Part 99

=Sangster, Charles=, Kingston, Ontario, was born 16th July, 1822, at the Navy Yard, Point Frederick, Kingston. His father, who was a shipwright at a naval station on one of the upper lakes, died before his son was two years old. Mr. Sangster’s education was limited, so much so, indeed, that had he not studied zealously when he reached man’s estate, we could not probably now have included his name among our Canadian celebrities. At the age of fifteen he left school to seek employment, that he might aid in supporting his mother, and was received in the laboratory of Fort Henry during the rebellion of 1838. For ten years after this date he filled a humble position in the Ordnance office, Kingston. In 1849, seeing no prospect of promotion, he resigned and went to Amherstburg, where he edited the _Courier_ until the death of its publisher, which event occurred in the following year. He then returned to Kingston, and filled the position of sub-editor of the _Whig_, which office he held till 1861, when he resigned. In 1864 he joined the staff of reporters for the _Daily News_, and in 1867 again resigned his post to enter the civil service at Ottawa. Through his writings, years ago, he established his claim to a place in the front rank of Canadian poets. In 1856 he published “The St. Lawrence and the Saguenay, and other poems.” Of this work, Mrs. Susanna Moodie says: “If the world receives them with as much pleasure as they have been read by me, your name will rank high among the gifted sons of song. If a native of Canada, she may well be proud of her bard, who has sung in such lofty strains the natural beauties of his native land;” while the London _National Magazine_ remarks: “Well may the Canadians be proud of such contributions to their infant literature; well may they be forward to recognize his lively imagination, his bold style, and the fulness of his imagery. . . . There is much of the spirit of Wordsworth in this writer, only the tone is religious instead of being philosophical. . . . In some sort, and according to his degree, he may be regarded as the Wordsworth of Canada.” In 1860 he published “Hesperus, and other poems and lyrics.” In “Hesperus,” a legend of the stars, it is said: “The poet essays a lofty flight.” Why not? How otherwise could he obtain a firm grasp of his subject, a matter too little thought of by many of our poets who bring the accessories so prominently forward that the subject is in danger of being utterly eclipsed? Even so is it with this poem, “Hesperus.” Though Mr. Sangster took a high flight, aye, even to the stars, to grasp his subject—and though he may have grasped it in his own mind, he has failed to delineate it clearly. We think in writing this poem, Mr. Sangster has been unduly swayed by some critic who was in love with the misty style of verse-writing so popular at the present day, which is considered most beautiful when most incomprehensible, as he does not often err in this way. It would be well if the young aspirant for the laurel-wreath would remember that poetic words thrown together promiscuously, or even with some attempt at form; aye, even with a perfect lyrical ring, will not make poetry, any more than a number of lovely tints, all in perfect harmony, thrown upon canvas will make a picture. There must be form as well as harmony of color, and the subject must stand boldly out from the accessories. We like much of Mr. Sangster’s writing; besides being good descriptive verse, it recalls pleasant scenes, illustrative of the simple amusements of the earlier settlers of our country, when there were no lectures, concerts, etc., and folk spent their evenings at home, or at little rustic gatherings, such as described by our poet in the “Happy Harvesters.” We quote the following:—

From hand to hand the ripened fruit went round, And rural sports a pleased acceptance found; The youthful fiddler, on his three-legged stool, Fancied himself, at least, an Ole Bull; Some easy bumpkin, seated on the floor, Hunted the slipper till his ribs were sore; Some chose the graceful waltz, or lively reel, While deeper heads the chess-battalions wheel. . . . . . . Old grey-beards felt the glow of youth revive, Old matrons smiled upon the human hive; Where life’s rare nectar, fit for gods to sip, In forfeit-kisses, passed from lip to lip.

We were once witnesses of a scene of this description, where an aged, white-haired son of “Auld Scotia” was called upon to make an osculatory impress upon the damask cheek of a maiden of sixteen summers, and when the performance was over, the octogenarian turned to the assembled multitude and said: “Aye, but isn’t that refreshing.” We do not agree with the writer of “Life and Times of Sir John A. Macdonald,” when he says, with ill-advised harshness, that Mr. Sangster’s verse “is not worth a brass farthing.” In 1856, when Mr. Sangster published his first volume, Canadian literature was in its infancy; and we have not yet advanced so far that we can afford to scoff at his unassuming efforts to aid in a good cause. We think (Mr. Collins to the contrary) that there is much of Mr. Sangster’s work that is worth a great deal, as all writing must be that tends to elevate the soul of man; and Mr. Sangster’s work, however faulty it may be as poetry, is decidedly elevating. There has in the past been much poetry written that is gross and sensual; let us turn our backs on that, and foster the pure and true, until our country has a poetic literature without spot or blemish. Mr. Sangster has written much good verse in aid of this achievement. His “Falls of the Chaudière” is very good, and we must do his ungenerous critic the justice to suppose that he never saw “The Light in the Window Pane,” or he could not have made such an uncalled-for assertion. We give the following:—

A joy from my soul’s departed, A bliss from my heart is flown, As weary, weary-hearted, I wander alone, alone; The night wind sadly sigheth A withering, wild refrain; And my heart within me dieth, For the light in the window-pane.

