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 HANDBOOK 
 
 Canadian Literature 
 
 
 (ENGLISH) 
 
 BY 
 Archibald MacMurchy, M.A. 
 
 At one time Redor of the 
 Collegiate In^tute, Toronto 
 
 Toronto 
 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS 
 
 1906 
 
GENERAL 
 
 c ^ 
 
 ('!( 
 
 Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the 
 
 year one thousand nine hundred and six, by 
 
 Archibald MacMurchy, 
 
 at the Department of Agriculture. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 T^^yTHILE I was at the Collegiate Insti- 
 \^ tute, Toronto, it was my duty and 
 privilege for several years to teach 
 the senior classes in English history. It was 
 easy to get handbooks or primers giving 
 information about writers and the subjects on 
 which they wrote in Great Britain or the 
 United States; but with respect to Canadian 
 authors, no book of this kind existed. 
 
 Frequently I heard the statement made by 
 men who ought to know, that " Canada had 
 no literature of its own, and in order to 
 supply this deficiency of our intellectual life 
 we had to depend upon the literary talent of 
 Britain and that of our neighbors to the 
 south of us." 
 
 But in coming into Canada has the British 
 race lost its ambitions and mental vigor? If 
 so, why? The assertion is not true obviously 
 with regard to the subduing of the forest and 
 the cultivating of the virgin soil of this rich 
 and vast country. 
 
 The author cherishes the hope that this 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 small volume shows conclusively that the 
 Canadians, though so much engaged in ex- 
 ploring, surveying, and cultivating the wide 
 territories of the Dominion, are not one whit 
 behind in the gifts of imagination and fancy 
 which adorn the communities of the English 
 race to be found in other parts of the world. 
 The truth appears to be that the literary pro- 
 duction of the people of the Dominion is 
 proportionately equal, in quantity and quality, 
 to that of any like part of the English-speak- 
 ing race. 
 
 The author, restricted by the limits imposed 
 by the object he had in view, was under the 
 necessity of leaving untouched the large field 
 of reports on various subjects — books deal- 
 ing with the professions, or purely scientific 
 matters. He was compelled to forego the 
 pleasure of noticing many valuable con- 
 tributions which appeared only in the press, 
 also any book he could not find in the follow- 
 ing libraries in the city of Toronto : The 
 Public Library, that of the University of 
 Toronto, Victoria College, Trinity College, 
 the Legislative Library, and that of Mc- 
 Master University. It was considered advis- 
 able to include within this volume only those 
 writers whose earliest published works date 
 no later than the year 1900. 
 
 The writer has not mentioned any book 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 (with very few exceptions) which he has not 
 read with more or less care, still he feels sure 
 that there are mistakes, and will be obliged 
 to any one who will bring them to his notice. 
 He has purposely avoided comparing the 
 work of one writer with that of other 
 English writers in Canada. 
 
 He has obtained information from every 
 quarter within his reach. The number of 
 books which he consulted is too great for 
 acknowledgment, but he may be allowed with- 
 out giving offence to mention the chief ones: 
 The volumes published by Dr. Morgan, 
 Ottawa; Selections from Canadian Poets, 
 Dr. Dewart; Treasury of Canadian Verse, 
 Dr. Rand; Poets of the Younger Genera- 
 tion, William Archer; Victorian Anthology, 
 Edmund Clarence Stedman; A Bibliography 
 of Canadian Po^^r3; -(English), C. C. James; 
 A Bibliography of Canadian Fiction, L. E. 
 Horning, M.A., and L. J. Burpee; Intellec- 
 tual Development of the Canadian People, 
 etc., etc., John G. Bourinot; Historical Publi- 
 cations Relating to Canada, Prof. Geo. M. 
 Wrong, M.A., and H. H. Langton, B.A., 
 Librarian of the University of Toronto. 
 
 The author extends his sincerest thanks to 
 all who kindly aided him in his work, and 
 especially to the courteous librarians and their 
 assistants, whom he troubled so often. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 CANADIAN LITERATURE 
 
 Hon. William Smith was the son of an 
 eminent lawyer in New York, an 
 
 1770 "^ 
 
 A.M. of Yale. The Smith family, 
 being strong supporters of the Crown during 
 the trouble with the New England Colonies, 
 came to Quebec in 1786. Soon afterwards 
 the father was appointed Chief Justice of 
 Canada, and died in Quebec in 1793. 
 
 In the course of time the son, William, was 
 appointed Clerk to the Legislative Assembly, 
 Lower Canada (Quebec), Master in Chancery, 
 and in 18 14 an Executive Councillor. 
 
 His History bears the date, 181 5, Quebec. 
 In the preface to the work he states that the 
 narrative was compiled for his own private 
 use, from notes made of documents he had at 
 hand, with no intention of publication; but 
 yielding to the solicitation of his friends, he 
 gave them to the pul^ic. Thus modestly does 
 Mr. Smith explain the appearance of his His- 
 tory, of which the title is: The History of 
 Canada, from its First Discovery to the Peace 
 1 
 
2 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of 1763; and from the Establishment of the 
 Civil Government, in 1764, to the Establish- 
 ment of the Constitution in 1796. 
 
 Robert Christie, a native of the Province 
 .p,«« ^« ^^ Nova Scotia, was born in the 
 
 1788-1856 
 
 town of -Windsor, in 1788, the 
 same year that King's College was founded 
 there; but it may fairly be doubted if he made 
 good use of the educational advantages of his 
 birthplace. He studied law in Quebec, was 
 called to the bar there, and in course of time 
 was elected a member of the Quebec House of 
 Assembly, for Gaspe. These were the years 
 of violent political contention in the Province 
 of Quebec; the causes which finally led to the 
 rebellion of 1837 were producing agitation 
 and serious misunderstandings among all 
 classes of the people. Mr. Christie strongly 
 supported the Governor's view of how the 
 public affairs of the Province should be con- 
 ducted, and thus increased the keen resent- 
 ment of the majority of his fellow-members. 
 He was expelled from the House in 1829, and 
 suffered the same humiliation several times 
 afterwards, his constituents each time enthusi- 
 astically re-electing him. Gaspe sought, at 
 this time, union with New Brunswick. Mr. 
 Christie represented Gaspe in the first Parlia- 
 ment of the United Canadas. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. S 
 
 Gaspe proved unfavorable to him in 1854, 
 and thenceforth he retired from public life, 
 dying at Quebec in 1856. 
 
 The most important of Christie's works is 
 his History of Canada, in six volumes, " A 
 History of the late Province of Lov^er Can- 
 ada, Parliamentary and Political, from the 
 commencement to the close of its existence as 
 a separate Province, embracing a period of 
 fifty years ; that is to say, from the erection of 
 the Province, in 1791, to the extinguishment 
 thereof, in 1841, and its re-union with Upper 
 Canada, by Act of the Imperial Parliament." 
 
 It is clear that the majority of the House of 
 Assembly disliked Mr. Christie very much. 
 But this might well be, because he supported 
 the Governor, and steadily fought against the 
 Opposition, whose tactics finally led the Pro- 
 vince into the uprising of 1837. 
 
 The most surprising part of his quaintness 
 is his habit of writing such phrases as "brit- 
 ish empire," '* english people," without the 
 ordinary use of capitals. The long sentences, 
 to which Mr. Christie was particularly 
 addicted, not only try the patience of Iiis 
 readers, but the obscurity of his style involves 
 a needless waste of time. 
 
 Mr. Christie was not a polished writer, but 
 his History is a storehouse of old and curious 
 facts relating to the history of Lower Canada 
 
4 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Up to the time of the Union. By collecting 
 documents, making extracts from contempor- 
 ary publications, and narrating his own 
 experiences, he has done valuable service for 
 the future historian of Canada. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Abbott, M.A., born and edu- 
 cated in England; came to Can- 
 
 1789-1863 , . o o J r 
 
 ada m 1818, and for years ener- 
 getically carried on, with success, the arduous 
 work of a missionary of the Church of 
 England, and labored for many years in 
 Lower Canada. Like all true missionaries he 
 concerned himself with the daily work of the 
 people, writing valuable articles on the best 
 ways of raising crops. The Emigrant was 
 published by him in 1842; second edition in 
 1843; Lovell, Montreal. Several editions of 
 The Emigrant were published. One by Mr. 
 John Murray, in the Home and Colonial 
 Library, under the title of Philip Magnus, 
 owing to its easy style, met with great accept- 
 ance, two Governors-General of the day buy- 
 ing hundreds of copies to send to those asking 
 for information about Canada. The informa- 
 tion in The Emigrant was useful to those 
 seeking a new home in Canada in 1843, 
 and to new settlers in Canada even now the 
 information therein will be serviceable as well 
 as interesting. The Emigrant was written for 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 5 
 
 farmers, largely in the form of a diary, giv- 
 ing minute details of the work on a farm. 
 
 Rev. Lewis Amadeus Anspach^ a magis- 
 trate of Newfoundland and a missionary 
 (Church of England) for the District of Con- 
 ception Bay, published, in 1809, a summary 
 of the laws of commerce and navigation 
 adapted to the then state, government and 
 navigation of the island of Newfoundland. 
 In 18 19 the same author published a history 
 of Newfoundland and the coast of Labrador, 
 with two maps. The history gives a good 
 description of the island Banks, the fisheries 
 and the trade of Newfoundland and the coast 
 of Labrador. To show the prevailing opinion 
 with regard to the unfitness of the island for 
 permanent settlement, we quote this sentence 
 from the history : *' This island is not calcu- 
 lated to produce anything sufficient for the 
 support of its inhabitants." Nearly a hundred 
 years after, the Rev. M. Harvey, LL.D., after 
 living there for 45 years, states, in his New- 
 foundland, 18^1, that there are 4,480,000 
 acres available for settlement, either as arable 
 land or for grazing purposes, and that the 
 island can sustain in comfort 4,000,000 people. 
 Thus at last Newfoundland, Britain's oldest 
 colony, is coming into its own. 
 
6 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Major John Richardson. The Major, in 
 a book published by him, refers to 
 the place of his birth in the words 
 following : '' I had first breathed the breath of 
 life near the then almost isolated Falls of 
 Niagara, the loud roaring of whose cataract 
 had, perhaps, been the earnest of the storms 
 (and they have been many) which were to 
 assail my after life." His father was a Scotch- 
 man, a surgeon in the army; his mother, a 
 Miss Askin, the daughter of a wealthy mer- 
 chant then living in Detroit. 
 
 Early in the nineteenth century, the father, 
 Dr. Robert Richardson^ was appointed sur- 
 geon to the Governor and garrison of Fort 
 Amherstburg, and in 1807 became Judge of 
 the Western District. Here, at the fort and 
 town of Amherstburg (the Major frequently, 
 in his writings, refers in glowing words to the 
 beauty of Amherstburg and its surroundings), 
 all the children, of whom there were six, were 
 reared and educated. The chief credit for the 
 education of the family* we think, must be 
 given to the mother, who, as Miss Askin, was 
 educated at one of the best convent schools of 
 Montreal. Wisely, she insisted on the chil- 
 dren learning to speak and to write French as 
 well as English, which explains the ready 
 command Mr. Richardson had of the French 
 language. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 7 
 
 The advanced school then was the family, 
 the wholesome factors of which were the 
 father and mother and the children. No dis- 
 credit does the eldest son to his school in the 
 elegant use he makes of flexible and correct 
 English. 
 
 We must not overlook his environment. 
 Besides the natural beauty already referred to, 
 there was the stir of military life, the associa- 
 tion with officers and men in the daily routine 
 of garrison duty, the well-ordered and prompt 
 obedience of the different ranks in the garri- 
 son. The Indians were constantly to be seen 
 around the fort, on lake and river, in the open, 
 but more frequently in the dark recesses of 
 the primal forest. They were to be found in 
 large numbers on the day appointed to receive 
 their annual allowance from the Superintend- 
 ent of Indian Affairs — the aged veteran, the 
 young brave, the grey-haired squaw, and the 
 helpless papoose. In his writings we have the 
 clearest proofs of the vivid impressions these 
 scenes made upon the youthful Canadian ; and, 
 at the same time, they furnish undeniable evi- 
 dence of his power of accurate and keen obser- 
 vation. Thus it was that young Richardson 
 had the opportunities, of which he made such 
 good use, in collecting and laying up in store 
 the material which he so deftly worked into 
 tales of Canadian and Indian life. The school 
 
8 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of learning had to give place to the school of 
 arms at the early age of fifteen, when he 
 joined the 41st Regiment, in 18 12, to defend 
 his native country from invasion by the 
 United States. 
 
 Major Richardson was a soldier, the 
 descendant of soldiers. At the conclusion of 
 the War of 1812, he, as lieutenant, and many 
 other soldiers embarked for the continent of 
 Europe, hoping to share in the final struggle 
 against Napoleon tinder Wellington; but, 
 before landing, Waterloo had been fought and 
 won. Soon thereafter many men were dis- 
 charged, one of whom was Mr. Richardson, 
 who remained for some years in London. In 
 Spain he fought with the British Legion. In 
 1838 he returned to Canada, holding the posi- 
 tion of correspondent of The Times, which 
 he relinquished on account of political differ- 
 ences. Afterwards, he, by advice of friends, 
 entered into newspaper work, publishing a 
 newspaper in Brockville and also in Kingston, 
 neither of which answered his expectations. 
 In May, 1845, we find him superintendent of 
 police on the Welland Canal, at los. a day. 
 In a few months the Government disbanded 
 the police, and Major Richardson was £51 out 
 of pocket for clothing furnished to the police. 
 Mr. Richardson had expectations that the 
 Government would appoint him to some posi- 
 
CANADIAN JJTERATURE. 9 
 
 tion in which he could earn a livelihood by 
 employing his matured experience and talents 
 to the advantage of his country. His story 
 verifies : 
 
 " Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 
 Where most it promises." 
 
 About 1848-9 Mr. Richardson finally left 
 Canada to reside in the City of New York, 
 where he devoted his time to writing new 
 volumes and publishing new editions of his 
 former works. It is a painful fact that there 
 is unmistakable evidence to show that the 
 Major, in New York, was unable to keep the 
 wolf from the door by the product of his pen. 
 He had a fine Newfoundland, named Hector, 
 of which he was very fond and proud. One 
 day, shortly before he died, he was heard to 
 say : '' Hector, you and I must part or starve." 
 The dog was sold, and a few days thereafter 
 the Major died in the City of New York, 
 1852. 
 
 It is a reproach to the Government of Can- 
 ada to have allowed a man — a native Can- 
 adian, too — who had done so much good work 
 for Canada with sword and pen, to depart 
 from his native land and to starve in a foreign 
 country. 
 
 Major Richardson published several books 
 during his life-time, twelve or thirteen in all. 
 
10 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Wacoiisia, or the Prophecy. 1832. London 
 and Edinburgh. A tale of the Canadas. There 
 were several editions of Wacousta published 
 in Great Britain, Canada, and the United 
 States. It met with much favor and is 
 undoubtedly the best of his works. The stir- 
 ring events which took place about the forts 
 of Amherstburg and Detroit, at the time of 
 the conspiracy of the celebrated Indian chief, 
 Pontiac, the siege of the latter fort being con- 
 ducted by the implacable and treacherous chief 
 in person, supply the main part of the story. 
 It is interesting to compare the narrative of 
 the historian, Parkman, and that of the novel- 
 ist, Richardson, and observe how well the two 
 narratives in the main agree in describing the 
 treachery and cunning of the Indian, with the 
 hardships and determination of the English 
 shown in that memorable siege. In Wacousta 
 there are several passages displaying much 
 ability. We may name the interview between 
 Col. de Haldimar and Chief Pontiac, in the 
 P'ort of Detroit, when he came to a council 
 with forty of his chiefs, in the guise of peace 
 and friendship, while cherishing the blackest 
 hate. They came prepared to murder the 
 unsuspecting officers and men, and thus to get 
 possession of the fort. By duplicity of this 
 kind they had succeeded in obtaining entrance 
 into other forts and destroying the defenders. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. \\ 
 
 But Col. de Haldimar had received a hint of 
 Pontiac's real intention, and when he made 
 the attempt to carry out his plan, he found 
 himself and chiefs accurately covered by a row 
 of British muskets. The whole passage is 
 worthy of a George Eliot, or, may we say, of 
 Sir Walter Scott himself. 
 
 In Wacousta, The Canadian Brothers, and 
 in The War of 1812, Mr. Richardson shows 
 the strongest proofs of his intimate knowledge 
 of the native Indian. No one surpasses him, 
 if any one equals him, in his vivid description 
 of the manners and customs of the native 
 red men, their fortitude and bravery, their 
 loyal devotion to their leader, also their relent- 
 less pursuit of an enemy, and their cruelty. 
 To charge Richardson with copying Mr. 
 James Fenimore Cooper is absurd. 
 
 The Canadian Brothers, or, The Prophecy 
 Fulfilled, is a tale of the War of 1812, in 
 which the writer took an active part, with the 
 Right Division of the Canadian Army, till 
 the disastrous defeat at Moraviantown, in 
 18 1 3, when he was made a prisoner. The Can- 
 adian Brothers is not the equal of Wacousta 
 in interest or literary skill, but there are many 
 beautiful lines in it ; for instance, " The crisj>- 
 ing sound of the waves, rippling on the sand." 
 There is in this volume a pretty full discussion 
 of the right of a civilized nation to take pos- 
 2 
 
12 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 session of the lands of a savage people, the 
 concrete case under consideration being that 
 of the United States. 
 
 The narrative of the War of 1812 by Mr. 
 Richardson has the advantage of being that 
 of an eye-witness, and is fairly well done, 
 though it shows evidence of being written in 
 haste. The best edition is that published by 
 the Historical Publishing Co., with life of the 
 author, notes, etc., by Alexander Clark Cassel- 
 man. Toronto, 1902. 
 
 Eight Years in Canada. In this volume 
 Mr. Richardson gives his personal history, 
 from 1838 to 1846 inclusive; consequently the 
 narrative is largely reminiscent. From a liter- 
 ary point of view the merits far outweigh the 
 faults. The passage which relates his feel- 
 ings — his anticipations and disappointments — 
 on his first visit, after an absence of many 
 years, to Amherstburg, the scene of his boy- 
 hood, does him much credit. 
 
 Many other passages might be referred to, 
 showing the author's literary skill. In this 
 work he appears as an able and vigorous con- 
 troversialist, taking rank in that respect with 
 the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, D.D. In Eight 
 Years in Canada Mr. Richardson touches 
 upon the administration of Lords Durham 
 and Sydenham, Sir Charles Bagot, and Lord 
 Metcalfe, supplying us with valuable informa- 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 13 
 
 tion which we could not obtain from any- 
 other writer. 
 
 Richardson's writings are the work of a 
 strong, tense man, who is an artist in his use 
 of English, and no time-server. His work 
 must live forever in the annals of Canadian 
 story. 
 
 Thomas Chandler Haliburton^ a famous 
 novelist and humorist, of Nova 
 Scotia, was a descendant of a Scot- 
 tish family (with which Sir Walter Scott was 
 connected) which emigrated to Boston during 
 the closing years of the reign of Queen Anne. 
 In the Revolution troubles, the grandfather 
 of Haliburton was a strong supporter of the 
 British cause. He gave proof that the spirit 
 of his ancestors, which earned for the family 
 the words, graved on their escutcheon, '' Leal, 
 true, and honest men, and good borderers 
 against the English," burned brightly still in 
 the King's dominions on this side of the 
 Atlantic. Consequently the Haliburton family 
 removed to Nova Scotia. The future judge 
 and writer was born in the town of Windsor, 
 whose school and university (King's College) 
 he attended, finishing a successful academic 
 course with high honors in 181 5. 
 
 Many of his college class became, like him- 
 self, eminent in the practice of law, and one, 
 
14 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Sir John Inglis, K.C.B., won lasting renown 
 by his gallant defence of Lucknow. Early in 
 life he was elected a member of the Legisla- 
 tive Assembly of his native Province. He 
 succeeded his father in the Chief Justiceship 
 of the Court of Common Pleas in 1829, and 
 was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court 
 in 1 84 1, which position he resigned in 1856, 
 and went to reside in England, near London. 
 
 He was elected in 1859, and sat for Laun- 
 ceston for six years in the House of Com- 
 mons. His death took place in 1865. 
 
 The readers of Haliburton's works may 
 easily perceive the purpose he had in view, and 
 which, through all his writings, he kept in 
 mind. What that purpose was is stated by 
 himself in the preface to Sam Slick's Wise 
 Saws and Modern Instances, new edition: 
 "The original design in writing the sketches 
 known as the Sayings and Doings of the 
 Clockmaker, which has never since been lost 
 sight of, was to awaken Nova Scotians to the 
 vast resources and capabilities of their native 
 land, to stimulate their energy and enterprise, 
 to strengthen the bond of union between the 
 colonies and the parent state, and by occa- 
 sional reference to the institutions and govern- 
 ments of other countries, to induce them to 
 form a just estimate and place a proper value 
 on their own." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 15 
 
 When Haliburton states that the colonies 
 are ponds to breed frogs, and that the only 
 necessity was to provide an outlet and an 
 inlet to these ponds in order to produce whole- 
 some fish, his meaning is plain. He was 
 animated by the spirit that moved Sir John 
 Macdonald when he said: "A British subject 
 I was born, a British subject I shall die." 
 
 The books in which the sayings and doings 
 of Sam Slick of Slickville are given are: The 
 Clockmaker , The Attache, Wise Saws, and 
 Nature and Human Nature. Joseph Howe, 
 editor and proprietor of the Nova Scotian, 
 was fortunate enough to secure Haliburton as 
 a writer for his paper, and the celebrated 
 Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick began to 
 appear for the first time in 1835. Shortly 
 afterwards they were collected and published 
 in book form in Halifax and London. Hali- 
 burton's first book was his Historical and 
 Statistical Account of Nova Scotia, published 
 in Halifax, 1829, highly commended, and for 
 which he received a vote of thanks from the 
 House of Assembly. In 1849 appeared the 
 Old Judge, or. Life in a Colony. This is a 
 specimen of the work the writer of Sam Slick 
 could do by using the Queen's English instead 
 of dialect. It is worthy of attention, also, by 
 his English reader, whether in Britain or 
 Canada, as it reveals plainly what were the 
 
16 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 views and feelings of a British Imperialist at 
 the beginning of the- nineteenth century. 
 
 Haliburton is regarded as the founder of 
 the American school of humor. Most of its 
 phases are illustrated in his pages. Several 
 years before Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared, 
 Topsy's famous turn of expression could be 
 found in the Clockmaker, where a country 
 girl, being asked where she was brought up, 
 replied : *' Why, I guess I wasn't brought up 
 at all. I just growed up." Anecdotes and 
 tales, besides phrases, have been borrowed by 
 modern humorists from Haliburton, and 
 many hold that his most lasting remembrance 
 will be based upon his work in humor. He 
 was intensely earnest in his desire to sway his 
 fellow colonists to adopt his views for the 
 betterment of their country. He thought that 
 this could be best accomplished by using 
 dialogue and a colloquial style. Accordingly 
 he introduces, in many of his works, as his 
 spokesman, the droll, witty, learned and wise 
 Sam Slick, of Slickville, the Yankee pedlar. 
 Towards the end of his life he was satisfied 
 with the wisdom of the choice he had made 
 for securing his purpose, though his literary 
 fame perhaps might be more enduring if he 
 had expressed himself in effective English. 
 The world owes him much, not only for his 
 conspicuous wisdom and prudence, but also 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 17 
 
 for the merriment his pages afford to his many 
 readers. 
 
 David Thompson, a retired soldier of the 
 Royal Scots, and a captain in the 
 
 1796-1868 .,. . . ' , ur 1- J 
 
 militia of Canada, published, at 
 Niagara, 1832, a history of the War of 181 2- 
 181 5 between Great Britain and the United 
 States of America. Mr. Thompson taught 
 school in Niagara and vicinity for many 
 years ; he also acted as a surveyor. 
 
 After considerable enquiry we feel justified 
 in stating that Mr. Thompson was born in 
 Scotland about 1796, and died in Niagara, 
 1868. He received his education in Scotland. 
 He does not claim to have had the oppor- 
 tunities of becoming familiar with the 
 " flowery paths of literature," which many 
 others enjoyed; but we should not forget that 
 the parish schools of Scotland even then had 
 many college men for their masters, capable 
 and eager to lead the ingenuous youth to 
 appreciate the beauties of composition. Mr. 
 Thompson was well prepared to write a true 
 account of the War of 18 12, for he took the 
 trouble of fully acquainting himself with the 
 literature bearing upon it furnished by both 
 parties to the conflict. He received informa- 
 tion from many who had been engaged in the 
 war, and besides these sources of information, 
 
18 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 he had personal knowledge of many of its 
 events. 
 
 In his History he reviews the causes which 
 finally led to the war. He submits copies of 
 original documents bearing upon the questions 
 at issue between the two countries, and feels 
 compelled by the evidence to strongly support 
 the course pursued by the British Govern- 
 ment. It is gratifying to find a resident in 
 Canada, at so early a date, giving a narrative 
 of the trouble so full and so well supported by 
 extracts from original sources. 
 
 The title of the volume is : History of the 
 late War between Great Britain and the United 
 States of America, with a Retrospective View 
 of the Causes whence it Originated; Collected 
 from the Most Authentic Sources. Niagara, 
 1832. The immediate refward that Mr. 
 Thompson reaped from his patriotism and 
 praiseworthy effort was that he was confined 
 in prison for a time because unable to pay the 
 whole cost of publication. 
 
 He was teaching in Niagara during the 
 year 1827. A hint of his spirit is given us 
 by the fact that his pupils collected lis. i^d. 
 that year and sent it to the Greeks, then 
 struggling to secure their independence. May 
 his memory be kept green by British Can- 
 adians ! 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 19 
 
 Mrs. Catharine Parr Traill, who was 
 one of the talented sisters of the 
 Strickland family, came to Can- 
 ada in 1832, and settled in the unbroken forest 
 near Rice Lake, about ten miles north of Peter- 
 borough. The Traill family had experiences 
 in the bush similar to those related by Mrs. 
 Moodie in her Roughing it in the Bush. And, 
 doubtless, for like reasons, she took her pen to 
 enlighten the British public as to the disad- 
 vantages of a certain class of emigrants com- 
 ing to Upper Canada; but conscientiously she 
 set forth, with disinterested zeal and truthful- 
 ness, the riches which awaited the capable and 
 willing in the new land of her adoption. 
 
 For this purpose Mrs. Traill wrote two 
 books. Lost in the Backzvoods and Pictures 
 of Life and Scenery in the Woods of Canada. 
 Both are books of fiction, but there is much 
 of real life given in the narrative. In Lost in 
 the Backwoods she assumes that three chil- 
 dren — brother, sister, and cousin — were lost in 
 the woods on the border of Rice Lake, where 
 they lived more than two years on fish, berries 
 and rice found by the lake, deer, and any article 
 of food which the wild forest yielded. The 
 children built shanties, and made clothes 
 from the skins of animals which they had 
 been fortunate enough to kill. They rescued 
 from death a young Indian maid who had 
 
20 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 been left by her ruthless enemies, bound hand 
 and foot, to perish. The Indian girl proved 
 a very efficient ally in the struggle for life by 
 the lost children in the thick woods of Canada. 
 Deliverance finally came through a lumber- 
 man — a friend of their parents — who led them 
 safely to their homes. 
 
 This book was first published under the 
 title of The Canadian Crusoes. 
 
 In Pictures of Life and Scenery in the 
 Woods of Canada, or, Lady Mary and Her 
 Nurse, the writer makes use of the intimate 
 relations existing between a nurse and her 
 protege to convey by conversation or reading 
 to her young charge much information about 
 the trees, flowers, animals, lakes and rivers of 
 Canada. The style of both books is easy, 
 pleasant, and fitted to engage the attention of 
 the reader, especially the young reader. 
 
 Throughout her writings Mrs. Traill shows 
 a decided leaning towards the flora of the 
 country, referring frequently to the beauty 
 and uses of flowers, and describing the differ- 
 ent trees and plants, especially the latter. This 
 led, in 1885, to the publication of her book on 
 the Studies of Plant Life, or. Gleanings from 
 Forest, Lake, and Plain, with chromo-litho- 
 graphs, a useful and entertaining work. 
 
 During the administration of Lord Pal- 
 merston a grant of £100 was made to Mrs. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 21 
 
 Traill in recognition of her work as a natural- 
 ist, and later the Dominion Government recog- 
 nized her services by presenting her with an 
 island in the Otonabee River, rewards well 
 deserved, on account of her many timely and 
 useful publications. 
 
 Mrs. Susanna Moodie was also a member 
 of the gifted Strickland family, of 
 Reydon Hall, Suffolk, England. 
 Mrs. Moodie and her sisters were educated by 
 their father, a gentleman of wealth, refinement 
 and good taste. He lost heavily by imprudently 
 endorsing paper for a friend; the loss preyed 
 on his mind to such an extent that he died, 
 when Miss Susanna was only thirteen years 
 old. Though she began writing for the public 
 press when only fifteen, her work was well 
 received. In 1831 she married John Wedder- 
 burn Dunbar Moodie, a half-pay officer, 21st 
 Fusiliers, and the following year they emi- 
 grated to Canada. On the farm they pur- 
 chased, near Port Hope, they only remained a 
 short time, afterwards moving * into the 
 unbroken bush ten miles north of Peter- 
 borough. Here, in acute form, they experi- 
 enced the serious and aggravating difficulties 
 which met the pioneer settlers in the magnifi- 
 cent forest of Upper Canada. There are not 
 a few housekeepers, even yet, remaining in 
 
22 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Upper Canada (Ontario), who can sympa- 
 thetically in spirit share Mrs. Hoodie's bitter 
 disappointment in her failure to acquire the 
 art of making good bread from Canadian 
 flour. They will find the story of this, and 
 many other things besides, well told in Rough- 
 ing It in the Bush, by Mrs. Moodie. 
 
 In 1839 Mr. Moodie was appointed Sheriff 
 of the County of Hastings, and the family 
 removed to Belleville. 
 
 In Flora Lindsay and Roughing It in the 
 Bush the authoress relates the details about 
 leaving one's native land, the uncertainties in 
 regard to a new country, the sorrows of leave- 
 taking, the yearning for the homeland and all 
 it contains. The writer does not omit to tell 
 of the long voyage across the Atlantic, with its 
 inconveniences, mishaps, and sufferings; the 
 journey into the new, strange land, so exten- 
 sive and so rude in comparison to the land left 
 behind, yet, with all its disadvantages, recog- 
 nized to be the land of promise for every one 
 seeking a home and independence. 
 
 In Life in the Clearings versus the Bush, 
 Mrs. Moodie gives historic sketches of cities 
 and towns in Canada West, as they appeared 
 in 1852. Very interesting she makes these 
 sketches, combining with them many anec- 
 dotes and tales about residents and travellers. 
 Let no reader miss her description of the Falls 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 23 
 
 of Niagara. There is fiction in these books 
 (perhaps more correct to say exaggeration), 
 but the future historian of Canada, when he 
 comes, will find in these volumes fit material 
 ready for the writing of Canadian history. 
 
 Her work affords a good example of the 
 style of a worthy class of fiction-writers of the 
 early nineteenth century, with its large interest 
 in human life, its marriages, family connec- 
 tions, births, and deaths, its stories of ghosts, 
 its odd people, incredible feats of strength and 
 endurance, the sweet home life, simple and 
 humane. The reader of Mrs. Hoodie's work 
 receives the impression that she was of an 
 amiable, sensible, refined, religious character. 
 She has the additional honor of being one of 
 the early pioneers of Canadian literature. 
 
 We print the following extract from Rough- 
 ing It in the Bush, as a fair specimen of Mrs. 
 Moodie's style of writing: 
 
 " Every perception of my mind became absorbed into 
 the one sense of seeing, when, upon rounding Point Levis, 
 we cast anchor before Quebec. What a scene ! Can 
 the world produce such another ? Edinburgh had been 
 the deau ideal to me of all that was beautiful in nature — 
 a vision of the northern Highlands had haunted my 
 dreams across the Atlantic ; but all these past recollec- 
 tions faded before the present Quebec. 
 
 "Nature has lavished all her grandest elements to 
 form this astonishing panorama. There frowns the 
 cloud-capped mountain, and below the cataract foams 
 
24 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 and thunders ; wood and rock and river combine to 
 lend their aid in making the picture perfect and worthy 
 of its Divine Originator. The precipitous bank upon 
 which the city lies piled, reflected in the still, deep waters 
 at its base, greatly enhances the romantic beauty of the 
 situation." 
 
 Adolphus Egerton Ryerson, LL.D., D.D., 
 was the son of Col. Ryerson, an 
 officer in the Prince of Wales' 
 Regiment, a loyal Colonial corps that took 
 an honorable part in the Revolutionary War. 
 At the conclusion of the war he removed to 
 New Brunswick, but during the closing years 
 of the eighteenth century he settled in what is 
 now the County of Norfolk, Upper Canada. 
 Here Adolphus Egerton, the future Chief 
 Superintendent of Education, was born. He 
 began his education by attending the ele- 
 mentary school near home; for a short time 
 he was at the grammar school in London, and, 
 finally, had the benefit of reading with a mas- 
 ter of high classical attainments in Hamilton. 
 He made rapid progress at all his schools, and 
 obtained a good serviceable technical educa- 
 tion by working on the farm with his father, 
 which he found of much value when he minis- 
 tered in after years to the Indians at Port 
 Credit. Ryerson was a man of deep religious 
 feelings, and it is worthy of note how, even in 
 early life, he recognized his responsibility for 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 25 
 
 the use he made of his time and abihties. 
 Though both his parents were members of the 
 Church of England, he joined the Methodist 
 Church. On his father requiring him to with- 
 draw from that connexion, he left home, and 
 in due course became a minister of the Meth- 
 odist body. The Christian Guardian was estab- 
 lished in 1829, and Ryerson was appointed its 
 first editor. 
 
 Ryerson was a man of war whenever his 
 friends, country, or principles were assailed. 
 His first controversy, of which he became the 
 leader on the religious side, was with the 
 adherents of the Church of England on the 
 question of the inherent rights of all churches 
 to full equality, both civil and religious. The 
 opposite side of the dispute was conducted 
 by the " Aberdonian/' Rev. Dr. Strachan, the 
 first Bishop of the Toronto Diocese, who 
 claimed special privileges for his Church, as 
 being established by law in Upper Canada. 
 The winning side was that of Ryerson and his 
 friends, involving far-reaching consequences 
 to Canada. His defence of Governor Sir 
 Charles Metcalfe is regarded as his ablest 
 effort at political writing, and clearly shows 
 that he was a writer of resource and power. 
 
 Thereafter came his life-work in 1844, the 
 founding of a system of public education for 
 Upper Canada, or, to be very exact, the reor- 
 
26 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 ganizing of the system of education which 
 then existed. His connection with the Upper 
 Canada Academy, which finally became Vic- 
 toria University, in both of which he held, at 
 different times, the highest positions, admir- 
 ably fitted him for this arduous and very 
 important task. How well and how success- 
 fully he did this noble and enduring work, the 
 expansive power of the educational system of 
 Ontario attests year in, year out. 
 
 To appreciate in detail his work in this ofifice 
 for his country belongs not to this book; but 
 we may say that his memory will be most 
 gratefully cherished by the people of Ontario 
 and other Provinces of Canada. 
 
 Upon his retirement, in 1876, he employed 
 his leisure to fulfil a promise which had been 
 made by him many years before, and for 
 which he had been collecting material for at 
 least twenty-five years, viz., the writing of 
 The Loyalists of America and Their Times ^ 
 1880. Dr. Ryerson, by the performance of 
 this task, became the first British author to 
 write the history of the United Empire Loyal- 
 ists of America. 
 
 In the Loyalists of America, 1620- 1816, the 
 Rev. Dr. Ryerson, in two volumes, writes the 
 story of those who felt compelled to support 
 loyally the cause of the Motherland against 
 the men who had determined to withdraw 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 27 
 
 from the British Empire. He gives a pretty 
 full account of the colonial time, showing 
 clearly the friendly attitude of the Stuarts 
 towards the British on this side of the Atlantic, 
 which is contrary to the opinion generally 
 entertained in regard to these sovereigns. His 
 narrative of the Pilgrim Fathers and the Puri- 
 tan Fathers of Massachusetts Bay is most 
 interesting and instructive. For the first time 
 the centre of discontent, disaffection and, ulti- 
 mately, disloyalty, is laid bare. 
 
 Having given a sketch of the French and 
 Indian wars, he considers the troubles out 
 of which came the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence, with an earnest sympathy with the 
 opponents of the Crown and forcible condem- 
 nation of British policy. The passing of the 
 Declaration of Independence is regarded by 
 him with strong disapproval. That was a 
 mistake disastrous to the whole English-speak- 
 ing race. The years of war following were a 
 disgrace to both sides; the expulsion of the 
 supporters of the Crown from their country 
 was infamous inhumanity. The history of the 
 United Empire Loyalists is followed into the 
 nineteenth century, and a brief sketch is given 
 of several of the Provinces of Canada. Cur- 
 rent American opinions are frequently contra- 
 dicted, but always on the best historical 
 authority. 
 
28 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Canadians ought to read Dr. Ryerson's 
 Loyalists of America and Their Times. There 
 they will see that it was not a vain thing for 
 the author to write : " Canada has a noble 
 parentage, the remembrance of which its 
 inhabitants may well cherish with respect, 
 affection and pride." These two volumes, and 
 The Story of My Life, so well and sympa- 
 thetically edited by the Rev. Doctor's life-long 
 friend, Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins, Barrister-at-Law, 
 Osgoode Hall, now in Department of Educa- 
 tion as Historiographer, contain much valu- 
 able information collected in good shape for 
 the future historians of our country. 
 
 The Hon. Joseph Howe was born in Nova 
 Scotia, and died there when he 
 was Lieut-Governor of his native 
 Province. An extract from one of his ad- 
 dresses while in England will be the best 
 exposition of the Howe family in Nova 
 Scotia : " During the old times of persecution, 
 four brothers, bearing my name, left the 
 southern counties of England, and settled in 
 four of the New England States. Their 
 descendants number thousands, and are scat- 
 tered from Maine to California. My father 
 was the only descendant of that stock who, at 
 the Revolution, adhered to the side of Eng- 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 29 
 
 land. His bones rest in the Halifax church- 
 yard. I am his only surviving son." 
 
