look back over the history of the Dominion during the past quarter of a century, in the light of Mr. Macdonald's spirited opposition to the proposed plan of federation, it does not require much discrimination on the part of the student of political science to observe how remark- ably correct were his forecasts of the probable effects of the measure. The politicians desired it as a way of escape from the dilemma of dead-lock ; but it is a question whether Confederation has not increased instead of lessened these sectional difficulties. And certainly the financial effects of union, and the in- creased expenditure attending the working of Con- federation, he did not overstate. In 1865 Mr. Macdonald was re-elected for Toronto West, and sat until 1867, when the inauguration of I'AIlUAMENrAUV LIFE. HKi the new Dominion called for the formation of a new Government. Sir John A. Macdonald, who had just been knighted, in recofrnition of his services in con- nection with the new nationality, was sworn in as Premier ; and in organizing his Government he deter- mined to ignore the old party lines, and have both political parties represented. To this the Liberals objected, claiming that the Govemnient was a coalition, and declaring that the temporary alliance between the Reform and the Conservative parties should now cease. Mr. Macdonald received a recjuisition to stand for the House of Commons, signed by 1,198 names. He was opposed by Mr. Harrison, afterwards Chief Justice of Ontario. Mr. Macdonald occupied an in- dependent and untrammelled position, but the cry was for union ; public feeling was in favour of the coalition Government, and the union candidate was sustained. The contest was conducted with tolerable good feeling, and without much display of acrimony, but those were days when practices of rowdyism and lawlessness were resorted to to interrupt and disturb public meetings. The hustings was a bear garden. There was the open system of voting, and the polls would sometimes be held by the most disreputable portion of the community, so that, amid bowlings and jeerings, showers of stones and brickbats, and with blood flowing copiously from wounds received, the electors recorded their votes. Mr. Macdonald turned with relief to his business affairs, until in 1875, a vacancy occurring in the representation of Toronto Centre, a constituency 13 'f I 104 A MIUCMANT PIUXCE. which ha»ble lives Is nought begotten ? Nothing to break wrong's grievous fetter. Nothing to make this " wide world " better. Nothing to arm men for life's fight ; Nothing to make the warfare sure. Nothing to help strong men endure When battling for the right 1 When good men die They're not forgotten ; For from their lives There is begotten 238 A MERCHANT PRINCE. il^^ Is gr.aven as with iron The noblest purpose, brave and true, To aim at what they dared to do ; To find one's work in others' good. To spend the life which God has given In waging war for God and heaven, 'Gainst vice and all its hateful brood. When good men die They're not forgotten ; For all of good Which they've begotten en To help and glad desponding men. The record this of race well run, More lasting far than granite pile. Or storied urn in abbey's aisle, And then the Master's glad " Well dope ! " An ancient bard sings : " The poet gathers fruit from every tree, Yea, grapes from thorns and tigs from thistles, he ; Plucked by his hand, the basest weed that grows Towers to a lily, reddens to a rose." So with our poet-Senator, the most common objects of nature kindled his imagination, exalted his mind, and made him a heaven-sent messenger of the truth. On his way to Sitka, Alaska, the steamship Elder cast anchor in Freshwater Bay, whose mirror-like waters reflected a rich, thick border of unbroken forest, and the dark, deep shadows of a lofty range of snow-clad mountains. The captain told him that eighteen years before, a young Englishman serving on board the Admiral's ship, the United States steamship Saranac, was killed, and that he had been buried here with miUt^iry LITERARY LIFE. 239 honours. The Senator determined to find the spot, and secured a Red man as his guide, for " The Indian knows his place of rest Far in the forest-shade." He found the grave in a perfect state of preservation, and with the inscription clearly marked upon the headstone. Mr, Macdonald says, " I found myself unconsciously weaving the story into the following simple lines." They are exquisitely graceful lines. It was his latest, and perhaps most tender poem. THE SAILOR'S GRAVE. What mean those sounds of music, And the dip of the muffled oar, As those boats in long procession, Move slowly toward the shore? And why are those men armed Who are not bent on prey 1 Why this imposing pais tlieylwid done, that not for them, l)ut for her, did these cho«rs ascend. She alone acknowledged the compliment — she acknowledged it as a Queen. Two thoughts struck one as she passed through the Canadian court to make her way to the Albert Hall. First : Here is a woman who has been living amid the manifestations of the loyalty of her people for tifty years, and yet she is not indifferent to the expressions of loyalty of her colonial subjects, but every cheer receives its betitting acknowledgment. Does this not bespeak a Queen ? Second : She occupies a position the most difficult for anyone to occupy — viz., that position of distance from all others that no one dare ted her of any weakness ; that no one dare chide her for any inconsiderateness ; that no one can tell her of any incompatibility of temper. In these respects is it not true that her position is a more difficult one (taking all the circmnstances into consideration) than that of any mortal upon t-he face of the earth to-day, man or woman ? . . . *• But she has passed. I have seen the Queen of England, and I am wonderfully pleased that I have done so. What a scene the grounds presented. What changes time has wrought. At one corner of the Exhibition one might realize from the people they meet that they were in the streets of Toronto, Here are men of distinction from China, with their blue silk robes. Here are various castes of India, some all in white, with white turbans gracefully twined about their heads; some all in veils, some clad in many-coloured silk robes, sone in crimson velvet braided with gold, some with curiously-shaped head dresses; ladies from India, whose caste in days gone by prohibited them from seeing the face of man unveiled, wandering about and enjoying the scene as :,.A \ ;• 11 M m II 1 !■( ■ : 264 A MERCHANT PRINCE. i! :1 did the people of Canada, Verily, the whole was a sight only to be seen in a lifetime — never, in so many respects, to be seen again." Whatever he touches is done in an incisive and felicitous immnor. There is no haziness in his de- scription — the subject stands out as clearly cut as a cameo. During his stay on the Isle of Wight he looked up the 93rd Highlanders, lunched with the officers, and revived the sunny memories of early days with his old regiment. His graphic letters were cut short by a severe illner.s, and it was a period of intense anxiety to his family. However, through careful nursing and the skill of his physician, Sir Joseph Lister, he rallied, and returned home somewhat recruited in strenefth. In the summer of l"■'' % o 7 /A Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 872-4503 ^ ..<. #^ ^ A^f'^ r^> ^