The stars overhead are shining, As brightly as e’er they shone, As heartless, sad, repining, I wander alone, alone, A sudden flash comes streaming, And flickers adown the lane; But no more for me is gleaming The light in the window-pane.

The voices that pass me are cheerful, Men laugh as the night winds moan; They cannot tell how fearful ’Tis to wander alone, alone; For them with each night’s returning, Life singeth its tenderest strain; Where the beacon of love is burning The light in the window-pane.

Oh, sorrow, beyond all sorrows, To which human life is prone; Without thee, through all the to-morrows To wander alone, alone! Oh, dark deserted dwelling, Where hope like a lamb was slain, No voice from thy lone wails welling, No light in thy window-pane!

Pathos is the very soul of poetry, and here we have it in abundance. Who that has watched, night after night, when home returning, for the “Light in the Window-pane?”, who will not feel its power when he realizes, without any strain of imagination that the hand that placed it there is cold and dead? All is dark in the window-pane, and the darkness of desolation reigns in the heart of him who returns nightly to that doubly-desolate home. We cannot realize this and not feel that Mr. Sangster’s verse is well worthy of the place in Canadian literature that it has already won.

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=de La Bruère, Hon. Pierre Boucher=, St. Hyacinthe, Speaker of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, was born in St. Hyacinthe, on the 5th of July, 1837. His father, Pierre Boucher de La Bruère, a physician, was a descendant of Pierre Boucher, at one time governor of Three Rivers under the French domination; and his mother was a descendant of an old French family of noble extraction, H. Boucher de La Broquerie. The ancestors of Hon. Mr. de La Bruère distinguished themselves during the war of 1812-13 between England and the United States, and the latter has still in his possession two flags presented to the battalion his grandfather, René B. de La Bruère, commanded, by Princess Charlotte of England, and the medal of Châteauguay, presented also to his grandfather by Queen Victoria. Mr. de La Bruère received his education at the College of St. Hyacinthe. In 1870 he was appointed prothonotary of the Superior Court for the district of St. Hyacinthe, and held the position until 1875, when he resigned to take the editorial chair of the _Courier de St. Hyacinthe_. He was one of the chief promoters of the Dairymen’s Association of the province of Quebec, and has been its president since its formation. The efforts he made to advance the interests of this industry in his province have been crowned with success, as it was amply proved when the association met in annual meeting at St. Hyacinthe, when the delegates received a right royal reception at the hands of their president. He was also one of the chief factors in the establishment of beet root sugar factories in Canada. In 1877 he was called to the Legislative Council of the province of Quebec; in March, 1882, Hon. Mr. Chapleau made him a member of his cabinet, and he was appointed Speaker, to which position he was re-appointed in January, 1887. Hon. Mr. de La Bruère is a lifelong Conservative, and has never flinched from his allegiance to the party. In his younger days he belonged to the active militia of Canada, and was lieutenant in the volunteer corps of St. Hyacinthe. He has written several historical and political pamphlets, among which may be mentioned “Le Canada sous le Domination Anglaise,” “Le Saguenay,” “De l’Education,” “L’Existence de l’homme,” “Le droit de tester,” and “L’Histoire de Saint Hyacinthe.” In January, 1861, he married Marie Victorine Leclère, daughter of the late Pierre Edouard Leclère, notary public.