 Joseph Howe owed little to school training. 
 His education was acquired during the long 
 winter months by reading the volumes in 
 the family library and talks with his father, 
 who was King's Printer and Postmaster- 
 General of Nova Scotia for many years. At 
 an early age he was sent to a printer's office, 
 and thus began to climb the ladder of life, end- 
 ing only in his departure from earth while he 
 was Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia. Joseph 
 Howe became journalist, politician, member of 
 parliaments, both of his own Province and of 
 the House of Commons of Canada; member 
 of governments and leader of administra- 
 tions ; showing in these high positions the true 
 qualities of a statesman. The clearest evidence 
 of his statesmanship is that he led Nova Scotia 
 through the trying ordeal of acquiring respon- 
 sible government without one drop of blood 
 being shed. This we believe to be his noblest 
 achievement and his supreme right to the 
 gratitude of his fellow-subjects in every part 
 of the British Empire. 
 
 The Speeches and Public Letters of the Hon, 
 Joseph Howe, edited by William Annand, 
 M.P.P., 2 vols., 1858; Boston. "To give," 
 says the editor, " to the rising generation the 
 means by which to judge, not only of the intel- 
 
30 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 lectual calibre of the race they are to succeed, 
 but of the true character of a countryman's 
 struggles and labors, of which they are to reap 
 the benefits." — Preface. 
 
 Poems and Essays, by the Hon. Joseph 
 Howe, published (under direction of the 
 family), 1874; Montreal. A volume that will 
 fairly illustrate the varied phases of Mr. 
 Howe's literary genius. For a long time Mr. 
 Howe looked forward to having a few years 
 of leisure, during which he might be able to 
 complete and present to the public, in two or 
 three volumes, several unfinished literary 
 efforts, together with a number of his smaller 
 poems, written at intervals during the engross- 
 ing occupations of a very active political life, 
 but the desire was not realized. 
 
 For the sake of those who understand, we 
 cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of quoting 
 the following lines : 
 
 " The glow of mind, the spirit's light, 
 Which time or age can never take, 
 Will still shine on, undimmed and bright, 
 And many a holy rapture wake, 
 
 Tho' time may steal the roseate blush." 
 
 Those who wish to know the reason why 
 the Hon. Joseph Howe is called " A most dis- 
 tinguished son of Nova Scotia and one of the 
 ablest of Canadian statesmen," will find the 
 answer by reading the above three volumes. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 31 
 
 " All hail to the day when they came over, 
 
 And planted their standard, with sea foam still wet ! 
 Around and above us their spirit will hover, 
 
 Rejoicing to mark how we honor it yet. 
 Beneath it the emblems they cherished are waving, 
 
 The Rose of Old England the roadside perfumes, 
 The Shamrock and Thistle the north winds are braving, 
 
 Securely the Mayflower blushes and blooms. 
 
 " Hail to the day," etc. 
 
 — The Flag of Old England. 
 
 " But yet, deserted nest, there is a spell, 
 
 E'en in thy loneliness, to touch the heart, 
 For holy things within thee once did dwell, 
 The type of joys departed now thou art. 
 
 " Then though thy walls be rent, and cold thy cell, 
 And thoughtless crowds may hourly pass thee by, 
 Where love and truth and tenderness did dwell, 
 There's still attraction for the poet's eye." 
 
 — The Deserted Nest, 
 
 LiEUT.-CoL. Samuel Strickland^ a brother 
 of the well-known Misses Strick- 
 land, came to Canada West in 
 1825, entering the employ of the Canada Com- 
 pany, under the guidance of John Gait. He 
 was thoroughly familiar with the beginnings 
 of Gait, Guelph, and Goderich, and the lands 
 lying between these towns. He knew well the 
 vast estate, more than a million acres, in the 
 rich, if primitive, Huron District. He served 
 his King and country in the troubles of 1837. 
 
32 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 The details of these things and many others 
 are to be found in his Twenty-Seven Years in 
 Canada West, or, The Experience of an Early 
 Settler, an entertaining volume, edited by 
 Agnes Strickland. 
 
 Evan MacColl, poet, was born and edu- 
 cated in Lochfyneside, Scotland. 
 On account of the distance of his 
 home from the parish school, he was obliged 
 to attend a school of an inferior grade; but, 
 fortunately for the young bard, his father 
 engaged a private tutor, under whose care 
 MacColl made very good progress in his 
 studies. 
 
 The family removed to Canada, 1831, 
 young Evan staying behind, preparing for 
 publication a volume of poetry, which 
 appeared in 1838 in both Gaelic and English. 
 Through the influence of a Member of Par- 
 liament, Mr. MacColl, in 1839, was appointed 
 to a clerkship in the Customs at Liverpool. 
 In 1850, his health being somewhat impaired, 
 he obtained six months' leave of absence and 
 visited his father's family, when he was 
 induced to transfer his clerkship from Liver- 
 pool to Kingston, where he continued in the 
 public service till 1880, then being super- 
 annuated on the usual retiring allowance. 
 
 Poems and Songs, chiefly written in Canada, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 33 
 
 appeared in 1883; second edition, 1888. Mr. 
 MacColl's best work was done in Scotland, 
 but he has the rare distinction of having won 
 honor by his lyrics in both Gaelic and English. 
 He was, the Gaelic bard of Canada, his lyrics in 
 Gaelic appealing more sweetly to the affections 
 of the Gael in the mother tongue than those 
 in English to the general reader. He was 
 highly esteemed by the native-born High- 
 landers in the country of their adoption. He 
 had the honor of being one of the original 
 members of the Royal Society of Canada. 
 
 "THE CHAUDIl^RE. 
 " Where the Ottawa pours its magnificent tide 
 Through forests primeval, dark-waving and wide, 
 There's a scene which for grandeur has scarcely a 
 
 peer — 
 'Tis the wild roaring rush of the mighty Chaudidre. 
 
 " On, onward it dashes, an ocean of spray ; 
 How madly it lashes each rock on its way ! 
 Like the onset of hosts, when spear breaks against 
 
 spear, 
 Is th' omnipotent sweep of the mighty Chaudiere. 
 
 " See ! see where it now from yon ledge wildly leaps — 
 Less swift down some Alps the dread avalanche sweeps 
 That vortex below may well agonize where 
 Right into its throat goes the mighty Chaudiere. 
 
 ' Evermore, evermore, where sheer downwards it springs, 
 Its mist-mantle it weaves — its loud anthem it sings ; 
 Yonder isle in its path seems to quiver with fear — 
 It may well dread the shock of the mighty Chaudiere. 
 
34 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " Though for lips uninspired it seems almost a crime 
 To be aught else than mute by a scene so sublime, 
 Could I voice all I feel as I gaze on it here, 
 How immortal in song were the mighty Chaudiere." 
 
 — Poems and Songs. 
 
 LiEUT.-CoL. William F. Coffin, born in 
 Ensfland, and educated at Eton 
 
 1808-1878 
 
 College. Coming to Canada in 
 1830, he studied and practised law in Montreal. 
 He was joint sheriff of the district of Montreal 
 for some years, and received the appointment 
 of H.M. agent for the management of the 
 Ordnance Estates, Canada. Mr. Coffin, son 
 of a family engaged in military affairs for 
 several generations, a descendant of a U.E. 
 Loyalist, and himself an enthusiastic officer of 
 our active volunteer force, was a man most 
 likely to enter heartily into the history of the 
 War of 18 1 2- 1 5. The author also being an 
 official of the Canadian Government gave him 
 a unique opportunity of writing, 18 12: The 
 War and Its Moral; a Canadian Chronicle, 
 which was published, 1864, Montreal. In the 
 preface to his work, he frankly states that he 
 views the trouble from the British-Canadian 
 standpoint, which was undoubtedly provoked 
 by the false and bombastic accounts which had 
 appeared from those who had been opponents. 
 His account of the war has been unduly 
 praised and unduly depreciated. Mr. Coffin's 
 personal sketches lend life and animation to 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 35 
 
 the story, but the fault of the book is, per- 
 haps, chiefly to be found in the too florid 
 and too labored biographical episodes, which 
 lead the reader away from the current of the 
 narrative. 
 
 Paul Kane was the son of a soldier, who in 
 all probability was a member of 
 the small detachment of regulars 
 that accompanied Governor Simcoe when he 
 removed, in 1794, to Little York, the future 
 capital of Ontario. Mr. Paul Kane attended 
 the Home District Grammar School, wherein 
 he got all his elementary school training and 
 his first lessons in the art of which he after- 
 wards became so successful a votary. The 
 Mississauga Indians, whose wigwams were 
 then on the cleared land at the mouth of the 
 Don, when the first survey was made in 1793, 
 for years afterwards haunted the little village 
 of York, now the prosperous city of Toronto. 
 
 Here young Kane grew up in the midst of 
 the struggle between the rudeness of savage 
 life and the hopeful advance in betterment of 
 the Anglo-Saxon. The appearance of the 
 Indian in such an environment is little likely 
 to enlist the attention of an artist in his favor ; 
 but it is obvious that the scenes made a deep 
 impression upon the mind of young Paul. 
 The following extract from Rev. Dr. Scad- 
 
36 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 ding's Toronto of Old may indicate one source 
 of the influence which guided the future of 
 the promising young artist : " During the 
 time of the early settlement of this country the 
 sons of even the most respectable families 
 were brought into contact with semi-bar- 
 barous characters. A sporting ramble through 
 the woods, a fishing excursion on the waters, 
 could not be taken without communication 
 with Indians and half-breeds and bad speci- 
 mens of the French voyageur. It was from 
 such sources that a certain idea was derived, 
 which, as we remember, was in great vogue 
 among the more fractious of the lads at the 
 school at York. The proposition circulated 
 about, whenever anything went counter to 
 their notions, always was, to run away to the 
 ' Nor'-West.' What the process really involved, 
 or where the * Nor'-West ' precisely was, were 
 things vaguely realized.'* A sort of savage 
 land of '' Cockaigne," a region of perfect free- 
 dom among the Indians, was imagined; and 
 to reach it Lakes Huron and Superior were to 
 be traversed. Master Kane's early efforts in 
 drawing were not regarded with favor, being 
 looked upon as designed to avoid steady indus- 
 trial labor. It fared with him as with the 
 nephew of a member of the Society of Friends 
 who conveyed to Mrs. Moodie his complaint 
 in the words following : " Susanna, I am 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 37 
 
 sorry to say, Jonathan is too much given to 
 literature." 
 
 Mr. Kane's strength was for a different 
 industry. To secure his object he worked 
 earnestly at his profession in both Canada and 
 the United States, carefully saving all the 
 money that he could, and was so successful 
 that he was able to sail in 1841 from Orleans 
 for Europe. On the Continent he spent the 
 next four years, studying in the great cities of 
 European art and making copies of the works 
 of the great masters. This trip was of the 
 highest service to him; his mind had been 
 enlarged by observation and by friendly inter- 
 course with artists trained in the best schools 
 of Europe. Thus equipped he set out in 1845 
 to do what he had during many years prepared 
 himself to accomplish. What that purpose 
 was is best given in his own words, found in 
 The Wanderings of an Artist, published in 
 London, 1859: "On my return to Canada 
 from the Continent of Europe, I determined to 
 devote whatever talents and proficiency I pos- 
 sessed to the painting of a series of pictures 
 illustrative of the North American Indian and 
 scenery. The subject was one in which I felt 
 a deep interest in my boyhood." 
 
 Accordingly, leaving Toronto early in 1845, 
 he spent the succeeding four years in the West 
 of Canada, which was then largely under the 
 
38 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 control of the Hudson's Bay Company. The 
 Governor of the Company, Sir Geo. Simpson, 
 was very friendly to him, allowing him to 
 travel with their boats all through the country. 
 Kane crossed the Canadian Rockies and 
 remained on the Pacific Coast for a number of 
 months. He brought back with him to Toronto 
 the most valuable collection ever made in 
 America of Indian curiosities, together with 
 four hundred sketches of scenes met with in 
 his many journeys. 
 
 Sir Geo. Simpson commissioned him to 
 paint twelve pictures of buffalo hunts, Indian 
 camps, councils, feasts, etc., or any other view 
 that he thought most suitable. In 185 1, by a 
 vote of the Legislature, he was authorized to 
 execute a series of Indian pictures, which are 
 now hung in the Parliamentary Library, 
 Ottawa. His most liberal patron, Hon. 
 Geo. W. Allan, gave him a commission to 
 execute for him a series of one hundred oil 
 paintings of Indian life, landscapes, portraits, 
 and groups, which he performed with great 
 credit to himself and satisfaction to his worthy 
 patron. These valuable paintings are now in 
 the possession of E. B. Osier, M.P. 
 
 During the last eleven or twelve years of 
 his life, his eyesight failed to such an extent 
 that he was compelled to forego his favorite 
 art. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 39 
 
 The narrative of his wanderings is a simple 
 but interesting and spirited description of 
 novel phenomena and events of travel ; and his 
 career is a creditable instance of the pursuit of 
 a favorite art by a self-taught artist, in spite 
 of the most discouraging obstacles to his 
 success. 
 
 Rev. Robert Jackson MacGeorge, a min- 
 ister of the Church of England, 
 was born in Scotland; educated 
 at the Universities of Glasgow and Edin- 
 burgh; came to Canada, 1841, and became 
 incumbent of the English Church, Streets- 
 ville. In addition to the care of his charge, 
 Mr. MacGeorge found time to do a great deal 
 of literary work. Under his guidance, as its 
 editor, the Streetsville Weekly Review became 
 most influential, having a larger number of 
 hearty, intelligent outside readers than any 
 other journal in Upper Canada. Besides con- 
 tributing much to the newspaper press, he was 
 editor of the Anglo-American Magazine for 
 three years. He published, 1858, Tales, 
 Sketches and Lyrics, and returned to Scot- 
 land the same year. 
 
 James McCarroll was born in Ireland and 
 
 obtained a good education in his 
 
 native land, including a knowledge 
 
 of the classics. He came to Canada with his 
 
 family in 1831, and settled in the wild forest 
 
40 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of Upper Canada. He began early to write to 
 the press, and was encouraged to continue by 
 the ready acceptance which his work received. 
 In 1843 h^ became proprietor and editor of a 
 newspaper in Peterborough, and for many 
 years after he was in connection, in some 
 capacity, with almost every journal and maga- 
 zine within the Province. His letters, Terry 
 Finnegan, addressed to the Hon. T. D. McGee, 
 appeared in 1864, and were much appreciated. 
 
 He was for many years surveyor of the port 
 of Toronto, and held other important positions 
 under the Canadian Government. 
 
 His literary reputation will rest chiefly upon 
 his poems, a collection of which was published 
 in 1889 : Madeline and Other Poems, by James 
 McCarroll, with portrait and introduction by 
 C. Lotin Hildreth. His verse is written in a 
 kindly, optimistic spirit, and had he spent 
 more time in preparation his rank would be 
 much higher among Canadian poets. 
 
 "THE ELM TREE. 
 
 " Old giant from the days we call primeval, 
 In solitary greatness rooted there ; 
 Lifting thy splendid head in pride coeval 
 With the dark mountain to the higher air. 
 
 " A grand old elm, but not an elm tree only, 
 For in thee dwells the spirit of the years ; 
 The passer sees thee standing vast and lonely — 
 To him no awful presence there appears. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 41 
 
 " He does not see the phantoms thee surrounding^, 
 Nor hear the voices from thy branches call, 
 Nor the low echoes from the rocks resounding ; 
 Thy myst'ry cannot be resolved by all. 
 
 " But there is one within my father's dwelling, 
 Who from his window gazes out on thee ; 
 He knows, old tree, the tale that thou art telling, 
 He hears and sees what none else hear or see. 
 
 " Thou hast a secret, old elm, worth the keeping. 
 We children knew it not in early days ; 
 But they who far beyond thy shade are sleeping 
 Revealed it to us ere they went their ways. 
 
 " God pity us who wait with shrinking. 
 
 Like one sweet spirit for the falling leaf. 
 O brother, mine ! in darkness I am thinking 
 Of severed branches and a scattered sheaf. 
 
 " Down the long road that dips into the valley. 
 
 The love-crowned visions of our youth have fled ; 
 While like lost mariners we keep a tally 
 Of the sad years in desolation sped. 
 
 " But oh, remember, in these doubtful mazes 
 There is a fountain by the elm tree blest. 
 And the weird presence in its branches gazes 
 Through hope's bright portal in the happy west." 
 — Poems^ Songs and Ballads. 
 
 His kindly spirit finds expression in the 
 lines following: 
 
 "THE WAIF. 
 
 " Oh ! poor little barefooted, hollow-cheeked thing, 
 How early dost thou and thy destiny meet ! 
 Neither bright bud nor blossom thou comest in spring, 
 But a windfall of childhood struck down at our feet. 
 
42 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " How aged and how cold the sunlight of those eyes ! 
 How quenched every tint on that sorrowful face ! 
 Where we find as we seek for thy lips' rosy dyes 
 
 But the trembling blue lines of dead joy in their place. 
 
 " Lonely waif ! tossed about mid the winds and the rain, 
 In this terrible struggle for shelter and bread, 
 Oh, it is well that thou hast but one feeling of pain — 
 That of hunger and cold — all the others are dead ! 
 
 " Then come to my arms, meanly clad as thou art, 
 
 Till the anguish that wastes thee for once is beguiled ; 
 
 Lay thy head on my breast, with thine ear to my heart, 
 
 Till it rocks thee to sleep, my poor barefooted child." 
 
 In the *' Grey Linnet," Mr. McCarroU joins 
 humor with poetry, but we cannot find space 
 for its insertion. 
 
 Gilbert Auchinleck, a Scotchman, Hved 
 for some years in the British West Indies, 
 came to Toronto, and was one of the editors of 
 the short-Hved Anglo-American Magazine, 
 pubHshed by Thomas Maclear, Toronto. 
 Thereafter Mr. Auchinleck disappears, and we 
 can find no trace of him. 
 
 His account of the war on the frontier be- 
 tween Great Britain and the United States in 
 1812-15, which originally appeared in the 
 Anglo-American Magazine, and subsequently 
 was issued as a separate volume, contains a 
 tolerably full history of the struggle from its 
 beginning to its close. The bare facts are 
 stated generally, though not invariably, with 
 
CANA DIAN LITER A TURE. 43 
 
 accuracy. When it appeared, in 1855, it was 
 the best narrative which hitherto had been 
 pubHshed of the British conduct of the 
 war. The history is valuable, as it contains 
 a number of official documents relating to the 
 management of the fratricidal conflict. The 
 greatest objection which can be made against 
 the work is that the writer's strong attachment 
 to British institutions and interests renders 
 him too violent a partisan to see any aspect of 
 the question but one. The period from 181 2 
 to 181 5, more than any other in our annals, 
 offers strong temptation to our historians to 
 overstep the bounds of judicial impartiality. 
 
 Charles Heavysege was born in Liverpool, 
 England. His parents were able 
 
 1816-1876 . , . 1 11 
 
 to give their son only such edu- 
 cation as could be got at one of the ordinary 
 schools, which at that time in England w^as 
 of a very elementary character. At an early 
 age he learned the trade of cabinet-making. 
 After a married life of ten years in England, 
 he came to Montreal, in 1853, ^^^ worked at 
 his trade until he joined the Baily Witness, 
 of that city, as a reporter. Many regard this 
 step as the mistake of his life. He was too 
 old to begin the trying work of a reporter, and 
 his poetic genius was a hindrance to him in 
 making copy for a daily newspaper. Working 
 
44 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 hard at the bench with his hands during the 
 day did not prevent him from thinking and 
 arranging his thoughts in order to be written 
 out at night. In this manner, it is said, his 
 most important book, Saul, a drama, was pre- 
 pared. Saul was first published in 1857, ^Y 
 John Lovell, Montreal; a revised edition in 
 1859, do.; and a third edition, revised, also, in 
 1869, Boston, which is said to be the best, but 
 the writer was not able to see a copy of this 
 last edition. Heavysege worked at the trade of 
 wood-carving while Saul was being published. 
 Mr. Heavysege has the credit of knowing 
 two books well — the Bible and Shakespeare. 
 Saul shows conclusively his intimate know- 
 ledge of the Bible, also his familiarity with 
 some of the writers of the Elizabethan period. 
 The reader will detect faults of rhythm in the 
 poem, and some other faults, likewise ; but he 
 will find also many fine passages and many 
 perfect lines. Saul is a drama of great creative 
 power. The several parts hang well together. 
 The fault of the work is its prolixity, and it 
 is a great fault. The length of some of the 
 speeches, even in the most trying circum- 
 stances, is most unaccountable. It is much to 
 be regretted that Heavysege failed to observe 
 the dignity and power of the brevity of the 
 Bible record, and that he did not more closely 
 follow in the footsteps of the incomparable 
 Shakespeare, whom he prized so highly. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 45 
 
 Saul has been most favorably noticed by 
 British, Canadian, and American writers of 
 the highest standing, and we quote in approval 
 the words of the North British Review, 
 August, 1858: ''Indubitably one of the most 
 remarkable English poems ever written out- 
 side of Great Britain." 
 
 Many lines and passages have been marked 
 for the purpose of quoting, but space will per- 
 mit only a very few. 
 
 Jonathan speaks: 
 
 " Yearn not o'er me. 
 What we have done, O king and sires, is ours, 
 Part of ourselves : — Yea, more, it will not die 
 When we shall, nor can any steal it ; 
 For honor hath that cleaving quality, 
 It sticks upon us and none may remove it 
 Except ourselves by future deeds of baseness." 
 
 There is a beautiful passage, too long to 
 quote, describing the effect of music — David 
 playing his harp the first time before the king. 
 
 There is an abundance of similes, many of 
 them homely but expressive. David, on get- 
 ting permission from his father to visit the 
 camp, says: 
 
 " As a coiled cane, when suddenly unloosed, 
 Rebounding, quivers, throbs my heart with joy." 
 
 Most wise words are addressed by Saul to 
 David after he had slain the champion of the 
 Philistines: 
 
46 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " Full many things are best forgot ; and all 
 The dross of life, men's vices and their failings, 
 Should from our memories be let slip away. 
 As drops the damaged fruit from off the bough 
 Ere comes the autumn. It were wise, nay just. 
 To strike with pen a balance, to forgive, 
 If not forget, their evil for their good's sake." 
 
 We must forbear quoting the many noble 
 lines and passages which are to be found in 
 the words of Jonathan to his bosom friend, 
 David, the warrior. Any one writing about 
 King Saul could not avoid dealing with the 
 supernatural, referred to in the Biblical history 
 by the words, " An evil spirit from the Lord." 
 It is interesting to observe how Mr. Heavysege 
 develops it; he had evidently given much 
 thought to the subject, and felt at liberty to 
 represent these spirits as troubling the king 
 unwillingly. We quote part of a lyric, not 
 equal to many of our best, still not a common 
 one for good quality. 
 . Zaph speaks: 
 
 " Zepho, the sun's descended beam 
 Hath laid his rod on the ocean stream ; 
 And this o'erhanging wood -top nods 
 Like golden helms of drowsy gods. 
 Methinks that now I'll stretch for rest, 
 With eyelids sloping towards the west ; 
 That, through their half transparencies, 
 The rosy radiance passed and strained. 
 Of mote and vapor duly drained, 
 I may believe, in hollow bliss, 
 My rest in the empyrean is." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 47 
 
 Mr. Heavysege wrote several other works 
 of interest, the best of which is Jephthah's 
 Daughter, a dramatic poem in heroic metre, 
 consisting of between 1,200 and 1,300 Hnes. 
 The poem shows an advance on the poet's part 
 in artistic vahte of his work, both in grandeur 
 and dignity, and also much imagination and 
 feeling. The mode of treatment adopted by 
 him suits his genius better than that in Saul. 
 The writer is always at his best in dealing 
 with Scripture subjects, doubtless owing to 
 his high power of interpreting moral issues. 
 The fault which we noticed in Saul, of attribu- 
 ting long speeches — too long — to persons in a 
 state of great excitement, reappears in Jeph- 
 thah's Daughter. There is much skill in the 
 development of the characters of the three 
 principal persons in the poem. 
 
 The probability is that the future fame of 
 Mr. Heavy sege with the many will depend 
 more on his shorter poems, such as Jephthah's 
 Daughter, and some of his fragmentary poems 
 (sonnets) than on his masterpiece, Saul. 
 
 We can only quote a few of his fine pas- 
 sages. 
 
 The Daughter speaks: 
 
 " Soft as the sobbing surge, at first, he spoke. 
 Oh, think how hard it is to die when young I 
 Keen is the edge of this sharp retrospect, 
 To be no more o'er smarting memory drawn." 
 
48 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 It is said of Jephthah : 
 
 " He kissed her with 
 Such passion as boon lovers kiss with when 
 They, parting, still repeat the sad salute." 
 
 Again the Daughter finally speaks : 
 
 " Recording how, inviolable, stood 
 The bounds of Israel, by my blood secured. 
 Nor more shall they thus celebrate myself 
 Than laud my sire, who, in his days of might, 
 Swore, not in vain, unto the Lord, who gave 
 Him victory, although he took his child ; — 
 Took her, but gave him in her stead his country. 
 With a renowned, imperishable name." 
 
 Sir Daniel Wilson, LL.D., F.R.S., 
 __ F.R.S.C., a native of the city of 
 
 1816-1892 "^ 
 
 Edinburgh, where he obtained the 
 best academic training the city could give. 
 After doing considerable literary work in 
 Edinburgh and London, he was appointed to 
 the Chair of History and English Literature 
 in University College, Toronto, 1853. On 
 the retirement of the Rev. Dr. McCaul, he 
 received the appointment of president of the 
 College, 1881, and president of the University 
 of Toronto, 1887. The honor of Knighthood 
 was bestowed upon him in 1888, by Her 
 Majesty Queen and Empress Victoria. 
 
 Author of several volumes before he came 
 to Canada, which gained for him a high repu- 
 tation as a student and writer in Archaeology. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 49 
 
 Prehistoric Man: Researches into the 
 Origin of Civilization in the Old and New 
 World, 2 vols, 1862. A valuable work which 
 may be regarded as his chief contribution on 
 the subject in which he was an authority. 
 Chatterton: A Biographical Study, 1869, ^^ 
 which the author sympathetically gathers all 
 that is worthy of record about the unhappy 
 and ill-fated boy-poet of Bristol. This book he 
 regarded with much satisfaction as a vindica- 
 tion of the young poetic genius of the eight- 
 eenth century. The Missing Link, 1873. ^^ 
 interesting Shakespearian study this, combin- 
 ing high imaginative powers with severe critical 
 faculty. Spring Wild Flozvers, 1873, a reprint 
 of a small volume of verse published many 
 years before, with two or three poems of a later 
 time of life added to those written " when 
 life was in the spring." Right Hand: 
 Lef f -Handedness, 1891. To those who had 
 the privilege of attending Dr. Wilson's 
 lectures, the reading of this book will vividly 
 recall the great facility he had in using 
 either the right or left hand. Lost Atlantis, 
 and Other Ethnographic Studies, 1892. This 
 volume, the proofs of which Sir Daniel 
 Wilson was engaged in reading a few days 
 before he was taken away, appeared shortly 
 after that, event. His style is graceful and 
 attractive, his diction smooth and melodious. 
 
50 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Under the spell of the beautiful and charm- 
 ing language of the Professor, the student, 
 whose duty it was to take notes of the 
 lecture, often let the pencil lie idle. 
 
 After this fashion he voices the thoughts 
 and longings of the Scot away from his 
 native hills and glens : 
 
 "THE SCOT ABROAD. 
 
 " Oh, to be in the kindly land, 
 
 Whether mellow autumn smile or no. 
 It is well if the joyous reaper stand 
 Breast-deep in the yellow corn, sickle in hand ; 
 But I care not though sleety east winds blow, 
 So long as I tread its strand. 
 
 " To be wandering there at will, 
 
 Be it sunshine, or rain, or its winds that brace ; 
 To climb the old famiHar hill ; 
 Of the storied landscape to drink my fill. 
 
 And look out on the gray old town at its base, 
 And linger a dreamer still. 
 
 " Weep, rather, aye, weep sore, 
 
 For him who departs to a distant land. 
 There are pleasant homes on the far-ofif shore : 
 Friends, too, but not like the friends of yore. 
 
 That fondly, but vainly, beckoning stand 
 For him who returns no more. 
 
 " Oh, to be on Scottish earth. 
 
 Lapped in the clods of the kindly soil ; 
 Where the soaring laverock's song has its birth 
 In the welkin's blue ; and its heavenward mirth 
 
 Sends a rapture to earth-born toil — 
 What matter ? death recks not the dearth." 
 
 — Spring Wild Flowers. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 51 
 
 William Kirby, F.R.S.C, born in Eng- 
 land, came to Canada with his 
 
 1817-1006 
 
 parents in 1832, was for a short 
 while in Montreal, and removed to Niagara in 
 1839. Mr. Kirby received part of his educa- 
 tion in the United States of America, under 
 the care of a Scotchman, who was a fine classi- 
 cal scholar. During twenty years he edited and 
 published the Mail in the town of Niagara ; in 
 1 87 1 he received the appointment of Collector 
 of Customs for the same town, and retired 
 from the public service in 1895. 
 
 Mr. Kirby made his home in historic 
 Niagara during three-score years and five. 
 During these years he made Canada his 
 debtor by his services as a journalist, novel- 
 ist and poet, in addition to devotion to 
 his duties as a public officer of the Customs. 
 He is the singer of Niagara's many natural 
 beauties on land, river, and lake; he recalls, 
 cons, and elaborates the troubles and renowned 
 achievements of British soldiers and Canadian 
 militiamen on the border of this country and 
 that of our neighbor to the south of us. Mr. 
 Kirby published his first work. The United 
 Empire, in 1859, an epic poem, very interest- 
 ing on account of its many references to his- 
 toric persons and events. Two editions, at 
 least, of The Canadian Idylls have appeared, 
 one in 1888, the second in 1894. 
 
52 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Thus he writes of the River Niagara : 
 
 " The broad majestic river full of light 
 Flowed past in silence — where alone was heard 
 The refluent eddy, lapping on the rocks 
 Of narrow footing underneath the cliffs." 
 
 — Pontiac. 
 
 And on this wise of the Lake: 
 
 " Where Lake Ontario lays his stately head 
 In the broad lap of hills, that stretch away 
 To the long slopes of Flamboro', forest clad 
 With oak and beech, and many a spiry pine 
 Fast rooted on the crags." 
 
 — Stoney Creek. 
 
 And thus of men : 
 
 " Alas ! if God's or woman's love should cease 
 Because of faults in man I Then lost, indeed. 
 Were he, without a hope to gild his lot !" 
 
 Mr. Kirby is much better known by his 
 work in prose than he is for his verse. Of 
 his prose pubHcations the best is undoubtedly 
 The Golden Dog (1877), ^^ which several 
 editions have appeared in England, United 
 States of America, and in Canada. It has also 
 been translated into French. Le Chien d'Or 
 has deservedly received much praise from com- 
 petent critics and is much read at the present 
 day by the public. It is to his credit that he was 
 one of our earliest writers to make good use of 
 the rich material awaiting the appreciative 
 artist in the annals of Quebec. Sir Gilbert 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 63 
 
 Parker has followed his lead in the same vein 
 to good purpose in recent years. 
 
 Alexander McLachlan came to Canada 
 from Scotland in 1840. He 
 learned the trade of a tailor in 
 Glasgow. In Ontario, then Upper Canada, or 
 Canada West, he made several unsuccessful 
 attempts at farming, which explains his many 
 allusions to chopping, clearing, and the '' oxen 
 terrible to haul," found in his verse. For some 
 twenty-five years (1852-1877) Mr. McLach- 
 lan lived on a lot of one acre, near the village 
 of Erin, and then removed to his farm 
 in the township of Amaranth. Owing to the 
 many changes in his family, he disposed of 
 his farm and went to live in the town of 
 Orangeville, where he soon after died, in 1896. 
 
 While living in Erin he devoted himself to 
 his trade, and to reading, writing, and lectur- 
 ing. In 1862 a fellow-poet, the Hon. T. D. 
 McGee, obtained for him the position of Gov- 
 ernment Emigration Agent for Scotland, a 
 post which he highly prized. A testimonial 
 was made by his friends to him in 1872, 
 which, with their consent, was used to pay for 
 the printing of the volume of 1874. Another 
 testimonial was presented to him by his 
 admirers in 1890, a trust investment of $2,100. 
 
 The most productive time of his life was 
 
64 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 when he hved on the acre lot in Erin, when 
 the writer had the pleasure of meeting him. 
 He was a man of average height, spare build, 
 blue eyes, and abundant dark hair. His face 
 carried the beauty of thought. There were 
 five publications during his life-time, and all 
 his poetical works were collected and edited, 
 together with an introduction, biographical 
 sketch, notes, and a glossary, in 1900. (Wil- 
 liam Briggs, Toronto.) It is to this volume 
 that references are made. In the elegy on his 
 favorite son, John, the father speaks on this 
 wise : 
 
 " Farewell, my beloved son, we'll meet again 
 
 In a higher and holier sphere, 
 Where the myst'ry of sorrow, the meaning of pain, 
 
 And death's mighty mission is made clear. 
 We'll meet in the land where no sable suits, 
 
 No grinding of heart and of brain. 
 And this tearing of affections e'en up by the roots 
 
 Shall lacerate never again " — . 
 
 lines which indicate that he found at least 
 a partial answer to the question he so often 
 asked, "Who knows?" 
 
 Mr. McLachlan has written beautiful poems, 
 and many fine passages can easily be culled 
 from his poetical work. His memory would 
 be cherished with more honor and fervor if he 
 had diligently weighed and polished what he 
 had written. The quantity would be less, no 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 55 
 
 doubt, but the increase in quality would more 
 than compensate for the loss in bulk. 
 
 He is distinguished for introspection, weird- 
 ness, found in such poems as " Mystery, 
 Mystery," "Ah, Me," "Who Knows?" etc.; 
 his sympathy with workers of the soil, love of 
 the country, pure pathos, as shown in " Old 
 Hannah " ; insight into the beauties of nature, 
 whether seen in mountains, trees, or flowers. 
 Another strong feature of his work is a half 
 melancholy self-consciousness, which crops up 
 everywhere in his sketches, a good example of 
 which is found in " David, King of Israel." 
 His nature poems appear to us as the best part 
 of his work, and the part on which his future 
 fame will rest. A quotation from one of them 
 is given below. 
 
 Alexander McLachlan is sometimes com- 
 pared with Robert Burns. True it is that much 
 of Burns' method and manner are to be found 
 in McLachlan's poems, and it is truth to say 
 that he shuns the objectionable features to be 
 met with in Burns' work. But we must add 
 that Burns reaches heights in true poetry never 
 reached by McLachlan. As a love poet Burns 
 is to this day unexcelled, if equalled. 
 
 Such lines as 
 
 " Had we never lov'd sae kindly, 
 Had we never lov'd sae blindly, 
 Never met — or never parted, 
 We had ne'er been broken-hearted," 
 
56 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 are immortal. The Wizard of the North said 
 they had the essence of a thousand love stories 
 in them. The contribution made by McLachlan 
 to Canadian English literature is such that 
 Canadians will honor themselves by keeping 
 it in living memory. 
 
 " But where Thy smile its glory sheds, 
 The Hlies lift their lovely heads, 
 
 And the primrose rare ; 
 And the daisy, deck'd with pearls 
 Richer than the proudest earls 
 On their mantles wear. 
 
 " These Thy preachers of the wildwood, 
 Keep they not the heart of childhood 
 
 Fresh within us still ? 
 Spite of all our life's sad story 
 There are gleams of Thee and glory 
 
 In the daffodil. 
 
 " Nature's secret heart rejoices, 
 And the rivers lift their voices. 
 
 And the sounding sea ; 
 And the mountains, old and hoary, 
 With their diadems of glory, 
 
 Shout, Lord, to Thee ! 
 
 " Yet, tho' Thou art high and holy, 
 Thou dost love the poor and lowly 
 
 With love divine. 
 Love infinite ! love supernal I 
 Love undying ! love eternal ! 
 Lord God, are thine ! " 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 57 
 
 William Kingsford, C.E., F.R.S.C., was 
 born and educated in Ene^land. In 
 
 1819-1898 11, 1 1 11 
 
 early boyhood he was articled to 
 an architect, but not liking the work, he 
 enlisted in the ist Dragoon Guards when he 
 was only in his seventeenth year, and came to 
 Canada with the Guards in 1837. Through 
 the influence of friends he obtained his dis- 
 charge in 1 84 1. In Montreal he qualified for 
 surveying and civil engineering. As engineer 
 he did good service in Montreal, United States 
 of America, South America, on the continent 
 of Europe, the city of Toronto, the public ser- 
 vice of Canada, and on the Grand Trunk and 
 Canadian Pacific Railways. 
 
 When about sixty-five years of age he found 
 himself free to gratify an inclination he had 
 always had for literary work. As early as 
 1845 he was joint editor and proprietor for a 
 few years of a newspaper in the city of Mont- 
 real, and during his professional life he wrote 
 and published several essays and pamphlets 
 upon various subjects. To write a new his- 
 tory of Canada was an undertaking worthy of 
 noble ambition, an undertaking in which the 
 sense of duty would find an ample field for 
 operation. The time was opportune. The 
 Confederation of the British Provinces in 
 America, speaking generally, had existed and 
 prospered greatly for more than a quarter of 
 
58 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 a century. In consequence of the union of 
 these heretofore independent and compara- 
 tively small communities, a new life had 
 appeared and was being strongly felt through- 
 out the whole of the wide Dominion. This 
 spirit of energy, enterprise, and ambition was 
 felt not only in material affairs, but the intel- 
 lect of the young nation was also aroused, and 
 reached out in every direction, tending to 
 bring the peoples of all the Provinces into one 
 well-ordered community. 
 
 " By the soul 
 Only shall the nations be great and free." 
 
 Thus he was led to undertake the serious 
 task of writing a history of Canada. He took 
 up his residence in the city of Ottawa, in order 
 to avail himself of all the advantages a resi- 
 dence there could afford him. For his purpose 
 the Archives contained the chief treasure. To 
 accomplish his work he divided the day 
 methodically. To a friend he writes : " I rise 
 at 5.00; work till 9.00; go to the Archives or 
 Library till 12.30; lunch at i.oo; resume at 
 3.00; write letters or continue MSS. to 5.45; 
 then tea and read or write until I retire, which 
 I do at an early hour." Thus, day in, day 
 out, Mr. Kingsford systematically devoted 
 himself to the interests of his History. Truly 
 it may well be said of him that " he scorned 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 69 
 
 delights and lived laborious days." The result 
 of these twelve years of exacting labor is ten 
 volumes, making a total of about six thousand 
 pages. 
 
