Part 56

=Harper, J. M.=, M.A., Ph.D., F.E.I.S., Quebec, the subject of the following biographical sketch, was born on the 10th February, 1845, at Johnstone, in Renfrewshire, Scotland. Dr. Harper is the son of the late Robert M. Harper, printer, bookseller and publisher, of Johnstone, and founder of the first weekly newspaper printed in that place. On the maternal side, he is of Celtic origin. His granduncle, the late Robert Montgomery, was for many years a prominent manufacturer in Johnstone, where he was held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. Johnstone forms part of the Paisley Abbey parish, a district famous for its schools, and it was at one of the best of those that the subject of our sketch received the rudiments of his education. From the parish school he went to the Glasgow E. C. Training College, an institution founded by Stowe, and one from which America has drawn several prominent educationists. He entered college as a Queen’s scholar of the first rank, and after completing the full course of study, retired with the highest certificates granted by the lords of committee of Council on Education, and with special certificates from the science and art department, Kensington. After coming to this country, he became a graduate of Queen’s University, Kingston, and some years ago he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the Illinois University, after completing the three years post graduate course in the section of metaphysical science. In 1881 he was unanimously elected a fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, an honour seldom conferred upon teachers labouring outside of Britain, and only upon those of advanced experience. Before leaving Scotland he had received an appointment to an academy in New Brunswick, where he laboured successfully for the full term of his engagement. After several years residence in the Maritime provinces, he was eventually appointed principal of the Victoria and High Schools, St. John, N.B., the largest institution of the kind in that section of Canada. Here, as elsewhere, he laboured to raise the teaching profession in the estimation of the public, and endeavoured to foster an _esprit de corps_ among the teachers themselves. He succeeded in introducing many of the improved methods of imparting instruction by holding meetings with the teachers, and otherwise followed up his efforts in this direction by giving instruction in drawing, chemistry, botany, and kindred subjects. In 1877 the Hon. L. H. Davies, premier of Prince Edward Island, visited the educational institutions of St. John, and meeting with the principal of the Victoria School, was not slow in recognizing his worth as an educationist. After carefully examining the system under which the St. John schools were being conducted, and no doubt anxious to introduce such a system in his own province, he invited Dr. Harper to accept the position of superintendent of Education in Prince Edward Island. This generous offer, however, was declined, as the head master of the Victoria School had no desire to leave his adopted province. But not long after, the Victoria School building was destroyed in the great fire of St. John, and, on hearing of the calamity, Mr. Davies followed up his previous offer by asking Dr. Harper to assume the principalship of the Provincial Normal School in Charlottetown. This the latter did, but only on the understanding that he would be free to return to St. John as soon as the Victoria School was rebuilt. While on the island the value of his work was at once keenly appreciated. In a letter written by the premier, in which he gives expression to the general sentiment of the public in regard to educational progress on the island, he says: “As a matter of fact, Mr. Harper organized the whole school. What existed under the name of Normal School was merely a name. He infused life and vitality into it. The bitterness of religious strife was such when he took charge as to defy all attempts to make the school in any sense a provincial one. By tact and judicious management, he succeeded in overcoming all that, and under his rule the school has been a great success. Intimately connected with him as I was for nearly two years, I can speak of his ability, tact, and administrative power, because he was, in addition to being principal of the Normal School, also superintendent of the city schools. He succeeded in carrying out the difficult task of grading Protestant and Catholic children in the schools, so that entire satisfaction was given to the citizens. I consider the province owes him a debt of gratitude for his successful labours.” Nor is the testimony of others less explicit. “Mr. Harper,” says the Rev. Mr. McLennan, “has occupied for some time the position of principal of the Normal School of this province, and of superintendent of the city schools, having been invited to occupy these offices by the government for the purpose of establishing a system of training, organization and equipment suitable to give effect to a Public School Act, passed by the legislature in 1877. The high reputation which he enjoyed as a teacher and writer on school affairs—the influential situation he was filling at the time as principal of the Victoria School, St. John, New Brunswick, and the recommendation of prominent educationists who were acquainted with his career, pointed him out as eminently fitted for the position offered to him in Prince Edward Island. The heavy task which he undertook was performed with vigour, ability, and acknowledged success. The condition of the city schools, in point of organization and methods of instruction, was soon brought into conformity with that which characterizes the best public schools in other provinces. A superior public edifice was constructed at a cost of $30,000; while in the Normal School the work of instruction and training, conducted more immediately by himself, gave indications of the value of that special work, virtually new in this province.” At the end of a year or more, when Dr. Harper proposed to return to St. John, the government of Prince Edward Island, being anxious to continue the work of educational progress so successfully inaugurated, put forth every effort to induce him to resign his position in New Brunswick, and to take up his abode permanently in Charlottetown. After some delay they succeeded, and for three years the subject of our sketch became a resident of the island, holding during the last year of his residence, when a change of government, in 1879, brought about the amalgamation of the Normal School and the Prince of Wales College, the position of professor in the amalgamated institution, with special supervision of the department for the training of teachers. Beyond his professional reputation, however, Dr. Harper has not failed to make his mark as a gentleman of matured literary tastes. From his earliest years he has taken a deep interest in literature and literary pursuits. In Nova Scotia he took an active part in establishing a literary periodical, devoted at its inception to the cultivation of Canadian literature, and has continued more or less frequently to contribute to our periodical literature in prose and verse. Many of his lyrics have been highly praised, while some of his poems in the Scottish dialect merit a prominent place in the literature of his native country. He also enjoys a reputation of some distinction as a writer and compiler of school text-books, and is the author of several excellent lectures, including “Plato,” “The New Education,” “Cause and Effect in School Work,” and others. The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec is indebted to him for two valuable papers, published in the Transactions, and entitled, “The Maritime Provinces,” and “The Development of the Greek Drama.” He is also a contributor to the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. For many years Dr. Harper was rector of the Quebec High School, and for a season was also professor of mathematics in Morin College. At present he holds the position of inspector of Superior schools for the province of Quebec, being, besides, editor of the _Educational Record_, examiner for teachers’ licenses, and secretary-treasurer of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners. He is also president of the teachers’ local association; vice-president of the Provincial Association of Teachers; vice-president of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society, and president of the St. Andrew’s Society. In the rank of progressive educationists, Dr. Harper occupies a prominent place. Few can show a fuller record of honest work done in the interests of education in Canada. Indeed, he has always been most ready to lend his experience, professional training, and literary ability to advance the interests of a calling which is now being universally recognized as second in importance to no other. He was married to Agnes, daughter of William Kirkwood, of Stanley Muir, Paisley, by whom he has had two sons and five daughters. Mrs. Harper died in 1883.