mm Jxm% fi, 18()2, >a Decern^ ber 'S, 1889, married Dr. J -ant, son of Sir Jani(;s Grant, of Ottav John Kidntoii, iKsni ^Novcir it^«i, the present head of thr- t-' " «r i, 18 !)._ -A ■f Rev. a M. Muiigan. James Kn; Mary Eveli?. • onto. ;5dar Alcorn, born Octoter 22, 1867, wlio i. tlie ::i:.i July, J8^^ ' ' in marriage • snie C, i^ailanty- --uru uau.^nior of the lat- liuidJaw, Ey,^., .i Toronto. Winriifred JrJin. born ^^frif.ombor I '» (Sf'O Ethel-. Duncan McGru - ,^i , Arthur Nin - .74. Ifc \\' n.' di^ldn^K ; , ] rtV'il ':' nsake bin i-]]' with all rJ * Chriistjn *.■. ■ : ,- ,^ *■'■-■ ■ 1 1 *?! i ""^i/i * J . T **?!■. »i » * T ' - * 1 , 1 , UlU^l;;i i.CdUJmuUL> ^"W ^^^ i,H. m HOME LIFE. 279 Annie Eliza, born March 28, 1859, who was married in February 1, 1882, to Mr. Montgomerie Lewis, of London, Ont. Marion Louisa, born August 28, 1860, united in marriage to James Morrow, Esq., of Halifax, October 19, 1882. Lucie Elizabeth, born June 6, 1862, who, on Decem- ber 3, 1889, married Dr. J. A. Grant, son of Sir James Grant, of Ottawa. John Kidston, born November 4, 1863, the present head of the firm. James Fraser, born November 2, 1865, who married Mary Eveline, second daughter of Rev. G. M. Milligan, of Toronto. Alexander Alcorn, born October 22, 1867, who, on the 21st July, 1890, was united in marriage to Annie C. Ballantyne, third daughter of the late George Laidlaw, Esq., of Toronto. Winnifred Julia, born September 19, 1869. Ethel Alberta, born July 30, 1871. Duncan McGregor, born June 6, 1873 ; and Arthur Nimo, born October 6, 1874. He was a model pere de fa/mille, devoted to his children and idolized by them. He played with the boys, participating in all their boyish sports. He was particularly good at the game of marbles. He was the finest shot and generally the winner. Chess was another favourite household game. He sought to make his children happy at home, and provided them with all the means of innocent amusement. Christmas was a joyous famiij'" day, and in the evening that home party was one of the most pleasant of scenes, the father full of high and buoyant spirits and joining in fun and frolicsomeness. Indeed, he 280 A MERCHANT PRINCE. considered this the best way of keeping his sons and dauj^hters from the alluring snares of sinful amuse- ments. As they grew older, he entered into their higher companionships, and shared all their studies and pursuits. He watched with intense solicitude over their spiritual interests, and rejoiced when their hearts were given fully to the Saviour. Every now and then appears in his diary a record like this : " Class this evening. John has been going to class for one month." Returning from one of his journeys, he says: " Arrived at home about 6.30 p.m. What a joyful meeting. Found my dear wife at the door to meet me. Amy and all the children were there. Never did I feel happier or more thankful," A man of intense domesticity, devoted to wife and children, he poured out upon them all the love of a tender heart. When Her Majesty the Queen gave to the world the story of her happy home in the Highlands in the days of Albert the Good, how that revelation of the sweet, pure, domestic life of Balmoral Castle won all hearts. So the chaste home life of the Merchant Prince of Toronto was a model of simplicity, domestic affection, dignity, culture and sturdy piety. In 1860 he purchased " Oaklands," and made it one of the most delightful suburban residences of the metropolis. The grounds are extensive, and command a wide and charming view. Trees and green fields HOME LIKE. 281 with the soft sunshine streaming down upon them, make a very pretty foreground to the picture of the city, which se^^ins to borrow enchantment from distance ; its streets and squares spread out, with many a spire and lofty tower uplifted in the air. Along the horizon, far as the eye can reach, up and down, are the gleaming waters of Lake Ontario. The house itself is embowered in trees and shrubs, and seems to express the personality of its owner. The architecture is home-like. Entering the hall, on the right is the library, a pleasant, airy room, with a desk in the centre, and book-shelves all around, loaded with valuable books. Next we come to the stately drawing-room and the dining-room, both of which open on the lawn, and command a fine view of the city and lake. It is well planned, both for conven- ience and beauty, and on all sides extends a large and well kept lawn, with parterres and flowed' beds bright with blossoms of every tint. The oaks in their symmetrical beauty have stood for generations; but the Senator prided himself in having planted nearly every tree on the grounds. Every part of Oaklands gave evidence of cultured taste and of an intense love of nature, and the owner could say with Longfellow : " I hear the wind amonji; the trees Playing celestial symphonies. I see the branches downward bent Like keys of some great instrument." He took a deep interest, not only in the grassy lawn, the blooming flowers, the budding and blossom- Wl 282 A MER('HANT PlUNCE. ing trees, but also in the birds, their love-makinj]f, their nest-buildinnj, their songs. In the melody of these wild birds he could detect each songster that sought to " disburden his soul of its music," and could say with the poet : " That's the wise thrush ; he Sings each song twice over, Lest you should think he never could re capture Ihe first fine careless rapture." A genuine child of nature, in close affinity with the love of flowers and his love of birds, was his affection for children. Every summer his pleasant grounds were thrown open to the Sunday School scholars of the Yonge Street Church. What a joy it was to the Senator to mingle among the children on these pic-nic occasions, and join in laugh and shout and merry games. It was as if he said : " Come to me, O ye children, For I hear you at your play, And the questions that perplexed me Have vanished quite away. Ye are better than all the ballads That ever were sung or said, For ye are living poems. And all the rest are dead." But while he showed great capacity for domestic love and domestic happiness, there was plainness and economy in the home life. There was no ostentation, no luxurious wastefulness and showy modes of living. Among the mercantile classes, luxury is an all-devour- ing evil. They allow great establishments to eat up their gains. Senator Macdonald realized that family happiness was not dependent on superfluities and HOME LIFE. 283 ostentatious display. There was plentifulness every- where, but no needless luxuries. By word and deed he sought to condemn the prevalent extravagance of the household. When useless luxuries called, he had nothing to spare ; when the poor called, he had to spare, and was glad to give of his abundance for their support. In the home no one could resist the fascination of his affectit)nateness and geniality. He was the most delightful of hosts. He knew how to entertain with grace, courtesy and dignity, and with that prince- liness which thinks nothing too good for its guests. Hospitality, like other things, is modified by environ- ment, and there is danger, from the restlessness, the pressure, the breathless hurry of modern life, of its becoming one of the lost arts. Says Hamerton, "The friendships of the heart are sacred, and should be permanent like marriage." " The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel," sings the Bard of Avon ; while the words of Holy Writ are, " Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart ; so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." Senator Macdouald's was a nature that offered love for love, confidence for confidence, and his friendship was