 The strongly marked features of the stal- 
 wart frame of the engineer indicated the deter- 
 mined character of William Kingsford, other- 
 wise the whole of the History had never been 
 published. For it is well known that, notwith- 
 standing the personal financial sacrifice made 
 by himself, it was owing to the timely aid of 
 three friends that he was able to publish the 
 last volume of his work. 
 
 The narrative begins " at the earliest date of 
 the French rule," and reaches the Union of 
 the Provinces, " as carried out by Lord Syd- 
 enham in 1 84 1." Notwithstanding that he 
 brought to his work much experience of men 
 in various countries, uncommon diligence, and 
 had ready access to the Dominion Archives at 
 Ottawa, he has not by any means given to 
 Canada an ideal history. His method and style 
 are not those of the first-class historian. The 
 long sentences, the heaping up of details that 
 bury the life of the historic story, weary the 
 reader. The writer gave the most of his holi- 
 day, one summer, to the reading of the His- 
 tory, and though he learned many things 
 which he did not know before, the recollection 
 is not inspiring. On the other hand, Mr, 
 
60 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Kingsford is to be commended for having 
 brought together much new information, and 
 no wise historian, writing the history of Can- 
 ada, can safely ignore the valuable contribu- 
 tion made by him to historical studies in 
 America. He lived only a few months after 
 the completion of the History. The Univer- 
 sities of Queen's and Dalhousie bestowed on 
 him the honorary degree of LL.D. ; he was a 
 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and 
 there is now a Kingsford Professor of History 
 in the University of McGill, Montreal. Queen 
 Victoria bestowed on his widow a civil list 
 pension of £ioo. 
 
 John Breakenridge was born in Niagara, 
 educated at Upper Canada Col- 
 lege, and of Osgoode Hall Bar- 
 rister-at-Law. He published, in 1846, The 
 Crusades, and Other Poems. 
 
 The Crusades is not a poem, but a series of 
 poems. The writer in this fashion explains 
 the matter to his readers in the preface : '' I 
 feel that The Crusades is a very inappropriate 
 title for the volume; but the truth is, the long 
 poem, which I have placed at the end, 
 remained unfinished when the prospectus was 
 published." The Crusades is a series of 
 detached pieces having a relation to the Cru- 
 sades, such as the " Battle of Antioch," " The 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 61 
 
 Troubadour to the Captive Richard Coeur de 
 Lion," etc., all belonging to the epic style of 
 poetry. The only exception which can be 
 made to this statement is that the longer poem, 
 " Laiza," referred to by the author in the 
 above extract from the preface, is in octo- 
 syllabic lines. This well-sustained poem has 
 lost none of its interest since it was written 
 owing to the doings of the British in 
 Abyssinia, where the scene of the story in the 
 poem is laid. The book has poetic merit, 
 though the style is prosaic and diffuse in some 
 parts; the versification is flowing and correct, 
 and shows that the author possessed much 
 power of imagination. The spirit of a soldier 
 breathes throughout the whole volume. 
 
 " O England, arise ! for thine honor advance, 
 And punish the traitor, King Philip of France ; 
 Spread out thy broad standard — 'Saint George' be 
 
 the cry ; 
 To rescue our Richard, brave cavaliers, fly ! 
 Alas ! in the dungeons of savage Tyrol 
 No hope ever comes to the poor captive soul." 
 
 — The Troubadour. 
 
 John Mercier McMullen was born and 
 
 educated in Ireland, lived in India 
 
 for a short time, returned to 
 
 Ireland, and thence removed to Canada in 
 
 1849. Mr. McMullen began business in 
 
 Brockville as bookseller, where he devoted 
 
62 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 himself to journalism, buying the Monitor, a 
 Liberal-Conservative newspaper of that town. 
 Mr. McMullen, recognizing the disadvantage 
 under which Canadians labored in not possess- 
 ing a history of their own country, patriotically 
 charged himself with the task of writing such 
 a work as would supply the lack. 
 
 After spending much time and labor in col- 
 lecting and arranging his material, the first 
 edition of his Canadian History was issued in 
 1855, the second in 1867, the third and last 
 edition in 1892, each edition bringing the 
 history of the country down to the date of its 
 publication. By earnest effort on the author's 
 part, each subsequent edition of the history 
 was an improvement on its predecessor. 
 
 The reader will be ready to admit Mr. 
 McMullen' s claim of being independent in his 
 narrative of political parties, and yet, though 
 with regret, he will recognize that there are 
 still serious defects in this History of Canada. 
 It is lacking in accuracy and nicety of scholar- 
 ship; but its grave defect is the slight notice 
 taken of educational affairs. The History 
 impresses the reader as being made up of 
 articles primarily prepared for a newspaper, 
 which afterwards, without sufficient recasting, 
 were used in making a history. Canadians, 
 especially those living in Ontario, appreciate 
 the author's contribution to Canadian historv. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 63 
 
 Charles Lindsey was born in England 
 and educated there. He came to 
 Canada in J841 ; in 1846 joined 
 the editorial staff of the Toronto Eivaminer, 
 and in 1853 was appointed editor of the 
 Toronto Leader, which was then, and for 
 years after, the leading Liberal-Conservative 
 journal in Upper Canada. In 1867 he 
 obtained the appointment of Registrar of 
 Deeds for the city of Toronto, a position he 
 recently resigned. 
 
 Mr. Lindsey wrote on the Clergy Reserves 
 question, prohibitory liquor laws, the prairies 
 of the Western States, the unsettled boun- 
 daries of Ontario, etc. The publication by 
 which he is best known is The Life and Times 
 of William Lyon Mackenzie, with an account 
 of the Canadian Rebellion of 1837 and the 
 subsequent frontier disturbance, chiefly from 
 unpublished documents. Two volumes. 1862. 
 Contains portraits, plates, and an index. 
 
 Subsequent to Mr. Mackenzie's return from 
 exile to Canada, in 1849, Mr. Lindsey became 
 his son-in-law, and thereafter he was in the 
 habit of talking to him very freely about his 
 past history and difficulties. No two men 
 could well be more apart in their views of 
 political matters than these were. By not 
 being in the country during 1837-8, to- 
 gether with the close relationship between 
 
64 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 them, and their well-known divergence on 
 poHtical questions, Mr. Lindsey claimed 
 that he had advantages in his favor for 
 writing an impartial account of the trying 
 period under review. Competent judges, some 
 of whom were themselves more or less par- 
 ticipants in the unhappy movements, have 
 borne testimony to the success with which the 
 author of The Life and Times of William 
 Lyon Mackenzie has accomplished his delicate, 
 self-imposed task. No intelligent student of 
 Canadian history can afford with safety to 
 neglect a careful study of The Life and Times 
 by Mr. Charles Lindsey. 
 
 Alpheus Todd, born in England, came to 
 Canada with the family in 1833; 
 entered the service of the Legisla- 
 tive Assembly, Upper Canada, about 1834, 
 and was Assistant Librarian before the Union 
 of the two Provinces in 1840, being retained in 
 the same office after the Union. In 1856 he 
 was appointed Librarian, which office he held 
 in the Dominion Library at Ottawa till his 
 death. 
 
 In 1839 he published The Practice and Pri- 
 vileges of the Tzvo Houses of Parliament. 
 Toronto. This volume was received with 
 much favor, the Legislative Assembly adopting 
 it for their guide, and defraying the expenses 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 65 
 
 connected with its publication. This was four 
 years before Sir Thomas Erskine May pub- 
 lished his work treating of the same sub- 
 jects. In 1867-9, 2 vols., London, appeared 
 his Treatise on Parliamentary Government in 
 England; Its Origin, Development, and Prac- 
 tical Operation. In regard to this valuable 
 work the Edinburgh Review said in part : '* It 
 is a remarkable circumstance that we should 
 be indebted to a resident in a distant colony, 
 the librarian of the Canadian House of Parlia- 
 ment, for one of the most useful and complete 
 books which has ever appeared on the practical 
 operation of the British Constitution." A 
 second edition, edited by a son of the author 
 (A. H. T.), was published in 1887-9; highly 
 praised by competent judges. In 1880 he pub- 
 lished Parliamentary Government in the Brit- 
 ish Colonies. All admirable books, the style 
 remarkably clear and logical, " and nobody 
 will detect the least colonial or provincial 
 flavor in his book." 
 
 Admirable and valuable as these volumes 
 undoubtedly are, yet it is likely that the Par- 
 liamentary Library at Ottawa will preserve 
 his memory and good name to future genera- 
 tions of Canadians better even than his written 
 works. Dr. Todd in a measure created the 
 Library ; it grew up about him. A most help- 
 ful librarian he was to the student. The 
 
66 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 writer remembers his attitude to the seeker 
 after knowledge; his manner was apt to be- 
 come chilly towards mere birds of passage. 
 
 Edward J. Chapman, Ph.D., was born in 
 Ene^land, educated in France, and 
 
 1821-1904 ,•.,., Ai • 
 
 served with the army m Algiers. 
 Returning to England he studied engineering, 
 and became Professor of Mineralogy, Univer- 
 sity of Toronto, 1853. Tall and erect, his 
 sinewy frame never lost the impress of the 
 military training which he had undergone in 
 his youthful days. As a professor he was 
 methodical in his teaching, took much interest 
 in the progress of his students, and from per- 
 sonal experience the writer can say, that no 
 teacher ever prepared a scholar better for pass- 
 ing an examination. He was author of several 
 elementary text-books on mineralogy, and vari- 
 ous scientific papers. A Song of Charity was 
 published in 1857, Toronto, and the Professor 
 tells us in the dedication to his kind friends in 
 Orillia, Canada West, that his Song was com- 
 posed, in chief part, during a summer's holi- 
 day on the waters and amidst the islets of little 
 Lake Couchiching. Here have we, as in all 
 his poetry, a genuine note of inspiration, and 
 in the Song of Charity it is touched with Can- 
 adian sentiment and scenery. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 67 
 
 As though across the sunflush, slowly, 
 And the wind-stirred grass, were moving. 
 In its glory and its loving, 
 From God's self, an angel holy — 
 Onwards, sunwards, softly moving, 
 Seeking ever in its loving 
 For the sinless soul released 
 From the silent, worthless dead. 
 
 Puts in for the stones a helping word : 
 ' Surely,' he says, ' they cannot be 
 So useless: for from Him they came. 
 Who built with them the wondrous frame 
 Of this great world's immensity.' " 
 
 In the same volume ** A Canadian Summer's 
 Night " appears, a beautiful poem and often 
 quoted. 
 
 Professor Chapman retired from the Uni- 
 versity of Toronto in 1895, and removed to 
 England, where he published, in 1899, A 
 Drama of Two Liars, The Snake-Witch, and 
 Other Poems. London. In this volume many 
 fine passages are found. 
 
 With regard to '' A Canadian Summer's 
 Night," the author says : " In its present issue 
 most of the verses have been re-cast, and some 
 are entirely new. If it possess no special poetic 
 merit, its perusal will at least serve to show 
 that Canada is not, as too frequently depicted, 
 a land altogether of snow and ice." 
 
68 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 John George Hodgins, M.A., LL.D., 
 author, born in Ireland and came 
 
 1821 
 
 to Canada, 1833; educated at 
 Upper Canada Academy and at Victoria Uni- 
 versity, M.A. 1856; subsequently he followed 
 the law course at the University of Toronto; 
 LL.D. 1870. His connection with the official 
 educational work of the Province began in 
 1844, as chief clerk of the Education Office. 
 Mr. Hodgins was appointed Deputy Superin- 
 tendent of Education, 1855, and on the retire- 
 ment of the Chief Superintendent of Education, 
 1876, he became Deputy Minister of Educa- 
 tion. This office he retained until 1889, when 
 he was entrusted with the position of Librarian 
 and Historiographer of the Education Depart- 
 ment, duties which he still performs. As char- 
 acteristic of the spirit of this public servant, 
 soon after his first appointment he spent several 
 months in his native land examining the work- 
 ing of the Irish system of national education, 
 thus preparing himself for the better perform- 
 ance of his various duties in connection with 
 education in Ontario. He wrote extensively 
 on educational subjects; was one of the 
 gentlemen under whose supervision the work. 
 The Story of My Life, by Rev. Dr. Ryerson, 
 was published, and he is the author of several 
 papers on the educational work of the founder 
 of the Public School system of Ontario. Dr. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 69 
 
 Hodgins, who served under Dr. Ryerson 
 thirty-three years, himself a master among 
 public men, thus writes of his friend to the 
 Hon. Edward Blake : " He is the most thor- 
 oughly trained man in all Canada for the Edu- 
 cation Department, and is the ablest and most 
 thorough administrator of a public department 
 of any man whom I have met." 
 
 But the work which will perpetuate his 
 memory is that on which he has been engaged 
 for many years : The Documentary History of 
 Education in Upper Canada (Ontario). A most 
 valuable contribution the Doctor, by this work, 
 is making to the historical literature of Canada. 
 The accounts of the many transactions in con- 
 nection with the development of our educa- 
 tional history are so involved and intricate, 
 that no one now living can approach Dr. Hod- 
 gins' mastery of the subject. He is familiar 
 with every branch of the story. 
 
 His writings are marked by wide learning, 
 accurate care and thoughtful consideration; 
 his style is clear and incisive. 
 
 George Martin, born in Ireland ; the family 
 removed to Canada, 18^2; he was 
 
 1822-1900 • • 
 
 educated at a literary mstitute m 
 the State of New York; lived in Mont- 
 real after 1835, where he followed the busi- 
 ness of photography; a friend of the poet 
 
70 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Charles Heavysege. It is related of the friends, 
 that Mr. Heavysege at one time was in need 
 of money to publish one of his poems. Mr. 
 Martin loaned the money and Mr. Heavysege 
 gave a note. When the note became due he 
 went to Mr. Martin, and, with a heavy heart, 
 told his friend that the poem failed to bring, 
 in the sum required, whereupon Mr. Martin 
 burned the note, thus relieving his friend of the 
 necessity of repayment. Such an act of friend- 
 ship should not be allowed to pass out of 
 memory. Of his friend Martin WTites: 
 
 " So childlike, modest, reticent, 
 With head in meditation bent. 
 He walked our streets, and no one knew 
 That something of celestial hue 
 Had passed along ; a toil-worn man 
 Was seen no more." 
 
 Mr. Martin published, in 1887, a volume of 
 superior verse. Marguerite, and Other Poems, 
 Montreal, which was well received on both 
 sides of the Atlantic. Marguerite embodies 
 an old French legend, worthy of careful study. 
 
 " So came the autumn's ruddy prime, 
 And all my hopes, which had no morrow. 
 Like seaweed cast upon the beach, 
 Like driftwood bravely out of reach 
 Of waves that were attuned to sorrow, 
 Lay lifeless on the strand of time." 
 
 — Marguerite. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 71 
 
 " She tells me — I know she tells me true— 
 * My good man — God be kind — had long been sick, 
 And one cold morning when the snowstorm blew, 
 He said, " Dear Bess, it grieves me to the quick 
 To see you venture out — give me my 3tick, 
 I'll come to you at gloamin' 
 
 And bide you home," ' — she paused, the rest I knew." 
 — Poor Apple Woman. 
 
 " We only know that we are here, 
 That life is brief and death is sure ; 
 That it is noble to endure 
 And keep the eye of conscience clear." 
 
 — W. H. Magee. 
 
 Such are a few illustrations of Mr. Martin's 
 verse. Other passages were selected for the 
 purpose of quoting, but space forbids, and we 
 should much prefer that the reader would be 
 thus induced to seek for himself the beauties to 
 be found in his volume of poetry. We have 
 the impression that hurry and business pre- 
 vented him from doing justice to his natural 
 endowments. 
 
 Charles Sangster was the grandson of a 
 Scotch soldier who fought in the 
 American Revolution, and his 
 father was a joiner in the British Navy on 
 the upper lakes. Mr. Sangster was born in 
 Kingston, Ontario, Canada, losing his father 
 when he was only two years old. In early life 
 he gave up attendance at school to help his 
 
72 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 widowed mother to provide for the wants of 
 the household. During several years he held a 
 subordinate position in the Ordnance Office in 
 Kingston. In 1849 ^^ began earnestly to work 
 for the press at Amherstburg, and subse- 
 quently in Kingston. As frequently happens 
 with such men, Mr. Sangster contributed in 
 both prose and verse to public journals from a 
 very early age; but from this time he made 
 literary effort a serious part of his life-work. 
 This brief statement shows that he had few 
 opportunities of acquainting himself with the 
 works of writers which would have fostered 
 his genius so as to become a poet of high 
 rank. Such being the case, he deserves credit 
 for his manly perseverance and energy in over- 
 coming his many disadvantages. To him 
 belongs the honor of being the first poet who 
 made appreciative use of Canadian subjects in 
 his poetical work. 
 
 In this sense he is a true representative Can- 
 adian poet. His first volume, The St. Law- 
 rence and the Saguenay, and Other Poems, 
 was published in 1856, and though many 
 defects may be found in it, indicating undue 
 haste in preparation and over-confidence on the 
 part of the author, yet fine rhythm and spirit 
 are often met with throughout the whole of 
 the volume. This volume established his posi- 
 tion as a poet of no common power, which was 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 73 
 
 freely accorded to him by writers in Britain, 
 in the United States, and in Canada. The 
 lyric to " The Isles in the St. Lawrence " is 
 much admired, and also " The Rapids." 
 Hesperus, and Other Poems and Lyrics, pub- 
 lished in i860, added much to Mr. Sangster^s 
 reputation as a poet, and deservedly so. The 
 second volume is not open to the same objec- 
 tions as the first, at least not to the same extent. 
 The poems in this volume are more highly fin- 
 ished and show greater skill and care in the 
 poetic art. Mr. Sangster is at his best, per- 
 haps, in his martial pieces, such as *' Brock,'* 
 " Wolfe," " Song for Canada," etc. He had 
 a passionate love for nature; but his grand 
 theme was love — the noblest of themes; yet it 
 is an open question whether he would not be 
 more acceptable to the general public had he 
 restrained his inclination in this direction. 
 
 Mr. Sangster was for many years before his 
 death in the Civil Service at Ottawa. If he 
 had had better school-training and more ex- 
 tensive reading in his youth, he would have 
 produced more work and of a better quality. 
 We praise him that he has left us so much in 
 spite of his disadvantages. We make a few 
 extracts from Sangster's work. The lyric to 
 " The Isles " is too long for our space, but is 
 well worth being remembered. 
 
74 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " And now 'tis night. A myriad stars have come 
 To cheer the earth and sentinel the skies." 
 
 A morning scene: 
 
 " Slowly up the distant mountains 
 
 Rolls the changing purple screen, 
 While the swift rills, from their fountains 
 
 Leaping, clothe the sides with green. 
 Love's angels ever walk their starry round, 
 And with each morning Love is newly crowned." 
 
 From '' Death of the Old Year " we take 
 these four lines : 
 
 " Knowing nothing, we would cling 
 Like beggars to thy garment's hem ; 
 Loose leaves upon a withered stem. 
 We fear what the next breath may bring." 
 
 " The Fine Old Wood " is a fair example of 
 his treatment of what is called '' nature " sub- 
 jects. The above extracts are from his first 
 volume. From the second volume we quote : 
 
 " God loves the silent worshipper. 
 The grandest hymn 
 That nature chants — the litany 
 Of the rejoicing stars — is silent praise. 
 
 " The silent tear 
 Holds keenest anguish in its orb of brine, 
 Deeper and truer grief 
 Than the loud wail that brings relief." 
 
 — Hesperus, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 75 
 
 " Sons of the mighty race whose sires 
 Aroused the martial flame 
 
 That filled with smiles 
 
 The triune isles 
 Through all their heights of fame ! 
 
 " With hearts as brave as theirs, 
 With hopes as strong and high, 
 
 We'll ne'er disgrace 
 
 The honored race 
 Whose deeds can never die. 
 
 " Let but the rash intruder dare 
 To touch our darling strand, 
 The martial fires 
 That thrilled our sires 
 Would flame throughout the land." 
 
 — Song of Canada. 
 
 " Love's sun, like that of day, may set and set. 
 
 It has as bright a rising in the morn. 
 
 True love has no grey hairs ; his golden locks 
 
 Can never whiten with the snows of time. 
 
 Sorrow lies on many a youthful heart 
 
 Like snow upon the evergreens ; but love 
 
 Can gather sweetest honey by the way, 
 
 E'en from the carcass of some prostrate grief — 
 
 We have been spoiled with blessings. Though the 
 
 world 
 
 Holds nothing dearer than the hope that's fled, 
 
 God ever opens up new founts of bliss — 
 
 Spiritual Bethsaidas — where the soul 
 
 Can wash the earth-stains from its fevered loins. 
 
 We cover our sorrows on the face of joy. 
 
 Reversing the true image ; we are weak 
 
 When strength is needed most and most is given." 
 
 — Au Revoir. 
 6 
 
76 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Professor Goldwin Smith^ D.C.L. 
 (Oxon.), born in England, edu- 
 cated at the public schools and the 
 University of Oxford; graduated B.A., 1845; 
 at college and university gained many honors 
 and prizes. He was appointed Regius Pro- 
 fessor of Modern History in his own 
 university, 1858. During the Civil War 
 in the United States of America he cham- 
 pioned the cause of the Northern States, 
 which he visited in 1864 and again in 
 1868. Having resigned his professorship 
 before visiting the States the second time, he 
 lectured on English Constitutional History at 
 Cornell University, New York State, prior and 
 subsequent to 1871, when he removed to 
 Toronto, where he has since resided. On his 
 removal to Canada he took an active part in 
 literary and educational affairs, and rendered 
 much useful assistance and important services. 
 
 Dr. Smith has written a countless number 
 of articles for the press, the magazines and re- 
 views ; he has also published a large number of 
 pamphlets and books. The following volumes 
 will afford a fair specimen of his historic read- 
 ing and style : Three English Statesmen, Pym, 
 Cromwell and Pitt, 1882 ; Canada and the Can- 
 adian Question, 1891 ; The United States, An 
 Outline of Political History, 14^2-18^1, 1893; 
 The United Kingdom, A Political History, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 77 
 
 1899. These volumes are not a contribution to 
 the fund of historic material, but the result of 
 the Professor's reading, thinking, and writing. 
 The style is clear, terse, and forcible, that of 
 one of our best masters of English prose. 
 
 Robert M. Ballantyne was born in Edin- 
 bure^h, and was the son of a 
 
 1825-1894 
 
 younger brother of James Ballan- 
 tyne, the printer of Sir Walter Scott's works. 
 Mr. R. M. Ballantyne remembered seeing his 
 father copying Sir Walter's MS. in order to 
 keep the secret of the author's identity. He 
 received an appointment, in 1840, as clerk with 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, at £20 a year. In 
 the course of his service as clerk, he was sent 
 to many of the Hudson's Bay Company's posts, 
 and thus came into possession of much infor- 
 mation about that part of British America 
 known to very few, even of the servants of the 
 Company. 
 
 In 1848 he returned to Edinburgh and began 
 that series of books which finally numbered 
 more than eighty, beginning with Hudson s 
 Bay, or, Every-Day Life in the Wilds of North 
 America during Six Years' Residence in the 
 Territories of the Hon. Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany. During more than forty years Ballan- 
 tyne held among English-speaking people the 
 chief place as a story-teller, especially with the 
 
78 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 young. His contemporary story-tellers were 
 Jules Verne, Henty, and Kingston. There are 
 now many dwellers in the Canadian West who 
 were attracted to the riches to be found there 
 by Ballantyne's popular and timely volumes. 
 
 Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee, born in Ire- 
 land and educated there, came to 
 
 1825-1868 A • 1 1 1 
 
 America when he was only seven- 
 teen and returned to Ireland, where he 
 remained during the troublous years of agita- 
 tion and disillusion. He had to leave Ireland 
 in 1848, and again came to this continent. Mr. 
 McGee was a ready writer and speaker, always 
 writing poetry. In his former visit to the 
 United States he made many friends and was 
 regarded as the chief spokesman for the Irish 
 everywhere. He entered into journalism and 
 the publishing of newspapers, devoting himself 
 to the cause of his race and country with much 
 energy. 
 
 In his rash and ignorant advocacy of what 
 he then considered the interests of his country- 
 men, he attributed the failure of the 1848 
 " Rising " to the clergy of his Church. This 
 led to a warm controversy, chiefly conducted 
 for his Church by Archbishop Hughes, of New 
 York. Mr. McGee ever after regretted the 
 mistake he had made in regard to the clergy 
 of his Church. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 79 
 
 While he was in the United States of 
 America he saw through '' the cant of faction," 
 and constantly, after 1852, he became the true 
 friend of the Irish people by pointing out to 
 them where true freedom for all people lies — 
 in self-control. He was a great reader of books, 
 and, without being in the strict sense a scholar, 
 he was a scholarly man. 
 
 In 1857 he removed, induced by invitation 
 of friends, to Canada, making Montreal his 
 home, and within a year was elected one of the 
 representatives of that city in the Parliament 
 of the Province of Canada. Mr. McGee was 
 an orator, and became a Canadian statesman 
 of high repute. In and out of Parliament he 
 advocated Confederation, and to him is due the 
 chief credit for having, all over British North 
 America, popularized the idea. His published 
 addresses and speeches are well worth reading. 
 His prose writings will do more, perhaps, to 
 perpetuate his memory than his poetry. In 
 1858 he published Canadian Ballads and Occa- 
 sianal Verses, Montreal. The Poems of 
 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, with copious notes; 
 also an introduction and biographical sketch by 
 Mrs. I. Sadlier. Portrait. New York, 1870. 
 Many of these poems are on Canadian subjects, 
 but it is evident that the author had not suffi- 
 cient opportunity to steadfastly court the muse 
 of poetry. The poems are Irish in thought. 
 
80 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 feeling, and form of expression, and show an 
 intense love of country. The following are 
 significant : 
 
 " I'd rather turn one simple verse 
 True to the Gaelic ear, 
 Than classic odes I might rehearse 
 With senates Hst'ning near." 
 
 Not even a great poet would feel aggrieved 
 by having these lines to his credit : 
 
 " Where'er I turned some emblem still 
 
 Roused consciousness upon my track ; 
 Some hill was like an Irish hill, 
 
 Some wild bird's whistle call'd me back ; 
 Some sea-bound ship bore off my peace 
 
 Between its white, cold wings of woe ; 
 Oh, if I had but wings like these. 
 
 When my peace went I, too, would go !" 
 
 Many sweet lines are in Mr. McGee's poems, 
 but space compels us to leave them unnoticed. 
 
 Alexander Begg, author and journalist, 
 born in Scotland, educated at the 
 
 1825-1904 
 
 parish school and the Normal 
 School, Edinburgh; from the latter institution 
 he obtained a diploma; taught school for a 
 short time, and came to Canada, 1846. In 
 Canada he devoted himself to journalism, held 
 appointments in the civil services in more than 
 one Province, and thereafter became much 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 81 
 
 interested in emigration from Scotland to 
 Canada, including the proposed removal of 
 crofter families. 
 
 Mr. Begg published, 1894, the first continu- 
 ous history of British Columbia, The History 
 of British Columbia from its Earliest Dis- 
 covery to the Present Time. The History 
 begins with Capt. Cook's third voyage in 
 1776, and contains much well-arranged infor- 
 mation regarding the Pacific slope of British 
 North America. A well-made volume, but 
 lacking an index. 
 
 Rev. William Wye Smith, born in Scot- 
 land, brought to the United States 
 when only three years old, and 
 was educated there; removed to Canada in 
 1837. Mr. Smith taught in the public schools 
 of Upper Canada (Ontario) for several years, 
 at the same time contributing much in prose 
 and verse to the press. Meanwhile, he was 
 preparing himself for the ministry of the Con- 
 gregational Church, of which he was ordained 
 a minister in 1865. At present he is pastor of 
 the Congregational Church in St. Catharines. 
 He is likely, perhaps, to be remembered best 
 by his contribution in verse to Canadian litera- 
 ture. 
 
 In 1850 he published Alazon, and Other 
 Poems, and in 1888, Poem,s. Alason is writ- 
 
82 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 ten in Spenserian stanza, in the use of which 
 he shows considerable skill. In his poetry Mr. 
 Smith exemplifies good taste and elegant dic- 
 tion. The poems strike native notes ; not much 
 art about them, but the born qualities of a 
 cheerful singer. 
 
 " O the woods, the woods, the leafy woods. 
 
 And the laughing face of spring. 
 When the birds return from their far sojourn 
 
 With their latest new song to sing ! 
 Then let me hie to the leafy woods 
 
 And banish my woe and care — 
 O I'll never repent of the daj I went 
 
 To learn a sweet lesson there !" 
 
 Hon. Lucius Seth Huntington, legisla- 
 
 1827-1886 ^^^' ^^^^ ^" ^^^ Province of Que- 
 bec, Canada, of U.E.L. extrac- 
 tion; educated at the common schools, studied 
 law at the town of Sherbrooke, teaching in a 
 township high school during that time. Mr. 
 Huntington was elected to the Parliament of 
 the United Canadas in 1861, held office as 
 Solicitor-General for Lower Canada in John 
 Sandfield Macdonald's Government, and was 
 also a member of Alexander Mackenzie's Gov- 
 ernment, 1873. For some years before his 
 death he resided in the city of New York. In 
 1884 he surprised his friends by publishing 
 Professor Conant: A Story of English and 
 American Social and Political Life, which was 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 83 
 
 fairly well received by critics. The reason 
 which induced him to write this volume, he 
 declares in the preface, was that the more, 
 nearly England and America are drawn to- 
 gether in every relation which promotes 
 human happiness, the better service will they 
 render mankind. 
 
 Edward Hartley Dewart, D.D., bom in 
 Ireland; the family, when he was 
 
 1828-1903 . 
 
 SIX years old, removed to Canada. 
 After obtaining what education he could at 
 the local schools in those early days in Canada, 
 he entered the recently organized Normal 
 School at Toronto, then under the manage- 
 ment of Thos. J. Robertson, M.A., and the 
 Rev. Wm. Ormiston, D.D. Thereafter Mr. 
 Dewart taught school; was called to the min- 
 istry of the Methodist Church in 1851; 
 became, by election, editor of The Christian 
 Guardian, 1869, and was relieved in 1894. 
 His published works : I. Selections from Can- 
 adian Poets, with Occasional Critical and Bio- 
 graphical Notes, and an Introductory Essay on 
 Canadian Poetry. 1864. Montreal. H. Songs 
 of Life: A Collection of Poems. 1869. 
 Toronto. HI. Essays for the Times. 1898.. 
 Toronto. This volume contains twenty-eight 
 pages of Rev. Dr. Dewart's later poems; in 
 it there is also an appreciation of Charles 
 
84 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Sangster, the Canadian poet. The marked 
 note of his character was intense earnest- 
 ness. He was one of the most forcible 
 of our Canadian poets. His ode on the 
 passing of Tennyson was one of the most 
 notable which that event called forth. The 
 work by which he will be longest remembered 
 is his contribution to Canadian poetical litera- 
 ture. The Selections and the Songs of Life 
 contain many gems full of the poet's sympathy 
 with nature and the kindlier feelings of 
 humanity. We had marked several passages 
 for the purpose of quoting, but must content 
 ourselves with one or two. 
 
 " In thought there must be false and true — 
 There must be wrong and right in deed, 
 Yet truth should value what we do 
 
 As highly as a lifeless creed. 
 The thoughts despised, as new or strange, 
 
 May yet in regal triumph reign ; 
 The form and garb of truth may change, 
 And yet the inner Hfe remain." 
 
 — A Plea for Liberty. 
 
 " I awoke from the dreams of the night. 
 
 From restful and tranquil repose. 
 And looked, when the sunbeams lay bright. 
 
 To see what the morn might disclose. 
 My window looked out on the east. 
 
 And opened to welcome the sun 
 As he rose, from the darkness released, 
 
 All girded, his journey to run. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 85 
 
 I watched, as I lay, 
 
 The leaf- shadows play — 
 For the trees were marbled in green — 
 
 As they silently danced. 
 
 Curvetted and pranced, 
 On the curtain suspended between. 
 
 " Then I drew the broad curtain aside, 
 And looked out on the beautiful world ; 
 The dewdrops were flashing, and wide 
 Were the banners of beauty unfurled. 
 The leaves that had silently flung 
 
 Their shadows to darken my room, 
 Each answered with musical tongue 
 
 To the zephyrs that played with its bloom ; 
 And thus it may be 
 At life's ending with me. 
 When death rends the curtain away : 
 I may rise to behold 
 In beauty unrolled 
 The morn of a shadowless day." 
 
 — Shadows on the Curtain. 
 
 William Canniff, M.D., Canadian author, 
 and of U. E. Loyalist descent; 
 
 18S0 
 
 born near Belleville, educated at 
 the local schools and Victoria University. He 
 studied medicine at Toronto and the Univer- 
 sity of New York; at the latter institution he 
 graduated M.D. in 1854; was admitted a 
 member of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
 and served during the closing conflicts of the 
 Crimean War in the Army Medical Depart- 
 ment. Thereafter he practised his profession 
 
86 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 in Belleville for some years ; served for a short 
 time during the American Civil War, both in 
 hospital and in the field with the army. Sub- 
 sequently he removed to Toronto, where he 
 held the position of Medical Health Officer; 
 was connected for a number of years with the 
 Medical Faculty of Victoria University. He 
 has been very active in connection with many 
 medical societies, contributing valuable papers 
 on various professional subjects. 
 
 In 1872, Dr. Canniff published a History of 
 the Province of Ontario {Upper Canada), 
 Containing a Sketch of Franco-Canadian His- 
 tory ; Settlement of the Country by U. E. 
 Loyalists; Trials in the War of 1812, Includ- 
 ing Biographies of Prominent First Settlers, 
 etc. Toronto. 
 
 His History contains a great mass of valu- 
 able material — reliable and accurate, we doubt 
 not — collected at the expense of great labor, 
 ready to the hand of the historian who is 
 waited for to write with deftness and literary 
 skill the thrilling story of the strenuous life 
 of the early settlers in^ British North America. 
 A full index would be a great addition to the 
 value of the work. 
 
 LiEUT.-CoL. John Hunter-Duvar, poet. 
 Of Scoto-Enelish birth and educa- 
 
 1830-1899 ^. , \ ^. ^ , r 
 
 tion, he spent the greater part of 
 his life in Canada, giving much attention to 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 87 
 
 military affairs in Nova Scotia and New 
 Brunswick. He was Government Inspector of 
 Fisheries in Prince Edward Island for several 
 years. Author of Enamorado, a drama, 1878; 
 Roherval, a drama, 1888; The Emigration of 
 the Fairies, and The Triumph of Constancy, a 
 romaunt. His work as a writer is well known 
 in the Maritime Provinces. 
 
 "TWILIGHT SONG. 
 
 " The mountain peaks put on their hoods, 
 Good-night ! 
 And the long shadows of the woods 
 
 Would fain the landscape cover quite ; 
 The timid pigeons homeward fly, 
 Scared by whoop-owl's eerie cry, 
 
 Whoo-oop ! Whoo-oop ! 
 As like a fiend he flitteth by ; 
 The ox to stall, the fowl to coop. 
 
 The old man to his nightcap warm, 
 Young men and maids to slumbers light, — 
 Sweet Mary, keep my soul from harm ! 
 Good-night ! Good-night ! " 
 
 "BRAWN OF ENGLAND'S LAY. 
 
 " The villeins clustered round the bowl 
 At merrie Yule to make good cheer, 
 And drank with froth on beard and jowl : 
 * Was-hael to the Thane ! 
 May never Briton taste our beer, 
 Nor Dane,' 
 
88 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Till the red cock on the chimney crew ; 
 And each man cried with a mighty yawn, 
 As the tapster one more flagon drew : 
 ' To the Saxon land, Was-hael ! 
 May we never want for mast-fed brawn, 
 Nor ale !' 
 The Thane took up the stirrup-cup 
 And blew off the reaming head, 
 And at one draft he swigged it up, 
 And smacked his lips and said : 
 
 * Was-hael to coulter and sword ! 
 Was-hael to hearth and hall ! 
 To Saxon land and Saxon lord 
 And thrall.' " 
 
 — The Enamorado, 
 
 The characteristic of his writing is romance 
 tinged with mysticism. 
 
 Mrs. Rosanna Eleanor Mullins Lepro- 
 
 1832-1879 ^^^ ^^^ \^oxn, cducatcd and died 
 in the city of Montreal. When 
 quite young she began writing for the pubUc 
 press. Her first book, Ida Beresford, was pub- 
 Hshed in 1848, when she was only sixteen years 
 old. She was for years an active and valued 
 contributor to the Literary Garland and other 
 periodicals. Four of Mrs. Leprohon's novels 
 have been translated into French, including 
 Antoinette de Mirecourt, her last published 
 novel, and generally considered to be her 
 finest. She has the distinction of making the 
 English in Canada acquainted with the dis- 
 
Of 
 
 CANADIAN LITERATURE. 89 
 
 appointments and aspirations of the French- 
 Canadians — our fellow-subjects — before and 
 after the conquest of 1759. In her prose 
 fiction she shows insight of the human heart, 
 and finds in domestic life the subject of attract- 
 ive tableaux full of delicacy and good taste. 
 Her charm lies not in complications of intrigue 
 or in problems hard to solve, but in a skilful 
 working out of details, in sweetness of senti- 
 ment, in beauty of style, and in strict regard 
 to the precepts of religion. The same may 
 be said of her poetry, in which she has not 
 won so high a place as in prose. Her poems 
 were collected and published in one volume, 
 under the care, if we are not mistaken, of Mr. 
 John Reade, literary editor of the Gazette, 
 Montreal. We give one stanza as a specimen 
 of her qualities as a writer : 
 
 "The snowflakes were swiftly falling 
 Down on the landscape white, 
 When the violet eyes of my firstborn 
 
 Opened to the light, 
 And I thought as I pressed him to me 
 
 With loving rapture thrill, 
 He was pure and fair as the snowflakes 
 That lay on the landscape still. 
 
 — Given and Taken. 
 