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=Fulford, Francis=, D.D., Lord Bishop of Montreal and Metropolitan of Canada, was born at Sidmouth on the 3rd of June, 1803. He was the second son of Baldwin Fulford, of Great Fulford, and came of an old English family who trace back their ancestry for more than six hundred years. He received the rudiments of his education at Tiverton, and entered Exeter College, Oxford, in 1821, and in 1824 took his degree of B.A., and was elected a fellow of his college in the following year. In 1826, at Norwich cathedral, he was ordained deacon, and priest at Exeter cathedral on the 22nd of June, 1828. In 1830 he married Mary, daughter of Andrew Berkeley Drummond, of Cadland, Hants, and the lady Mary, daughter of John, second earl of Egmont, and sister of the Right Honorable Spencer Percival, first lord of the treasury, and prime minister of England, who was murdered by Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons. After filling successive curacies in two parishes, Francis Fulford became rector of Trowbridge, in Wiltshire, and there resided from 1832 to 1842, and at the request of the government acted, for several years, as a magistrate. In 1838 he received his degree of M.A., and was appointed chaplain to her Royal Highness the late Duchess of Gloucester. In 1842 he resigned the position of rector of Trowbridge, and accepted that of Croydon, in Cambridgeshire, where he remained until 1845, when he removed to Mayfair as minister of Curzon chapel. This appointment he held until selected by Her Majesty as the first bishop of the new diocese of Montreal. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by the University of Oxford, and he was consecrated at Westminster Abbey on the 25th of July, 1850. On the 12th of September of the same year he, with his wife, and their son and daughter, arrived in Canada. At St. John’s he was met by the bishop of Quebec, and a number of the clergy and laity of Montreal. After divine service had been held in the parish church at St. Johns, an address of congratulation was presented by the clergy and churchwardens of the Richelieu district, and the whole party were hospitably entertained by a prominent layman of the place. On his arrival at Montreal he was warmly received by the clergy and laity, who presented several addresses of welcome expressive of an earnest desire to co-operate with him in his labors for the spread of the Gospel. On the following Sunday, the 15th September, 1850, the ceremony of the bishop’s enthronement took place at Christ church, which thenceforward became the Anglican cathedral of the diocese. On this occasion the bishop preached a sermon from the text: “Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.” It was remarkable for felicity of language and reverence of style; but especially, says a writer, “for the preacher’s modest and clear appreciation of the difficult duties of his office.” On the 11th of October, 1850, the Church Society of the diocese of Montreal was organized, and on the 10th of October, 1851, an auxiliary branch of the “Colonial Church and School Society,” of London, was formed for the district of Montreal, with his lordship as president. In 1860 he was promoted to the office of Metropolitan of Canada, which office he filled, with honor to himself and the cause of Christ, until his death. Bishop Fulford was one of the most self-denying, large-hearted, broad-minded Christians the record of whose life it has been our privilege to read. True to the Church of England, he was, nevertheless, anxious to promote good feeling amongst all denominations. On his first landing in Montreal, in answer to an address, he made the following remarks:—“While we are bound to seek, to provide for the wants of our own people, and I must ever remember my duty to the church of which I have been appointed a chief pastor and overseer, yet still I hope to cultivate a spirit of charity to all around me.” With this end in view he accepted the suggestion that denominational distinctions should not be perpetuated in the grave, and consecrated the cemetery of Montreal that was free to all who wished for a resting-place therein. There came a time when Christ Church, the cathedral church of his diocese, was so completely demolished by fire that it became necessary to build a new one, and of this building Bishop Fulford laid the corner stone on the 21st of May, 1857, and on Advent Sunday, 1859, he preached the opening sermon. The new cathedral, which those engaged in its construction had wished “should be beautiful exceedingly,” was, through the death of the architect and other unforeseen circumstances, burthened with an oppressive debt, which weighed heavily on the mind of the bishop, who, in his straightforward old world style, knew of but one way of liquidating—a way which bishops, clergy and laymen, under similar circumstances, might adopt to their credit. He moved to a small dwelling, and laid aside, not only every indulgence, but almost every convenience. “His new mansion was modest enough, for it was built for the official residence of the parish school master, and the school rooms became his salons for the reception of guests,” the whitewashed walls being decorated with maps, instead of pictures and statuary. Here the heir presumptive of Great Fulford, and Metropolitan of Canada, with his delicate, high-bred wife, lived for years, and practised economy so patiently and self-sacrificingly in order to attain the darling wish of his heart, namely, to see the cathedral free from debt, that his heroic example stands forth as a shining light to “lighten the darkness,” not only of those who give grudgingly but of those who fancy that social status depends upon the size of the domicile, the costliness of its decorations, and the silks, satins, and velvets with which they adorn their bodies, regardless of the fact that nobility is to be found in the heart and soul of the individual, not in the outside covering. It is believed he lived to know the pleasure of having the debt liquidated, and it was from this humble home, prepared for the parish schoolmaster, that the great and good Bishop Fulford, Metropolitan of Canada, passed to his eternal rest on the 9th of September, 1868. His remains were interred in Mount Royal cemetery, Montreal. Near to him lies a member of the Church of Scotland, and one of the most eminent and highly esteemed citizens of Montreal, the Honorable Peter McGill, “who loved the English prelate as one friend loves another,” and was happy to know that in death he would rest beside him.