steady in its flame, and lasting in its endurance. Through all the relations and passages of life it abided continually. On a great house wds this legend carved in stone : " Amicis et sihi " (for my friends first, and afterwards for myself). This seemed to be the legend at " Oak- 284 A MERCHANT PIUNCE. lands." Indeed, on the stained j^lass window of the hall, beneath an open Bible, and between the crest and motto of the family, is this inscription : " Through this wide open givte None come too soon, and Dne return too late." How many hundreds remember his kindness, and love, and hospitality ? " Oaklands" will always live brijifhtly and beautifully in their memory. What a pleasure it was for him to offer the hospitalities of his home to distinojuished ministers from England, the United States, and all parts of the world, and to men and women engaged in religious and benevolent work. How many weary and exhausted missionaries have found delightful days of repose, comfort and Christian cheerfulness under his roof, and in that happy family circle have risen from feebleness to strength. There was one thing that every guest of this house- hold cherished as among his most delightful memories. The service of family prayers was one of the most honoured institutions at " Oaklands." It was the first act of the assembled household. A portion of Scripture was read, a hymn often sung,^ and then, as a priest of his own fireside, he presented his offering at the altar of the home. The last letter which Mrs. Macdonald ever received from her husband is dated from Victoria, B.C., and this is the closing sentence : " I am grateful for mercies vouchsafed. I want you to read at worship, 1 Chronicles, 29th chapter, from 10th to 19th verse " XV. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. I • v^i^^^^^^^mmmmmmm^^^^t^^ The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart. — Mericiis. This is the porcelain clay of human kind. — Dryden. Pity and need Make all flesh kin. There ia no caste in blood, Which runneth of one hue, nor caste in tears, Which trickle salt with all ; neither comes man To birth with tilka-mark stamped on the brow, Nor sacred thread on neck. — Edwin Arnold. I Only what we have wrought into our characters during life can we take away with us. — Humboldt. A Christian is God Almighty's gentleman. — J. G. and A. W. Hare. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. lite WE come now to the most difficult and the most delicate part of a biographer's task, namely, to ^ive an adequate and just conception of the char- acter of his subject. Is it the biographer's duty to portray the weaknesses as well as the excellences of his hero ? W3 think it is. The object of biography is to exhibit character, and the writer has a duty to perform, not only to his subject, but to truth. He is not merely to play the part of the advocate ; he is to be judge — to weigh, analyze and discriminate, that he may present a faithful sketch. It is impartial statement that one desires to see, both in history and biography. How can the biographer portray the energy, devotion, fidelity, and activity of his subject as springs of high action, and worthy of imitation, without also acknowledging those blemishes and defects that should become beacons of warning in the voyage of life. Not that these weaknesses should be ostentatiously put forward, but they are to be candidly admitted, wherever they are found. Many prominent traits of Senator Macdonald's character have been clearly indicated in the narrative already given, but we desire here to present a full length portrait, with all its lights and shadows, that our readers ma^r know what manner of man he was, 288 A MERCHANT PRINCE. In personal appearance Senator Macdonald was tall and rather slender, with handsome, clear-cut and regular features, an agreeable, open countenance, gentle gray eyes, high forehead and light hair and whiskers. Erect, commanding, particularly neat in his dress, of graceful presence, he was a man calcu- lated to attract attention anywhere. He was a well- built figure, and though never robust, yet his wonder- ful activity gave evidence of considerable physical energy. Though he never wholly recovered from the shock which he received from his throat and lungs attack, yet he enjoyed through life a fair share of health. In manners, he was a high-bred, dignified, courteous gentleman. " Be courteous " is the injunction of the apostle. Courtesy is the grace of saying and doing things fitly. A courteous man is a man of court-like or elegant manners. Courtesy is not mere surface polish, but part and parcel of the man's inner self, the outcome of a generous nature. " Manners are not idle, but the fruit Of noble nature and of loyal mind." Senator Ma,cdonald had real kindliness and generosity of heart, and to him could be given " Without abuse, The grand old name of ' gentleman.' " While his voice was pleasant, yet it betrayed his birth and blood. This Scotch accent, not harsh and crabbed, but rich and pleasant, clung to him through life. ac PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, 289 In conversation, he was rich, varied and versatile. We have already dwelt upon the wealth of his mental gifts and resources, the variety and versatility of his intellectual powers, and the accuracy and accumulation of his knowledge. He had an artistic mind, and the true spirit of poetry was his. He had a love of language and an aptitude for the study of it, and for a business man was highly cultivated in general literature. He felt the influence of the subtle zeit-geist, the spirit of the times, and lived fully abreast of the age. One of the foibles of his truly great and attractive character was his genial egotism. He had the sense of individual worth, and was not unconscious of his gifts. This apparently overweening estimate of self gave to those who were superficially acquainted with him a wholly erroneous impression of his character. George Eliot says : " I've never any. pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them." It could hardly be called conceit, for he was ever ready to attribute to a higher source than self all his gifts and all his success. Nor was it pride, which consists in exalting self at the ex- pense of others. He had the true spirit of humility, yet he had that trait in the organization of the High- lander — that show of self importance in manner which would say with Shakespeare's Henry IV. : " I am not in the roll of common men." Along with this inheritance of Scotch blood and training came a certain dictatorial bearing, an imperi- ousness of disposition, He had an intensely strong 19 290 A MERCHANT PRINCE. will, which could not bear thwarting, an autocratic bent of mind which could ill endure contradiction, and which was somewhat severe toward those who ventured to differ from his views and convictions. Some thought him stern and unapproachable, because he had what was remarked about Burke, " A certain inborn stateliness of nature which kept people at a distance." Another mark of the Celtic genius was his impulsive nature. His susceptibilities were easily ruffled. He was quick to resent wrong ; his self-control was not comph e, and in Parliamentary debate he would not hesitate to drive his lance home between the joints of his opponents harness. But there was no venom, no unmanly hate ; all was generous and chivalric ; he was " lord of a great heart," and like Longfellow's Miles Standish, " He was sensitiv e, swift to resent, but as swift in atoning for error." He had much of the perferviduin Scotorwm in- genium. The flood of loyalty and patriotism rose to its full height in his nature. He was a thorough Canadian, yet he was very clannish, and thought there was no man like the Scotchman. The ancient Roman could utter the proud boast, " Civis Romanus surti" ; Senator Macdonald could say with exultation " I also am a British subject. I belong to the Anglo- Saxon race." The Britannica civitas is a wider and more honored privilege. He had also the quiet humour of the Scot. Amid the carking, corroding cares of life he kept his heart fresh, yet there was a vein of sadness in his make-up. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 291 in- to bion alo- and mid eart Interlaced with his sprightly moods were seasons of melancholy, when every thinc^ was clad in the most sombre hues ; he was in a state of extreme dejection. This may have had its origin in the state of his health and in the reflective and deeply sensitive turn of his mind. Another clearly-marked trait in his character was his love of kin. He paid great respect to his soldier- father, and saw that he wanted for nothing in his old age. As he rose step by step he did not shun the society of his kindred, or leave them out of sight ; he was the same kind, unassuming, loyal relation. This strong feeling of kinship is shown in the ample provi- sion made in his will for the members of his father's household. This was the chain that bound his children to him irresistibly. He cherished the strongest love toward them. How touching his treatment of the wish of his gentle Amy. "None knew her but to love her, None named her but to praise." She had been a great sufferer, and near the end she greatly desired of her father that the property that would have gone to her, had she lived, be devoted to the relief of the suffering. This was the secret of his interest in, and provision for, the University Park Hospital. He abhorred meanness of any kind. He hated especi- ally that sneakishness "which creeps and crawls and leaves its slime and its odour behind." His eldest son related to me that one morning they were driving down Yonge Street, when they met a man who had treated 292 A MERCHANT PRINCE. him shabbily, and was utterly devoid of all honesty. Involuntarily Mr. Macdonald bowed to him, when at once he reined up his horses, and lookinj^ the man in the face, he said : " I want you to understand, sir, that that was a mistake, my bowing to you. I do not recognize you, for I regard you as a thorough scoundrel." He was a man of strong prejudices. He could be easily imposed upon, but he possessed this character- istic of Alexander III., the Imperial Autocrat of all the Russias, that when once a man has deceived him he never trusts him again. He had enthusiasm. He was an indomitable worker. " Labour ipse voluptas." He had the genuine love of work. He had great system. In reviewing his life one wonders how he could get through so much ; but he had the knack of packing engagements and duties into close compass. He was thorough, never doing anything in a half- and-half fashion, and he turned every spare moment to golden account. He was like Cicero — ready to consume " even the shreds and waste ends of time," or like one of those of whom a French writer tells, " So covetous of the moments that if Old Time should let his hour-glass fall, they would stoop for the sand, and, by incessant labour, collect all the scattered grains." His promises were kept to the moment and ful- filled to the letter. Louis XIV. called punctuality the "politeness of kings"; in trade it is called the "soul of business." Senator Macdonald believed it PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 293 the sine qua non of success. He was a man of prompt, rapid action. It was constantly noticed of him that when he was driven up to the warehouse he would be out of the door before the carriage stopped. And he had also the backbone (juality of perseverance. He would never slacken until he had planted his banner on the crest of every hill diffi- culty. He had been trained in the school of hard- ship, and the steel thread was woven into the texture of his life. He was a man of determination, and his purpose once fixed, there was n^ looking forward to what he might be, or looking backward to what he might h?;Ve been, but a-doing the thing set before him, and doing it thoroughly with all his might. He felt that " Life is to wake, not sleep ; Rise, and not rest ; but press From earth's level, where blindly creep Things perfected, more' or less. To the heaven's height, far and steep." He was especially a man of integrity. He was absolutely upright and truthful. The least sugges- tion of falsehood or untrustworthiness was abhorrent to him. Without fear or reproach he bore a con- science void of offence toward all men ; alike in home or warehouse, or legislative halls, he never said a word or did a deed that did not bear upon it the stamp of unsullied integrity. There is nothing we need so much in business life and in public life as the principle of integrity. Unfaithfulness, unrelia- bility is only another name for moral rottenness. 294 A MERCHANT PRINCE. And this brings me to say that religion was the Alpha and Omega of his being. His life-story could not be told unless this aspect of his character were put in the forefront of the narrative. Without this vital principle, we fail to appreciate the secret of his successes and the motive power of his actions. His conversion in the old George Street Wesleyan Church was the crisis of his being, and the key to his after life. He was a Methodist, but he was no bigot. Not the faintest shadow of intolerance or of sectarian bitterness ever darkened his intercourse with his fellow-Christians. He would not " Melt in an acid sect The Christian pearl of charity." He was true to his convictions. It was well known where he was to be found on every moral and re- ligious question. He held that no man had a right to be liberal in the sense of giving away a part of what he believed to be the truth. He knew the price- less worth of truth, and loved it with all his soul. As Paracelsus tells us : " Truth is within ourselves — There is an inmost centre in us all Where truth abides in fulness ; and to know Rather consists in opening out a way Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape, Than in effecting entry for a light Supposed to be without." To him, divine truth was a living force, applied to living issues of the day. His life was true. The Christian religion was not so much n system of doc- trines as a grand realization — a blessed experience- PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 295 He cluncr with firm faith to Jesus Christ as a per- sonal Saviour, and loved God with the fulness of childlike atiection. He would not swim with the current or bow down in adoration before the idols of the hour; he would serve his God in all the matters which make up the warp and woof of our lives. He believed and realized that the cleansing, purify- ing, fertilizing tide of the river of God should flow on and on, through all the affairs of the world. We have more than once alluded to his profound veneration for the Word of God. His reverence for the letter and the spirit of Holy Writ was most marked. He delighted in searching its treasures and pondering them in his heart. He sought to im- press upon others that this was the most precious treasure in the world. A young man called upon him who was out of employment, and in despond- ency. The Senator said