 Mrs. Sarah Anne Curzon, author, born 
 in England, educated and married 
 
 1833-1898 ,. ^ ^ , . , 
 
 there ; came to Canada m the year 
 1862, and very soon began writing for the 
 
90 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 press, both in prose and verse. In daily life 
 Mrs. Curzon frequently heard the statement 
 made among all classes of Canadians, '' that 
 Canada had no history." Curiosity led her 
 to search as to the truth of this strange and 
 belittling remark about the early inhabitants 
 of the country, with the result that she found 
 many incidents in the lives of the early pioneers 
 worthy of admiration and record. The one 
 which attracted her most was the brave and 
 heroic act of Laura Secord, who, at the cost 
 of much effort and imminent danger from 
 man and wild animals, warned the small 
 British detachment at Beaver Dam of its 
 danger from a night attack, which had been 
 determined upon by the enemy, then stationed 
 at Fort George. The effect of her daring act 
 was the safety of the British, and also the 
 capture of the whole assailing force of the 
 enemy. Mrs. Curzon was an outspoken advo- 
 cate of what is popularly called woman's 
 rights. The noble act of Mrs. Secord afforded 
 her an opportunity to laud a deed deservedly 
 worthy of lasting commemoration, and also to 
 claim for woman her proper share in the 
 records of the heroism of brave men. 
 
 Laura Secord, the Heroine of 1812: A 
 Drama, and Other Poems, by Sarah Anne 
 Curzon. Toronto, 1887. The volume con- 
 tains an interesting memoir of Mrs. Secord. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 91 
 
 We can afford space for only a few lines : 
 
 " J/;r. Secord—Yit.2iM^xi speed thee, dear wife ; I'll try to 
 bear 
 The dreadful pangs of helplessness and dread 
 With calm demeanor, if a bursting heart. 
 
 " J/rj. Secord—'Y\vt.vi will you taste a woman's common 
 lot 
 In times of strait, while I essay man's role 
 Of fierce activity. We will compare 
 When I return. Now, fare thee well, my husband." 
 
 Some of the earlier pages are full of refer- 
 ences true to kindly human nature and the 
 tenderness of women. 
 
 Isidore G. Ascher, born in Glasgow, Scot- 
 land, came with the family to 
 Montreal in 1843. There he was 
 educated at the High School, and entered into 
 business in his father's firm. Soon it appeared 
 that business was not congenial to him, and he 
 took up the study of law, graduating in due 
 course B.C.L. (McGill). Meanwhile, contri- 
 butions of his in verse appeared in the daily 
 press and magazines, and yielding to the 
 advice of his friends he collected and published 
 them under the title of Voices of the Hearth. 
 The volume was received with favor. Mr. 
 Ascher is most happy in dealing with subjects 
 relating to the home. We quote a few lines 
 from the poem, " The Falling Snow " : 
 7 
 
92 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " Fall, like peace, O gossamer Snow ! 
 
 While searching winds are roaming abroad ; 
 Fall, in your wealth, on the world below. 
 
 Like a blessed balm from God ! 
 Fall, like kisses, upon the earth. 
 
 That is cold and cheerless and full of woe. 
 And fill its heart with a sense of mirth, 
 
 Silent and loving Snow. 
 Fall, in your wonderful purity. 
 
 Fair as a bride's unsullied dress ; 
 Fall from heaven's immensity 
 
 On our autumn dreariness." 
 
 Mr. Ascher has resided in England since 
 1864, and his later work shows more mature 
 poetic power. We submit the following lines 
 from " Sleep and Death " : 
 
 " Then Sleep, enraptured at her marvellous worth, 
 Like one accused of kindness, who might drop 
 A lowly glance, unwilling to be praised. 
 In bright contentment gazed upon the earth, 
 Upon the happy dwellings wrapt in calm. 
 And gave her sister. Death, this utterance : 
 What song exultant can be praise to God 
 For choosing me to lavish good on men ? 
 When Night, stamping her holiness on earth. 
 Flies at the tender touch of warbling Dawn, 
 Men clasp my memory and bless my name ; 
 W^hat truer recompense can angel know 
 Than homage of a prayer and grateful love ? " 
 
 William J. Rattray, B.A., born in Lon- 
 don, England. The family came 
 to Canada, 1848, and settled in 
 Toronto. He was educated at the Toronto 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 93 
 
 Grammar School and the University of 
 Toronto, graduating, after a distinguished 
 course at the University, with the Gold Medal 
 in Mental Science. Mr. Rattray for many 
 years before his death was connected with the 
 Toronto press, and did most valuable work as 
 a member of the staff of the Mail, now the 
 Mail and Empire. During several years a 
 series of articles, which appeared weekly, 
 dealing with agnosticism in its various aspects 
 and revealed religion, excited much attention, 
 and were greatly admired by a large circle of 
 readers. They presented the orthodox side of 
 the question with much force and ability. At 
 the time of his death, Mr. Rattray was en- 
 gaged on The Scot in British North America, 
 of which he saw three volumes through the 
 press, a fourth being issued after his death. 
 The publication gives evidence of the author's 
 wide reading and scholarly attainments. His 
 work is invariably marked by learning, 
 thoughtfulness, and breadth of view, as well 
 as by a fine command of vigorous and grace- 
 ful language. Those who knew him regretted 
 much the great loss that Canadian letters 
 sustained by his early removal. A typical Scot 
 he was in mind and body. 
 
94 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Charles P. Mulvaney, M.A., M.D., was 
 .oo.r .««^ born in Ireland and educated at 
 Trinity College, Dublin, from 
 which he graduated with high honors in clas- 
 sics. About i860, Mr. Mulvaney came to Can- 
 ada, and joined the Queen's Own Rifles in 
 1866. Dr. Mulvaney was a graceful and pol- 
 ished writer, several of his books relating to 
 Canada, among them, Toronto, Past and 
 Present, 1884. In 1880, he and Dr. A. H. 
 Chandler published a volume of Lyrics, Songs 
 and Sonnets of considerable merit. His verse 
 is of very unequal excellence, but some of the 
 poems display an unusual degree of literary 
 and poetic ability. 
 
 We quote from a poem, probably his last 
 poetic effort, which appeared in the Globe, 
 25th May, 1885, on the departure of the 
 Canadian force to restore order in the West : 
 
 " I saw the tear-drop rise 
 In sweetest, purest of blue eyes, 
 When, kneehng in the house of prayer, 
 She heard good words of comfort there. 
 I knew the angels heard her prayer 
 For one in the North-West away. 
 It was but noon of yesterday 
 He bade farewell, he marched away ! 
 The rifle bright and bayonet seen 
 Above the Queen's Own garb of green. 
 With our five hundred's bold array 
 He marched for the North- West away. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 95 
 
 " As farther then, and farther still, 
 The dim march sounded down the hill, 
 As file on file, with steady pace. 
 Within the cars our boys took place, 
 As rose our farewell cheer to say, 
 'God bless you,' as they passed away." 
 
 —Boys in the North- West Away. 
 
 The Very Rev. George Munro Grant, 
 .00.. .««« D.D., author and educationist, 
 
 1835-1903 , • ^T r. . ^ 
 
 born in Nova Scotia, Canada, re- 
 ceived his preHminary education there and 
 graduated with high honors, Glasgow Univer- 
 sity, Scotland. As minister he served his 
 Church in Prince Edward Island and in his 
 native province; was appointed Principal of 
 Queen's University, Kingston, in 1877. When 
 Sir Sandford Fleming, at the request of the 
 promoters of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 
 conducted the celebrated expedition across the 
 continent from ocean to ocean in 1872, Mr. 
 Grant accompanied him as secretary. The 
 notes taken on this journey, hurriedly written 
 under various and nearly always unfavorable 
 conditions at the end of each day's march, were 
 published in book form, 1873. This volume, 
 which has passed through many editions, was 
 received most favorably, and read with great 
 enjoyment by both young and old. It showed 
 clearly that Canada was a country of vast 
 resources. 
 
96 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 The book revealed its author to Canada as 
 he was never seen before. The work, though 
 •hastily done, showed his keenness of observa- 
 tion, his high power of descriptive writing, his 
 possession of Celtic intensity and enthusiasm 
 combined with breadth of view, energy and in- 
 sight. From Ocean to Ocean was the author's 
 introduction to the world of writers. 
 
 As above stated, he was appointed Principal 
 of Queen's University in 1877. In the work 
 of education Queen's is his monument. 
 
 We quote a paragraph, though he is not the 
 author thereof, found at the end of his 
 Biography, characteristic of Principal Grant : 
 
 " There is a higher aim in man than love of happi- 
 ness; he can do without happiness, and find instead 
 blessedness. Love not pleasure ; love God. This is the 
 Everlasting Yea, wherein all contradictions are solved ; 
 therein whoso works and walks it is well with him." 
 
 He edited, in 1882-4, Picturesque Canada, 
 an illustrated work of much merit, published 
 by Belden Bros. Besides the personal con- 
 tributions, which were not small, he evidently 
 took pains in order to have the work of the 
 different writers harmonize. 
 
 " From the sea pastures and coal fields of Nova Scotia 
 and the forests of New Brunswick, almost from the his- 
 toric Louisburg, up the St. Lawrence to historic Quebec ; 
 through the great province of Ontario, and on lakes that 
 are seas ; by copper and silver mines so rich as to recall 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 97 
 
 stories of the Arabian Nights, though only the rim of the 
 land has been explored ; on the chain of lakes where the 
 Ojibway is at home in his canoe, to the plains where the 
 Cree is equally at home on his horse ; through the prairie 
 province of Manitoba, and rolling meadows and park-like 
 country, out of which a dozen Manitobas shall be carved 
 in the next quarter of a century ; along the banks of 
 
 'A full-fed river wending slow 
 By herds upon an endless plain,' 
 
 full fed from the exhaustless glaciers of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and watering ' the great lone land ' ; over illimitable 
 coal measures and deep woods ; on to the mountains 
 which open their gates, more widely than to our wealthier 
 neighbours, to lead us to the Pacific ; down deep gorges 
 filled with mighty timber, beside rivers whose ancient 
 deposits are gold beds, sands like those of Pactolus, and 
 channels choked with fish ; on to the many harbours of 
 mainland and island, that look right across to the ancient 
 Thule, 'with its rosy pearl and golden-roofed palaces,' 
 and open their arms to welcome the swarming millions 
 of Cathay ; over all this we had travelled, and it was all 
 our own. 
 
 ' Where's the coward that would not dare 
 To fight for such a land.' 
 
 Thank God, we have a country. It is not our poverty of 
 land or sea, of wood or mine, that shall ever urge us to be 
 traitors. But the destiny of a country does not depend 
 on its natural resources. It depends on the character of 
 its people. Here, too, is full ground for confidence." — 
 Ocean to Ocean. 
 
 Theodore Harding Rand, D.C.L., educa- 
 tionist, author, born in Nova 
 Scotia, Canada, educated at Hor- 
 ton Academy and Acadia College (B.A., 
 
98 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 i860). Thereafter he devoted himself wholly 
 to teaching and the best interests of education, 
 and organized the systems of Free Public 
 Schools of both Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 
 wick. In 1885 he removed to Toronto to take 
 part in the professorial work in Woodstock 
 College and also in the future McMaster 
 University. He was principal of the for- 
 mer institution and chancellor of the latter. 
 He resigned, owing to ill health, the office of 
 Chancellor of McMaster University in 1895, 
 but assisted the professoriate by filling the 
 chair of Education and English History until 
 the time of his death. Author of ^^ Minas 
 Basin, and Other Poems, 1897 (second edition, 
 enlarged, 1898) ; Song Waves, and Other 
 Poems, 1900; editor of Treasury of Canadian 
 Verse, with brief biographical notes, 1900. 
 The last volume, to which Dr. Rand gave 
 much time, appeared only a few weeks before 
 his death. 
 
 His poetry is marked with thought and 
 chaste diction. The Treasury of Canadian 
 Verse shows rare literary taste and sound 
 judgment, and furnishes its readers with a col- 
 lection of what may be regarded as the best 
 representative poems of our Canadian bards 
 yet produced, with a valuable series of brief 
 biographical notes. 
 
 The following sonnets indicate the spirit of 
 his muse: 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 99 
 
 "THE RAIN CLOUD. 
 
 " Swift changed to storm tones is the golden air, 
 And shut the heavens with the descending veil 
 Of cloud — here warm and brown, there cold and pale. 
 
 White-veined with sudden fire and red with glare. 
 
 Now falls the twisted rain, like unbound hair. 
 Dusking the wooded hills and mountain trail, 
 Now, marshalled by the trumpets of the gale. 
 
 Sweeps wide with level lances to their blare. 
 
 " O rain cloud, minister of cooling dew 
 
 To waiting harvests sheathed in mystery. 
 Bearer of blessed balms for fevered ills ! 
 Thy rending veil breaks on the holiest blue, 
 All quick and palpitant as angels see, 
 And God's smile falls upon the breathing hills." 
 
 "JUNE. 
 
 " Now weave the winds to music of June's lyre 
 
 Their bowers of cloud whence odorous blooms are 
 
 flung 
 Far down the dells and cedarn vales among — 
 See, lowly plains, sky-touched, to heaven aspire ! 
 Now flash the golden robin's plumes with fire. 
 The bobolink is bubbling o'er with song. 
 And leafy trees, yEolian harps new-strung, 
 Murmur far notes blown from some starry choir. 
 
 " My heart thrills like the wilding sap to flowers. 
 And leaps as a swoln brook in summer rain 
 Past meadows green to the great sea untold. 
 O month divine, all fresh with falling showers. 
 Waft, waft from open heaven thy balm for pain. 
 Life and sweet Earth are young, God grows not 
 old." 
 
100 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 "AN INLAND SPRUCE. 
 
 " Peasant of northern forests, humble tree, 
 
 Kirtled and frocked in all-year homespun green, 
 And lacking not among thy kind the mien 
 Of such as bear the white sails gallantly ! 
 Magician thou ! Thy full-breathed symphony 
 Of spacious dream dissolves the walls between 
 Me now and nature's organ-voiced queen, 
 1 he multitudinous ongoing sea. 
 
 " The sheeny garb from thy tall shoulders hung, 
 Making thy spiry form like vase antique 
 
 For resinous balms of frankincense and myrrh, 
 And round the bearded skirts the drowsy purr 
 Of life, and murmurings of thy sea-harp strung, — 
 Touch thee to kinship fine with Celt and Greek." 
 
 James De Mille, M.A., educationist, born 
 in New Brunswick, and educated 
 at Horton Academy and Brown 
 (R. I.) University, M.A., 1854. For some 
 years he was engaged in commercial life, both 
 in the United States and Canada. In i860 he 
 was appointed to the teaching staff of Acadia 
 College, his subject being classics. Subse- 
 quently he joined the professorial staff of 
 Dalhousie College, Halifax, where he was 
 engaged at the time of his death. He is the 
 author of many works in prose, among them, 
 Helena's Household: A Tale of Rome in the 
 First Century, 1868, a well-written tale; 
 Young Dodge Club Series, 1871, 1872, 1877; 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 101 
 
 Elements of Rhetoric, 1879, a book that was 
 well spoken of by those competent to judge 
 of its merits. 
 
 John Reade, F.R.S.C, F.R.S.L. (G.B.), 
 was born in Ireland, educated at 
 Queen's College, Belfast, and 
 came to Canada, 1856. He engaged in literary 
 work in Montreal, becoming a contributor to 
 the Montreal Gazette, a journal with which he 
 has been ever since connected. Mr. Reade 
 studied law and passed the usual examina- 
 tions; taught, as principal, in the Lachute 
 Academy; was ordained a clergyman of the 
 Church of England, and discharged the duties 
 of a pastor for a few years. About 1868, he 
 returned to Montreal, and since 1870 has been 
 literary and general assistant editor of the 
 Gazette. In 1870, at Montreal, Mr. Reade 
 published The Prophecy of Merlin, and Other 
 Poems. The volume was received with much 
 favor by the press of Great Britain, Canada 
 and the United States of America. 
 
 It is not often one meets more exquisitely 
 conceived poems than some of those found 
 in this volume of verse. Mr. Reade is one of 
 the chief writers in Canadian literature; he 
 cultivates clearness and a certain reserve, 
 giving emphasis to his thoughts rather by a 
 careful choice of words than by multiplying 
 epithets. 
 
102 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " There is a voice that never stirs the lips, — 
 Felt, but not heard ; that vibrates through the soul, — 
 A solemn music ; but no human speech 
 Can give that music to the ambient air. 
 
 " The noblest poem poet ever wrote ; 
 The brightest picture artist ever drew ; 
 The loftiest music lyrist ever sung ; 
 The gentlest accents woman ever spoke, — 
 Are paraphrases of a felt original^ 
 That lip, or pen, or pencil cannot show 
 Unto the seeing eye or listening ear. 
 The thoughts we utter are but half ourselves ; 
 The poet knows this well. 
 
 " Thus, much of us must be concealed, — 
 Spite of the ambition to be born 
 Of what is noblest in us, — till His breath 
 Who woke the morning stars to sing their songs, 
 Awakes our souls to fuller utterance." 
 
 — Unspoken Thoughts. 
 
 We have space only for one stanza from 
 " In My Heart/' but we advise all lovers of 
 true poetry to read the whole poem : 
 
 " In my heart are many chambers through which I 
 wander free ; 
 Some are furnished, some are empty, some are 
 sombre, some are light ; 
 Some are open to all comers, and of some I keep 
 the key, 
 And I enter in the stillness of the night." 
 
 Amos Henry Chandler, M.D., son of the 
 late Governor Chandler of New 
 
 1837 
 
 Brunswick; born in New Bruns- 
 wick, Canada; educated there and at Mount 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 103 
 
 Allison University. He took his M.D. degree 
 at the University of Pennsylvania. Joint 
 author with the late Dr. C. P. Mulvaney of 
 Lyrics, Songs and Sonnets, 1880. 
 
 His poems in this volume, together with his 
 other productions, give him an honorable 
 rank among the poetic writerS of Canada. 
 
 " Lay me, lay me, 
 While the world is waking, 
 Down to dream on what has gone before ; 
 Pray ye, pray ye. 
 Lest my heart be breaking, 
 God to bring her to my side once more. 
 
 " Wake me, wake me. 
 Out of this soul-gloom, when 
 The kind sun has dried all earth's tears sad ; 
 Take me, take me, 
 To my darling's tomb, then 
 I, too, shall cease weeping — and be glad." 
 
 — IV^en Dora Died. 
 
 Samuel James Watson, journalist, poet. 
 Born in Ireland, and educated at 
 the Belfast Academy, he came to 
 Canada, 1857, ^^^^ took up the work of report- 
 ing and writing for Montreal newspapers, 
 and afterwards for the Glohe, Toronto. He 
 reported much in connection with the discus- 
 sions and debates which took place while the 
 confederation of the British-American pro- 
 vinces was the theme absorbing the attention 
 of British subjects everywhere, especially in 
 Canada. 
 
104 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 In 1 87 1, Mr. Watson was appointed 
 librarian of the Ontario Legislature, an office 
 he held till his death in 188 1. He had to 
 make a new collection of books for the Ontario 
 Legislative Library, all the old library of the 
 United Provinces being taken to Ottawa. He 
 also wrote a very well arranged catalogue. 
 
 He published his first volume (the second 
 one did not appear) of his Constitutional 
 History of Canada, 1874, which brings the 
 narrative down to the union of the provinces 
 in 1 84 1, and was long the only compre- 
 hensive study of the subject. The Powers of 
 Canadian Parliaments — a plea for local as 
 against federal authority — appeared in 1880. 
 The Peace-Killer, or Massacre of Lachine, 
 was issued in 1870; The Legend of the Roses: 
 A Poem, and Ravlan: A Drama, 1876. Many 
 good passages and fine verses can be culled by 
 the thoughtful reader from these works by our 
 much respected and beloved friend, such as: 
 
 " For from the pure in soul there goes 
 An influence without restraint ; 
 As issues perfume from the rose, 
 As shines the halo round a saint." 
 
 Sir J. G. Bourinot, Honorary Secretary of 
 
 the Royal Society of Canada, etc., 
 
 born in Nova Scotia, Canada, 
 
 and there received his preliminary training 
 
 (private tuition) for college, and finished a 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 105 
 
 distinguished course at Trinity University, 
 Toronto, taking high honors in several depart- 
 ments. For some years after graduation he 
 applied himself to journalism, reporting and 
 writing for various newspapers and magazines. 
 In 1868 he was appointed shorthand writer to 
 the Senate of the Dominion of Canada. 
 Subsequently, after various promotions, he 
 was, in 1880, appointed Chief Clerk of the 
 House of Commons, Ottawa, which position 
 he held till the time of his death. 
 
 Sir John G. Bourinot's most important 
 contribution to literature are his manuals on 
 Constitutional History and Parliamentary Pro- 
 cedure and Practice in Canada. On such 
 subjects he is an acknowledged authority and 
 invariably expresses his meaning in lucid 
 terms. 
 
 The Intellectual Development of the Cana- 
 dian People, 1 88 1, and Canada's Strength and 
 Weakness are evidences of his interesting 
 research in the subject of general literature, 
 and readers seeking information about the 
 state of education in the early days of Canada 
 will be rewarded by perusing the pages of 
 Dr. Bourinot. 
 
 John Lesperance, bom in St. Louis, 
 U.S.A., and worked for many 
 
 1838 
 
 years on the press in Montreal, 
 contributing poems and criticisms to Canadian 
 
106 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 magazines. He wrote a review of Canadian 
 poetry which appeared in the Proceedings 
 of the Royal Society of Canada, 1884. Author 
 of The Bastonnais: A Tale of the American 
 Invasion of Canada, iJJ^-6. The Bastonnais, 
 though considerably below the level of Mr. 
 William Kirby's Le Chien d'Or, conveys a 
 not inept idea of the times whereof it treats, 
 and will well repay perusal. 
 
 Carroll Ryan, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 educated at St. Michael's College, 
 Toronto; served as a volunteer in 
 the British German Legion and Turkish Con- 
 tingent during the Crimean War, and likewise 
 in H.M. 1 00th Royal Canadian Regiment, 
 1859-67. After his return to Canada, Mr. 
 Ryan entered actively into journalism, as con- 
 tributor and editor, his writings appearing in 
 the most influential papers of the Dominion. 
 
 In 1857 he published Oscar, and Other 
 Poems, of which the author wrote later in 
 life, **that it contained nearly all the errors 
 incident to such productions of youth and 
 inexperience." Thus '' Oscar " writes of his 
 native Canada: 
 
 " I go from thee — but words can ne'er express ; 
 I could not love thee more, nor would I less. 
 My greatest sin was loving thee too well ; 
 I love thee still — though parted — fare thee well." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 107 
 
 *' Oscar " describes his journey to the 
 Crimea, which gives him the opportunity of 
 introducing many references to Canadian 
 scenery. 
 
 Among Mr. Ryan's other Hterary work 
 are : The Songs of a Wanderer, 1867, Ottawa, 
 and Poems, Songs, Ballads, illustrations and 
 portrait, 1903. 
 
 Rev. William Henry Withrow, M.A., 
 D.D., author and journalist, born 
 in Ontario, Canada; educated at 
 Victoria and Torotito University (B.A., 1863). 
 He was in the active ministerial service of the 
 Methodist Church for some years, until he 
 was appointed editor of the Canadian Meth- 
 odist Magazine and Review, 1874. The 
 success of the Magazine has been attributed 
 to his ability and good judgment. Author of 
 several volumes, sundry of which are about 
 Canadian life; but he is best known by his 
 Popular History of Canada, which has been 
 reissued at various times, and the Catacombs 
 of Rome and Their Testimony Relative to 
 Primitive Christianity. The History is written 
 in a judicious spirit and is generally accurate; 
 the volume on the Catacombs is regarded as 
 about the best in English on the subject. 
 
108 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 LiEUT.-CoL. George T. Denison, public ser- 
 vice, Ontario; the descendant of 
 
 18Sd 
 
 a family which has won an honor- 
 able place in the historical records of Canada, 
 especially for its military achievements. There 
 is, perhaps, in Ontario no clearer instance of 
 the law of heredity than the continuance of 
 the military spirit for generations in the Deni- 
 son family. The subject of this notice is a 
 native of Toronto, Ontario, Canada ; educated 
 at Upper Canada College and graduated 
 LL.B., University of Toronto, 1861 ; he was 
 appointed police magistrate of the city of 
 Toronto, 1877, a position which he still holds. 
 Col. Denison has served his country with dis- 
 tinction in the field on several occasions, and 
 also in Britain and elsewhere, as an able ex- 
 ponent of Imperial Union of all the British 
 possessions. 
 
 His chief literary works are Modern Cav- 
 alry, 1868, and History of Cavalry, 1877. 
 These books have been translated into many 
 of the languages of Europe, and one into that 
 of Japan. In 1877 Lieut.-Col. Denison, with 
 the History of Cavalry, won, against all com- 
 petitors, the first prize of 5,000 roubles, which 
 had been offered in 1874 by the Emperor of 
 Russia. 
 
 In 1900 he issued Soldiering in Canada: 
 Recollections and Experiences, an informing 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 109 
 
 and interesting volume, written in his usual 
 lucid, vigorous English. There is no mistak- 
 ing the position of the author on Imperial 
 policy; it is strong, loyal "hands all round." 
 
 Rev. Alexander Rae Garvie^ journalist, 
 was born in Demerara, British 
 Guiana, of Scotch parentage. 
 As a minister he labored almost wholly in 
 the Maritime Provinces of Canada. The 
 author of Thistledown, published after his 
 death, with an introduction by George 
 Stewart, jun., in 1875, a volume of poems and 
 essays. 
 
 "PHANTASY. 
 
 " 'Tis a bat at twilight still, 
 Flitting round a lonesome mill ; 
 Tis a falcon fleet that flies 
 Into depths of opal skies ; 
 Oft it is a sullen owl, 
 Pallas learned, pensive fowl, 
 Hooting hoarsely 'mong the trees ; 
 And again, o'er troubled seas, 
 As a petrel bold it wings 
 Tirelessly. Sometimes it sings, 
 Lark-like, in the heavens' scope, 
 When dew gleams on grassy slope." 
 
 — Thistledown. 
 
 Charles Mair, F.R.S.C, poet, born in 
 
 Ontario, Canada. Educated at the 
 
 Grammar School and Queen's 
 
 University, Kingston, he studied medicine for 
 
110 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 a short time, but was withdrawn therefrom 
 by the Hon. Wm. Macdougall, 1868, to make 
 researches connected with entering Red River 
 Settlement, a question which then troubled 
 the public. This same year he published his 
 first book of poems. Dreamland, and Other 
 Poems. The volume was well received by the 
 press. The larger part of the edition was 
 burnt at the binder's by a disastrous fire. 
 
 Prior to the first Louis Riel Rebellion, he 
 acted at Fort Garry as the correspondent of 
 the Montreal Gazette, in which appeared a 
 series of brilliant letters from his pen describ- 
 ing the Canadian West. During the Louis 
 Riel Rebellion he suffered severe privations by 
 imprisonment and otherwise; but what he 
 felt most was the total loss of the manuscripts 
 of several poems which he had prepared for 
 early publication. Disheartened by this loss, 
 he gave up literary work and went into the 
 fur trade at Portage la Prairie and Prince 
 Albert till 1883, when he returned to Windsor, 
 Ont. Thus it happened that while in Windsor 
 Mr. Mair had the leisure to write his chief 
 work, Tecumseh: A Drama (with notes), 
 an important addition to Canadian letters, 
 Tecumseh was first published in 1886, and was 
 cordially received by both the press and the 
 public. In 1 90 1, a collection of all his poems 
 (revised) was published by William Briggs, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. \\\ 
 
 Toronto — a handsome volume, containing por- 
 traits of the noble Indian chief, Tecumseh, and 
 of the author, as well as notes. He served 
 with the Canadian force throughout the second 
 Riel trouble in the West, and now resides at 
 Lethbridge, Alberta. 
 
 Mr. Mair, already favorably known to 
 Canadians by his Dreamland, and Other 
 Poems, in Tecumseh enters the lists as a 
 native dramatic poet. In reading the poem 
 one instinctively recalls Heavysege's '' Saul." 
 In a distinct and very special sense, Mr. Mair 
 must be recognized and welcomed as a native 
 dramatic poet, and on this account his poem is 
 an important addition to Canadian literature. 
 Tecumseh will take a foremost and enduring 
 place in Canadian letters. It appeals to the 
 people of Canada by its lofty spirit of patriot- 
 ism, its nobleness of sentiment, and by its 
 sympathetic insight. 
 
 Here is a characteristic passage selected 
 from a long address by Tecumseh to General 
 Harrison : 
 
 " Once all this mighty continent was ours, 
 And the Great Spirit made it for our use. 
 He knew no boundaries, so we had peace 
 In the vast shelter of His handiwork. 
 And, happy here, we cared not whence we came. 
 We brought no evils thence—no treasured hate, 
 No greed of gold, no quarrels over God ; 
 And so our broils, to narrow issues joined, 
 
112 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Were soon composed, and touched the ground of 
 
 peace. 
 Our very ailments, rising from the earth, 
 i(Vnd not from any foul abuse in us. 
 Drew back, and let age ripen to death's hand. 
 Thus flowed our lives until your people came, 
 Till from the East our matchless misery came ! 
 Since then our tale is crowded with your crimes. 
 With broken faith, with plunder of reserves — 
 The sacred remnants of our wide domain — 
 With tamp'rings, and delirious feasts of fire, 
 The fruit of your thrice-cursed stills of death. 
 Which make our good men bad, our bad men worse, 
 Aye, blind them till they grope in open day. 
 And stumble into miserable graves." 
 
 — Tecumseh, Act II. ^ Scene IV. 
 
 Beautiful gems of poetic thought can, by 
 the appreciative reader, be gleaned on many a 
 page, such as, when Lefroy exclaims on hear- 
 ing the voice of his long-absent betrothed, 
 who had been wandering in the pathless wilds 
 of the forest: 
 
 " I could pick that voice 
 From out a choir of angels ! lena." 
 
 Rev. John Campbell, scholar, educationist, 
 born in Scotland; educated in 
 
 184O-1904 
 
 London, England, and on the Con- 
 tinent; in early youth was in business in New 
 York and Toronto. He entered the University 
 of Toronto, 1861, and finished a distinguished 
 course, 1865 ; during the same time he pursued 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 113 
 
 theology at Knox College, and completed his 
 course in that department in Edinburgh, i868r 
 He returned to Toronto and took up the active 
 duties of the ministry until he was appointed 
 to the chair of Church History and Apolo- 
 getics in the Presbyterian College, Montreal, 
 1873. He was an indefatigable student; 
 wrote many papers for various societies and 
 the press. His principal work is thought to 
 be The Hittites, Their Inscriptions and Their 
 History, 1890. 
 
 He published, in 1892, Two Knapsacks ^ 
 a novel of Canadian summer life. The 
 journey into the district northward of To- 
 ronto, about Barrie, Collingwood, etc., and 
 which forms the basis of the volume, was 
 made, we think, in the years between i860 
 and 1870. The two friends went on a summer 
 holiday into the " Newlands," to find speci- 
 mens of plants, flowers, etc., and besides see- 
 ing and enjoying the beauties of wild nature, 
 they also met men and women of various sorts 
 and conditions. Here the reader will find 
 clever dialect work, chats on theology, pastoral 
 work, botany, fishing, and fighting with 
 desperate men. The author shows a remark- 
 able acquaintance with English literature, 
 more particularly with the writings of Wil- 
 liam Wordsworth. We quote a few lines. 
 
 The speakers are a Presbyterian minister 
 
114 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 and a clergyman of the Church of England. 
 The clergyman says : 
 
 " As a mission agency my club has not succeeded yet, 
 but every time I make a cricketer I make a Churchman." 
 
 " I have known some very good cricketers who were 
 not Anglicans,'' said the minister. 
 
 " Now, you haven't, my dear sir. You think you 
 have, but you haven't ; that's the trouble with those who 
 reject Church authority. The Methodist plays rounder, 
 what you call baseball ; the Independents and Baptists 
 play croquet and lawn tennis after other people stopped 
 playing them ; the Presbyterian plays golf ; and the 
 Churchman plays cricket." 
 
 Alexander Begg, author, born in Quebec, 
 Canada; educated in Scotland 
 and Province of Quebec. He 
 entered in early years into trade, going into 
 Manitoba and Western Canada, 1867, as a 
 pioneer of Canadian trade and manufacture. 
 He also became an active fur-trader. In 1878 
 he was appointed Sergeant-at-Arms to the 
 Legislature of Manitoba and Deputy-Treas- 
 urer, which positions he resigned in 1884. 
 He was employed by the Provincial Govern- 
 ment for some time to make known to the 
 world the abundant riches of the Province 
 and the newly-discovered *' Great West " of 
 the Dominion; he was thereafter sent to 
 England by the Canadian Pacific Railway as 
 their general emigration agent. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 115 
 
 He is author of Dot-it-Down, a Story of 
 Life in the North-West, 1871; Ten Years in 
 Winnipeg, 1879; Great Canadian North- 
 West, 1881. In his first volume there is a con- 
 siderable element of fiction, the second is a 
 genial tale of the rapid growth of Winnipeg, 
 and the third a very entertaining descriptive 
 narrative of the magnificent West of the 
 Canadian Dominion. In 1894, Mr. Begg 
 published a History of the North-West in 
 three handsome volumes, including the history 
 of Manitoba. The History is valuable, though 
 not owing much to its literary style. The 
 author had personal knowledge of the country 
 he described, and gave much study to its past. 
 Valuable documents are included at the end of 
 each volume. 
 
 John Charles Dent, born in England; 
 came to Canada at an early age 
 with his parents, studied law, 
 was called to the Ontario Bar and practised 
 his profession for a while in that Province. 
 Forsaking law he went to London and entered 
 into journalism, where he did good work on 
 the daily press. He returned to America in 
 1867, and gave three years to journalistic 
 work in Boston before he came to Toronto, 
 when he took an editorial position on the 
 Toronto Globe. The last years of his life 
 
116 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 were occupied in writing short stories, The 
 Last Forty Years, 1841-1881; and The 
 Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion, two 
 volumes, 1881, 1885. 
 
 In The Last Forty Years we have a narra- 
 tive chiefly of poHtical events, which, though 
 important, are not the whole Hfe-history of a 
 people. The second volume contains a con- 
 cluding chapter on journalism and literature 
 and an index. A feature of the work is the 
 many character-sketches to be found in it. 
 The illustrations in the book are not well 
 executed. 
 
 The Story of the Upper Canadian Rebellion 
 is written in vigorous English and attractive 
 style. Beauties of prose and poetic quotations 
 are freely scattered throughout the work, but 
 it lacks the tone and temper which should 
 always guide the historic pen. 
 
 The attempt to rob Mr. Wm. Lyon Mac- 
 kenzie of the credit or discredit of being the 
 active agent in bringing to a focus the various 
 factors which had been in existence, in more 
 or less strength, for many years prior to 
 1837-8, is very apparent. And equally plain 
 it is that he did his utmost to give the credit 
 thereof to Dr. John Rolph. Why the author 
 should be so biased against the one and so 
 much in favor of the other, in the absence of 
 evidence, it is idle to suggest. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. WJ 
 
 Though Mr. Dent has made a few sHght 
 corrections in Mr. Lindsey's narrative, it is 
 still regarded as trustworthy. It is to be 
 hoped that writers dealing with this period 
 will hereafter abandon the senseless nick- 
 name, " Family Compact," and adopt the name 
 by which they themselves wished to be known, 
 viz., '' The Tory Party." 
 
 Sir James D. Edgar, statesman, born in 
 Lower Canada, his parents having 
 removed, in the first year of thei- 
 wedlock, from Scotland to this country; thus 
 their eldest and only son was Canadian-born, 
 though by descent a Scotchman. Our subject 
 was educated at Lennoxville Grammar School 
 and at private schools in the city of Quebec 
 and in Ontario; studied law in Toronto, and 
 began the practice of his profession with some 
 of the best law firms in that city. He entered 
 actively into politics on the Reform side, and 
 on the platform and in the House of Commons 
 won the respect not only of his associates, but of 
 those from whom he differed. He was elected 
 unanimously Speaker of the House of Com- 
 mons, 1896. He was a frequent and welcome 
 contributor to our magazines, and at Mont- 
 real, in 1874, he took the prize for Canadian 
 national songs, his prize poem being, '* This 
 Canada of Ours." He published This Canada 
 
118 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of Ours, and Other Poems, 1893, ^^^^ ""^ 1898, 
 Canada and Its Capital. 
 
 "CANADIAN SONG SPARROW. 
 
 " From the leafy maple ridges, 
 From the thickets of the cedar, 
 From the alders by the river, 
 From the bending willow branches, 
 From the hollows and the hillsides, 
 Through the lone Canadian forest, 
 Comes the melancholy music, 
 Oft repeated, never changing, — 
 'All — is — vanity — vanity — vanity.' 
 
 " Where the farmer ploughs his furrow. 
 Sowing seed with hopes of harvest. 
 In the orchards, white with blossoms. 
 In the early fields of clover. 
 Comes the little brown-clad singer, 
 Flitting in and out of bushes, 
 Hiding well behind the fences. 
 Piping out his song of sadness, 
 ' Poor — hu — manity — manity — manity.' " 
 
 — TAis Canada of Ours, and Other Poems. 
 
 James Hannay, D.C.L., historian and jour- 
 nalist, born in New Brunswick, 
 
 1842 
 
 Canada, and educated at the 
 parish school, Scotland, and the Grammar 
 School, St. John, N.B. Studied law and 
 began work for the press at an early age. He 
 was official reporter of the Supreme Court of 
 New Brunswick for several years, a position 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 119 
 
 he retired from in 1873. Mr. Hannay has to 
 his credit Hterary work of note, both as a 
 writer on the pubHc press and as an historian. 
 In 1879 ^^s History of Acadia was published. 
 In the preface the author says : *' My aim has 
 been to trace every statement to its original 
 source, and to accept no fact from a printed 
 book at second-hand, where it was possible 
 to avoid doing so." The history is a useful 
 narrative of events from the time of John 
 Cabot until 1763, when the provinces were 
 finally surrendered by France. It indicates 
 care and research. The reader therein will 
 find the reasons for the statement : " The 
 Acadians will neither leave the country nor 
 take the oath." 
 