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=Lyall, Rev. William=, LL.D., Professor of Logic and Psychology in Dalhousie University, Halifax, is a Scotchman by birth, having been born in Paisley, on the 11th of June, 1811. He received his primary education in the Paisley Academy, then studied in the Glasgow College, and afterwards spent two years in the Edinburgh University. He adopted the ministerial profession, and was minister for some time of the Free Church (Presbyterian), Uphall, Linlithgow. He came to Toronto, Ontario, in 1848, and took a position as tutor in Knox College of that city. Two years afterwards, in 1850, he removed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, receiving the appointment of professor of classics and mental philosophy in the Free Church College there. In 1860, on the union of the Free and United Presbyterian churches in Nova Scotia, he held the same office in the united colleges at Truro. In 1863, when the Collegiate Institution was amalgamated with Dalhousie College, he was appointed to the professorship of Logic and Psychology in the Dalhousie University, Halifax, and this position he has continued to fill ever since. Professor Lyall has contributed several papers on theological and philosophical subjects to Canadian and foreign reviews. In 1855, he published a volume on philosophy entitled “Intellect, the Emotions, and the Moral Nature,” which was very favourably noticed by the reviewers at the time, and which he has used as a text-book in his prelections ever since. In 1864 he received the degree of LL.D. from McGill University, Montreal. He is evangelical in his religious views.

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=Johnston, Chas. Hazen Levinge=, M.D., L.R.C.S., Edinburgh, St. John, New Brunswick, was born at St. John on the 21st December, 1843. He is the youngest and only surviving son of the late John Johnston, who was a graduate of King’s college, Windsor, Nova Scotia, barrister-at-law, member of parliament for the city of St. John, and for many years police magistrate for the same place; and grandson of Hugh Johnston, sr., who settled in New Brunswick, in 1783, became one of the leading merchants of St. John, and for seventeen years consecutively represented that city and county in the legislature. This gentleman was married to Margaret Thurburn, a Scotch lady, and a member of a very old family in Roxburgshire. Charles H. L. Johnston, the subject of this sketch, received his education at the Grammar School in St. John, New Brunswick, King’s College, Aberdeen, and at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After his return to St. John he began the practice of his profession, and during the Fenian disturbance on the border, acted as assistant surgeon to the militia forces. During 1876 he occupied the position of surgeon to the Marine Hospital. Dr. Johnston joined the order of Masons in 1872, and became worshipful master of Leinster lodge, No. 19, in 1876. He has travelled a good deal in Britain and on the continent of Europe, and has profited professionally a good deal thereby. He has always belonged to the Episcopal church. On June 30th, 1886 he married Julia Augusta Barrett.

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