to him : " Have you read that striking passage in Joshua i. 8 ? * This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that t' ou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein : for then thou shalt make thy way prosper- ous, and then thou shalt have good success.' " After a little further conversation, the young man said on leaving, " Will you please tell me again where that passage is to be found ? " It was given. A few weeks after, Mr. Macdonald received a letter from this young man thanking him for calling his atten- tion to the study of God's Word, telling him that he had taken the Bible as his chart for the journey of 296 A MERCHANT PRINCE. life, that he had secured a lucrative position, and was enjoying " good success." He believed the Bible to be pm- excellence the book for daily guidance. One of his sons had been visit- ing for some days at the house of his affianced. The Senator feared that he was staying too long, and sent him a telegram. The message was, " See Prov. xxv. 17." The Bible was got ; they all gathered around it in great excitement, and read, " Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee." His own Bible was well marked. The passage, " Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy cattle," has this com- mentary by him, " In other words, whatever your business, be careful regularly to take stock." So Rev. xiii. 3, "And all the world wondered after the beast," has this : " See Tennyson's ' Charge of the Light Brigade.' The poet borrows his striking refrain, 'All the world wondered,' from this passage of Scripture." His own deep personal religious experience, the variety, fulness and soundness of his spiritual life, largely came from his devout study of the Word of God. He had those regular habits of devotion with- out which the Christian life cannot be preserved. He lived in constant communion with the Father of spirits, believed in the "sweet reasonableness " of prayer, and in answered petitions he had a constant confirmation of the Divine interposition in the affairs of life. Senator Macdonald delighted to refer, as an instance of special Providence, to the rescue of the six hundred m PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 297 TS and forty-one persons on board the ship Kent^ when on fire in the Bay of Biscay, by the brig Cambria. He says : " When all were looking for death — that is, before the Cambria hove in sight — Sir Duncan, then Major, Macgregor wrote on a slip of paper, on which was his father's address, as follows : '"The ship, tho Kent, East Indiainen, is on firo. Elizabeth, Joanna and myself commit our spirits into the hands of our blessed Redeemer. His grace enables us to bo (juite composed in the awful prospect of entering eternity. " ' Duncan MACciUEOoB. " ' 1st March, 1825, Bay of Biscay.' " Now for the history of this bottle. Left in the cabin, it was cast into the sea by the explosion that destroyed the Kent. About nineteen months after- wards the following notice appeared in a Barbadoes (West India) newspaper : " 'A bottle was picked up on Satunlay, 30th September, at Bathsheba(a bathing place on the' west of Barbadoes), by a gentleman who was bathing there ; who, on breaking it, found the melancholy account of the fate of the shi[) Ki')it contained in a folded newspaper, written with pencil, but scarcely legible.' " The letter itself, taken from the bottle, thickly encrusted with shells and seaweed, was returned to its writer when he arrived, shortly after its discovery, at Barbadoes, as Lieut-Colonel of the 93rd High- landers. This paper, now in possession of his son, Mr. John Macgregor, widely known as ' Rob Roy,' through his book, * One Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe,' and ' The Rob Roy on the Jordan,' I saw in his Chambers in the Temple, London. He it was who, when a child of a few weeks old, was the first human being to find refuge in the little craft, the 298 A MEUCHANT PHINCE. Camhrid, having been caufjjht from his mother's arms by Mr. Thompson, the fourth mate of Uie Kent." Senator Macdonald, after he had visited the Island of Barbadoes, sent to Mr. Mac<,'regor (" Rob Hoy ") a photograph of the very spot wliere the bottle was found, and of Culpepper House, the residence of the gentleman who found it. He recognized an overruling hand in his own life, and could sing with the poet : " My bark is wafted to the land, By bn^ath divine ; And on the helm there rests a Hand, Otiier than mine." On June 18th, 1888, there is this record of a " MIRACULOUS DELIVERANCE. "This morning as Brady (coachman) and myself were driving along King Street, the horse * Milan ' started to rear. Brady held on bravely. Presently I saw that a crash against one of the Grand Trunk wagons was inevitable. The crash came, and strangely enough threw me out of my own wagon into it, and, with all but a few scratches, uninjured. The horse kicked and ran with the broken wagon, but it was caught on Yonge Street, I do trust I feel thankful to God for His preserving care upon this occasion, when death seemed so near. Surely there is still for me a work to do." Another entry, July 18th, of the same year, is as follows : " While walking down Yonge Street this morning, I hailed a street car, and stepping on to it while in motion, did not perceive that another car was rapidly approaching in an opposite direction. They were PERSONAL CHARACTElllSTICS. 299 together before I had noticed ; and so close that I cannot at this moment realize how it was that I escaped beinj; cru.slu;(l, po.ssihly to death. How won- derful is God's watchful care ! I felt that on reaching my ottice I could not hut bow my head in humble acknowledgment of His preserving care. May He ever keep me in a humble, lowly and thankful spirit," Just the year before his death there is this record : " Our engineer in conversation to-day on the falling of the warehcuse in 1878, said, ' In all my professional life I never saw such a case. How it should have gone so far and stopped without becoming one mass of ruin is unaccountable. And it was only of God's mercy that the building and everyone in it was not destroyed.' " Thus he delighted to acknowledge an over-ruling Providence, and he believed "that all things work together for good to them that love Him." " God's plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold. We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart ; Time will reveal the calyxes of gold." He lived not only in the spirit of prayer, but in the spirit of sympathy with the Lord Jesus Christ. He sought to follow the Great Exemplar, who pleased not Himself but lived for others. We have alluded to his benevolence. True charity is a virtue of the heart and not of the hands. " What the Abbot of Bamba cannot eat he gives away for the good of his soul. He steals a pig and gives away the trotters for God's sake." Senator Macdonald not merely gave out of his abundance ; he held his possessions as a steward, and sought to use them for the benefit of the weak, the needy, and the suffering. 