 " Yet through all these evil years a new Acadia was 
 growing up, which, now in its vigorous youth, gives 
 promise of greater things in the future than ever entered 
 into the dreams of the pioneer settlers of this land. Here 
 the descendants of the two great races who fought so 
 long for empire in America toil amicably side by side 
 for the advancement of their common country. Here 
 new hopes and aspirations have supplanted the dreams 
 of conquest, and the triumphs of peace are counted of 
 more value than the trophies of war. Yet, while we 
 rejoice in the present, we cannot afford to disregard the 
 past, nor should we omit to pay our tribute of respect to 
 the memory of those who have ' borne the burthen and 
 heat of the day,' and braved the savage forces of nature 
 long centuries ago." — History^of Acadia. 
 
120 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Robert Sellar^ journalist and author, born 
 in Scotland, came to Canada 
 many years ago. He is the 
 editor and proprietor of the well-known public 
 journal, the Canadian Gleaner, Huntingdon, 
 P.Q., which is regarded as the mouthpiece of 
 the Protestant minority in Quebec. The 
 author of Gleaner Tales, 1886 (second edition, 
 1895), in which he narrates in choice lan- 
 guage and felicitous style many incidents in 
 the life of the early settlers in the Eastern 
 Townships of Quebec. 
 
 Bernard McEvoy, journalist, born in 
 England and educated there ; came 
 to Canada in 1888, and was 
 engaged for ten years on the staff of the 
 Mail and Empire. More recently he has been 
 on the newspaper press in British Columbia, 
 and returned to England (1905), where he 
 is at present busy writing for journals on both 
 sides of the Atlantic. Author of Away 
 from Newspaper dom, and Other Poems, 
 1897. ^^ quote a few lines from "The 
 Village Street " : 
 
 " But evening was the time to see the street 
 In all its glory. Oil lamps here and there 
 Dotted the darkness. The farmers' work 
 Being over for the day, they stood in groups — 
 Slow talking ; sometimes silent. Curling smoke 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 121 
 
 Rose from their pipes. The touch of quiet night 
 Seemed sweet to them after the glare of sun 
 Patiently borne throughout the live-long day. 
 And now and then a dainty flitting form — 
 Some Canadian beauty — passed along 
 With bird-like step and such a pair of eyes 
 As well might set a rustic's heart on fire ; 
 (For everywhere is told the tale of love) ; 
 And maidens fair as the Dominion knows 
 Uphold our standard of fair womanhood." 
 
 "REVISED PROOFS. 
 
 "He takes his proof-sheets with a sigh, 
 Deleting here, and adding there, 
 Till not the keenest reader's eye 
 But must confess the whole is fair. 
 
 " And shall the pages of our lives — 
 Letter by letter daily set — 
 Be subject, when the end arrives. 
 To no revising process yet? 
 
 " Sometimes our eyes are blurred with tears, 
 Sometimes our hands with passion shake. 
 Sometimes a tempting Devil leers 
 At all the errors that we make. 
 
 " Forbid, O God ! that work so vain 
 Shall stand in an eternal scroll — 
 With faults of sin, and joy, and pain — 
 As long as future ages roll." 
 
122 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Nicholas Flood Davin, Q.C, journalist 
 and writer, born in Ireland, 
 educated there, finishing his col- 
 lege course at Queen's College, Cork. He 
 studied law in London, being called to the bar, 
 1868; meanwhile he had written much for 
 the press, making a place for himself in jour- 
 nalism. He served during the Franco-Ger- 
 man War as war correspondent to the Lon- 
 don Standard, and came to Canada in 1872, 
 when he was immediately appointed as leader 
 writer on the Globe staff. After three years 
 he became a member of the staff of the Mail, 
 Toronto; went to the Canadian West, 1882. 
 In 1883 established the Regina Leader, the 
 first newspaper in that region, and in 1887 
 was elected to the House of Commons, where 
 he played a conspicuous part as a forceful and 
 finished speaker. Mr. Davin published, 1877, 
 The Irishman in Canada. " The work re- 
 ceived praise and deserved praise." Eos: An 
 Epic of the Dawn, and Other Poems, 1889, 
 Regina, N..W.T. These poems reveal the 
 man, scholarly, witty, with fine touches, yet, at 
 times, sacrificing nature, or true art, to the 
 requirements of classical rules. Mr. Davin 
 was too successful in other fields of literary 
 effort to be wholly successful as a poet. The 
 Muse of poetry bestows her rare honors only 
 upon the ardent and life-long devotee, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 123 
 
 An Indian speaks : 
 
 " From the doom of the hunter 
 
 There is no reprieve ; 
 And for me 'mid strange customs 
 
 'Tis bitter to live. 
 Our part has been played, 
 
 Let the white man play his, 
 Then he, too, disappears, x 
 
 And goes down the abyss. 
 Yes, Time's eagle will prey 
 
 On the Pale Face at last, 
 And his doom, like our own. 
 
 Is to pass and be past." 
 
 — An Epic of the Dawn. 
 
 His Grace the Archbishop of Halifax, 
 1843 1906 Cornelius O'Brien, bom in 
 Prince Edward Island, Canada; 
 educated by private tuition at St. Dunstan's 
 College, and at the College of the Propaganda 
 at Rome, and graduated there, doctor of divin- 
 ity and philosophy. In 187 1 he was or- 
 dained to the priesthood and returned to 
 Prince Edward Island. Prior to his conse- 
 cration to the Archbishopric of Halifax, which 
 took place in Halifax, 1883, he held with 
 acceptance various offices in the service of his 
 Church. An ecclesiastic most highly esteemed 
 for his learning and valuable public services. 
 Author of After Weary Years, 1885 (we 
 could not find a copy of this book) ; Aminta, 
 a Modern Life Drama, 1890. As a specimen 
 9 
 
124 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of the reverend gentleman's poetic efforts 
 we quote a beautiful sonnet from the latter: 
 
 "ST. CECILIA. 
 
 " A shell lies silent on a lonely shore, 
 
 High rocks and barren stand with frowning brow ; 
 
 Hither no freighted ships e'er turn their prow 
 Their treasures on the fated sand to pour. 
 Afar the white-robed sea-gull loves to soar ; 
 
 But, pure as victim for a nation's vow, 
 
 A lovely maiden strikes the shell, and now 
 Its music charms, and sadness reigns no more. 
 
 " Thus, Christian poesy, thus on pagan coasts 
 For ages mute had lain thy sacred lyre, 
 
 Untouched since from the prophet's hand it fell, 
 Till fair Cecilia, taught by angel hosts. 
 Attuned its music to the heavenly choir. 
 And gave a Christian voice to Clio's shell." 
 
 Rev. George Bryce, M.A., LL.D., educa- 
 tionist and writer, born in On- 
 tario, Canada; educated at Col- 
 legiate Institute, Brantford, and University of 
 Toronto, B.A., with honors, 1867; was with 
 the University Rifles, Q.O.R., at Ridge- 
 way, 1866. Mr. Bryce studied theology at 
 Knox College, and in 1871 was sent to Win- 
 nipeg to organize educational interests there, 
 chiefly in connection with the Presbyterian 
 Church. He contributed in no small degree 
 to the founding of Manitoba College, the Uni- 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 125 
 
 versity of Manitoba, and the Public School 
 system of that province. Dr. Bryce is a ready 
 writer. His theme is generally some subject 
 connected with Manitoba or the wide domain 
 of Western Canada. The great Canadian 
 West owes much to the fertile pen of the 
 Rev. Dr. Bryce. The reader and student will 
 be well repaid by a careful reading of his 
 published works. He has succeeded in re- 
 moving the unfavorable impression which had 
 existed for years regarding the Earl of Sel- 
 kirk, the founder of the Red River Settle- 
 ment. Dr. Bryce published A Short History 
 of the Canadian People (1887, London), a 
 comprehensive and well-proportioned outline, 
 which might truly be styled, " A Short His- 
 tory of the English and French in America." 
 Each chapter has a brief table of references 
 that will prove of value to the earnest student 
 of history. Appendices and a table of dates 
 are given at the end of the volume, and are 
 interesting and useful. Manitoba: Its In- 
 fancy, Growth and Present Condition, 1882, 
 London; The Remarkable History of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, 1900, London and 
 Toronto. These two volumes give the best 
 history of the H. B. C. extant. Some errors, 
 which unavoidably crept into the first edi- 
 tion, are corrected in the second, and those 
 that still remain can easily be removed in sub- 
 
126 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 sequent editions. The author is richly 
 equipped, by scholarship and residence in 
 Winnipeg, for producing a standard work on 
 the policy and achievements of the great com- 
 pany, and also for writing the fascinating 
 story of the West and North of Canada. 
 
 Oliver Aiken Rowland, barrister and leg- 
 islator, born in Ontario, Canada, 
 and educated at Upper Canada 
 College, the Toronto Model Grammar School 
 and at Toronto University; called to the bar, 
 1875. Besides taking much interest in literary 
 and scientific inquiry and historic research, 
 contributing many articles to the leading 
 magazines and journals of the day, he pub- 
 lished in 1887 ^^^^ Irish Problem as Viewed 
 by a Citizen of the Empire, and in 1891 The 
 New Empire: Reflections upon Its Origin, 
 Constitution and Its Relation to the Great 
 Republic. At the provincial election, 1894, 
 he was returned to the Legislature (Ontario) 
 for South Toronto. Mr. Howland, in The 
 New Empire, affords a most interesting re- 
 view of the growth of the existing Imperial 
 conditions. It is a book with which Cana- 
 dians ought t^ be most familiar. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 127 
 
 John Watson, LL.D., educationist, born in 
 Scotland; graduated M.A. with 
 many honors, Glasgow Univer- 
 sity. 1872, and was appointed the same 
 year to the chair of Logic, Metaphysics and 
 Ethics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont. 
 For some years past Professor Watson has 
 held the chair of Moral Philosophy in the 
 same University. Professor Watson pub- 
 lished, 1 88 1, Kant and His English Critics, 
 which secured him high praise as a phil- 
 osophic writer; then, Philosophy of Kant, 
 1888. Several other volumes followed in close 
 succession, all adding to his reputation as a 
 thinker and writer. The last volume from his 
 pen is Christianity and Idealism; the sub-title 
 gives a better idea of the scope of the volume: 
 The Christian Ideal of Life in Its Relations to 
 the Greek and Jewish Ideals and to Modern 
 Philosophy. Professor Watson is a clear 
 thinker, and there is ever a close correspond- 
 ence between clear thinking and lucid writing. 
 
 Mary Jemima MacColl, poet and teacher, 
 daughter of the well-known Scottish bard, 
 Evan MacColl, born in England and came 
 to Canada when a child of eleven years; 
 was educated in Kingston, Ontario, where 
 she taught school for several years. In 
 1882 Miss MacColl published a small volume 
 of verses; simple and sweet they are. Several 
 
128 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 editions have been issued. We quote from the 
 poem which gives the title to the book : 
 
 " ' Bide a wee and dinna weary,' 
 
 Patience quaintly was defined 
 By a little Scottish maiden, 
 
 And the sweet words in my mind 
 Ever linger, like the memory 
 
 Of a beautiful refrain, 
 Making hours of gloom less dreary 
 
 When I breathe them o'er again." 
 
 Charles Edwin Jakeway, M.D., born in 
 Ontario, Canada; graduated M.D., 
 Toronto, 1871. Dr. Jakeway 
 made a collection of his poems, chiefly 
 patriotic, which had been appearing in the 
 public press for some time, under the title 
 The Lion and the Lilies: A Tale of the Con- 
 quest, and Other Poems, 1897. 
 
 An Indian maid goes to her mother and 
 says: 
 
 " ' The Eagle Eye a lover meet 
 
 Would be' — * Hist, child, footsteps approach ! 
 Hide till we see who doth encroach 
 Within the bounds of my domain ! 
 To yonder bush, and there remain 
 Until I call you forth again ! " 
 
 An Indian comes and finishes a long story 
 by saying to the same mother-squaw: 
 
 " ' I've run death's gauntlet day by day, 
 Where hungry wildcats screech for prey, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 129 
 
 But everywhere the haunting face 
 Of Budding Rose, in matchless grace, 
 Swims 'fore my eyes. Pray, mother, tell. 
 Will she return my love ? Dispel 
 My doubts at once and seal my fate ! ' 
 
 " ' Sit down behind that bush and wait,' 
 The dame replied, ' until I call 
 The wood-sprites up within my thrall.' 
 
 " She lit a smoking pine-knot red. 
 And swayed it thrice around her head, 
 Then hurled it hissing in the marsh, 
 The while her voice on air-wings harsh 
 Passed through the thronging shadows dense 
 Unto love's hearing strained and tense : 
 ' I hear the voices of the trees 
 In answer to the asking breeze. 
 And this is what the voices say : 
 " True love will always have its way ! 
 Come forth, my children, to the light ; " 
 The answer to the breeze is right.' 
 
 " The maiden came with drooping head, 
 The brave with grave and measured tread, 
 And joined their hands above the blaze. 
 ' For you, fond lover, length of days 
 I prophesy, and happy times. 
 Your lives shall run like merry rhymes 
 Through many years of full content. 
 And when at last your course is spent. 
 Your children shall revere your name ; 
 Your children's children — ' Flashed a flame 
 A lightning blast, athwart their eyes, 
 And death assailed them in the guise 
 Of Iroquois, the Huron's dread — 
 And seeress, lovers, all were dead." 
 
 — An Unfinished Prophecy. 
 
13Q 'HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Grant Allen, writer, naturalist, born in 
 Ontario, Canada, and educated 
 by his father (clergyman of the 
 Church of England), King William Gram- 
 mar School, Birmingham, and Merton Col- 
 lege, Oxford, from which he graduated with 
 high honors, 1871. Taught for a few years 
 in a college in Spanish Town, Jamaica; re- 
 turned to England, 1876, and made an at- 
 tempt to study and write on scientific subjects, 
 but found the financial return inadequate for 
 a bare living. He was induced by his friends 
 to adopt the writing of stories, and thus he 
 found how to please the multitude and make 
 thereby a fair livelihood. In this manner 
 he discovered " that he was an artist in an 
 art which he did not love." He called him- 
 self " an organizing student," but Mr. Allen 
 was more than that, for he did good original 
 work in botany. His output in fiction num- 
 bers forty-two volumes at least; his best 
 work, many think, is to be found in what are 
 called " guide-books." Mr. Grant Allen's 
 guide-books are totally different from the 
 books which are known to the travelling 
 public now by that name. 
 
 George Murray, B.A., F.R.S.C., educa- 
 tionist and author, born in Lon- 
 ^®*~ don, England ; educated at King's 
 College, London, and at University of Ox- 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 131 
 
 ford. Before taking his degree in i860, he 
 pubHshed The Oxford Ars Poetica; or, How 
 to Write a Neivdigatc. Came to Canada, i860, 
 and was connected with the Montreal High 
 School as senior Classical Master until his re- 
 tirement on a pension in 1892. He was one 
 of the editors of the literary remains of Hon. 
 D'Arcy McGee. Author of Verses and Ver- 
 sions, 1 89 1. 
 
 Mr. Murray is most widely known by his 
 poem, *' How Canada was Saved," commemor- 
 ating the valor of a band of French-Canadians 
 who, in May, 1660, inflicted, at the sacrifice of 
 their lives, exemplary punishment upon the 
 Iroquois : 
 
 "HOW CANADA WAS SAVED. 
 
 " Beside the dark Utawa's stream two hundred years 
 
 ago, 
 A wondrous feat of arms was wrought which all the 
 
 world should know ; 
 'Tis hard to read with tearless eyes that record of the 
 
 past ; 
 It stirs the blood and fires the soul as with a clarion's 
 
 blast. 
 What though no blazoned cenotaph, no sculptured 
 
 columns tell 
 Where the stern heroes of my song in death triumphant 
 
 fell; 
 What though beside the foaming flood untombed their 
 
 ashes lie — 
 All earth becomes the monument of men who nobly 
 
 die." 
 
 — Verses and Versions. 
 
132 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 The above poem was awarded the prize of 
 $50 ofifered by the Montreal Witness in 
 1874 for the best ballad on any subject in 
 Canadian history. There were two hundred 
 and ninety-one competitors. 
 
 Mr. Murray, in 1869, obtained the gold 
 medal offered by the St. Andrew's Society of 
 the city of Ottawa for the best poem on The 
 Thistle, the national emblem of Scotland. 
 His translations from French writers are 
 highly esteemed for their beauty and accuracy. 
 
 George John Romanes, author, biologist, 
 born in Ontario, Canada, and edu- 
 
 1848-1894< 
 
 cated by private tuition (his 
 father, Rev. George Romanes, D.D., was pro- 
 fessor of Greek, Queen's University, King- 
 ston), and at Gonville and Caius College, 
 Cambridge. He read mathematics at the be- 
 ginning, but graduated with distinction in 
 science, 1873. The private means in the pos- 
 session of the Romanes family enabled George 
 John to devote his time and strength to the 
 study of science without any anxiety as to the 
 proper maintenance of the family. He had 
 the advantage of the acquaintance and friend- 
 ship of Charles Darwin and other eminent 
 men of science, who were, during his life- 
 time, living in Great Britain. Mr. Romanes 
 is the author of several books on science, 
 mostly on biology, in which subject he did 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 133 
 
 notable work. He is a most interesting char- 
 acter. His early intention was to enter the 
 Church, for which he made some preparation. 
 His scientific reading and studying led him to 
 abandon the '* faith." But a long and earnest 
 conflict followed, the result of which was that 
 he at last regained a firm hold of the Unseen, 
 and sometime before his death he re-entered 
 the communion of the Church of England. 
 He printed poems for private distribution on 
 various subjects, chiefly philosophic and 
 emotional, and often of great beauty. He was 
 a rare combination, in whose mind a deep 
 religious sentiment with poetical genius is 
 combined with a powerful scientific insight. 
 Bearing on the subject which perplexed him 
 so long, and written, we think, in 1890, we 
 quote the following sonnet: 
 
 " I ask not for Thy love, O Lord : the days 
 
 Can never come when anguish shall atone ; 
 
 Enough for me were but Thy pity shown 
 To me as to the stricken sheep that strays 
 With ceaseless cry for unforgotten ways — 
 
 O lead me back to pastures I have known, 
 
 Or find me in the wilderness alone, 
 And slay me, as the hand of mercy slays. 
 
 " I ask not for Thy love : nor e'en so much 
 As for a hope upon Thy breast to lie ; 
 But be Thou still my shepherd — still with such 
 
 Compassion as may melt to such a cry ; 
 That I may hear Thy feet and feel Thy touch, 
 And dimly see Thy face ere yet I die." 
 
134 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 A few lines from his last poem, 1894, must 
 suffice : 
 
 "AMEN, NOW LETTEST THOU THY 
 SERVANT, LORD. 
 
 " As Thou hast found me ready to Thy call, 
 Which stationed me to watch the outer wall. 
 And, quitting joys and hopes which once were mine, 
 To pace with patient steps the narrow line. 
 Oh ! may it be that, coming soon or late. 
 Thou still shalt find Thy soldier at the gate, 
 Who then may follow Thee till sight needs not to prove 
 And faith will be dissolved in knowledge of Thy love." 
 
 For the encouragement of thoughtful be- 
 wildered men, he has left these, his final 
 words : 
 
 " I have now come to see that faith is intellectually 
 justifiable. It is Christianity or nothing." 
 
 Agnes Maule Machar, poet and novelist, 
 born in Ontario, Canada, daughter of the 
 Rev. John Machar, D.D., second Principal of 
 Queen's University, Kingston. Miss Machar 
 is a prolific and versatile writer. 
 
 For King and Country (published in 1874, 
 Toronto), one of her first stories, and re- 
 garded as one of her best, exhibits Miss 
 Machar's qualities pretty fully as an author. 
 She always writes with a moral purpose in 
 view, and makes use of the many incidents in 
 Canadian pioneer life to rouse enthusiasm and 
 deep feeling of patriotism in Canadian youth 
 for their country. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 135 
 
 The last of the several volumes which she 
 has published is The Lays of the True North, 
 and Other Canadian Poems, 1899. London 
 and Toronto. A collection of her poems 
 which had appeared in periodicals and anthol- 
 ogies, with the additions of others hitherto 
 unpublished. Though sweet lines can easily 
 be found in her Lays, and strong appeals 
 urging to right doing, still the author, we 
 think, will live more influentially in Canadian 
 life as a novelist than as a poet. 
 
 " Fair heritage and fruitful soil, 
 
 This land, our own, we fondly cherish, 
 Won for us by the blood and toil 
 
 Of those whose memory ne'er should perish ; 
 A land where nature's forces teach 
 A lesson stern of bravely bearing 
 Whate'er betide, and youth can reach 
 A prime of high and noble daring." 
 
 — Lays of the True North. 
 
 Edward William Thomson^ author, jour- 
 nalist, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 *^® educated at Trinity College School. 
 In 1865 he enlisted in the x\merican army and 
 served on the Potomac during the closing days 
 of the fierce conflict; he was a member of the 
 Q.O.R. at Ridgeway in 1866. Subsequently 
 Mr. Thomson engaged in engineering, and 
 was on the Carillon Canal during a year or 
 two ; thereafter he devoted himself to writing, 
 
136 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 mostly political journalism, and during the 
 years 1889-90 was chief editorial writer on 
 the Glohe newspaper, Toronto. In 1885 he 
 gained the first prize in a competition offered 
 by the Youth's Companion, Boston; in 1890 
 he resigned his position on the Globe to be- 
 come associate editor of the Youth's Com- 
 panion. Author of Old Man Savarin, and 
 Other Stories, 1895; Walter Gibbs, the Young 
 Boss, and Other Stories, 1896; Betiveen Earth 
 and Sky, 1897; Smoky Days, 1901. These 
 books are chiefly collections of stories written 
 for magazines in the United States, mostly 
 for the Youth's Companion. The volumes 
 are almost exclusively designed for boys, 
 Canada, in most cases, being the scene of the 
 adventures, etc. Mr. Thomson has made for 
 himself in this class of work a marked record. 
 
 Andrew John Ramsay, poet, a native of 
 
 Ontario, Canada ; educated at the 
 
 public school. He was a house 
 
 decorator, and won distinction in landscape 
 
 work. 
 
 Author of The Canadian Lyre, 1859; Win- 
 on-ah; or, The Forest Light, and Other Poems, 
 1869; One Quiet Day, 1873 5 ^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^/ 
 Muriel, the Foundling, and Other Original 
 Poems, 1886. In most of these books the 
 title-page bears the name of J. R. Ramsay — 
 in one the name Andrew Ramsay — giving 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 137 
 
 the impression that they are by different 
 authors. Many fine passages can be found 
 in Mr. Ramsay's work. '' The Old Pine 
 Canoe," addressed to his brother, is a beauti- 
 ful poem, reminiscent ; and "' The Haunted 
 House," from which we quote two stanzas, is 
 good in parts, but marred by redundant verses : 
 
 " There is a rapture in tempestuous weather, 
 A sympathy with suffering, which thrills 
 When midnight mists around the mountains gather, 
 And hoarse winds howl among the moaning hills. 
 
 " And the strong pines into the storm extending. 
 Bow down as with an offering to the dead, 
 A tribute to the tempest, softly sending 
 
 Snow-plumes unto the summer's funeral bed." 
 — Win-on-ah; or, The Forest Light, and Other Poems. 
 
 Lady Edgar (the second daughter of the 
 late Thomas G. Ridout: Matilda Ridout), 
 born in Ontario, Canada. She married 
 the late Sir James Edgar in 1865. Lady 
 Edgar is favorably known to the public 
 as editor and annotator of Ten Years of 
 Upper Canada in Peace and War, 1805- 
 18 13, being the Ridout Letters; also, an 
 Appendix, etc., of the Narrative of the Cap- 
 tivity of Thomas Ridout among the Shaw- 
 anese Indians in 1788. Toronto, 1890. A 
 sentence from her introduction to the volume 
 will indicate the spirit which animated the 
 
138 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 author in giving these interesting letters to the 
 public : " It was a labor of love to collect 
 these memorials of an honored father. Per- 
 haps their publication will lead other descend- 
 ants of the pioneers of this country to search 
 in dusty boxes and ancient desks for other 
 records of these ' days that are no more.' " 
 
 Author of General Brock, in the " Makers 
 of Canada." Morang & Co., 1905. 
 
 Mrs. J. C. Yule (Pamelia S. Vining), 
 teacher, poet, born in New York State, 
 United States; educated at the District 
 School and Albion College, Michigan, to 
 which state the family had removed. She 
 began teaching when quite young, and after 
 finishing her college course she taught in 
 her Alma Mater. When (i860) the Can- 
 adian Institute at Woodstock was organized 
 by its first principal. Rev. R. A. Fyfe, 
 D.D., Miss Vining was appointed to the posi- 
 tion of instructor in English, art and litera- 
 ture, a department for which she was well 
 prepared. 
 
 Author of Poems of the Heart and Home, 
 1881 ; Sozvin,^ and Reaping; or. Records of 
 the Ellison Family. 1899; Up Hill; or, Paul 
 Sutherland's Progress. All her writings have 
 a prevailing intensity of moral purpose, and 
 are worthy of careful reading. She died at 
 Ingersoll, 1896, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 139 
 
 "UNDER THE SNOW. 
 
 " Over the mountains, under the snow, 
 Lieth a valley cold and low, 
 'Neath a white immovable pall. 
 Desolate, dreary, soulless all. 
 And soundless, save when the wintry blast 
 Sweeps with funereal music past. 
 Yet was that valley not always so. 
 For I trod its summer-paths long ago, 
 And I gathered flowers of fairest dyes 
 Where now the snow-drift heaviest lies, 
 And I drank from its rills that with murmurous song 
 Wandered in golden light along 
 Through bowers, whose ever-fragrant air 
 Was heavy with perfume of flowrets fair — 
 Through cool, green meadows where, all day long. 
 The wild bee droned his voluptuous song, 
 While over all shone the eye of Love 
 In the violet-tinted heavens above." 
 
 — Poems of the Heart and Home, 
 
 The poem from which we take the above, 
 the whole being too long to quote, is no or- 
 dinary production. The snow, which silently 
 and sadly buries all the glory of summer be- 
 neath its white shroud, is taken as the emblem 
 of that nipping blight that sooner or later falls 
 on all life, withering its fairest blossoms in 
 repellent decay; teaching all men a needful 
 lesson, but which all are only too apt to for- 
 get. 
 
 * 10 
 
140 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 John Beattie Crozier, M.D., author, born 
 in Ontario, Canada: educated at 
 
 1848 
 
 the elementary and secondary 
 schools of Gait, his native town, and at the 
 University of Toronto, M.D., 1872. Shortly 
 after taking his degree of M.D., Mr. Crozier 
 removed to London, England, and settled in 
 practice there. He found time, as early as 
 1880, to produce an important work. The Re- 
 ligion of the Future, the first of a series of 
 original volumes on the history of civiliza- 
 tion and culture; Civilization and Progress, 
 1885; History of Intellectual Development on 
 the Lines of Modern Evolution, Vol. L, 1897; 
 Vol. III., 1901 (Vol. II. has not been 
 issued yet). My Inner Life: A Chapter on 
 Personal Evolution and Autobiography, 1898. 
 In 1887 he wrote Lord Randolph Churchill: 
 A Study of English Democracy. By the kind 
 offices of Lord Rosebery, in 1894, Dr. Crozier 
 was favored by a civil list pension of £50 for 
 life. His chief reputation rests upon Civiliza- 
 tion and Progress, which has now reached a 
 third edition. This work is one of much merit, 
 and places Dr. Crozier along with the ablest 
 men in this class of mental effort. As a writer 
 his style is forcible and clear. 
 
 i 
 
 Harriet Annie Wilkins (Harriet Annie, 
 
 pseud.), born in England, has lived for many 
 
 years in Hamilton, Ontario, where she has 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 141 
 
 conducted a private school. Miss Wilkins has 
 pubHshed several books of verse. She is a 
 spirited writer, distinguished by love of coun- 
 try, an ardent martial feeling, and by a devout 
 spirit. Her best work is found in her martial 
 pieces. 
 
 " Fierce was the battle, wild the strife — 
 The ground beneath them rang ; 
 Redan and Malakoff that night 
 
 Echoed the muskets' clang. 
 Two thousand of the treacherous host 
 
 Advanced through that dark sky : 
 Two hundred of Victoria's men 
 Had met them at the cry — 
 ' This way, 97th.' " 
 
 — Wayside Flowers. 
 
 Rev. Arthur John Lockhart^ poet, born 
 in Nova Scotia, Canada; educated 
 at the local schools ; was for some 
 years a printer, evinced an early taste for the 
 study of nature and literature; he was ad- 
 mitted to the Methodist ministry, 1872, and 
 has since served his Church in East Maine, 
 U.S. Mr. Lockhart, by the pen-name '' Pastor 
 Felix," is widely known as a writer in prose 
 and verse in the Canadian and American 
 periodicals. A Masque of Minstrels, poems 
 by himself and his brother, 1887; Beside the 
 Narraguagus, and Other Poems, 1893; The 
 Papers of Pastor Felix, 1904. For a hint of 
 the spirit which animates his prose, we quote 
 a short passage from his Papers: 
 
142 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " He soon supplied me ; then, while I eagerly drank 
 from a cup that had been hung inside the curb, he turned 
 away his attention and scanned the road again, or looked 
 down the sunset way filling with glory the watery vale 
 below, straining his eyes in either direction, and assuming 
 his former look of anxious inquiry. 
 
 " ' Is there some one expected, for whom you are 
 looking?' I inquired. 
 
 "He returned again to a subconsciousness of my 
 presence, and addressed me in a tone of preoccupation : 
 " 'Ah ! sir, I have looked for her long ; nor can I for- 
 bear looking for her ; nor can I conjecture whither she 
 has gone. But,' he added, in a tone that went straight 
 to my heart, ' surely she will come sometime ! Surely 
 she will come sometime ! ' " — Phemie. 
 
 Thus he sings about his native province: 
 
 " O thou beloved Acadia ! 
 How, whensoe'er I think of thee. 
 Dull glow these skies 'neath which I range, 
 While all the summer hills are strange. 
 
 " Yet sometimes I discern thy gleam 
 In sparkles of the chiming stream ; 
 And sometimes speaks thy haunting lore 
 The foam-wreathed Sibyl of the shore. 
 
 " And sometimes will mine eyes incline 
 To hill or wood that seems like thine ; 
 Or, if the robin pipeth clear. 
 It is thy vernal note I hear." 
 
 A rare treat of enjoyment awaits anyone 
 who can appreciate the spirit of sympathy and 
 insight of '' Pastor Felix/' as shown in these 
 salutary Papers. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 143 
 
 Robert Barr, novelist, born in Glasgow, 
 Scotland. The family came to 
 the western part of Ontario, 
 Canada, when Master Robert was only five 
 years old. He attended the public schools 
 during the winter months — the way then 
 usual for boys — and helped his father in the 
 summer time whenever opportunity offered; 
 attended the Normal School, Toronto, and 
 taught for some years in the public schools 
 on the borders of Lake Erie. Mr. Barr joined 
 the staff of the Detroit Free Press, 1876, and 
 removed to London, England, 1881, where 
 he now resides. Including The Speculations 
 of John Steele, 1904, Mr. Barr is the author 
 of eighteen volumes of fiction, and joint 
 author, with Stephen Crane, of one volume. 
 The O'Ruddy. Mr. Robert Barr has in 
 several of his books, which are widely read, 
 referred in well-founded and most justifiable 
 terms to the extent and riches of Canada, both 
 in lands and minerals, in this way doing 
 good service for the British people. In the 
 Midst of Alarms, in which an amusing sketch 
 is given of " The Affair of Ridgeway,'' 1866, 
 has more Canadian color in it, perhaps, 
 than any of his volumes of fiction. The 
 interest of his writing depends on the de- 
 velopment of incidents rather than on the 
 development of character, which demands 
 much continuity of thought. 
 
144 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Isabella Valancy Crawford was born in 
 1851 1887 Ireland, and came with the family 
 to Canada when she was quite 
 young — said to have been only five years. 
 She was a daughter of the late Stephen Craw- 
 ford, M.D., of Peterboro', Ont. At an early 
 age contributions from her pen began to 
 appear in the newspapers of Toronto, and thus 
 the reading public became aware that a writer 
 of more than ordinary power had been given 
 to Canada. These contributions were fre- 
 quently in the shape of short stories. One of 
 them, under the title. Some Black Sheep, 
 attracted considerable attention at the time 
 of its publication. But the most valuable 
 addition which she made to Canadian litera- 
 ture will be found in her only book of poems, 
 Old Spookses' Pass, Malcolm's Katie, and 
 Other Poems, 1884. 
 
 After her father's death, which occurred 
 some years before her own, the main support 
 of the family was the earnings of Miss Craw- 
 ford's pen. It is pathetic to remember, while 
 reading the harvest of her poetic pen, the 
 brave struggle she was making for the main- 
 tenance of those dear to her in the face of the 
 cold non-recognition of her literary abilities 
 by the unconscious hydra-headed public. She 
 herself must have been alive to this hard fate 
 when she wrote: 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 145 
 
 "jThe^^gods will have it thus, 
 The choicest of the earth for sacrifice, 
 Let it^be man, or maid, or lowing bull." 
 
 Whatever may be the explanation, it is a 
 fact that her book dropped almost dead 
 from the press. With the exception of the 
 critics, little notice was taken of this book, 
 which contains a richly-varied collection of 
 poems. Neither the '* make-up " nor the 
 title of the book would appeal to the 
 people, and apparently no energy was spent 
 in pushing its sale. The poor reception given 
 by the public to her venture had a depressing 
 effect upon Miss Crawford, many persons 
 alleging that it was really the cause of her 
 early death, which happened very suddenly in 
 Toronto. The reader may doubt if this infer- 
 ence is well founded, remembering that Miss 
 Crawford herself wrote in " Malcolm's Katie" : 
 
 " Who curseth Sorrow knows her not at all. 
 
 " Spookses' Pass " is a poem of cowboy life 
 in the Canadian West; perhaps " spun " out too 
 much; but the descriptions in it are so vivid 
 that it is almost incredible that any one should 
 so write without actually being a cowboy. 
 
 We quote one stanza from '' The Helot" : 
 
 " Strife crouched red-eyed in the vine ; 
 In its tendrils Eros strayed ; 
 Anger rode upon the wine ; 
 
 Laughter on the cup-lip played.' 
 
146 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 In many passages she describes in a mas- 
 terly fashion the work of the early pioneers 
 in the forests of Ontario; the felling of tree 
 monarchs, the clearing of the fallow land; 
 the fields black with stumps and covered with 
 the golden harvest. Clearly the plenty in the 
 homestead and the freedom of the Canadian 
 farmer were pleasing to her. Her work is 
 characterized by melody, width of view and 
 power, that same quality which in man is 
 named virility. The following stanzas are 
 a specimen of her best work : 
 
 " O Love builds on the azure sea, 
 
 And Love builds on the golden sand, 
 And Love builds on the rose-winged cloud, 
 And sometimes Love builds on the land. 
 
 " O if Love build on sparkling sea, 
 
 And if Love build on golden strand, 
 And if Love build on rosy cloud, 
 To Love these are the solid land. 
 
 " O Love will build his lily walls. 
 
 And Love his pearly roof will rear. 
 On cloud or land, or mist or sea — 
 Love's solid land is everywhere ! " 
 
 The above notice of Miss Crawford's 
 poetry was written about two years before the 
 edition of her collected poems, edited by Mr. 
 J. W. Garvin, B.A., with an Introduction by 
 Miss Ethel wyn Wetherald, was issued by 
 William Briggs, 1905. This handsome book 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 147 
 
 does credit to both the editor and pubhsher, 
 while Miss Wetherald's rarely appreciative 
 and sympathetic introduction brings rightly to 
 open view the richness of Miss Crawford's 
 original and brilliant genius. Many of the 
 fifty-two poems which now appear for the first 
 time are very fine, and well sustain the high 
 qualities which the critics recognized in the 
 very inadequate edition of her work published 
 in 1884. 
 
 "THE ROSE OF A NATION'S THANKS. 
 
 " A welcome ! Oh, yes, 'tis a kindly word, but why will 
 
 they plan and prate 
 Of feasting and speeches and such small things, while 
 
 the wives and mothers wait ? 
 Plan as ye will, and do as ye will, but think of the 
 
 hunger and thirst 
 In the hearts that wait ; and do as ye will, but lend us 
 
 our laddies first ! 
 Why, what would ye have ? There is not a lad that 
 
 treads in the gallant ranks 
 
 Who does not already bear on his breast the Rose of 
 
 a Nation's Thanks!" 
 
 — Poems, Complete Edition. 
 
 "CANADA TO ENGLAND. 
 
 " If destiny is writ on night's dusk scroll. 
 Then youngest stars are dropping from the hand 
 Of the Creator, sowing on the sky 
 My name in seeds of light. Ages will watch 
 Those seeds expand to suns, such as the tree 
 Bears on its boughs, which grows in Paradise." 
 
 — Poems, Complete Edition, 
 
148 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 John Wilson Bengough, caricaturist and 
 poet, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 educated at the District and 
 Grammar School, Whitby. He studied law 
 for a while, but finding that profession not 
 to his taste, he became a printer. The family- 
 returned to Toronto, 1873, ^^<^ M^- B^^^- 
 gough founded the comic paper, Grip, which 
 afforded wholesome teaching and amusement 
 to Canadians for years, and established 
 throughout the English-speaking world his 
 fame as a caricaturist of no ordinary ability. 
 Among his best known publications are: 
 Grip's Cartoons, 1875; Popular Readings, 
 Original and Selected, 1882; Caricature His- 
 tory of Canadian Politics (2 vols., illustrated, 
 1886) ; Motley: Verses Grave and Gay, 1895; 
 In Many Keys: A Book of Verse, 1902. He 
 excels in composing elegies. We reproduce 
 the one he wrote on the death of Sir John A. 
 Macdonald : 
 
 "SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD. 
 
 " Dead ! dead ! and now before 
 The threshold of bereaved Earnscliffe stand, 
 In spirit, all who dwell within the land, 
 From shore to shore ! 
 
 " Before that black-craped gate, 
 Men, women, children mourn the Premier gone, 
 For many loved and worshipped Old Sir John, 
 And hone could hate. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. I49 
 
 " And he is dead, they say ! 
 The words confuse and mock the general ear — 
 What ! can there yet be House and Members here, 
 And no John A. ? 
 
 " So long all hearts he swayed. 
 Like merry monarch of some olden line, 
 Whose subjects questioned not his right divine. 
 But just obeyed 
 
 " His will's e'en faintest breath. 
 We had forgotten, 'midst affairs of state, 
 'Midst Hansard, Second Readings and Debate, 
 Such things as death ! 
 