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=Sturdee, Henry Lawrance=, M.A., Barrister-at-law, Solicitor, etc., Mayor of Portland, New Brunswick, was born in St. John, N.B., on the 11th April, 1842. His father, Henry Parker Sturdee, was born in Topsham, Devonshire, England, and his mother, Emily Lawrance, in London, England. Mr. Sturdee was educated at private schools in St. John, and at the Collegiate School, and at King’s College, Fredericton, N.B. He matriculated there in September, 1858, and in the following year was awarded the Douglas gold medal. He received the degree of B.A. in June, 1861, and M.A. in June, 1883, in course. He studied law in his native city with Messrs. Gray and Kaye, barristers; was admitted an attorney-at-law in June, 1864, and called to the bar in June, 1865. He has since practised law in St. John. He is one of the referees of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, equity side. He takes an interest in military matters, and is major of the 3rd St. John reserve militia. Mr. Sturdee resided in St. John until November, 1877, when he removed to the adjoining city of Portland. In April, 1883, he was elected an alderman for ward four of Portland, and was re-elected alderman the two following years. On taking his seat at the council board in that year he was appointed by the Portland city council to represent ward four of that city in the municipal council of the city and county of St. John. In April, 1884, he was elected warden of the municipality of the city and county of St. John; and in April, 1885, was re-elected warden without opposition. This office he held until April, 1886, when, having been elected mayor of Portland, he declined re-nomination as warden. On the 11th April, 1887, he was again chosen mayor of Portland, without opposition, and this responsible position he still holds. He has been vestry clerk and treasurer of Trinity Church, St. John (Church of England), since May, 1871; and secretary-treasurer of the Madras School Board since September, 1877. He is a vice-president of the St. George’s Society; and a member of Portland Union Lodge A. F. and A. M., and of New Brunswick Royal Arch Chapter, St. John. He was married at Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton, on the 26th September, 1866, to Jane Agnes, daughter of the late William R. Fraser, Esq., M.D. (Edinburgh), of Fredericton, and has a family of three sons and two daughters.

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=Hensley, Hon. Joseph=, Charlottetown, Assistant Judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature, and Vice-Chancellor in the Court of Chancery, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 12th June, 1824, at Tottenham, Middlesex, England. He is the second son of the late Hon. Charles Hensley, who at the time of his death, in 1875, was a commander in the Royal navy, which service he entered in 1805, and was actively engaged in it for ten years—1805 to 1815—during the last war with France. Subsequently he lived in Prince Edward Island, and was a member of the Legislative and Executive Council there, and treasurer of the province. The Hon. Joseph Hensley was educated in England by private tuition, and afterwards at the Hackney Grammar School, Middlesex. In the year 1841 he came out with his father and family from England to Prince Edward Island, where he has since resided, and has now been a resident for upwards of forty-six years. In 1842, he commenced his studies for the bar in the office of the Hon. Robert Hodgson, then attorney-general of the island. He was called to the bar in January, 1847, and practised in Charlottetown from that time until his elevation to the bench, on the 18th June, 1869. Has since sat uninterruptedly as judge of the Supreme Court and vice-chancellor in Chancery. Judge Hensley has filled the following public offices under the government of Prince Edward Island:—In 1851 he was law-clerk to the House of Assembly, and also solicitor-general; in 1853 and 1854, attorney-general; from July, 1854, to July, 1858, attorney-general; from March, 1867, to June, 1869, attorney-general; in 1857, Queen’s counsel by her Majesty’s warrant; during the years 1853-8 inclusive, member of the Legislative Council; from 1861 to June, 1869, member of the House of Assembly; in 1868-9, president of the Executive Council, and leader of the government; from 1853 to 1876, member of the Board of Education; and from 1869 to 1876, chairman of the Board of Education. He was married on the 8th September, 1853, to Frances Ann Dover Hodgson, only daughter of the late Hon. Sir Robert Hodgson, knight, formerly attorney-general, afterwards chief-justice, and, lastly, lieutenant-governor of Prince Edward Island, who died in 1880. He has had four children, three of whom still survive, namely: Fanny Louisa Catherine, married to George Macleod, manager, in Charlottetown, of the Bank of Nova Scotia; Mary Eva; and Katherine Emily, married to Lieutenant Waldemar D’Arcy Rose, United States navy. Hon. Joseph Hensley’s residence is in Charlottetown. He is a member of the Church of England, and has always taken an active part in connection with the work of various religious societies and associations, particularly that of the Charlottetown Young Men’s Christian Association, since its formation, in 1856, filling at various times the position of its president, etc.

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