300 A MERCHANT PRINCE. " Loathing pretence, he did with cheerful will What others talked of, while their hands were still." His great watchword was " duty." " Duty, that which," says George Herbert, " gives us music at midnight." " Stern daughter of the voice of God," as Wordsworth has it. How he loved the ringing words of Tennyson in praise of duty : " Not once or twice in our rough island story The path of duty was the way to glory. He that walks it only thirsting For the ri^ht, and learns to deaden Love of self, before his journey closes He shall find the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which out-redden All voluptuous garden roses. Not once or twice in our fair island story, The path of duty was the way to glory." Indeed, in gathering up these sparkling gems that make the diadem of his Christian character, it can be truly said that his dominating desire was like that of Sir Henry Lawrence, who, after the distinguished administrative ability, energy, and indefatigable devotion with which he had discharged the onerous and responsible duties entrusted to him, being asked what inscription might be put upon his tomb, said, " Let it be, ' Here lies Henry Lawrence, who tried to do his duty.' " Senator Macdonald, in every detail of life, tried to do his duty, and his success in life is a conspicuous illustration of the truth, " Honour her and she shall exalt thee." XVI. LAST DAYS. We know when moons shall wane, When summer birds from far Shall cross the sea, When Autumn's hue shall tinge the golden train ; But who shall teach us when to look For thee, death ? "Gone! Taken the stars from the night and the sun From the day ! Gone, and a cloud on my heart. " Whatever crazy sorrow saith, No life that breathes with human breath Has ever truly longed for death. — Tennyson. God keeps a niche In heaven to hold our idols ; and albeit He break them down to our faces, and denies That our close kisses should impair their white, I know we shall behold them raised, complete. The dust shook off, their beauty glorified, New Memnons singing in the great God-light. — E- B. Browning. Death's but a path that must be trod If man would ever pass to God. — Tlwmnti ParneU. " I am weary. I will now go to sleep. Good-night. " — Meander's dyuui xcords. Say not " good-night," but in some brighter clime Bid me "good morning." —Anna Letitia Barbaidd. To our graves we walk in the thick footprints of departed men. — Alex. Smith. LAST DAYS. WITH advancing years, Senator Macdonald's thoughts were turned toward the future Though he' had no anxious dread of death, 3'et he had reached a point where earth would seem a pleasant place. He had prospered amazingly, his family had grown up around him, honours had fallen thick upon him, higher and wider circles recognized his excel- lence, he had leisure at his command, and it would seem that he might for years repose amid the fruits of his toil. He faithfully walked with God, and was daily rising in elevation of character. He was using his surplus wealth and spare time in the service of others, and was a mighty factor in the attempted solution of nearly every question affecting the moral and religious welfare of the young nation. But the shadows were lengthening. His plenitude of virile energy was gone. His diary of 1883 bears this record : " Decemher 27th. — To-day I enter upon my sixtieth year. I seem unable to realize it. Truly, I must now begin to think that I am getting old. How good God has been to me through all these long years that are past ; how mercifully He has guided me, from how much that is sad has He saved me ; how little have I 304 A MERCHANT PRINCE. rendered to Him, other than ingratitude for all his blessinnrs. May the years which remain be more fruitful." The following year there is this register : " November 24urliii<,'b)ii)— In risin*;; to nddrons tlio HouHo, 1 (1()S(» with a fi'olingof theilenpi'st Hormw. I desiio tofuld my huuible tiibuto to the mt'iin)ry of our dopHitt'd colleiijj;ue. I WH8 intiiiifitoly !ic(|iiuinted with the hito Henjitor Mncdoiiiild for iiifiuy years, and learned to know his works and liis hit^li eliar- Hcter. His apimintnient to tliis honourable House, without reference to political or party lines, was a tribute to that char- acter. His api)ointinent was alike honourable to him aiul to those who made it, and furnished a valuable precedent f(tr the future. H(m. i^^entlemeu have been witnesses of the able manner in which he performed his duties in the Senate. Jn business he was scrupulously honr all in all, we slmll not look upon his like again." Never, jn .ill my life, has tho loss of a friend so deeply allVicted me, makin nie more ccmscious than ever of my love lor him and of the ■ uat- ness of our common loss. His provision for the sick is al. . .7-8 the grants hitherto made to Victoria, Queen's, Trinity and Regiopolis were finally withdrawn, and Mr. Macdonaid took a very active part with Dr. Ryerson, Dr. Punshon and Dr. Nelles in organizing an endowment movement to maintain our College work, contributing himself ^2,000 for that i)urpose. At that time he favoured a project for removal to Toronto and attiliation with the University of Toronto ; but finding that the sentiment of the Church wfis opposed, the matter was not pressed. He continued, however, to be an active member of the J'oard and a large contributor to later movements for enlai'giug ihe resources of the College down to the time of his death. At the same time he took a deep interest in the University of Toronto, and in 1877, was appointed a member of the Senate. Jn the autumn of 1883, Vice-Chan- cellor Mulock through Mr. Macdon.ald addressed a letter to the late President Nelles, making propositions for alliance of Vic- toria with the University of Toronto. Mr. Macdonaid accom- panied Mr. Mulock's letter with a lengthy letter of his own, expressing his sympathy with the project. In the negotiations of the various University authorities with the Ontario (xovern- ment, which extended over the next twelve months, Mr. Mac- donaid assisted largely by his counsel and influential support. The next year was occupied in discussion of the scheme within our own Church and College circles, culmina* .g in the decision of our General Conference in ISSH, at which Mr. Macdonaid made the generous offering of $25,000 for the work. The offer- ings of Mr. Macdonaid, ^25,000, Mr. Ceo. A. Cox, ,^^30,000, and Mr. (Jooderham, !i?30,000, followed shortly after by Mr. Gooderham's noble beciuest, gave the impetus to the financial movement without which federation never could have been accomplished in any other form than the establishment of a Divinity Scho' ' in Toronto. This brief statement of facts may be of interest to some of your readers, and is due to the memory of a man eminent for his ability to guide wisely great public TRIBUTES. 315 movements, as well as for the generosity with which he con- tribiited to their support. His noble gift in memory of his daughter for the establishment of a hospital in connecticm with the Medical Department of the University, was another proof of the interest which he felt in University work and of his high appreciation of the noble mission of medical science for the alleviaticm of human suttering. Wishing you every success in your praisewortliy effort to per- petuate the memory and the influence of the life of a great and good man, I am yours sincerely, N. BURWASH. Mb. Thomas Thompson's Estimate of thk Secret of Senator Macdonald's Success. The ([uestion might he asked, have there not been instances on record of men having all the characteristics of Mr. Macdonald and yet not having succeeded in what is commonly called success ? Now-a-days we hear the " secret of success " spoken of. What is that secret ? Will energy, probity and tact always insure it? Or is there beyond all this scnne occult or hidden power that determines it ? Is it something that can be acquired, or is it something native to the possessor of it ? Is the science of money-making in mercantile life an exact one, or is it a com- bination of excellent ([ualities that make the prosi)erous busi- ness man, with fortuitous circumstances, as well as the thinking out and the balancing of j)robabilities and then combining the activity of the merchant with that faith in himself which not only deserves, but makes his ventures successful, like a Christian man answering his own prayers in the working out of what he is looking for. Mr. Macdonald had his strong ambitions or delights, and which were to the other an alterative or rest, and, per conse- quence, each conduced to the strength of the other ; for tlie mind and the body are so constituted that weariness invariably follows too close application to any given pursuit. So, if we may use a metaphor, the horse which has been resting comes freshly from his stall only too glad to be used by his rider, till it in turn retires grateful for its season of rest. One of these means was, to ])Ut into shape and sometimes into rytiim, his thoughts uj)on what passed l)efore him in life's ever- changing panorama. 