 " Swift came the dread eclipse 
 Of faculty, and limb, and life at last, 
 Ere to the Judge of all the earth he passed. 
 With silent lips 
 
 " But not insensate heart ! 
 He was no harsh, self-righteous Pharisee — 
 The tender Christ compassioned such as he. 
 And took their part. 
 
 " As for his statesman-fame, 
 Let history calm his wondrous record read, 
 And write the truth, and give him honest meed 
 Of praise or blame." 
 
 Craven Langstroth Betts, author, born 
 in New Brunswick, Canada, de- 
 scendant of U. E. L. family ; edu- 
 cated at St. John Grammar School, and subse- 
 quently took a short course at the Fredericton 
 Training School. He removed, 1879, to the 
 
150 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 United States, and applied himself to commer- 
 cial interests. But he has done considerable 
 literary work for the magazines, etc., and pub- 
 lished the following books: Songs from 
 Ber anger, in the Original Metres, 1888; 
 The Perfume Holder, and a Persian Love 
 Song, 1891 ; Tales of a Garrison Town (Hali- 
 fax), with Rev. A. W. H. Eaton, 1892. 
 These writers show what the trend of public 
 opinion was in the provinces by the sea in 
 their early manhood, for everyone who is to 
 succeed in business pursuits is sent to the 
 United States. Canada now keeps at least 
 her energetic sons at home. 
 
 Rev. Arthur W. H. Eaton, author, born 
 in Nova Scotia, Canada; educated by private 
 tuition and at Harvard University, graduating, 
 1880. After due preparation he entered the 
 ministry of the Episcopal Church in the United 
 States. Author of Acadian Legends and 
 Lyrics, 1889; and of the Heart of the Creeds, 
 1888; The Church of England in Nova 
 Scotia, and the Tory Clergy of the Revolution, 
 1891 ; Tales of a Garrison Town (Halifax), 
 with Mr. C. L. Betts, 1892; two volumes of 
 verse, Poems of the Christian Year, and 
 Acadian Ballads, 1905. 
 
 The following stanzas from *' O Spirit of 
 the Eternal Deep," in Poems of the Christian 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 151 
 
 Year, will, we hope, induce the reader to 
 secure both volumes ; many of the poet's coun- 
 trymen will highly appreciate the Acadian 
 Ballads. 
 
 " Thy voice is heard in every sigh 
 Of the soft-swaying forest trees, 
 Thine is the unjarring melody 
 
 That greets us in the summer breeze. 
 
 " We hear Thy heart-beats in the shade 
 And silence of the forest dim ; 
 Thou art in all the flowers that braid 
 With blue and gold the river's brim. 
 
 " The firmament Thy mind reveals, 
 
 The unchanging orbs, the spaces wide, 
 The splendid crimson fire that steals 
 Into the west at eventide." 
 
 These lines breathe melody and devotional 
 feeling. 
 
 Barry Straton, poet, was born in New 
 Brunswick, Canada; educated at 
 1854-1890 various schools, and finished at 
 the Collegiate Institute of his native city, 
 Fredericton. He began the study of law, but 
 finding that indoor life did not suit him he 
 devoted himself to farming. Mr. Barry 
 Straton, Charles Roberts and Bliss Carman 
 are cousins and alike in this respect, that they 
 began to write early in life. Mr. Straton 
 published Lays of Love, and Miscellaneous 
 
152 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Poems, 1884; The Building of the Bridge: an 
 Idyl of the St. John, i887; and The Hunter's 
 Hand-book. He is an expert canoeist, and 
 the River St. John his chosen field for exer- 
 tion and inspiration. We take two stanzas 
 from a poem named "Charity," as showing 
 his thoughtful spirit: 
 
 " How read you the Scriptures ? What say they ? These 
 three with the world now abide, 
 Hope, charity, faith, and the greatest is charity — 
 blessed above all. 
 Our hands should be fruitful and open. The field for 
 our giving is wide, 
 And blessing shall follow the gifts, though the power 
 to give may be small. * 
 
 " Then time may roll on with its tumults, its troubles 
 and tempests of tears ; 
 The sweet, voiceless shadows shall hold us till striv- 
 ing and sorrow are past. 
 We shall wake full refreshed to the judgment, though 
 we slumber for eons of years ; 
 And the Lord shall show us His glory, we shall be 
 like to God at the last." 
 
 Thomas Stinson Jarvis, author and dra- 
 matic critic, born in Ontario, 
 Canada; educated at Upper Can- 
 ada College; travelled when young, during 
 which his fondness for the sea was shown; 
 studied law, and was called to the bar 1880, 
 thereafter practised for some years his pro- 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 153 
 
 fession. In 1890, published Geoffrey H amp- 
 stead, a novel, very well received by the critics. 
 The scene of the book is laid in Toronto, and 
 it is partly a study in heredity. Removing to 
 New York City, 1891, to take up the life of 
 letters, Mr. Jar vis produced his second novel. 
 Doctor Perdue, with which he took a prize of 
 $1,000 in Chicago. Meanwhile, he has done 
 much successful work on magazines dealing 
 with yachting. His novel, The Ascent of Man, 
 appeared, 1894, concerning which the Arena 
 says : " Jarvis has bridged the gap at which 
 Darwin was halted, and by extending scien- 
 tific methods into the examination of more 
 immaterial processes, has given an aid and 
 new vista to the study of evolution, which 
 have established his name in the realm of last- 
 ^ing and valuable literature." The title of his 
 last novel is. She Lived in New York. The 
 reader of Mr. Jarvis's work can easily perceive 
 that for him England is his country and 
 Canada his home. 
 
 George Frederick Cameron, journalist, 
 born in Nova Scotia, Canada; 
 educated at the local schools of his 
 native province, the Law School of the Uni- 
 versity of Boston, and at Queen's University, 
 where he matriculated in 1882. While in Bos- 
 ton, whither the family removed in 1869, he 
 paid much attention to literature, and was a 
 
154 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 frequent contributor to the leading daily press 
 of that famed city. For two years prior to his 
 death, he was editor of the Kingston Nezvs. 
 The reader of his poems cannot but be 
 struck with his burning hate of oppression 
 and wrong wherever it may be, and his 
 passionate sympathy with the struggle for 
 freedom everywhere, in China, in Russia, in 
 France, in America, in Ireland. A gifted son 
 of Nova Scotia, he reflected honor on his 
 native province and the Dominion. The 
 author's Lyrics on Freedom, Love and Death 
 was edited by his brother, Charles J. Cam- 
 eron, and published, Kingston and Boston, 
 1887. 
 
 '♦WHAT MATTERS IT? 
 
 I. 
 
 " What reck we of the creeds of men ! 
 
 We see them — we shall see again. 
 
 What reck we of the tempests' shock ? 
 
 What reck we when our anchor locks ? 
 
 On golden marl or mould — 
 In salt-sea flower or river rock — 
 What matters, so it holds ? 
 
 n. 
 " What matters it the spot we fill 
 
 On earth's green sod when all is said ? 
 When feet and hands and heart are still, 
 
 And all our pulses quieted ? 
 What hate or love can kill or thrill, 
 
 When we are done with life, and dead ? 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 155 
 
 VI. 
 
 " For we shall rest ; the brain that planned, 
 That thought or wrought or well or ill, 
 At gaze like Joshua's moon shall stand, 
 
 Nor working any work or will, 
 While eye and lip and heart and hand 
 Shall all be still— shall all be still ! " 
 
 Clive Phillips-Wolley, F.R.G.S., author, 
 
 born in England and educated 
 
 there, a barrister of the Middle 
 
 Temple, 1884. He is a sportsman, and has 
 
 travelled widely; since 1896 has made British 
 
 Columbia his home. 
 
 Author of many volumes about his journeys 
 and adventures in Europe and America. 
 Several of them are about the West of Canada 
 and the Pacific shores. Perhaps the most 
 noted in this respect are The Trottings of a 
 Tenderfoot, 1884; Snap, 1890; Gold, Gold in 
 Cariboo, 1894; One of the Broken Brigade, 
 1897. As an indication of his work we quote 
 a few lines from The Trottings of a Tender- 
 foot: 
 
 "At Seattle, Portland, St. Paul, Chicago, 
 all the way back to New York landing stage, 
 the air has been full of speculation; figures 
 have floated constantly before your eyes; 
 every one has been doing sums, and you your- 
 self, contrary to your nature, have joined in 
 the general pastime; conversation has been 
 
 saturated with mercantile phrases; and alto- 
 11 
 
166 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 gether the dollar devil has got such a hold of 
 you that you have begun to feel as feverishly 
 eager as the rest. 
 
 ** But here there is peace. Not that there 
 is any lack of energy or even speculation 
 v^ithin moderate bounds; but in Victoria the 
 English element has asserted itself and de- 
 clared business before pleasure, if you like; 
 but business without pleasure, never. So that 
 you v^ake, as it were, from a railroad night- 
 mare and rejoice in the belief that the dollar 
 was made for man and not man for the 
 dollar.'* 
 
 Rev. Matthew Richey Knight, born in 
 Nova Scotia, Canada ; educated at 
 the public schools and Mount Alli- 
 son University; graduated B.A., 1875. After 
 teaching in the public schools some time, Mr. 
 Knight has been in the active service of the 
 Methodist Church for several years. Author 
 of Poems of Ten Years, 1887. 
 
 The following quotations will shadow forth 
 the temper of his muse: 
 
 " The wondrous sorcery of song, 
 
 Its magic influences ; 
 The mastery, profound and strong, 
 
 Of true poetic senses ; — 
 To her made all things pure'and bright, 
 And little things seem infinite. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 157 
 
 " All through the warp of human bliss 
 The weft of woe flies ever : 
 No power in this weak world, I wis, 
 Can this from that dissever ; 
 But he who waits the final light 
 Heeds not the surging clouds of night." 
 
 — On the Death of the Princess Alice. 
 
 "THE MERCY OF GOD. 
 
 " They have a saying in the East : 
 
 ' Two angels note the deeds of men. 
 And one is first and one is least. 
 
 When men do right one takes his pen 
 And magnifies the deed to ten. 
 
 " ' This angel is at God's right hand, 
 And holds the other in command. 
 He says to him when men do wrong, 
 " The man was weak, temptation strong — 
 Write not the record down to-day ; 
 To-morrow he may grieve and pray." ' 
 
 " It may be myth ; but this is sooth — 
 No ruth is lasting as God's ruth ; 
 The strongest is the tenderest ; 
 He, who best knows us, loves us best." 
 
 "JACQUES CARTIER. 
 
 " No flame of war was he, no flower of grace. 
 No star of wisdom ; but a plain, bold man. 
 More careful of the end than of the plan. 
 
 No mystery was he afraid to face ; 
 
 No savage strategy, no furious storm. 
 No stings of climate, no unthought disease ; 
 His master purpose would not bend to these, 
 
 But saw, through all, achievement's towering form. 
 
158 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " He first beheld the gloomy Saguenay, 
 
 And Stadacona's high, forbidding brow ; 
 His venturous vision, too, did first survey 
 
 Fair Hochelaga, but not fair as now. 
 St. Malo holds his dust, the world his fame, 
 But his strong, dauntless soul 'tis ours to claim." 
 
 William Henry Drummond, M.D., poet, 
 a native of Ireland; educated in 
 Ireland and Canada, graduating 
 M.D., from Bishop's College, Lennoxville, 
 1884. He practised his profession in Montreal 
 and at the same time was a member of the 
 Medical faculty, McGill University. Author 
 of The Habitant, and Other French-Canadian 
 Poems, 1898; Philorum's Canoe and Made- 
 leine Vercheres, 1898; Johnnie Courteau, and 
 Other Poems, 1901 ; and The Voyageur, and 
 Other Poems, 1906. These books are illus- 
 trated by Fred. S. Coburn. Dr. Drummond, 
 introducing so aptly the human '^ touch," has 
 secured the good-will of the people. We feel 
 that it is only just to the author that we should 
 quote from the preface of The Habitant a few 
 words : 
 
 " My friends : Understand that I have not written the 
 verses as examples of a dialect, or with any thought of 
 ridicule." 
 
 Dr. Drummond's verse perhaps does not 
 strictly classify as English literature, but it so 
 felicitously interprets the life of the French- 
 Canadian habitants that it is considered well 
 deserving of mention. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. I59 
 
 He happily voices the sentiments of our 
 fellow-subjects in the Province of Quebec, in 
 two stanzas which we quote from *' The 
 Habitant's Jubilee Ode " : 
 
 " Yass, dat is de way Victoriaw fin' us dis jubilee, 
 Sometom' we mak' fuss about not'ing, but it's all in de 
 
 familee. 
 An' w'enever dere's danger roun' her, no matter on sea 
 
 or Ian', 
 She'll find that les Canayens can fight de sam' as bes' 
 
 Englishman. 
 
 " An' onder de flag of Angleterre, so long as dat flag 
 was fly — 
 Wit' deir English broder, les Canayens is satisfy leev 
 
 an die. 
 Dat's de message our fader geev us w'en dey're fallin* 
 
 on Chateauguay, 
 An' de flag was kipin' dem safe den, dat's de wan we 
 will kip alway ! " 
 
 — The Habitant and Other Poems. 
 
 W'. A. Fraser^ novelist, a native of Nova 
 Scotia, Canada. Author of The Eye of a 
 God, and Other Stories, 1899; Mooswa, and 
 Others of the Boundaries, 1900; The Outcast, 
 1901 ; Thoroughbreds, 1902; The Blood 
 Lilies, 1903; Brave Heart, 1904; The Sa- 
 Zada Stories, 1905. 
 
 Mr. Fraser ranks high among the fertile 
 writers who find their inspiration in nature. 
 His writings show that the author has intimate 
 knowledge of the western provinces of 
 
160 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Canada, and very few have succeeded better 
 than he has in putting his knowledge into the 
 luring stories he has given to the world of the 
 great lone land of the West. 
 
 James Macdonald Oxley, author, born in 
 1855 Nova Scotia; educated at the 
 Grammar School and Dalhousie 
 College, Halifax; B.A., 1874. He studied 
 law, Harvard University, and was called to 
 the bar, 1878; practised his profession in his 
 native city, Halifax, a few years, and edited 
 some volumes of legal Decisions, In 1883 he 
 entered the Department of Marine and Fish- 
 eries as legal adviser. Since 189 1 Mr. Oxley 
 has been engaged in mercantile life in Montreal 
 and subsequently in Toronto. Beginning as a 
 contributor to the most influential magazines 
 on both sides of the Atlantic, he brought out 
 his first volume, Bert Lloyd's Boyhood, 1887. 
 Other volumes followed in rapid succession, 
 which were received with much favor by the 
 reading public. In 1885 Mr. Oxley entered 
 a new field, writing for the younger genera- 
 tion, a field which he has made peculiarly his 
 own. Among his most popular novels are: 
 Up Among the Ice Floes, 1890; The Chore 
 Boy of Camp Kippewa, 1891 ; The Wreckers 
 of Sable Island, do. ; In the Swing of the Sea, 
 1897; In the Paths of Peril, 1903. To his 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 161 
 
 credit as a writer stand twenty-six volumes 
 of fiction, the prevailing theme of the most of 
 them being Canada and its people. It is a good 
 thing that talented Canadian writers are ris- 
 ing up who are willing to make a study of the 
 manners and customs of the denizens of the 
 wide Dominion. 
 
 As a writer he has been the winner in open 
 competition of several valuable prizes. Of 
 Canadian writers, Mr. Oxley probably is the 
 most prolific and versatile. A man of wide 
 reading, sound information and clearness, 
 his vivid descriptions are of a high order of 
 accuracy. 
 
 Thomas O'Hagan, M.A., Ph.D., poet, 
 
 essayist, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 
 educated in the public school, at 
 
 St. Michael's College and Ottawa University, 
 
 taking subsequently studies at Syracuse (Ph.D. 
 
 1889) and Cornell Universities. 
 
 Dr. O'Hagan has taught in the public and 
 high schools of Ontario for a number of years, 
 in the latter schools conducting classes in 
 classics and moderns. He is esteemed to be a 
 sympathetic interpreter of English literature, 
 to which he has given earnest attention; he is 
 also widely known as a public lecturer. 
 
 Author of A Gate of Flowers, 1887; Dream- 
 land, and Other Poems, 1893; Songs of the 
 Settlement, and Other Poems, 1899; Canadian 
 Essays, 1901. 
 
162 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Thus he teaches wisdom and patience in the 
 lines following: 
 
 "RIPENED FRUIT. 
 
 " The swallows twitter in the sky, 
 
 But bare the nest beneath the eaves ; 
 The fledglings of my care are gone, 
 And left me but the rustling leaves. 
 
 " And yet I know my life has strength. 
 And firmer hope, and sweeter prayer, 
 For leaves that murmur on the ground 
 Have now for me a double care. 
 
 " I see in them the hope of spring. 
 
 That erst did plan the autumn day ; 
 I see in them each gift of man 
 
 Grow strong in years, then turn to clay. 
 
 " Not all is lost — the fruit remains 
 
 That ripened through the summer's ray ; 
 The nurslings of the nest are gone. 
 Yet hear we still their warbling lay." 
 
 Thus he reminds us of a sweet memory 
 every one has of the days when care was light : 
 
 "THE SONG MY MOTHER SINGS. 
 
 " It's a song of love and triumph, it's a song of toil and 
 
 care, 
 It is filled with chords of pathos, and it's set in notes of 
 
 prayer ; 
 It is bright with dreams and visions of the days that 
 
 are to be. 
 And as strong in faith's devotion as the heart-beat of 
 
 the sea j 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 163 
 
 It is linked in mystic measure to sweet voices from 
 
 above, 
 And is stirred with ripest blessing thro' a mother's 
 
 sacred love. 
 O sweet and strong and tender are the memories that 
 
 it brings, 
 As I hst in joy and rapture to the song my mother 
 
 sings ! " 
 
 — A Gate of Flowers. 
 
 Hereward K. Cockin, born and educated 
 in England, removed to Canada, where he gave 
 his attention to journalism for several years. 
 Author of Gentleman Dick o' the Greys, and 
 Other Poems, 1889. To journalism he for 
 some time past has added mining on the north- 
 east shore of Lake Superior. 
 
 "AT CHRISTMAS-TIDE. 
 
 " Moaning, moaning o'er the prairie, wail the chill 
 December skies. 
 Silently the drifting hardens where a storm-beat wan- 
 
 d'rer lies ; 
 Swift the weird-like shadows glooming in the fading 
 
 light of day, 
 O'er a lone heart sadly dreaming of the old home far 
 
 away ; 
 And he sees those well-known faces, chasten'd by the 
 
 hand of time. 
 As they sit around the ingle, listening to the clang and 
 rhyme 
 
 Of sweet-toned bells, that far and wide 
 Ring in the gladsome Christmas-tide. 
 
164 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " Borne above the north wind's sobbing — o'er the clash- 
 ing of the bells — 
 Float the tones of quaint old carols, touching chords of 
 
 memory's cells ; 
 But the blessed vision passes ; silent now the sweet 
 
 refrain, 
 And the horrors of the Frost King rise before his ken 
 
 again : 
 One more effort, onward staggering, till before his ice- 
 
 lash'd eyes. 
 Beams the log-wood's cheery welcome, and his wild, 
 despairing cries 
 
 Are heard by joyous hearts that glide 
 In the settlers' dance at Christmastide. 
 
 " Moaning, moaning, wails the north wind, and the 
 moonbeams break and pale 
 O'er a nestling, peaceful homestead, in a pleasant 
 
 English vale ; 
 And around its ingle glowing kneel a gentle household 
 
 band, 
 Who are praying for a wanderer in a far-off foreign 
 
 land ; 
 Pray the mother, sire, and sisters, pray they for an only 
 
 son, 
 Asking heaven to shield, in mercy, him, the wayward 
 absent one. 
 
 And by that prayer is Death denied 
 In the western wilds at Christmas-tide." 
 
 Mr. Cockin is uneven in his work. A few 
 of his poems are worthy to remain in the 
 Hterature of the Canadian people; others were 
 written to cause, at the time, a laugh. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 165 
 
 William McLennan, author, born in Que- 
 1856-1904 ^^^' Canada. He was educated at 
 the High School of his native city, 
 Montreal, and McGill University, from which 
 he graduated B.C.L., with distinction, in 1880. 
 He practised law and filled many useful posi- 
 tions of honor in the city of Montreal. For 
 the sake of his health he travelled in Europe 
 for two years, dying in Vallambrosa, Italy. 
 
 He paid special attention to the lives and 
 times of old French Canada, concerning which 
 he published much interesting literature. He 
 published Songs of Old Canada, translated 
 from the French, 1886; and Montreal and 
 Some of the Makers Thereof, 1903. In col- 
 laboration with Miss Mcll wraith he published, 
 1897, ^n historical novel of Prince Charlie's 
 day. Many short stories and good verses 
 written by him frequently appeared in the 
 leading magazines of the day. 
 
 Edward Burrough Brownlow, journalist, 
 
 poet, was born in London, Eng- 
 
 1857-1895 j^^^. Author of Orpheus, and 
 
 Other Poems, 1896. 
 
 After his death, Orpheus, and Other Poems 
 was published with the following : " These 
 poems are now collected and published in 
 memory of Edward Burrough Brownlow 
 
166 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 . . . by his fellow-members of the Pen and 
 Pencil Club," 1896. Montreal. 
 
 "THE SONNET. 
 
 " The sonnet is a diamond flashing round 
 
 From every facet true rare-colored lights ; 
 
 A gem of thought carved in poetic nights 
 To grace the brow of art by fancy crowned ; 
 A miniature of soul wherein are found ' 
 
 Marvels of beauty and resplendent sights ; 
 
 A drop of blood with which a lover writes 
 His heart's sad epitaph in its own bound ; 
 A pearl gained from dark waters when the deep 
 
 Rocked in its frenzied passion ; the last note 
 • Heard from a heaven-saluting skylark's throat ; 
 A cascade small flung in a canyon steep, 
 With crystal music. At this shrine of song 
 High priests of poesy have worshipped long." 
 
 William Douw Lighthall, poet and 
 novelist, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 educated at the High School, 
 Montreal, and McGill; graduated with high 
 honors in English Literature, 1879; took the 
 law course of the same university, and has suc- 
 cessfully since practised his profession in Mont- 
 real. Social subjects have engaged his atten- 
 tion to a considerable degree. 
 
 Author of Thoughts, Moods and Ideals, a 
 booklet of verse, 1887. In 1889 he edited 
 Songs of the Great Dominion, and, in 1891, 
 Canadian Poems and Lays. Mr. Lighthall has 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 167 
 
 written two novels : The Young Seigneur; or 
 Nation-Making, 1888, and The False Cheva- 
 lier; or, The Life Guard of Marie Antoinette, 
 1898. 
 
 " I know thee not, O spirit fair ! 
 
 life and flying Unity 
 
 Of loveliness ! Must man despair 
 Forever in his chase of thee ! 
 
 " I know thee not, O spirit fair ! 
 
 Thou fillest heaven : the stars are thee ! 
 Whatever fleets with beauty rare 
 Fleets radiant from thy mystery. 
 
 " Forever thou art near my grasp ; 
 Thy torches pass in twilight air ; 
 Yet still — thy shapes elude my clasp — 
 
 1 know thee not, O spirit fair ! 
 
 " I know thee not, O spirit sweet ! 
 
 I chained pursue, while thou art free. 
 Sole by thy smile I sometimes meet, 
 I know thou, vast one, knowest me. " 
 
 — The Artisfs Prayer. 
 
 Mr. Lighthall has good work to his credit 
 in Canadian literature. 
 
 Robert Kirkland Kernighan, poet-jour- 
 nalist, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 educated at a common school. 
 He began journalism by being local editor of 
 the Hamilton Spectator when not twenty years 
 of age, and has worked on the press in Winni- 
 
168 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 peg and Toronto. In 1894 he published The 
 Tattleton Papers, and in 1896 The Khan's 
 Canticles. Mr. Kernighan is well known as 
 a writer of clever songs and of patriotic and 
 humorous verse. Chief among his poems are 
 " Canada First," '' The Men of the Northern 
 Zone/' " Ya-honk," " The Wabagoon," '' Kiss 
 Her Every Day," "The Fittest Only Shall 
 Survive," '' The Socks My Mother Knit," etc. 
 If one had never heard that the " Khan " is a 
 farmer and fond of planting trees, a reader of 
 his poems would know that such he is, so 
 instinct are some of the poems with the spirit 
 of the soil and the country life of the people. 
 They deserve a permanent place in the litera- 
 ture of Canada. 
 
 Here is a poem which virtually is a response 
 to the spirit of " Hands All Round " : 
 
 " Oh, we are the men of the Northern Zone ! 
 
 Shall a bit be placed in our mouth ? 
 If ever a Northerner lost his throne, 
 
 Did the conqueror come from the South ? 
 Nay, nay — and the answer blent 
 In chorus is southward sent : 
 ' Since when has a Southerner's conquering steel 
 
 Hewed out in the North a throne ? 
 Since when has a Southerner placed his heel 
 
 On the men of the Northern Zone ?' 
 
 v" Our hearts are as free as the rivers that flow 
 To the seas where the north star shines ; 
 Our lives are as free as the breezes that blow 
 Thro' the crests of our native pines. 
 
OF 
 
 CANADIAN LITERATURE. 169 
 
 We never will bend the knee, 
 We'll always and aye be free, 
 For liberty reigns in the land of the leal, 
 
 Our brothers are round her throne ; 
 A Southerner never shall place his heel 
 
 On the men of the Northern Zone." 
 
 — The Men of the Northern Zone. 
 
 True sons the world over will thank the 
 ** Khan " for the inspiration of the poem from 
 which this stanza is taken: 
 
 " The wool was spun upon the wheel — 
 That little wheel of ancient make ; 
 And nothing, sir, can happen which 
 
 Can from his mind its memory take. 
 And o'er the storm he hears the wheel : 
 
 Its scolding, pettish, breezy purr — 
 He hears his mother sing, and hears 
 The wheel join in and sing with her." 
 
 — The Socks My Mother Knit. 
 
 We cannot forbear quoting a stanza from 
 the poetic gem, " This is Spring " : 
 
 " Spring is Hope — and Hope is God ! 
 
 Without it nothing lives or breathes ; 
 It speaks — behold the daisied sod ; 
 
 The tree is glad, the water seethes ; 
 The crows go winding northward, ho ! 
 
 The cranes across the marshes swing ; 
 The bullfrogs croak where sedges grow, 
 
 And then I know that this is Spring." 
 
170 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Joseph Kearney Foran, journalist and 
 poet, born in Quebec, Canada; 
 educated at University of Ottawa 
 and Laval (LL.B., 1880), practised law for 
 a short time, but failing health compelled him 
 to abandon that profession. Thereafter he 
 turned to journalism. The author of The 
 Spirit of the Age; Faith and Infidelity, 1894, 
 and Poems and Canadian Lyrics, 1895. 
 
 From the poem, " Aurora Borealis," we 
 take two stanzas : 
 
 " In the north behold a flushing, 
 Then a deep and crimson blushing, 
 Followed by an airy rushing 
 
 Of the purple waves that rise ! 
 As when arm^d host advances, 
 See a silver banner dances. 
 And a thousand golden lances 
 
 Shimmer in the Boreal skies ! 
 
 The vision slowly dies ! 
 
 " Transformation still beholding, 
 Up the veil is swiftly folding— 
 And fantastic shapes are moulding 
 
 On the background of the sky ; 
 Dimmer armies are parading — 
 Fainter wreaths the light is braiding. 
 While the splendors all are fading 
 
 Into one purple dye, 
 
 Disappearing from the eye." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 171 
 
 Miss Ethelwyn Wetherald, journalist, 
 
 1857 P^^^' ^ native of the Province of 
 Ontario, Canada, of English 
 Quaker parentage, her father being the Rev. 
 William Wetherald, who founded (about the 
 middle of last century) the Rockwood Acad- 
 emy, where he had under his charge youths 
 from many counties of Ontario. Educated at 
 home, at a Friends' boarding school in New 
 York State and at Pickering College, Ontario, 
 Miss Wetherald has written for many of the 
 best journals and magazines on this side of the 
 Atlantic, and highly appreciative reviews of 
 her poetic work have appeared in the best 
 periodicals of Canada, the United States and 
 England. 
 
 Author of The House of the Trees, and 
 Other Poems, 1895 ; Tangled in Stars, Poems, 
 1902; The Radiant Road, 1904. In these 
 volumes we have a delightful collection of 
 sonnets, songs and verses, abounding in pure 
 thoughts and bright picturesque descriptions 
 expressed in truly poetic language. She stands 
 in the foremost rank of our lyrists ; as a sonnet 
 writer she has few equals. Her best praise is 
 her work. 
 
 "THE WOODSIDE WAY. 
 
 " I wandered down the woodside way, 
 
 Where branching doors ope with the breeze, 
 
 And saw a little child at play 
 Among the strong and lovely trees ; 
 
 12 
 
172 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 The dead leaves rustled to her knees ; 
 
 Her hair and eyes were brown as they. 
 ' Oh, little child,' I softly said, 
 
 ' You come a long, long way to me ; 
 The trees that tower overhead 
 
 Are here in sweet reality, 
 But you're the child I used to be, 
 
 And all the leaves of May you tread.' " 
 
 "AT THE WINDOW. 
 
 " How thick about the window of my life 
 Buzz, insect-like, the tribe of petty frets ; 
 Small cares, small thoughts, small trials and small 
 strife, 
 Small loves and hates, small hopes and small regrets. 
 
 " If 'mid this swarm of smallnesses remain 
 
 A single undimmed spot, with wondering eye 
 I note before my freckled window-pane 
 The outstretched splendor of the earth and sky." 
 
 These two poems are instances of the 
 author's reminiscent and comforting moods. 
 
 "LEAFLESS APRIL. 
 
 " Leafless April chased by light, 
 
 Chased by dark and full of laughter, 
 Stays a moment in her flight 
 
 Where the warmest breezes waft her, 
 By the meadow brook to lean. 
 
 Or where winter rye is growing. 
 Showing in a lovelier green 
 
 Where her wayward steps are going. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 173 
 
 " Blithesome April, brown and warm, 
 
 Showing slimness through her tatters, 
 Chased by sun or chased by storm — 
 
 Not a whit to her it matters. 
 Swiftly through the violet bed, 
 
 Down to where the stream is flooding. 
 Light she flits — and round her head 
 
 See the orchard branches budding ! " 
 
 "A RAINY MORNING. 
 
 " The low sky, and the warm, wet wind, 
 And the tender light on the eyes ; 
 A day like a soul that never sinned, 
 New dropped from Paradise. 
 
 " And 'tis oh, for a long walk in the rain, 
 By the side of the warm, wet breeze. 
 With the thoughts washed clean of dust and stain 
 As the leaves on the shining trees." 
 — The House of the Trees ^ and Other Poems. 
 
 These stanzas express artistically her joy 
 in out-door life. 
 
 Do we not all remember the joy of such an 
 experience as we have so sweetly recalled by 
 the lines following: 
 
 "AMONG THE LEAVES. 
 
 " The near sky, the under sky. 
 The low sky that I love ! 
 I lie where fallen leaves lie, 
 
 With a leafy sky above, 
 And draw the colored leaves nigh, 
 And push the withered leaves by, 
 And feel the woodland heart upon me, 
 Brooding like a dove. 
 
J 74 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " The bright sky, the moving sky, 
 The sky that autumn weaves. 
 I see where scarlet leaves fly, 
 The sky the wind bereaves. 
 I see the ling'ring leaves die, 
 I hear the dying leaves sigh, 
 • And breathe the woodland breath made sweet 
 Of all her scented leaves." 
 
 We quote a poem in which the gifted writer 
 expresses her loving sympathies so gracefully, 
 with respect to home : 
 
 "POVERTY'S LOT. 
 
 " Poverty bought our little lot, 
 Flooded with daisy blooms ; 
 Poverty built our little cot, 
 And furnished all its rooms. 
 
 " Yet Peace leans over Labor's chair, 
 Joys at the fireside throng. 
 While up and down on Poverty's stair 
 Love sings the whole day long." 
 
 To the majority of readers the short poems 
 will appeal most forcibly. They could more 
 appropriately be called *' thoughts," for each 
 gives some truth in two or three verses. A 
 striking instance is " The Failure " : 
 
 " A failure who had ne'er achieved 
 
 Self-victory, at last lay dead. 
 ' Poor failure ! ' thus his neighbors grieved. 
 
 ' Poor miserable wretch,' they said, 
 * His weakness was the worst of crimes — 
 He failed at least a thousand times.' 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 175 
 
 " Meanwhile the failure gave to God 
 His vain attempts. Remorsefully 
 And prostrate on the skyey sod, 
 
 ' I failed a thousand times,' said he. 
 ' Welcome ! ' rang out the heavenly chimes, 
 'He strove— he strove a thousand times.'" 
 
 — The Radiant Road. 
 
 Miss Wetherald has added a contribution 
 of indisputable grace to the treasury of Cana- 
 dian poetic literature. , One great merit of 
 her writing is that it is so decidedly, if spon- 
 taneously, Canadian in coloring and atmos- 
 phere. 
 
 Mrs. S. Frances Harrison (" Seranus"), 
 author, born in Ontario, Canada; educated in 
 Toronto, her native city, and Montreal. She 
 has given much attention to music, and has 
 written much in prose and verse for the 
 magazines. 
 
 She is the author of Crowded Out, and 
 Other Sketches, 1886; The Canadian Birth- 
 day Book, 1887; Pine, Rose and Fleur-de- 
 Lys, 1891 ; The Forest of Bourg-Marie, 1898. 
 She has made an earnest study of French- 
 Canadian life in Canada, which she treats with 
 sympathy and tact. Her style indicates 
 her musical talent and training. The 
 truthful and delicate manner in which she 
 deals, in The Forest of Bourg-Marie (wherein 
 bright descriptive sketches are frequently met), 
 
176 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 with the habitant who preferred the United 
 States to his own province is most refreshing 
 reading. 
 
 We have to confine ourselves to one short 
 poem : 
 
 "SEPTEMBER. 
 
 I. 
 
 " Birds that were gray in the green are black in the 
 
 yellow, 
 
 Here where the green remains rocks one little fellow. 
 
 " Quaker in gray, do you know that the green is going ? 
 More than that — do you know that the yellow is 
 showing ? 
 
 II. 
 
 " Singer of songs, do you know that your youth is flying ? 
 That age will soon at the lock of your life be prying ? 
 
 " Lover of life, do you know that the brown is going ? 
 More than that — do you know that the gray is 
 showing ? " 
 
 Mrs. Kate Seymour MacLean, poet, born 
 in the State of New York, U.S.A., of Quaker 
 descent by the mother; educated there and 
 taught school for a few years ; came to Canada 
 and married a Canadian. Resides now in 
 Kingston, Ontario. 
 
 Her name is well known in magazines as a 
 writer of verse. Author of The Coming of 
 the Princess, and Other Poems, 1881, Toronto. 
 A meritorious contribution to the poetical 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. Vl*l 
 
 literature of Canada, and deserves to be read 
 with sympathy and appreciation for the in- 
 tellectual and moral aspirations which pro- 
 duced it. Her work is worthy of her, because 
 it is honest work. 
 
 "BIRD SONG. 
 
 " Art thou not sweet, 
 Oh, World, and glad to the inmost heart of thee ! 
 
 All creatures rejoice 
 
 With one rapturous voice, 
 
 As I, with passionate beat 
 
 Of my over-full heart, feel sweet. 
 And all things that live are part of thee. 
 
 " Oh, Life, thou art sweet I 
 Sweet, sweet to the inmost heart of thee ! 
 
 I drink with my eyes 
 
 Thy limitless skies, 
 
 And I feel with the rapturous beat 
 
 Of my wings thou art sweet — 
 And I — I am alive, and a part of thee ! " 
 
 Miss Jean Newton McIlwraith, author, 
 born in Ontario, Canada; educated at the 
 Ladies' College, Hamilton, her native city, and 
 in London, England. She has done much 
 literary work in connection with Queen Mar- 
 garet College, Glasgow, of which she has been 
 a member since 1886. Several short stories 
 written by her have appeared in the magazine 
 press of the United States. Author of The 
 Making of Mary (Jean Forsyth), 1895, a 
 
178 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 bright entertaining novelette; The Span of 
 Life (with William McLennan), 1899; The 
 Curious Career of Roderick Campbell, 1901. 
 ^^V Frederick Haldimand (in the Makers of 
 Canada Series), 1904. 
 
 Miss Jean N. Mcllwraith has written a not- 
 able biography of Sir Frederick Haldimand. 
 We are much mistaken, or the effect of it will 
 be the reversal of the statement in the last 
 line of the well-known couplet: 
 
 " The evil that men do lives after them ; 
 The good is oft interred with their bones." 
 
 The Governor-General, Sir Frederick Haldi- 
 mand, is worthy of the praise implied in the 
 sentence : 
 
 ** In so far as the first settlers partook of his thrift and 
 his tireless patience in overcoming difficulties are they 
 worthy to be classed with Haldimand, the founder of 
 Ontario." 
 
 Miss Lily A. Dougall, novelist, born in 
 Province of Quebec, Canada; 
 educated in elementary subjects 
 in Montreal and New York, and in Edinburgh 
 University classes for women (LL.A. St. 
 Andrew's). First editor of World Wide. At 
 present she resides in England, taking occa- 
 sional trips to Scotland. Miss Dougall has 
 been much abroad, but in recent years has 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 179 
 
 visited her native city, Montreal, during some 
 part of each year. 
 
 Her best known works are Beggars All, 
 1 891; What Necessity Knows, 1893; The 
 Mermaid; A Love Tale, 1895; The Zeit-Geist, 
 1895; The Madonna of a Day, 1896. These 
 works and others pubHshed by her show Miss 
 Dougall to be a writer of uncommon abihty. 
 We take a sentence from her foreword to 
 Zeit-Geist, in which she explains, with respect 
 to theology, her conception of the function of 
 fiction : " I do not believe that it belongs to 
 the novel to teach theology; but I do believe 
 that religious sentiments and opinions are a 
 legitimate subject of its art, and perhaps its 
 highest function is to promote understanding 
 by bringing into contact minds that habitually 
 misinterpret one another." 
 
 John Henry Brown, poet, born in Ontario, 
 Canada, entered the Civil Service 
 ^^^ of Canada, 1882. The author of 
 
 a volume entitled Poems: Lyrical and Dra- 
 matic. Ottawa, 1892. A kindly, thoughtful 
 spirit pervades his poetry. We can quote only 
 one stanza from " A Letter " : 
 
 " Love keeps the key to hearts ; and true love may 
 Win entrance even unto the courts of heaven. 
 Love is the peer of thought, the master, say ; 
 Who loves, to him life's treasures shall be given. 
 
180 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Humility may soar to stellar heights, 
 
 With calm, unflinching gaze may front the morning, 
 Or in the midday dazzle wheel his flights, 
 
 Hate, pride and fear unfelt, or lightly scorning. 
 And what ambition's eager angels never 
 
 May find, love's fools may win and keep forever." 
 
 Sir Horatio Gilbert Parker, novelist, 
 born in Ontario, Canada; edu- 
 
 1859 
 
 cated at the Normal School, 
 Ottawa ; taught in public schools for a year or 
 two, studied for the Church, attended Trinity 
 College, Toronto, two years, and gave lectures 
 there on English Literature. Ill-health made 
 it necessary for him to seek a warmer climate, 
 and he chose, in 1886, Australia. During 
 these years he wrote and published in the 
 magazines quite a number of poems, some of 
 which he collected and published under the 
 title of A Lover's Diary; second edition, 1894. 
 While in Australia he was active and success- 
 ful, writing in connection with the public press 
 of that Commonwealth. 
 
 Mr. Parker removed to London, 1890, 
 where he has since lived (frequently visiting 
 Canada), and has earned a distinguished 
 reputation in all English-speaking countries by 
 the number and quality of volumes of fiction 
 he has written — in all, to the present, fifteen 
 volumes. He was elected a member of the 
 House of Commons, 1900, and knighted, 1902. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 181 
 
 Canada expects from her son, Sir Gilbert, who 
 is still a young man, many more volumes. 
 
 Thus it is seen that Mr. Parker has been 
 gradually climbing upward into public favor 
 by persistent work, generally well done. The 
 publication of his novels revealed that he 
 is an author of superior attractiveness. A 
 few of his novels have led some of his ad- 
 mirers to place him alongside the author 
 of The Last Days of Pompeii and Rienzi, It 
 is to his credit (though he was not the first 
 author, nor the first Canadian author who 
 made Canada his literary field), to find in 
 Canada, the scene of the conflict for centuries 
 of the two foremost nations of the world, an 
 ample scope for invention of plot and achieve- 
 ment in producing novels of interest and real 
 literary value. His style is simple and lucid. 
 Some conceptions are poetic and many para- 
 graphs consist of vivid description. We 
 hesitate to say that his later volumes have 
 fulfilled the promise of his early ones. The 
 disappointment we attribute to too much hurry 
 on the part of the author; the proper remedy, 
 therefore, is easily within his reach. 
 
 " There appeared a little Frenchman of the most 
 refined and unusual appearance. The blue cloth of his 
 coat set off the extreme paleness of a small but serene 
 face and high, round forehead. The hair, a beautiful 
 silver gray which time only had powdered, was tied in 
 
182 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 a queue behind. The little gentleman's hand was as 
 thin and fine as a lady's, his shoulders were narrow and 
 slightly stooped, his eye was eloquent and benign. His 
 dress was amazingly neat, but showed constant brushing 
 and signs of the friendly repairing needle. 
 
 "The whole impression was that of a man whom a 
 whiff of wind would blow away ; with body of an ascetic 
 and the simplicity of a child. The face had some prac- 
 tical sort of wisdom, difficult to define and impossible to 
 imitate. He held in his hand a cane of the sort carried 
 at the court of Louis Quinze." 
 
 The author thus describes a scene in which 
 the heroine Guida appears: 
 
 " There was only a picture before him which, by some 
 fantastic transmission, merged into his reveries. What 
 he saw was an ancient building — just such a humble pile 
 of stone and rough mortar as one might see on some 
 lone cliff of the ^gean or on abandoned isles of the 
 equatorial sea." — Battle of the Strong, 
 
 Charles George Douglas Roberts, poet 
 and story writer, born in New 
 Brunswick, Canada; educated at 
 the Grammar School and University of New 
 Brunswick, taking his B.A. degree with honors 
 in Mental and Moral Science and Political 
 Economy in 1879. He taught in grammar 
 schools of his native province during five 
 years; edited the Week, Toronto, for a few 
 months, and thereafter became Professor of 
 English Literature and Economics in King^s 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 183 
 
 College, Windsor, Nova Scotia. Since 1895 
 he has devoted himself exclusively to literary 
 work. For the last ten years Mr. Roberts has 
 lived mostly in New York, frequently visiting 
 Canada and Britain. 
 
 Canada's literature is enriched by the 
 many and valuable contributions Mr. Roberts 
 has made to it in both prose and verse, and 
 that he has been an influential leader of the 
 new and promising Canadian band of writers 
 is freely acknowledged by every one who has 
 adequate acquaintance with his distinguished 
 literary work. 
 
 Since the Confederation was consummated, 
 in 1867, the writers of Canada — nearly all 
 natives of the young and aspiring British 
 Confederacy in America — have utilized more 
 and more the rich heritage of native adventure 
 and thrilling story with which their country 
 so largely abounds. This is sure to be in- 
 creasingly the case in the future. This com- 
 mendable and hopeful state, as regards litera- 
 ture, did not begin with Mr. Roberts and his 
 confreres, for we find Sangster, Kirby, Mc- 
 Lachlan, Reade, Dewart — to name only a 
 few — garnering successfully in the same field 
 which had been so persistently overlooked. It 
 is universally true that the writer of any coun- 
 try whom the people will gladly hear is he 
 who manages to get the right material of his 
 
184 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 country's life into his work in such a way that 
 all the world may feel what gives his country 
 character and significance among nations. 
 
 In contrast with preceding writers, the 
 reader of Mr. Roberts' work becomes con- 
 scious of higher scholarship, of a more inti- 
 mate acquaintance on the part of the author 
 with the literary world of former generations. 
 Not, indeed, that the work is higher or better 
 as a criticism of life, but of a more varied life 
 and expressed in firmer style. 
 
 His first volume, Orion, and Other 
 Poems, was published in 1880. As we might 
 expect from so young a writer — only turned 
 twenty — the author shows clearly the ardent 
 spirit of the poet, largely controlled by his 
 classical studies. Other volumes followed 
 until he issued, 1901, one in which these words 
 are found : *' Of all my verse written before 
 the end of 1898 this collection contains every- 
 thing that I care to preserve.'* 
 
 Thus the poet addresses his countrymen : 
 
 "AN ODE FOR THE CANADIAN 
 CONFEDERACY. 
 
 " Awake, my country, the hour is great with change ! 
 Under this gloom which yet obscures the land, 
 From ice-blue strait and stem Laurentian range 
 To where giant peaks our western bounds command, 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 186 
 
 A deep voice stirs, vibrating in men's ears 
 
 As if their own hearts throbbed that thunder forth, 
 A sound wherein who hearkens wisely hears 
 The voice of the desire of this strong North — 
 This North whose heart of fire 
 Yet knows not its desire 
 Clearly, but dreams, and murmurs in the dream. 
 The hour of dreams is done. Lo, on the hills the gleam ! 
 
 " Awake, my country, the hour of dreams is done ! 
 Doubt not, nor dread the greatness of thy fate. 
 Tho' faint souls fear the keen confronting sun. 
 
 And fain would bid the morn of splendor wait ; 
 Tho' dreamers, rapt in starry visions, cry, 
 
 ' Lo, yon thy future, yon thy faith, thy fame ! ' 
 And stretch vain hands to stars, thy fame is nigh, 
 Here in Canadian hearth, and home, and name — 
 This name which yet shall grow 
 Till all the nations know 
 Us for a patriot people, heart and hand 
 Loyal to our native earth, our own Canadian land ! " 
 
 "THE WRESTLER. 
 
 " When God sends out His company to travel through 
 the stars. 
 There is every kind of wonder in the show ; 
 There is every kind of animal behind its prison bars. 
 
 With riders in a many-colored row. 
 The master showman. Time, has a strange trick of 
 rhyme. 
 And the clown's most ribald jest is a tear ; 
 But the best drawing card is the wrestler, huge and 
 hard. 
 Who can fill the tent at any time.of year. 
 
186 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " His eye is on the crowd, and he beckons with his hand, 
 With authoritative finger, and they come. 
 The rules of the game they do not understand, 
 
 But they go as in a dream, and are dumb. 
 They would fain say him nay, and they look the other 
 way, 
 Till at last to the ropes they cling, 
 But he throws them one by one, till the show for them 
 is done, 
 In the blood-red dust of the ring. 
 
 " At last will come an hour when the stars shall feel his 
 power, 
 And he shall have his will upon the sun. 
 Ere we know what he's about the lights will be put out. 
 And the wonder of the show will be undone." 
 
 Mr. Roberts' best poetic work, we think, is 
 to be found in the " sonnet sequence." This 
 mode of writing seems to call forth his noblest 
 effort, and he does himself most justice when 
 engaged in nature description. Many passages 
 — whole poems even — can easily be found 
 which are not unworthy of favorable compari- 
 son with Wordsworth's best work in the 
 same field: simple, true, direct and musical 
 idyls, lyrics. 
 
 The note which is lacking, and that debars 
 the author from ranking with the great poets, 
 is the absence of any direct vivid treatment of 
 human life — " the criticism of life " — ^the 
 element in true poetry which enchains the 
 attention of even the careless reader. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 187 
 
 We quote three or four : 
 
 "AYLESFORD LAKE. 
 
 " All night long the light is lying 
 Silvery on the birches sighing ; 
 All night long the loons are crying 
 
 Sweetly over Aylesford Lake. 
 Berry-copse and brake encumber 
 Granite islands out of number ; 
 All night long the islands slumber, 
 
 But my heart is wide awake. 
 
 " Listening where the water teaches 
 Magic to the shining beaches — 
 Watching where the waveless reaches 
 
 Hold communion with the sky, 
 Soon my spirit grows serener, 
 Hearing saner, vision keener. 
 In the night's benign demeanor 
 
 Peace and wisdom venture nigh." 
 
 Many Canadians will vouch for the truth of 
 the following idyl of their country : 
 
 •♦THE SOLITARY WOODSMAN. 
 
 " When the birches twinkle yellow, 
 And the cornel bunches mellow. 
 
 And the owl across the twilight 
 Trumpets to his downy fellow, — 
 
 " When the nut-fed chipmunks romp 
 Through the maples' crimson pomp, 
 
 And the slim viburnum flushes 
 In the darkness of the swamp, — 
 13 
 
188 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " When the blueberries are dead, 
 When the rowan clusters red, 
 
 And the shy bear, summer slickened. 
 In the bracken makes his bed, — 
 
 " On a day there comes once more 
 To the latched and lonely door, 
 
 Down the wood-road striding silent. 
 One that has been here before. 
 
 " Green spruce branches for his head, 
 Here he makes his simple bed. 
 
 Crouching with the sun, and rising 
 When the dawn is frosty red. 
 
 " All day long he wanders wide 
 With the gray moss for his guide, 
 
 And his lonely axe-stroke startles 
 The expectant forest-side." 
 
 Mr. Roberts' popular masterpiece, a noble 
 sonnet, is 
 
 "THE SOWER. 
 
 " A brown, sad-colored hill side, where the soil. 
 Fresh from the frequent harrow, deep and fine. 
 Lies bare ; no break in the remote sky-line. 
 Save where a flock of pigeons streams aloft, 
 Startled from feed in some low-lying croft, 
 Or far-off spires with yellow of sunset shine ; 
 And here the sower, unwittingly divine, 
 Exerts the silent forethought of his toil. 
 
 " Alone he treads the glebe, his measured stride 
 
 Dumb in the yielding soil ; and though small joy 
 Dwell in his heavy face, as spreads the blind 
 Pale grain from his dispensing palm aside. 
 This plodding churl grows great in his employ ; 
 God-like, he makes provision for mankind." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 189 
 
 He published in 1897 a history of Canada; 
 it had been written in an unsuccessful competi- 
 tion for a prize offered by the Educational 
 authorities of the Dominion. The spirit of the 
 work is patriotic; occasionally the language, 
 perhaps, is too florid, but, as might be expected 
 of one of the best writers in Canada, always in 
 good literary form. 
 
 As a writer of short stories, of which he 
 has already issued twelve volumes, he ranks 
 amongst the first. Many, we venture to say, 
 give him thanks for the hearty laughs and 
 happy hours he has enabled them to pass, either 
 alone or in company, by the product of his 
 skilful pen. 
 
 " A very distinguished writer — to whom all contempo- 
 rary writers on nature are indebted, and from whom it is 
 only with the utmost diffidence that I venture to dissent 
 at all — has gently called me to account on the charge 
 of ascribing to my animals human motives and mental 
 processes of man. The fact is, however, that this fault 
 is one which I have been at particular pains to guard 
 against. The psychological processes of the animals are 
 so simple, so obvious, in comparison with those of man, 
 their actions flow so directly from their springs of im- 
 pulse, that it is, as a rule, an easy matter to infer the 
 motives which are at any moment impelling them." 
 
 The above quotation is from the Prefatory 
 Notes to Watchers on the Trails. We had 
 marked passages in his prose work for quota- 
 tion, but lack of space compels us to omit them. 
 
190 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Ernest Thompson-Seton, author, artist, 
 naturalist, born in England, 
 of Scotch descent; the family 
 removed to Toronto, Canada, when he was five 
 years old; educated at the Toronto Grammar 
 School, now the Collegiate Institute, Jarvis 
 Street, and has since amply justified the high 
 opinion his tutor in drawing, Mr. Richard 
 Baigent, had of his youthful promise of 
 becoming an artist of more than ordinary 
 ability; studied at the Royal Academy, and 
 also in Paris. While in Paris he made the 
 painting, " The Wolf," which may be regarded 
 as his introduction to his specialty, the paint- 
 ing of animals and wild life, in which he is 
 very successful. As illustrator, he has done 
 much work in connection with New York pub- 
 lishing houses, as well as in Canada. 
 
 He is Government naturalist to the Province 
 of Manitoba, and in order to perform the 
 duties of his ofiice satisfactorily he studied 
 most earnestly wild life, both summer and 
 winter, throughout the West. But our belief is 
 that, being such a lover of nature as he is, he 
 would have studied wild life quite independ- 
 ently of any Government appointment. 
 
 In 1898 he published Wild Animals I 
 Have Known, The Trail of a Sand-Hill 
 Stag in 1899, The Biography of a Grizzly, 
 1900; Lives of the Hunted, 1901 ; The Two 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 191 
 
 Little Savages, 1903; Monarch, the Big 
 Bear of T alloc, 1904. All of these volumes 
 are illustrated with rare good taste and artis- 
 tic skill. Doubtless the public are reaping 
 the ripe fruit of the deft and trained 
 hand of Mr. Thompson-Seton in the appo- 
 site illustrations throughout these deserv- 
 edly popular volumes. Mr. Thompson-Seton 
 has a genius for telling stories. In his later 
 writings there is a more humane understand- 
 ing, and a recognition of responsibility. 
 
 It is complained that the author has human- 
 ized his animals too much, but so long as he is 
 able to tell his stories so realistically and con- 
 vincingly, the great majority of his readers will 
 not complain. His own defence is that his 
 chief aim in writing is to interest his readers 
 in the various creatures about them, that the 
 original friendship between man and beast may 
 be restored. So mote it be. 
 
 Rev. Charles William Gordon (" Ralph 
 Connor"), novelist, born in On- 
 tario, Canada ; was prepared, prin- 
 cipally at home, for college, his father being 
 a minister of the Presbyterian Church for 
 many years in Glengarry. Graduating from 
 the University of Toronto, B.A., 1883, and 
 from Knox College, 1887, Mr. Gordon served 
 his Church for a few years in the Canadian 
 
192 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 West, and was settled, as pastor, over West 
 End Church, Winnipeg, 1893. Author of 
 Black Rock, a tale of the Selkirks, 1898; Sky 
 Pilot, a tale of the foothills, 1899; Beyond 
 the Marshes, 1898; The Man from Glengarry, 
 a tale of the Ottawa, 1901 ; Glengarry School 
 Days, a tale of the Indian Lands, 1902; The 
 Prospector, 1904. The Westminster Com- 
 pany are his publishers. One arresting quality 
 of his work is the skilful manner in which he 
 has succeeded in making the sports, doings 
 and sayings of youth and early manhood to 
 reappear in his writings. Christopher North 
 joyously said that " boys " delighted to stone 
 and kill cats, etc., etc.; we think the same 
 spirit is present in some of Ralph Connor's 
 earlier volumes. His literary efforts have 
 attracted the attention of many readers all over 
 the English-speaking world. 
 
 Miss Margaret Marshall Saunders, 
 author, born in Nova Scotia, Can- 
 ada; educated in her native pro- 
 vince, Scotland and France. She has travelled 
 much in Europe and the United States, and 
 written many short stories for the magazines. 
 Of her published work, of which fourteen vol- 
 umes have already appeared, the best known is 
 Beautiful Joe, the autobiography of a dog, 
 with an introductory note by the Countess of 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 193 
 
 Aberdeen, 1894. This story won the prize of 
 $200 offered by the American Humane Educa- 
 tion Society for the best story illustrative of 
 the kind or cruel treatment of domestic ani- 
 mals and birds in the Northern States. 
 Beautiful Joe has had a very large circula- 
 tion, and has been translated into several 
 languages. With reference to it, the Countess 
 of Aberdeen writes : " Canada has every reason 
 to be proud that one of her daughters should 
 prove herself so able a champion of the claims 
 of the faithful creatures who so constantly 
 minister to our wants and pleasures." Another 
 capital story is Rose a Charlitte, 1898, a 
 story of the Acadians. Writers of Canadian 
 legends and of the real life of the past are only 
 beginning to discover what a store of pic- 
 turesque annals is to be found in the prov- 
 inces of the Dominion by the sea. Miss 
 Saunders cleverly shows the way. 
 
 Mary Morgan (" Gowan Lee "), poet, born 
 in Scotland; in early childhood came with 
 the family to Montreal, Canada, where she 
 lived many years in affluence with her father, 
 who was a highly successful merchant in 
 Montreal. The advantages which easy cir- 
 cumstances afforded were put under contribu- 
 tion in the upbringing and literary culture of 
 Miss Morgan, who is an accomplished lady 
 of intelligent subjective views. 
 
194 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Author of Wood Notes in the Gloaming, 
 1887; Sonnets from Switzerland, 1896; and 
 Marguerites, 1898. We quote, as character- 
 istic, from the beautiful poem, '' Charity " : 
 
 " Thou askest not to know the creed, 
 The rank or name is naught to thee ; 
 Where'er the human heart cries * Help ! ' 
 Thy kingdom is, O Charity ! " 
 
 Rev. Frederick George Scott, poet, born 
 in Quebec, Canada, educated at 
 the High School, Montreal (his 
 native city), at Bishop's College, Lennoxville, 
 and King's College, London. He entered upon 
 the duties of the ministry of his Church in 
 1884, and was appointed curate of St. Mat- 
 thew's, Quebec City, in 1896. 
 
 The Soul's Quest, and Other Poems 
 appeared in 1888; My Lattice, and Other 
 Poems, 1894; The Unnamed Lake, and 
 Other Poems, 1897; ^^^ ^is latest volume, 
 Poems: Old and New, 1900. The pub- 
 lishers, in their word '' to the reader," state 
 that Poems: Old and New contains poems 
 hitherto not published, and a selection from the 
 other volumes, corrected, so that these poems 
 now appear in permanent form. Mr. F. G. 
 Scott is a writer who delights in all forms of 
 exhibition of power. *' The Frenzy of Pro- 
 metheus " is a good example of the poet's favor 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 195 
 
 to this quality in verse, while, at the same time, 
 a spiritual tone pervades all his work. The 
 author has produced several notable poems. 
 " Samson " has brought him well-deserved 
 praise from competent judges in England, 
 ranking it among the best of recent years pro- 
 duced in America. 
 
 Many will regard " Thor " — a flawless 
 ballad — as the author's masterpiece; others 
 will hold with equal firmness that his best work 
 is to be found in the fine sonnets he has com- 
 posed. His verse has imagination, strength 
 and poetic insight, as well as music and 
 rhythm. Probably the Canadian reader will 
 mark with regret the absence of Canadian 
 coloring, and wish that these noble poems pro- 
 claimed the native country of their author. 
 
 ♦'TIME. 
 
 "' I saw Time in his workshop carving faces ; 
 
 Scattered around his tools lay, blunting griefs, 
 Sharp cares that cut out deeply in reliefs 
 Of light and shade ; sorrows that smooth the traces 
 Of what were smiles. Nor yet without fresh graces 
 His handiwork, for ofttimes rough were ground 
 And polished, oft the pinched made smooth and 
 round ; 
 The calm look, too, the impetuous fire replaces. 
 
 " Long time I looked and watched ; with hideous grin 
 He took each heedless face between his knees. 
 And graved and scarred and bleached with boiling 
 tears. 
 
196 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 I wondering turned to go, when, lo, my skin 
 Feels crumpled, and in glass my own face sees 
 Itself all changed, scarred, careworn, white with 
 years ! " 
 
 How true to life are the sentiments expressed 
 in the poem, " A Reverie " : 
 
 " O tender love of long ago, 
 
 O buried love, so near me still. 
 On tides of thought that ebb and flow 
 
 Beyond the empire of the will ; 
 To-night with mingled joy and pain 
 I fold thee to my heart again. 
 
 " And down the meadows, dear, we stray, 
 And under woods still clothed in green, 
 
 Though many Springs have passed away 
 And many harvests there have been 
 
 Since through the youth-enchanted land 
 
 We wandered idly hand in hand. 
 
 " Then every brook was loud with song, 
 And every tree was stirred with love. 
 And every breeze that passed along 
 
 Was like the breath of God above ; — 
 And now to-night we go the ways 
 We went in those sweet summer days." 
 
 "VAN ELSEN. 
 
 " God spake three times and saved Van Elsen's soul : 
 He spake by sickness first, and made him whole ; 
 Van Elsen heard Him not, 
 Or soon forgot. 
 
 " God spake to him by wealth ; the world outpoured 
 Its treasures at his feet, and called him lord ; 
 Van Elsen's heart grew fat 
 And proud thereat. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 197 
 
 " God spake the third time when the great world smiled, 
 And in the sunshine slew his httle child : 
 Van Elsen like a tree 
 Fell hopelessly. 
 
 " Then in the darkness came a voice which said, 
 'As thy heart bleedeth so My heart hath bled ; 
 As I have need of thee. 
 Thou needest Me.' 
 
 " That night Van Elsen kissed the baby feet, 
 And kneeling by the narrow winding sheet, 
 Praised Him with fervent breath 
 Who conquered death." 
 
 The basis of this sweet poem is as old as the 
 human race: 
 
 "THE CRIPPLE. 
 
 " I met once, in a country lane, 
 A little cripple, pale and thin, 
 Who from my presence sought again 
 The shadows she had hidden in. 
 
 " Her wasted cheeks the sunset skies 
 
 Had hallowed with their fading glow ; 
 And in her large and lustrous eyes 
 There dwelt a child's unuttered woe. 
 
 " She crept into the autumn wood. 
 The parted bushes closed behind ; 
 Poor little heart, I understood 
 The shameless shame that filled her mind. 
 
 " I understood, and loved her well 
 For one sad face I loved of yore, — 
 And down the lane the dead leaves fell, 
 Like dreams that pass for evermore." 
 
198 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 William Wilfred Campbell^ F.R.S.C, 
 poet, born in Ontario, Canada; 
 
 1861 X- ^ 1^ ^ 
 
 educated at the University of To- 
 ronto and at Cambridge, Mass. He was or- 
 dained to the ministry of the Church of Eng- 
 land, 1885, and performed the duties of a 
 parish minister, both in New England and 
 Canada, until 1891, when he retired from the 
 Church and obtained a position in the Civil 
 Service, Ottawa. Mr. Campbell is a valued 
 and well-known writer of forcible verse, his 
 contributions appearing in the best class of 
 magazines in the United States and Canada. 
 The author has published four volumes of 
 verse. The Lake Lyrics was issued in 1889; 
 the other three volumes followed in close suc- 
 cession. The qualities of his verse are virility, 
 human interest and a tendency to refer fre- 
 quently to the idea implied in the following 
 lines. The question is asked, " Is there any- 
 thing?" and Merlin answers: 
 
 " Nay, nothing, save the visions we have lost, 
 The autumn mornings with their frosty prime, 
 The dreams of youth hke bells of eventime 
 Ringing their golden longing down the mist." 
 
 Some of his best work is to be found in his 
 two tragedies, " Mordred " and " Hildebrand." 
 The author's skill in enlisting the sympathy of 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 199 
 
 his reader is shown in the poem, '' In the 
 Spring Fields " : 
 
 " There dwells a spirit in the budding year — 
 As motherhood doth beautify the face — 
 That even lends these barren glebes a grace, 
 And fills grey hours with beauty that were drear 
 And bleak when the loud, storming March was here ; 
 A glamor that the thrilled heart dimly traces 
 In swelling boughs and soft, wet, windy spaces, 
 And sunlands where the chattering birds make cheer. 
 
 " I thread the uplands where the wind's footfalls 
 Stir leaves in gusty hollows, autumn urns, 
 Seaward the river's shining breast expands, 
 High in the windy pines a lone crow calls. 
 And far below some patient plowman turns 
 His great black furrow over steaming lands." 
 
 Mr. Campbell has written with distinction 
 on many themes, and very happily he has 
 treated the lure of the inland seas of Canada. 
 We quote: 
 
 "BY HURON'S SHORE. 
 
 " Here amid the smoke of cities, 
 Where far heaven never pities 
 Earth, and kisses her with flowers ; 
 Through the weary, sunless hours, 
 
 How I long for Huron's shore : 
 How I long for Huron's beaches, 
 Where the wind-swept, shining reaches 
 
 Wind in mists and are no more. 
 
200 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 "How I long for sky and water, 
 Where is never dearth of thought, or 
 Lack of love for heaven's blue ; 
 Where all nature loveth true 
 
 By the sky rimmed, shining floor, 
 By the black, wet caverned ledges, 
 By the sands where windy sedge is 
 
 Kissed by Huron evermore." 
 
 This sonnet affords scope for the brush of 
 an artist: 
 
 *'0N THE SHORE. 
 
 (AGE.) 
 
 " With golden spicM dreams blows in the dawn, 
 About the cool blue bosom of the lake ; 
 Far over wave and shore wild voices wake. 
 
 The watery curves and windy reeds upon. 
 
 Where the young glory of the day dreams on ; 
 And winged creatures haunts of sleep forsake. 
 And dreams and silence their dim ways betake 
 
 Round the grey edge* where lidded nights hath gone. 
 
 " Here all is young and glad, the laughing shore, 
 The sunshine, the glad birds, no memories 
 On haggard faces wistful to forget ; 
 Save yon old man beside the rude hut door, 
 With palsied hands, chin bending to his knees. 
 Mending dead youth in meshes of a net." 
 
 In addition to the poems we quote, there are 
 many others worthy of special attention, such 
 as " The Manitou," " To a Robin in Novem- 
 ber," '' Ode : Canada to Great Britain," 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 201 
 
 " The Confession of Tama the Wise," " Pan 
 the Fallen," and, very specially, the poems, 
 "Lazarus," "The Mother," and "Unab- 
 solved." 
 
 If the imagination of the poet can picture 
 such longings to be in the soul of any in bliss 
 that he must go to rescue from torment one 
 whom he knew on earth, what must be the 
 consuming yearnings to save of Him who is 
 "love"? 
 
 It is a truism to say that opinions differ as 
 to the quality of Mr. Campbell's work; it is 
 obviously uneven. He has certainly on occa- 
 sion reached a high level, indeed, as will be 
 admitted by any reader of his poems. 
 
 The bard speaks the wish of many in the 
 " Last Prayer " : 
 
 " Master of life, the day is done ; 
 My sun of life is sinking low ; 
 I watch the hours slip one by one, 
 And hark the night-wind and the snow. 
 
 " And must thou shut the morning out, 
 And dim the eye that loved to see ; 
 Silence the melody and rout, 
 And seal the joys of earth for me ? 
 
 " And must thou banish all the hope 
 The large horizon's eagle-swim, 
 The splendor of the far-off slope 
 
 That ran about the world's great rim ? " 
 
 We had written the above several months 
 
202 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 before The Collected Poems of Wilfred Camp- 
 hell were issued, 1905, from the press of 
 William Briggs — a notable volume, a valu- 
 able contribution to Canadian literature, which 
 reflects honor upon the gifted author. Space 
 permits only a few quotations. 
 
 "LINES ON A SKELETON. 
 
 " But whither thence is fled that tenant rare, 
 That weird indweller of this wasted house ? 
 Back from the petalled bloom withdraws the dew, 
 The melody from the shell, the day from heaven, 
 To build afar earth's resurrection morn. 
 And so, Love trusts, in some diviner air 
 The lord of this lorn mansion dwells in light 
 Of vaster beauty, vaster scope and dream ; 
 Where weariness and gladness satiate not. 
 Where power and splendid being know no ruin. 
 And evil greeds and envyings work no wrong." 
 
 And another from the noble poem to his 
 departed friend, the late Archibald Lampman 
 — whom all men of letters miss so much — in 
 which Mr. Campbell is in his highest mood : 
 
 "BEREAVEMENT OF THE FIELDS. 
 
 ('In memory of Archibald Lampman, who died February loth, 1899.) 
 
 " Soft fall the February snows, and soft 
 
 Falls on my heart the snow of wintry pain ; 
 
 For never more, by wood or field or croft, 
 Will he we knew walk with his loved again ; 
 
 No more, with eyes adream and soul aloft, 
 
 In those high moods where love and beauty reign. 
 Greet his familiar fields, his skies without a stain. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 203 
 
 " Soft fall the February snows, and soft 
 
 He sleeps in peace upon the breast of her 
 He loved the truest ; where, by wood and croft, 
 
 The wintry silence folds in fleecy blur 
 About his silence, while in glooms aloft 
 The mighty forest fathers, without stir. 
 Guard well the rest of him, their rare sweet 
 worshipper." 
 
 — The Collected Poems. 
 
 Bliss Carman, a man of letters, born in 
 New Brunswick, Canada; edu- 
 cated at the Collegiate School, 
 Fredericton, and the University of New 
 Brunswick, and subsequently studied at Edin- 
 burgh and Harvard Universities. He estab- 
 lished the Chap-Bo ok, 1894. During several 
 years, with frequent visits to Canada, he has 
 resided in the United States, where he has been 
 actively engaged as an editor and* writer, many 
 poems and critical articles of his appearing in 
 the magazines. 
 
 Mr. Carman, in 1893, published his first 
 volume of poems, Low Tide on Grand Pre. 
 Other volumes followed in rapid succession. 
 In 1905, a collection of his poems appeared in 
 two very handsome volumes. 
 
 His work suffers from its narrow range, and 
 is saved only in part from monotony by the 
 rich musical endowment of his mind. He 
 excels in his choice of words and exceedingly 
 melodious phrases. But we expect yet better 
 14 
 
204 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 work from him, as he is only a young man, and 
 doubtless, by producing less, he may be able 
 to conciliate those who seek for fresh matter 
 rather than linked sweetness in phrase. 
 
 It is the brotherhood of life that the author 
 puts in the forefront of his poetic work. He in- 
 sists again and again that the flying or creeping 
 creatures and the unsavory plants are his little 
 brothers. The best way of enjoying his poetry 
 is occasionally to take his volumes off the shelf 
 and read while the mood is on. We quote 
 poems which have found well-deserved public 
 favor : 
 
 "A WINDFLOWER. 
 
 " Between the roadside and the wood, 
 Between the dawning and the dew, 
 A tiny flower before the sun, 
 Ephemeral in time, I grew. 
 
 " And thereupon the trail of spring, 
 Not death, nor love, nor any name 
 Known among men in all their lands. 
 Could blur the wild desire with shame. 
 
 " But down my dayspan of the year 
 The flit of straying winds came by ; 
 And all my trembling soul was thrilled 
 To follow one lost mountain cry." 
 
 — Low Tide on Grand PrL 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 205 
 
 **THE SHIPS OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 Smile, you inland hills and rivers ! 
 
 Flush, you mountains in the dawn ! 
 But my roving heart is seaward 
 
 With the ships of gray St. John. 
 
 Fair the land lies, full of August, 
 
 Meadow island, shingly bar, 
 Open barns and breezy twilight. 
 
 Peace and the mild evening star. 
 
 " Always your bright face above me 
 
 Through the dreams of boyhood shone 
 Now far alien countries call me 
 With the ships of gray St. John. 
 
 " Swing, you tides, up out of Fundy ! 
 Blow, you white fogs, in from sea ! 
 I was born to be your fellow ; 
 You were bred to pilot me. 
 
 " Loyalists, my fathers, builded 
 This gray port of the gray sea. 
 When the duty to ideals 
 Could not let well-being be. 
 
 " When the breadth of scarlet bunting 
 Puts the wreath of maple on, 
 I must cheer, too — slip my moorings 
 With the ships of gray St. John." 
 
 — Ballads of Lost Haven. 
 
206 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 ''THE GRAVE-TREE. 
 
 " Let me have a scarlet maple 
 For the grave-tree at my head, 
 With the quiet sun behind it, 
 In the years when I am dead. 
 
 Scarlet when the April vanguard 
 Bugles up the laggard spring. 
 
 Scarlet when the bannered autumn 
 Marches by unwavering. 
 
 " It will be my leafy cabin, 
 
 Large enough when June returns 
 And I hear the golden thrushes 
 Flute and hesitate by turns. 
 
 " And in fall, some yellow morning, 
 When the stealthy frost has come. 
 Leaf by leaf it will befriend me 
 As with comrades going home." 
 
 — By the Aurelian Wal/^ etc. 
 
 Mr. Bliss Carman is the author of three 
 volumes of short essays on various subjects, 
 which some readers prefer to his verse; but 
 we think that the ''Ships of St. John" 
 and ''The Grave Tree" still hold the first 
 place of anything he has written": The prose 
 volumes are The Kinship of Nature, 1903; 
 The Friendship of Art, 1904; The Poetry of 
 Life, 1905. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 207 
 
 - Archibald Lampman, poet, born in On- 
 tario, Canada, of U. E. L. extrac- 
 
 1861 1899 , , r . 1 r 
 
 lion. J lis father, a clergyman of 
 the Church of England, directed with intel- 
 ligence and sympathy the studies of the 
 future poet, being strenuously supported by the 
 sleepless co-operation of his mother. To both 
 parents the poet in a fine spirit puts on record 
 his gratitude. When quite a child he was 
 afflicted by a severe attack of rheumatic fever, 
 the effects of which crippled him for four years 
 and doubtless diminished the strength of his 
 frame and the vigor of his health. He was 
 educated at a private school, at the secondary 
 schools, and at Trinity College, Toronto, B.A. 
 with honors, 1882. For a few months he 
 taught in one of our secondary schools, but 
 the work proving uncongenial, obtained, as 
 many of our Canadian poets have, a position in 
 the Canadian Civil Service, wherein he con- 
 tinued until his death. 
 
 His poems began first to appear in the 
 monthly magazines, both of Canada and the 
 United States. He published his first volume. 
 Among the Millet, and Other Poems, in 1888, 
 Ottawa; the second, Lyrics of Earth, 1896, 
 Boston, and a third, Alcyone, was in the press 
 at the time of his death. A complete edition of 
 
208 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 his poems, edited, with a memoir, by Duncan 
 C. Scott, appeared in 1900. 
 
 It is difficult to make a selection from Lamp- 
 man's poetical work : there is so*much worthy 
 of quoting, so many memorable poetic lines fit 
 for quiet reflection and storing up in the mind 
 for enjoyment. His poetry has what has been 
 called '' substance." He is a strong, broad- 
 minded Canadian writer, at home in the 
 fields, on the rivers, and especially in the 
 woods; an earnest, true lover of nature, with 
 the capacity, above many writers, of causing 
 others to see what he himself with rapture saw. 
 
 His poems impress one with the genuine 
 honesty of the author. His death was a dis- 
 tinct loss to the best elements of Canadian 
 literary life. He sings thus : 
 
 " Such hours, I think, are better than long years 
 Of brooding loneliness, mind touching mind 
 To leaping life, and thought sustaining thought." 
 
 And thus of " Spring " : 
 
 " With the dawning May 
 The blossoms of the maple broke and fell, 
 Reddening the pavements with their rosy wreck. 
 The willows turned to golden green. The birds 
 Came flocking in full chorus with the flame 
 Of crocuses in teeming garden beds." 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 209 
 
 "OUTLOOK. 
 
 " Not to be conquered by these headlong days, 
 But to stand free ; to keep the mind at brood 
 On life's deep meaning, nature's altitude 
 
 Of loveliness, and time's mysterious ways ; 
 
 At every thought and deed to clear the haze 
 Out of our eyes, considering only this, 
 What man, what life, what love, what beauty is, 
 
 This is to live, and win the final praise. 
 
 Though strife, ill fortune, and harsh human need 
 Beat down the soul, at moments blind and dumb, 
 With agony ; yet, patience — there shall come 
 Many great voices from life's outer sea. 
 
 Hours of strange triumph, and, when few men heed, 
 Murmurs and glimpses of eternity." 
 
 — Among the Millet. 
 
 "THE LARGEST LIFE. 
 
 " There is a beauty at the goal of life, 
 
 A beauty growing since the world began, 
 Through every age and race, through lapse and strife, 
 
 Till the great human soul complete her span. 
 Beneath the waves of storm that lash and burn. 
 
 The currents of blind passion that appal. 
 To listen and keep watch till we discern 
 
 The tide of sovereign truth that guides it all : 
 So to address our spirits to the height. 
 
 And so attune them to the valiant whole, 
 That the great light be clearer for our light. 
 
 And the great soul the stronger for our soul : 
 To have done this is to have lived, though fame 
 Remember us with no familiar name." 
 
210 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Duncan Campbell Scott, F.R.S.C, poet, 
 born in Ontario, Canada: edu- 
 
 1862 
 
 cated at public schools and Stan- 
 stead College. He entered the Department of 
 Indian Affairs, Ottawa, 1880. 
 
 He published The Magic House, and Other 
 Poems, 1893; Labor and the Angel, 1898, and 
 New World Lyrics and Ballads, 1905; also a 
 volume of short stories, The Village of Viger, 
 1896. Mr. Scott was devoted for some years 
 to music, to which his verse bears testimony. 
 