316 A MERCHANT PRINCE. Being fond of literary pursuits, he took delight in the off- spring of his brain, and he had the ambition to do his work well ; and the better clothed his thoughts were, the more he loved them and took pleasure in them. The other delight was in his business, not directly in the con- tinual aim to realize a good profit and to have a good balance sheet, but in the merchandise itself; and as spiritual things are spiritually discerned, even so there are many things in our mate- rial surroundings that need the lover's eyes to a[)preciate all their worth. To Mr. Macdonald every department of his business had its history and romance. The gathering together of very much that was beautiful and curious in its manufacture enthused and gratified him, and made his daily business life not a mere routine of duty, but a never failing source of pleasure ; and it is perfectly true that success sweetens labour, though many have to get along through life without this sweetening, and manage to survive barely, and perhaps serving their day and generation to the best of their ability. Even they succeed infinitely beyond the mere hoarders of money who, narri)wed down to scrapers to- gether of personalty and realty, and who as they slowly wend their way to their narrow graves, fancying that every one they meet is wanting their poor self-gotten pelf, self-made men in other senses (for self makes men very small), in some few in- stances some of whom may lay the flattering unction to their poor, starved, withered natures that they have arranged in their last will and testament some little sop in the shape of some small charity, and handing out the same from out their coffins with their bony fingers, thus putting themselves out of reach of the blessing that follows a generous act, the eyes becoming so blinded that they go away unblessed and with their dried natures unwatered. Mr. Macdonald received his first training among shrewd Scotch drapers at a time when youths were taught to take an interest in the goods they were handling. Perhaps the difference in fifty years ago and the present might be stated in this way. The object in view then was to learn the business in order to make a living. Now-a-days it is to get just enough knowledge of business to land them into a fortune, with the intention of discarding the business when cir- cumstances will allow, forgetting that even in the prosaic work of buying and handling and marketing those goods that feed and clothe tl' 1 body and adorn the home, as well as in the higher realm of furnishing the mind and heart, there is a spirit that liiust bo wooed, won and loved for its own sake. No perfunctory TRIBUTES. 317 or patronizing homage, but a spirit of devotion and faithfulness to its demands. The loyal heart of Mr. Macdonald kept closely identified with the Church of his choice, his foster-mother the foster-mother of thousands who have lived and died in her communion, and who, when their own mother Church failed to reach out aliment to their hungry hearts, in the spirit of her Divine Master wel- comed them to her sacraments and enfolded them in the invisible Church of the Sun of God. He made it part of his life work to extend her boundaries even to the islands of Japan, for with the shrewdness and cul- ture of his redeemed nature he saw that the islands ever governed the continents. So with every sense (quickened into activity he believed and acted up to the thought that the time was fast coming when from the rivers to the ends of the earth the teachings of Christ, the Son of God, would have universal sway. Thomas Thompson. From Rev. John Potts, D.D. In the June of 1865 I was appointed to what is now known in Toronto as the Central Methodist Church, then better known as Yorkville Church. It was at that time that I first met John Macdonald. I found him an official member of the church and deeply interested in the prosperity of the cause of God in that congregation. As I look back to those daya, nothing hfis made a greater impression upon my mind in relation tt) our departed friend than the spirit he manifested, especially towards those in the Quarterly Oftici.il Board who were not of the same social status. It seemed to give him pleasure to defer to their judg- ment in any matter that came up for discussion, and therefore his influence with them was correspondingly great. John Macdonald was in many respects the foremost layman of Canadian Methodism. He possessed in himself several ele- ments which, combined, made him easily the most influential layman in our denomination. He was to Toronto Methodism what Senator Ferrier was to Montreal Methodism. Senator Macdonald was a good preacher, a good debater, and a man of jjrincely liberality, whose gifts found their way to benevolent objects beyond the bounds of his own Church. He was in the highest sense a connexional Methodist. His broad and states- manlike views of the missionary and educational work of the Church made him invaluable on the Missionary Board and on the Board of Regents of Victoria U "'versity. While he was an intense Methodist from investigation and conviction, ho evinced 318 A MERCHANT PRINCE. a beautiful spirit of fraternity in relation to the other sections of the Christian Church. Perhaps more than any man in Toronto he commanded the affectionate esteem of all classes of the community as a philanthropist and an earnest and consis- tent Christian. Mr. Macdonald was a constant and ardent student of the Word of (lod, and cultivated a ranf^o of literature far beyond that of most commercial men. From a good deal of observation, I came to regard him as a striking illustration of the principle contained in that passage of Scrij)ture, " Them that honour me, I will honour." Like the late William Gooderham, he recog- nized in a high degree the responsibility and privilege of Chris- tian stewardship, and acted in all the relations of life as one who expected to give an .account of his stewardship. John Potts. From H. A. Massey, E,sq. My first ac(iuaintance with the subject of this sketch was when he laid the corner stone of the Methodist Church in Newcastle, Ont., on May 24th, 1867 ; but soon after this business relations brought us together fre<|uently, which gave me opportunities of knowing Air. Macdonald better, and which resulted in my form- ing a very high estimation of his abilities and personal worth. He was always ready to respond to every call in any good cause, and was devoted to the best interests of his country. His untiring zeal in serving the Church in any and every capacity that Jay in his power, was worthy of imitation, and I have no doubt that it stimulated others to similar good deeds. By his death the Methodist Church lost one of its ablest and worthiest members and most generous benefactors. Would that we had many more such men amongst us. H. A. Massey. From Rev. W. H. Witurow, D.D., la The Mcthodid Magazine. ISeldom has the whole Canadian counnunity been so deeply moved by any death as by that of the H(/n. John Macdonald. To thousands who knew him ouly by reputation his loss was felt to be a public calamity. But those who knew him best feel that the world is incomparably the poorer for his departure. The readers of The Mcthodid Maijazine, whose pages he so often enriched with his thoughtful and inspiring papers, have reason TRIBUTES. 