 He has given good heed to the ancient 
 saying : " Let another man praise thee, and 
 not thine own mouth; a stranger, and 
 not thine own lips." Very few Canadians 
 know that we have such a writer as Mr. Scott, 
 and fewer still know that we have a writer 
 of such high talent. His volumes come upon 
 us unannounced, unheralded, like the quiet dew 
 at eventide. He is a poet of acute observation 
 and of imagination of no common quality and 
 capacity. How happily he describes in '' The 
 Voice and the Dusk " what all have heard and 
 remember with pleasure : 
 
 " A thrush is hidden in a maze 
 
 Of cedar buds and tamarac bloom ; 
 He throws his rapid flexile phrase, 
 A flash of emeralds in the gloom." 
 
 Many such sweet, artistic lines and passages 
 are easily met with in Mr. Scott's careful 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 211 
 
 work. Tlis descriptive power is of a high 
 degree. The clever stanzas at the beginning 
 of " The Piper of Aril " may be given as an 
 instance : 
 
 " There was in Aril a little cove 
 
 Where the salt wind came cool and free : 
 A foamy beach that one would love 
 If he were longing for the sea. 
 
 " A brook hung sparkling on the hill, 
 The hill swept far to ring the bay ; 
 The bay was faithful, wild or still. 
 To the heart of the ocean far away. 
 
 " There were three pines above the comb 
 
 That, when the sun flared and went down. 
 Grew like three warriors bearing home 
 The plunder of a burning town." 
 
 Thus he writes about a flock of sheep: 
 
 " From the wide fields the laggards bleat and follow, 
 A drover hurls his cry and hooting laugh ; 
 And one young swain, too glad to whoop or hollo. 
 Is singing wildly as he whirls his staff. 
 
 " Now crowding into little groups and eddies 
 They swirl about and charge and try to pass ; 
 The sheep-dog yelps and heads them off and steadies, 
 And rounds and moulds them in a seething mass. 
 
 " They stand a moment with their heads uplifted 
 Till the wise dog barks loudly on the flank. 
 They all at once roll over and are drifted 
 Down the small hill toward the river bank. 
 
212 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 " The drove is gone, the ruddy wind grows colder, 
 The singing youth puts up the heavy bars, 
 Beyond the pines he sees the crimson smoulder, 
 And catches in his eyes the early stars." 
 
 The Canadian '' keepers " on the wide 
 ranches of our country will thank the author 
 for the true picture he has given them of their 
 sheep-driving. 
 
 Here is a little poetic gem, true to human 
 life: 
 
 " MEMORY. 
 
 " I see a schooner in the bay, 
 
 Cutting the current into foam ; 
 One day she flies, and then one day 
 Comes like a swallow veering home. 
 
 " I hear a water miles away 
 
 Go sobbing down the wooded glen ; 
 One day it lulls, and then one day 
 Comes sobbing on the wind again. 
 
 " Remembrance goes but will not stay ; 
 That cry of unpermitted pain 
 One day departs, and then one day 
 Comes sobbing to my he^rt again." 
 
 — Magic House^ and Other Poems. 
 
 We had selected many poems for the pur- 
 pose of quoting — in particular '' The Canadian 
 Home" — ^but space fails us. 
 
 Of the poems of the more serious cast of 
 thought, the finest, we think, is ''In the 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 213 
 
 Country Churchyard." We have to content 
 ourselves by quoting a few stanzas : 
 
 " This is the paradise of common things, 
 
 The scourged and trampled here find peace to grow, 
 The frost to furrow and the wind to sow, 
 The mighty sun to time their blossomings ; 
 
 And now they keep 
 A crown reflowering on the tombs of kings. 
 
 Who earned their triumph and have claimed their 
 sleep. 
 
 " The poor forgets that ever he was poor, 
 
 The priest has lost his science of the truth, 
 The maid her beauty, and the youth his youth, 
 
 The statesman has forgot his subtle lure, 
 The old his age, 
 
 The sick his suffering, and the leech his cure, 
 The poet his perplexed and vacant page. 
 
 " These swains that tilled the uplands in the sun 
 Have all forgot the field's familiar face. 
 And lie content within this ancient place. 
 Whereto when hands were tired their thought would 
 run 
 To dream of rest, 
 When the last furrow was turned down, and won 
 The last harsh harvest from the earth's patient breast." 
 
 Mrs. Everard Cotes (Sarah Jeannette 
 Duncan), noveHst, born in On- 
 tario, Canada; educated at the 
 Collegiate Institute, Brantford, and the Nor- 
 mal School, Toronto. She taught in the public 
 schools, Ontario, for a short time. There- 
 
214 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 after Miss Duncan entered earnestly into 
 journalism, acting as reporter and correspon- 
 dent in connection with several of the leading 
 newspapers in Canada and the United States. 
 As a Canadian novelist, she first came before 
 the reading world in her entertaining volume, 
 A Social Departure; or, Hozv Orthodocia and 
 I Went Round the World by Ourselves, 1890. 
 This book gained Miss Duncan immediate 
 fame, which also was well sustained by the 
 volumes which followed. Her work in India, 
 where she has resided for some years, has 
 added to her reputation as a writer of fiction : 
 The Simple Adventures of a Mem Sahib, The 
 Story of Sonny Sahib (her only child story, 
 charming it is), etc. To the great pleasure 
 of her friends in Canada, she successfully 
 broke new ground with The Imperialist, 1904. 
 At this writing (1906) there is a serial of hers 
 appearing in the Times, entitled Set in 
 Authority, which is favorably received. As a 
 specimen of Mrs. Cotes' genial spirit we quote : 
 
 " That is to say, a voyager through the scenery of a 
 dream ; for here abides that shy and exquisite spirit of 
 Japan — the spirit that whispers in all her winds, and sings 
 in all her streams, and smiles in all her cities. Here, 
 among these dainty water reaches, opening and re-open- 
 ing, alluring and re-alluring, always within the boundaries 
 of tinted mountains that might guard fairy-land. A spell 
 is over it all, and over us as we move slowly into the liquid 
 silence and marvel at the gentle phantasm which is the 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 215 
 
 soul of Japan, though neither the missionaries nor the 
 geographies acknowledge this. It rains a httle — a play- 
 ful, sprinkled tenderness that nobody could take seriously 
 — and through the rain the quaint curves of the mountains 
 near and far rest upon the water in the upper and under 
 colors of a dove's wing. All at once, far and away down a 
 clear, narrow space, between two strangely tortured purple 
 peaks, there comes a burnished bar in the sky. It glows 
 and melts, and spreads into another sea ; it drops to a 
 weird red burning ; it leaps up and wavers and pales, and 
 all these goblins of mountains in gray, and white, and 
 purple, and rose, and gold seem to let their garments slip 
 into the dreaming water and troop toward the dying Hght. 
 . . And so 'Good-bye, Japan,' said I, leaning back 
 
 to it, as we slipped away into the wide grayness that lay 
 between us and China. Good-bye, Japan ! Good-night ! 
 . . . And Orthodocia, my friend, looking her last at 
 it over my shoulder, echoed me softly, ' Good-bye, Japan I 
 Good-night!"' 
 
 The qualities which distinguish this talented 
 Canadian writer are kindly wit, sparkling 
 irony and saving humor. 
 
 John Mackie, novelist, born in Scotland; 
 received thorough education in the 
 secondary schools of Scotland. 
 He travelled much in the East, particularly in 
 the island continent, Australia, where he tried 
 various occupations, and for some time fol- 
 lowed gold-digging. In 1882 he came to 
 Canada and joined the Mounted Police force, 
 in which he became an officer. When the 
 
216 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 South Africa trouble became acute, he joined 
 Brabant's Horse, and therein did good service. 
 Author of The Devil's Playground, a Story 
 of the Wild North-West, 1894; Sinners 
 Twain, a Romance of the Great Lone Land, 
 1895; They That Sit in Darkness, 1897; The 
 Prodigal's Brother, a Story about the North- 
 West Territories, 1899; The Heart of the 
 Prairie, 1901 ; Rising of the Red Man, 1902. 
 With one or two exceptions all these volumes 
 are about the West of Canada, and Mr. Mackie 
 claims that the incidents are true to life. The 
 local coloring is not that of the imagination. 
 Mr. Mackie has lucid descriptive power, and 
 is a fresh and vigorous writer. 
 
 Mrs. Virna Sheard, novelist, born in 
 Ontario, Canada, Author of Trevelyan's 
 Little Daughters, 1898 (Briggs) ; A Maid of 
 Many Moods, 1902 (Copp, Clark Co.); By 
 the Queen's Grace, 1904 (Briggs). Mrs. 
 Sheard writes for her enjoyment of author- 
 ship, and not for her vocation. She writes 
 graceful verse, but has not yet gathered this 
 into a volume. Resides in Toronto. 
 
 Miss Emily P. Weaver, author, born in 
 England; educated at a private school. The 
 family removed to Ontario, Canada, when she 
 was only fifteen, and lived on a farm near 
 Lake Erie. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 217 
 
 My Lady Nell, 1899, a story founded on 
 history, was one of a prize-list published by the 
 Congregational Society of Boston. The same 
 Society subsequently brought out the follow- 
 ing: The Rabbi's Sons, 1891 ; Prince Rupert's 
 Namesake, 1893; ^^^^ Rainproof Invention, 
 1897. Soldiers of Liberty was published by 
 William Briggs, Toronto, in 1892. In the 
 competition, 1893, for the best history for use 
 in Canadian schools. Miss Weaver obtained 
 one of the three $200 prizes awarded to the 
 competitors whose histories were considered 
 next in merit to the one selected for use in 
 the schools. A Canadian History for Boys 
 and Girls appeared in 1900, and Builders of 
 the Dominion: Men of the East, in 1904. 
 She is at present engaged on Men of the West. 
 Miss Weaver writes on historical subjects 
 with ease, and her work is admirably adapted 
 to young people. 
 
 Mrs. Jean McKishnie Blewett, author, 
 born in Ontario, Canada; edu- 
 
 1862 
 
 cated at the St. Thomas Collegi- 
 ate Institute. She has written for the press in 
 Canada and the United States, her short 
 stories bringing her into notice in both coun- 
 tries. 
 
 The author of Out of the Depths, 1879, and 
 Heart Songs, 1897. The " Songs " are chiefly 
 
218 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 of domestic life, and reveal a genial, happy 
 spirit. 
 
 In the poem, " The Two Marys," Mrs. 
 Blewett takes up a theme in which many hearts 
 will join. 
 
 "THE TWO MARYS. 
 
 " They journey sadly, slowly on, 
 
 The day has scarce begun ; 
 Above the hills the rose of dawn 
 
 Is heralding the sun, 
 While down in still Gethsemane 
 
 The shadows have not moved ; 
 They go, by loss oppressed, to see 
 
 The grave of One they loved. 
 
 " O Love ! that made Him come to save, 
 
 To hang on Calvary ; 
 O mighty Love ! that from the grave 
 
 Did lift and set Him free 1 
 Sing, Mary Magdalene, sing forth 
 
 With voice so sweet and strong. 
 Sing, till it thrills through all the earth — 
 
 The Resurrection Song I " 
 
 "AT QUEBEC. 
 
 ' Quebec, the grey old city on the hill, 
 
 Lies with a golden glory on her head. 
 Dreaming throughout this hour so fair, so still. 
 
 Of other days and all her mighty dead. 
 The white doves perch upon the cannons grim. 
 
 The flowers bloom where once did run a tide 
 Of crimson, where the moon rose pale and dim 
 
 Above the battlefield so grim and wide. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 219 
 
 Methinks within her wakes a mighty glow 
 Of pride, of tenderness — her stirring past — 
 
 The strife, the valor of the long ago 
 
 Feels at her heart-strings. Strong, and tall, and vast, 
 
 She lies, touched with the sunset's golden grace, 
 
 A wondrous softness on her grey old face." 
 
 Miss E. Pauline Johnson, poet, born on 
 Grand River Indian Reserve, On- 
 tario, Canada; daughter of Chief 
 Johnson of the Mohawks ; educated by private 
 tuition and at the Model School, Brantford. 
 She has written verse for English and Ameri- 
 can journals, a collection of which was pub- 
 lished by her, when in England, The White 
 Wampum, 1894. She is the author of Canch 
 dian Born, 1903, published in Toronto. 
 
 Miss Johnson's muse burns most clearly and 
 fiercely when she recalls the sorrows and dis- 
 appearance of her race from North America; 
 but she likewise sings of their joys and hopes. 
 Her work reveals her love of nature, her in- 
 sight, her delicacy of touch, and her true im- 
 pression. Though we agree with the " many " 
 that " The Song My Paddle Sings," is her best 
 poem, yet not a few other sweet lyrics are in 
 her contribution of two volumes to Canadian 
 poetry. 
 
 " RE-VOYAGE. 
 
 " What of the days when we two dreamed together ? 
 Days marvellously fair, ^ 
 
 As lightsome as a skyward-floating feather 
 Sailing on summer air — 
 15 
 
220 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Summer, summer, that comes drifting through 
 
 Fate's hand to me and you. 
 
 What of the days, my dear ? I sometimes wonder 
 
 If you too wish this sky 
 Could be the blue we sailed so softly under 
 
 In that sun-kissed July; 
 Sailed in the warm and yellow afternoon. 
 With hearts in touch and tune. 
 Have you no longing to relieve the dreaming 
 
 Adrift in my canoe ? " 
 
 "SHADOW RIVER. 
 (muskoka.) 
 
 " A stream of tender gladness, 
 
 Of filmy sun and opal-tinted skies ; 
 Of warm mid-summer air that lightly lies 
 In mystic rings, 
 Where softly swings 
 The music of a thousand wings 
 That almost tone to sadness. 
 
 *' Midway 'twixt earth and heaven, 
 A bubble in the pearly air, I seem 
 To float upon the sapphire floor ; a dream 
 Of clouds of snow, 
 Above, below. 
 
 Drift with my drifting, dim and slow, 
 As twilight drifts to even. 
 
 " O ! pathless world of seeming ! 
 
 O ! pathless life of mine whose deep ideal 
 Is more my own than ever was the real. 
 For others fame. 
 And love's red flame. 
 And yellow gold : I only claim 
 The shadows and the dreaming." 
 
 .— The While Wampum. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 221 
 
 "THE SONGSTER. 
 
 " Music, music with throb and swing, 
 
 Of a plaintive note, and long ; 
 'Tis a note no human throat could sing, 
 No harp, with its dulcet golden string, — 
 Nor lute, nor lyre with liquid ring, 
 
 Is sweet as the robin's song. 
 
 " He sings for love of the season 
 
 When the days grow warm and long, 
 For the beautiful, God-sent reason 
 That his breast was born for song. 
 
 " Calling, calling so fresh and clear, 
 
 Through the song-sweet days of May, 
 Warbling there and whistling here. 
 He swells his voice on the drinking ear. 
 On the great, wide, pulsing atmosphere. 
 Till his music drowns the day. 
 
 " He sings for love of the season 
 
 When the days grow warm and long. 
 For the beautiful, God-sent reason 
 That his breast was born for song." 
 
 We are glad that E. Pauline Johnson, a 
 scion of the " red man," has added her pearl 
 of song to the necklace of English Canadian 
 literature. 
 
 James Ernest Caldwell^ farmer, poet, 
 
 born in Ontario, Canada ; educated 
 
 at the public school near Ottawa. 
 
 The great fire in the Ottawa^ Valley, 1870, 
 
 X6 
 
222 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 devoured all that fire could destroy, even to 
 the spoiling of some of the rich soil of his 
 father's farm. The poet-farmer is, therefore, 
 fully inured to the troubles, hardships and 
 duties of life on a farm. The independent 
 home-keeping farm life he has always fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Mr. Caldwell published, 1895, Songs of the 
 Pines. We are glad to state that he has 
 material for another volume of poetry. Mr. 
 Caldwell is a true poet, to which the Songs 
 of the Pines bears ample testimony. A fine 
 devotional spirit pervades the volume. Those 
 who know farm life will enjoy the lyric, 
 " The Marketing," and all readers the lyrical 
 poems, "O Sing Me a Song, Sweet Sister," 
 and " The Wedding at the Mill. From the 
 last named we quote a few lines : 
 
 " There's a breeze amid the branches 
 
 Of the poplars, old and tall ; 
 There's a gleam of morning glories 
 
 In the vines against the wall ; 
 There is music in the meadows, 
 
 When the bobolink's astir, 
 Trilling out the joyous measure 
 
 With a most delicious slur ; 
 The willows sweep the bosom 
 
 Of the millpond, deep and still, 
 But the miller's wheel is idle — 
 
 There's a wedding at the mill. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 223 
 
 " 'Tis the day for joy and song. 
 
 Swiftly southward rolls the carriage, 
 While good wishes follow fast, 
 
 And good luck in mirthful symbol 
 Fair hands lavishly have cast. 
 
 One by one, the guests departing 
 Leave the cottage hushed and still, 
 
 And a dream for memory only 
 Is the wedding at the mill.'" 
 
 Rev. William Charles McKinnon, a 
 Wesleyan minister of Nova 
 
 -1862 
 
 Scotia. In 1852 he published in 
 two volumes, St. George; or, The Canadian 
 League, a tale of the outbreak of 1837, with 
 an Introduction. As explanatory of the work 
 we quote from the Introduction: 
 
 " No one will understand this work as being a detailed 
 narrative of the late outbreak in Canada, because it is 
 not intended as such. So far from that, the author, on 
 commencing it, did not contemplate touching upon any 
 subject relating to that insurrection ; — he merely intended 
 writing a tale of private life, founded upon incidents 
 which had occurred within his own immediate know- 
 ledge." 
 
 Strange things do happen, but we venture 
 to say that probability is against the occurrence 
 of many of the incidents related by the author 
 in this work. 
 
224 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Thomas Brown Phillips Stewart, poet, 
 
 1864-1892 ^^^^ ^" Ontario, Canada; edu- 
 cated at the High School, Bramp- 
 ton, and at the University of Toronto, B.A., 
 1888; read the law course of the University 
 and took his LL.B. degree, 1891. Mr. 
 Stewart, while at the University, was subject 
 to frequent attacks of illness, which largely 
 accounts for the melancholy tone which per- 
 vades his verse. Considering his youth, a 
 writer of finished literary and original thought. 
 
 A tablet of brass standing on the wall of the 
 reading room of the Law School's Library, 
 Osgoode Hall, Toronto, perpetuates the mem- 
 ory of his valuable bequest of $7,600 to the 
 Law Society, of which he was a member, for 
 the purpose of enabling the students to enjoy 
 the privilege of taking " out " the text-books 
 required for a longer period than usual. But 
 we think his poems will prove a more enduring 
 memorial than the brass tablet. 
 
 We take a line or two from the fine poem, 
 " Lines to My Mother '' : 
 
 " Let thy sweet memory 
 Inspire my life to deeds, my soul doth crave 
 Action. Action is the soul's finest speech ; 
 Words may deceive. Actions never can. I would 
 Do more than live a shadow-haunted life, 
 A pensive poet by the dreaming sea.'' 
 
 The tone of his sad spirit appears in the 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 225 
 
 following lines from the poem, "Good 
 Night " : 
 
 " What happy hours I've spent with thee, 
 Too soon hath vanished this brief day, 
 Still do I wait and lingeringly 
 Like to it must pass away. 
 Soon youth must pass, that bloometh fair, 
 And sadder light into thine eye 
 Must steal, and gray into thine hair, 
 And to thine heart the troubled sigh." 
 
 The kindliness of his spirit breathes in the 
 lines to " A Sleeping News-Girl " : 
 
 " Sweet maid, thy sleep is calm and fair ; 
 
 The beauty of thy face 
 Doth fix mine eyes in mad despair 
 
 Upon such simple grace. 
 Thou art so young, thou art so frail ; 
 Cold poverty hath made thee pale, 
 
 And left thee here alone ; 
 Thy drooping head hath tearful power 
 O'er me, wild, melancholy flower. 
 
 Neglected as a stone." 
 
 His chief poems are '' De Profundis " and 
 *' Croydon and Amaryllis." He has a poetic 
 gem, *' Hope " : 
 
 "In shadowy calm the boat 
 
 Sleeps by the dreaming oar ; 
 The green hills are afloat 
 Beside the silver shore. 
 
 '^ Youth hoists the white-winged sail, 
 Love takes the longing oar, 
 The oft- told fairy tale 
 Beside the silver shore." 
 
226 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Arthur Weir, born in Montreal, Canada; 
 educated at the High School 
 and McGill University, devoting 
 special attention to science, and took his degree 
 of B.A.Sc. with honors in 1886. There- 
 after he gave much time to journalism, finance, 
 and was for some years secretary of La 
 Banque Ville Marie. 
 
 Author of Fleur-de-Lys, 1887; Romance of 
 Sir Richard, and Other Poems, 1890, and of 
 Snowflakes, and Other Poems, 1896. He was 
 selected to read the inaugural poem at the un- 
 veiling of the national monument to Sir John 
 A. Macdonald in 1895, at Ottawa; and he also 
 wrote the inaugural poem for the unveiling 
 of the monument to Maisonneuve, dedicated 
 on the same day at Montreal. 
 
 Mr. Weir wrote some poems which deserve 
 to live in after ages. A notable increase of 
 power was apparent in the successive volumes 
 that came from his pen. 
 
 "THE LITTLE TROOPER. 
 
 " Swift troopers twain ride side by side 
 
 Through life's long campaign. 
 They make a jest of all man's pride, 
 And oh, the havoc ! As they ride. 
 
 They cannot count their slain. 
 
 " The one is young and debonair, 
 And laughing swings his blade. 
 The zephyrs toss his golden hair, 
 His eyes are blue ; he is so fair 
 He seems a masking maid. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 227 
 
 " The other is a warrior grim, 
 
 Dark as a midnight storm. 
 There is no man can cope with him ; 
 We shrink and tremble in each limb 
 
 Before his awful form. 
 
 " Yet though men fear the sombre foe 
 More than the gold-tressed youth, 
 The boy with careless blow 
 More than the trooper grim lays low, 
 And causes earth more ruth. 
 
 " Keener his mocking word doth prove 
 
 Than flame on winter's breath. 
 Men bear his wounds to realm above, 
 For the trooper's name is Love, 
 
 And his comrade's only Death." 
 
 Mrs. Grace Dean MacLeod Rogers, 
 author, born in Nova Scotia, Can- 
 ada; educated at Dalhousie Uni- 
 versity, Halifax. She was the writer of short 
 stories which appeared in the American maga- 
 zines ; but her best work is a collection of tales 
 of " Old Acadie," the title of which is Stories 
 of the Land of Evangeline, published 1891. 
 Mrs. Rogers has evidently taken much trouble 
 to gather the legends still floating in the land 
 where Evangeline is said to have lived and 
 suffered, with the result that she has produced 
 a book of interesting and well-told stories. 
 
228 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 Henry Beckles Willson, author and jour- 
 nalist, born in the Province of 
 Quebec, Canada ; educated at Col- 
 borne and at Kingston ; studied law in Boston, 
 United States, and graduated from the Law 
 School there, 1886. Thereafter he became an 
 active journalist in Canada, the United States 
 and England. He returned to Canada, 1896, 
 as a special correspondent of the London 
 Daily Mail, and in the interests of this enter- 
 prising newspaper he travelled from New- 
 foundland to the Pacific Coast, writing a series 
 of letters to his paper, under the title of 
 " Through Sunny Canada." 
 
 Author of Harold; a Race Experiment, 
 1891 ; The Losing of Virel, 1892; Drift and 
 My Little Friend, the Cantatrice, 1894; The 
 Tenth Island, 1897, being some account of 
 Newfoundland, its people, its politics, its 
 problems and its peculiarities ; The Great Com- 
 pany, being a History of the Honorable Com- 
 pany of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into 
 Hudson Bay, with an Introduction by Lord 
 Strathcona and Mount Royal, present Gover- 
 nor of the Hudson's Bay Company, with 
 original drawings by Arthur Heming, and 
 maps, plans and illustrations, 1899. 
 
 We quote a sentence from the first chapter 
 of the work, as it sets forth the aim of the 
 author in its production : 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE, 229 
 
 " To narrate the causes which first led to the formation 
 of the Company, the contemporary interest it excited, the 
 thrilHng adventures of its early servants, of the wars it 
 waged with the French and drove so valiantly to a vic- 
 torious end ; its vicissitudes and gradual growth ; the 
 fierce and bloody rivalries it combated and eventually 
 overbore ; its notable expeditions of research by land and 
 sea; the character of the vast country it ruled and the 
 Indians inhabiting it ; and last but not least, the stirring 
 and romantic experiences contained in the letters and 
 journals of the great Company's factors and traders for 
 a period of over two centuries — such will be the aim 
 and purpose of this work." 
 
 Lost England y Lord Strathcona and Mount 
 Royal, with forewords by Duke of Argyll and 
 Earl of Aberdeen, 1902; The Nezv America, 
 illustrated, a Study of the Imperial Republic, 
 1903; The History of Rapid Transit, 1903. 
 Of the volumes Mr. Willson first published, 
 two were Canadian novels. His recent effort 
 has been in the line of biography and history. 
 It is well that we should have a history of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company looking at it from the 
 standpoint of one who is virtually in the 
 position of an outsider. But the living energy 
 which really made and sustained the " Great 
 Company" was supplied by the factors and 
 servants of the company, who lived for years in 
 its interest in the wilderness of the Great West 
 of Canada. Mr. Willson is a journalist, quick 
 to see salient features, and with a clear and 
 facile style wields a ready pen. He has made 
 
230 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 valuable contributions to the literature of his 
 country, but his work in history and biography 
 shows unmistakable signs of insufficient pre- 
 paration and undue haste. 
 
 John Stuart Thomson, poet, born in 
 Quebec, Canada; educated at 
 the old '' Senior School," Mont- 
 real, and in special classes at McGill Uni- 
 versity. He also enjoyed rare opportunity of 
 private classical study in New York City. He 
 studied theology at the Presbyterian College, 
 Montreal, and performed ministerial service 
 in connection with his Church for a season or 
 two. Abandoning the clerical profession, he 
 went to New York, where he is giving his 
 main strength to letters. He contributes fre- 
 quently to the magazines. Author of Esta- 
 helle, and Other Poems, 1897; A Day's 
 Song, 1900. A few of the poems in the first 
 volume are reproduced in the second. The 
 books of this young writer have been received 
 with much favor. He appeals to the highest 
 standards of teaching, and has considerable 
 restraint; a manner which combines native 
 strength with classical unity. From a beauti- 
 ful lyric to ** Late Autumn " we take three 
 stanzas : 
 
 " The wild-bee's busy garnering's done ; 
 And not a cloud melts in the sun ; 
 The purple, mist-clad hills are cold, 
 And ev'rything is old. 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 231 
 
 " Mystic and far, I hear the bells 
 Of Is between the sea's loud swells ; 
 And winds through yarrow on the dunes 
 Startled with weirder tunes. 
 
 ' " Half- syllabled I heard strange names ; 
 I trembled, for they were not Fame's, 
 And questioned, distraught with the time, 
 If naught but death's sublime." 
 
 Here is a notable sonnet : 
 
 "A SONNET OF SUMMER. 
 
 " Beauty and joy live through the summer day ; 
 The morning rustles by my bed of dreams, 
 In garments made of woven auroral beams ; 
 And toying zephyrs in the garden stray. 
 Shaking the dews from each rose-weighted spray 
 Upon the crimson poppies' burning lips. 
 A white-winged butterfly delighted sips 
 Of cooling golden wine, his thirst to allay, 
 The while he poises on the yellow brim 
 Of buttercups. And when the day is dim, 
 And shadows flutter in the rising gale. 
 And oak leaves tremble in the wood afar. 
 Like falling flakes of gold, — o'er night's dark rail 
 Pale seraphs lean, each with a censer-star." 
 
 The ''Vale of Estabelle " is a fine poem, 
 but too long for our space to quote in full, 
 and we are reluctant to take only parts of it. 
 We feel compelled to say the same regarding 
 " An Ode Written in Autumn," some stanzas 
 of which^ are exquisite. But, even at the 
 risk of being called partial, we must take 
 
232 HANDBOOK OF 
 
 a few verses from a poem found in A Day's 
 Song: 
 
 "THE ARBUTUS. 
 
 " Here love, with straying feet, shall go 
 Where Spring's paths meet together ; 
 One way the Winter went, I know, 
 And it was blustrous weather. 
 
 " The snow was falling, wide and white, 
 In calm it melted slowly, 
 Again I looked, for well I might, 
 I saw a blossom holy : 
 
 " A cream-cheeked thing on slender stalk. 
 So timid and so vagrant, 
 I might to tropic gardens walk 
 And find no bloom so fragrant. 
 
 " We gathered lilies in the south, 
 You and I together ; 
 You pressed them to your chin and mouth. 
 And laughed — 'twas summer weather. 
 
 " But, dear ! this trailing, pink-lipped flower, 
 First of Spring's gentle creatures, 
 I tender in life's hopeful hour 
 The picture of your features." 
 
 Miss Joanna E. Wood^ novelist, was born 
 in Scotland, and came to Canada with the 
 family when a '' wee lassie." The home is on 
 the Heights of Queenston. Author of Judith 
 Moore; or, Fashioning a Pipe, 1898; The 
 Untempered Wind, 1898 (both issued by the 
 Ontario Publishing Co. ) ; A Daughter of 
 
CANADIAN LITERATURE. 233 
 
 Witches, 1900 (The Gage Publishing Co.); 
 Far den Ha\ 1902 (Hurst & Blackall, Lon- 
 don). Miss Wood writes entertainingly and 
 with knowledge of the early days in Canadian 
 life. The author evidently seeks reputation 
 rather than fleeting popularity. 
 
 Miss Agnes C. Laut, novelist, born in 
 Manitoba, Canada, a grand- 
 daughter of the much-esteemed, 
 the Rev. Dr. George, at one time Principal of 
 Queen's University, Kingston ;i educated at 
 Manitoba College. For the recovery of her 
 health, she spent some time in the *' Rockies '* 
 of Canada. During these rambles she col- 
 lected material, of which she has made good 
 use in her writings. Author of Lords of the 
 North, 1900; Heralds of Empire, 1902; The 
 Story of the Trapper, 1902; The Pathfinders 
 of the West, 1904; and Vikings of the 
 Pacific, 1905. 
 
 There has been some discussion as to the 
 accuracy of her history in the Pathfinders 
 of the West, where she claims for Radis- 
 son and Groseillers the honor of being the 
 first white men to penetrate the farther West. 
 Miss Laut maintains the correctness of her 
 version, in the words following : " The ques- 
 tion will at once occur why no mention is 
 made of Marquette, Joliet and La Salle in a 
 
234 HANDBOOK, CANADIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 work on the pathfinders of the West. The 
 simple answer is — they were not pathfinders." 
 Her diction is direct and fluent. 
 
 Arthur J. Stringer, author, born in 
 Ontario, Canada, and educated at 
 
 1874 
 
 the Collegiate Institute, London, 
 University of Toronto, and University of 
 Oxford. Mr. Stringer entered into journalism 
 in Montreal, and removed a few years since to 
 New York, where he resides in winter, fre- 
 quently visiting Canada : for he is essentially a 
 Canadian. Author of Watchers of Twilight, 
 and Other Poems, 1894; Pauline, and Other 
 Poems, 1895; Epigrams, 1896; The Loom 
 of Destiny, 1899; The Silver Poppy, 1903; 
 Hephaestus, 1903; Lonely O'Malley, 1906; 
 The Wire Tappers, 1906. Mr. Stringer 
 writes sympathetically of children. In the 
 poem, '' Canada to England," he gives utter- 
 ance to the true loyal spirit of Canada. We 
 quote a couple of stanzas : 
 
 " Sang one of England in his island home, 
 
 ' Her veins are million, but her heart is one ; ' 
 And looked from out his wave-bound homeland isle 
 To us who dwell beyond its western sun. 
 
 " And we among the northland plains and lakes, 
 We youthful dwellers on a younger land, 
 Turn eastward to the wide Atlantic waste, 
 
 And feel the clasp of England's outstretched hand." 
 
INDEX TO AUTHORS. 
 
 Abbott, Rev. Joseph, 4. 
 
 Allen, Grant, 130. 
 
 Anspach, Rev. Lewis Amadeus, 5. 
 
 Ascher, Isidore G., 91. 
 
 Auchinleck, Gilbert, 42. 
 
 Ballantyne, Robert M., 77. 
 Barr, Robert, 143. 
 Begg, Alexander, 80. 
 Begg, Alexander, 114. 
 Bengough, John Wilson, 148. 
 Betts, Craven Langstroth, 149. 
 Blewett, Mrs. Jean McKishnie, 217. 
 Bourinot, Sir J. G., 104. 
 Breakenridge, John, 60. 
 Brown, John Henry, 179. 
 Brownlow, Edward Burrough, 165. 
 Bryce, Rev. George, 124. 
 
 Caldwell, James Ernest, 221. 
 Cameron, George Frederick, 153. 
 Campbell, Rev. John, 112. 
 Campbell, William Wilfred, 198. 
 Canniflf, William, 85. 
 -iasCarman, Bliss, 203. 
 
 Chandler, Amos Henry, 102. 
 Chapman, Edward J., 66. 
 Christie, Robert, 2. 
 Cockin, Hercward K., 163. 
 Coffin, Lieut.-Col. William F., 34. 
 Cotes, Mrs. Everard, 213. 
 Crawford, Isabella Valancy, 144. 
 Crozier, John Beattie, 140. 
 Curzon, Mrs. Sarah Anne, 89. 
 
 Davin, Nicholas Flood, 122, 
 
 De Mille, James, 100. 
 
 Denison, Lieut.-Col. George T,, 108. 
 
 Dent, John Charles, 115. 
 Dewart, Rev. Edward Hartley, 83. 
 Dougall, Miss Lily A., 178. 
 Drummond, William Henry, 158. 
 
 Eaton, Rev. Arthur W. H., 150. 
 Edgar, Lady, 137. 
 Edgar, Sir James D., 117. 
 
 Foran, Joseph Kearney, 170. 
 Eraser, W. A., 159. 
 
 Garvie, Rev. Alexander Rae, 109. 
 Gordon, Rev. Charles W. ("Ralph 
 
 Connor"), 191. 
 Grant, Very Rev. George Munro, 95. 
 
 Haliburton, Thomas Chandler, 13. 
 Hannay, James, 118. 
 Harrison, Mrs. S. Frances, 175. 
 Heavysege, Charles, 43. 
 Hodgins, John George, 68. 
 Howe, Hon. Joseph, 28. 
 Howland, Oliver Aiken, 126. 
 Hunter-Duvar, Lieut.-Col. John, 86. 
 Huntington, Hon. Lucius Seth, 82. 
 
 Jakeway, Charles Edwin, 128. 
 Jarvis, Thomas Stinson, 152. 
 Johnson, E. Pauline, 219. 
 
 Kane, Paul, 35. 
 
 Kernighan, Robert Kirkland, 167. 
 
 Kingsford, William, 57. 
 
 Kirby, William, 51. 
 
 Knight, Rev. Matthew Richey, 156. 
 
 'Lampman, Archibald, 207 
 
 235 
 
236 
 
 INDEX TO AUTHORS. 
 
 Laut, Agnes C, 233. 
 Leprohon, Rosanna E. M., 88. 
 Lesperance, John, 105. 
 Lighlhall, William Douw, 166. 
 Lindsey, Charles, 63. 
 Lockhart, Rev. Arthur Juhn, 141. 
 
 MacColl, Evan, 32, 
 MacColl, Mary Jemima, 127. 
 MacGeorg«, Rev. Robert Jackson, 39. 
 Machar, Agnes Maule, 134. 
 Mackie, John, 215, 
 MacLean, Mrs. Kate Seymour, 176. 
 Mair, Charles, 109. 
 Martin, George, 69. 
 Moodic, Mrs. Susanna, 21. 
 Morgan, Mary, 193. 
 Mulvaney, Charles P., 94. 
 Murray, George, 130. 
 
 McCarroll, James, 39. 
 McEvoy, Bernard, 120. 
 McGee, Hon. Thomas D'Arcy, 78. 
 Mcllwraith, Jean Newton, 177. 
 McKinnon, Rev. William C, 223. 
 McLachlan, Alexander, 53. 
 McLennan, William, 165. 
 McMullcn, John Mercier, 61. 
 
 O'Brien, His Grace Cornelius, 123. 
 O'Hagan, Thomas, 161. 
 Oxley, James Macdonald, 160. 
 
 Parker, Sir Horatio Gilbert, 180. 
 Phillips- Wolley, Clive, 155- 
 
 Ramsay, Andrew John., 136. 
 Rand, Theodore Harding, 97. 
 Rattray, William J., 92. 
 Reade, John, loi. 
 
 Richardson, Major John, 6. 
 ^Roberts, Charles Geo. Douglas, 182. 
 Rogers, Mrs. Grace D. MacL., 227. 
 Romanes, George John, 132. 
 Ryan, Carroll, 106. 
 Ryerson, Rev. Adolphus Egerton, 24. 
 
 Sangster, Chatles, 71. 
 Saunders, Miss M. Marshall, 192. 
 Scott, Duncan Campbell, 210. 
 Scott, Rev. Frederick George, 194. 
 Sellar, Robert, \io. 
 Sheard, Mrs. Virna, 216. 
 Smith, Professor Goldwin, 76. 
 Smith, Hon. William, i. 
 Smith, Rev. William Wye, 81. 
 Stewart, Thomas Brown Phillips, 324. 
 Straton, Barry, 151. 
 Strickland, Lieut. -Col. Sam lel, 31. 
 Stringer, Arthur J., 234. 
 
 Thompson, David, 17. 
 Thompson-Seton, Ernest, 190. 
 Thomson, Edward William, 135. 
 Thomson, John Stuart, 230. 
 Todd, Alpheus, 64. »• 
 
 Traill, Mrs. Catharine Parr, 19. 
 
 Watson, John, 127. 
 
 Watson, Samuel James, 103. 
 
 Weaver, Miss Emily P., 316. 
 
 Weir, Arthur, 226. 
 
 Wetherald, Miss Ethelwyn, 171. 
 
 Wilkins, Harriet Annie, 140. 
 
 Willson, Henry Beckles, 228. 
 
 Wilson, Sir Daniel, 48. 
 
 Withrow, Rev. William Henry, 10- 
 
 Wood, Miss Joanna E., 232. 
 
 Yule, Mrs. J. C, 138. 
 
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