319 for regret that no more shall they be favoured with the graphic production j of his pen. The lessons of that life are writ so large that he who runs may read. " Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand before mean men." By his fidelity and energy Mr. Macdonald built up a colossal busi- ness, and yet found time to engage in schemes (jf widest useful- ness, and was called to fill a prominent place and exert a potent influence in the councils of his Church and of his country. But while diligent in business, he was abo«'e all fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. A prominent characteristic of his life was an all-pervading sci se of responsibility to (xod, of Christian stew- ardship. He seemed to hear ever the words, " Occupy till I come." And how well he filled that injunction only the great day shall reveal, for many of his benefactions were known only to God and to the recipient. He was one of those who "Did good by stealth, and blushed to find it fame." When he permitted his benefactions to be known, it was with the object of stimulating others to Christian beneficence, to more largely help the cause of God. Religion was not to him a thing apart from his daily life, but its very vital air. Religious subjects were not dragged into the conversation, they sprang up spontaneously, like the daisies in the meadows, as the most natural thing in the world. In political life he maintained the same sturdy independence which characterized his other relations. While from coviction a Liberal statesman, he was no partizan, and conmianded, as few men have done, the confidence and respect of both sides of the House, Such men are God's best gifts to His Church. They are the most striking "evidences of Christianity," demonstraticms of the power of godliness which the caviller and the infidel cannot gainsay, "■ living epistles known and read of all men." From Rkv. Gkok(!K Douolas, D.D., LL.D., rr'nu'qud WvAcijan Thi'oloijicid CoUi'ijc, Moidii'id. It was in the sunnner of 1857 .vhen I first met our friend, now translated, Hon. John Macdonald. Somewhat slender in his physique, medium in height, erect in carriage, handsome in features, lined with strength, ample in brow, with (juestioning but kindly eye, frank, cordial, genial in his manner, with a shade of reserve militaire, graced with a Scottish cultus, this was the man in the maturity of liis youth who subserpiently be- came the merchant prince, the parlimentarian, the potential 320 A MERCHANT PRINCE. factor in all circles, social, commercial, philanthropic and re- ligious. Recollection sui)plieH no parallel to our friend in his steady .and ra))id ascent to status, to wealth, and to influence anion<,'st his compeers. His incisive intellect, his power of outlook and mastery of detail, his natural sagacity and coolness of judgment, the thoroughness which marked everything he undertook, ensured a success which was ])henomenal, solid and enduring. In our personal intercourse with the departed, we often ad- mired his ability to lay aside all his pressing commercial cares and live for a time in the realms of thought and amid the at- tractions of literature. Naturally endowed with a measure of poetic genius, combined with philosophic tastes and tendencies, he had enriched his library with some of the finest poetic, bio- graphic, historic, and evidential writers of the age. All this gave to his conversation a peculiar wealth and charm. For the time the merchant was lost in the literateur. To the very close of life he delighted in those apologetic writers whose works authenticate from the human standpoint the verities of spiritual Christianity. Though thus liberally gifted by nature, it was his absolute loyalty to Christ and His Churchwhich gave nobility and strength to the character o^ our friend. When he was blossoming into early manhood, grace supernal led him to turn his feet into the testimonies divine, the resultant of which was a clear, defined, experimental Christian life, a life which found its development in the Methodist Church of Canada until the close of his earthly career. For the Church of his intelligent choice he cherished a pro- found admiration, and while strongly conservative both in rela- tion to her doctrine and discipline, he was remarkable for the catholicity of his spirit. It may truly be asserted that he was one who loved our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Every official responsibility which the Methodist Church could confer on a layman was intrusted to our friend. His labours in the Sabbath Schools, the pulpits and the councils of the Church are an abiding record of his fidelity to Christ and his solicitude to make his life infiuential for the benefit of others. Well do we remember our last conversation with him A\hen physical decadence had begun, and the sombre shades of even- tide were coming on apace. He then affirmed his growing de- light in Biblical truth and an unfaltering faith in the ultimate realization of its eternal beatitudes. Held in honour by all who knew him, well beloved by those who knew him best, enthroned in the undying love of those who shared his paternal regard, he filled a great sphere in the 58555! TRIBUTES. 321 Church as well as in the State. " Having fought the good fight he hnushed his course and kept the faith"' ^ ' fv.!^^"""'''^'^'',^•'-''"'^ \'''^ -"' ""'^^^ their blossouMngs and their fruitage which Ins eye shall never see, but his lu.nim.us example to the coming manhood of this Dominion shall in its influence be perpetuated by the admirable record of a noble life, f unSd sa souvenir by one who along the years held him n In ur and IS now his sorrowing friend. '"h»>ui, "The righteous shall oe held 'in everlasting remembrance." (iROR(iE D0UOLA8. How precious is the memory of a just and good man! Senator Macdonald was a remarkable man If he could not be called great, he was not destitute of those qualities out of which great men are made. As a merchant he was enterprising and successful • as a statesman he was upright and intelPgent; as a' citizen he was patriotic and public spirited ; as a bene- factor he was generous and sympathetic ; as a Chris- tian he was devout, consistent and consecrated. His religion was not a mere creed or profession ; it was a hfe, an experience. His name was a tower of strencrth to every good cause. He has left behind him a char- acter above reproach, and his example will liVe for good through many generations. "Were a star quenched on high, ^ For ages would its light, Still travelling downward from the sky, Shine on our mortal sif^ht • "So when a good man dies, For years beyond our ken The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men." 21 FINIS.