A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

presented him with a free ticket to his class. In this class he gained two prizes, one on the direct and indirect forms of speech, and another for superiority in private studies. At the close of the session he returned to his old employment at Manor, where he remained till the following November, when he went home to Biggar, where he taught a short time, and then accepted a school at Roberton, in Lanarkshire. About this time his mother died, and shortly afterwards, his own health failing, he returned to Biggar, and spent the summer and fall in teaching a son of Mr. Gillespie, Biggar Park. At the opening of the college session of 1824, he had not saved money enough to support himself and pay the necessary college expenses; but an old lady, a friend of the family, lent what was necessary to make up the deficiency. During this session, he seems to have devoted his energies chiefly to Latin, and gained a prize for an essay on the eighth satire of Juvenal. At the close of this session he received an appointment as tutor in a large boarding school at Eddleston, in Peeblesshire, where he remained for eighteen months. It was here that a favorable change took place in his spiritual condition. He had for a long time had doubts and difficulties on the subject of religion; but at this time, after a careful study of “Chalmers’ Evidences of Christianity,” his doubts were removed, his difficulties solved, and he became a believer in revealed truth, so far as the exercise of the intellectual faculties could make him so. From this time he had a deep conviction that the reading of the heathen classics had deeply injured his moral and spiritual condition. The contempt which an intelligent mind cannot but feel for the heathen mythology, seems to have confirmed his doubts in regard to religion altogether. And it is indeed surprising that Christian people should encourage the study of the heathen classics to the neglect of the ancient Christian classics. In this way we believe that unspeakable mischief is done. And there is no excuse for it; for some of the ancient Christian classics wrote sufficiently pure Greek and Latin. We have often been surprised that the dialogue entitled Octavius, of Minutius Felix, and the letters of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, should not have been generally introduced into our schools and colleges. Their latinity is beautiful, and their religious and moral teaching such as cannot fail to exercise a beneficial influence on all who read them with attention. The same thing may be said in regard to the writings of Justin Martyr, whose Greek, if not so pure as that of Xenophon or Plato, is sufficiently good for all practical purposes. His first Apology, addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius, is especially valuable, and ought to be read by all students of divinity. On leaving Eddleston, at the end of October, 1826, he had saved money enough to pay the little debt which he had contracted the year before, and to meet all his expenses during the ensuing session at college. But before returning to Edinburgh, a friend had procured for him abundance of private teaching, so that he had now money enough and to spare. From this time he had private teaching enough, so that he no more required to lose a session at college. But what was of more importance, his faith in the glorious truths of the gospel was now confirmed, and he was growing slowly in grace and Christian experience. In 1828, Mr. Clark entered the Divinity Hall the same year in which Dr. Chalmers came to the University of Edinburgh as professor of divinity. It is needless to say that he profited greatly by the teaching of that devout and extraordinary man, who not only communicated instruction in the most effective and memorable manner, but infused somewhat of the fire of his own soul into the minds of his students. Mr. Clark not only made great progress in the systematic knowledge of divine truth, but imbibed something of the spirit of his master. One of the exercises prescribed to Mr. Clark was an exegesis on the subject, “An Christus sit colendus summo cultu deo patri debito?” that is, “Ought Christ to be worshipped with the supreme worship due to God the Father?” This led him to an investigation, on biblical principles, of the grand fundamental truths of the gospel, which resulted in a firm conviction in his mind of the truth of the grand evangelical principles embodied in the Westminster Confession of Faith. The preparation of this discourse produced a most salutary effect on his mental character; but it did more, it deepened his religious convictions, and called forth in his soul more lively emotions of gratitude and love to the God of salvation. Soon after this, Dr. Chalmers recommended Mr. Clark for one of the government bursaries, and it was conferred upon him. The bursary was one of ten pounds a year; but it had been vacant for a year, so that he got twenty pounds sterling the first year and ten pounds a year for the two succeeding years. With his revenue from private teaching, this placed him in very comfortable circumstances. And as he succeeded about this time to a small property left him by his father, he had now more than sufficient for all his wants. In the summer of 1832, Mr. Clark was licensed to preach the gospel by the presbytery of Biggar, but as there was at that time a superabundance of preachers in connection with the Established Church, no opening appeared for him in that line, so he continued his labors as a private teacher. His work now consisted almost exclusively in assisting in their studies young gentlemen attending the Edinburgh Academy. About this time a society was formed by the preachers of the Establishment in Edinburgh for voluntary missionary labors among the poor in the most destitute parts of the city. Mr. Clark was chosen by the venerable Dr. Inglis to labor in his parish of Old Greyfriars, and the scene of his operations was the Cowgate, with the closes extending from it to the Lawn market and High street. Dr. Inglis soon after this died, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Sym, a young man of fine talents, very popular as a preacher, and of genuine Christian character. Mr. Clark was soon after his appointment introduced to Mr. Sym, when he engaged him at a respectable salary as his assistant, to labor among the poor of the parish. As Old Greyfriars was a collegiate charge, his services were not required in the parish church; but he preached regularly in an old church in the Cowgate, whose spire is still visible from the South Bridge. At that time it had passed out of the hands of the church, and was the property of the Society of Hammermen, who kindly gave the use of it for missionary meetings. It was in this church that the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was held, and it has now happily passed into the possession of the Free Church. The scenes of poverty and wretchedness and vice which Mr. Clark had to encounter in his visits among this people were often heartrending. On one occasion, when urging a poor woman to attend the church, he was met by the reply, “Oh, sir, our thoughts are mainly taken up about how we are to get the next meal of meat.” It was not uncommon to find houses in which there was no bed, and only some litters of straw, or even shavings, as a substitute. This was afterwards the scene of Dr. Guthrie’s labors when he became colleague to Mr. Sym, in the parish of Old Greyfriars, and no doubt furnished the materials for his book on the sins and sorrows and sufferings of the great cities of the old world. When Mr. Clark’s health was beginning to fail, he was relieved from the severe and often painful work which he had to perform in the Cowgate and its closes. In 1835 he was recommended by Dr. Chalmers to Lady Maxwell, of Springkell, who had requested him to send a young man to take charge of the parish of Half-Morton. This parish was then in a peculiar condition. It was still a distinct parish _quo ad civilia_, but was united, _quo ad sacra_ to the parish of Langholm, of which the minister was a Pluralist, having to preach three Sabbaths in the month at Langholm and one at Half-Morton. A suit was afterwards instituted in the Court of Tiends for the separation of the two parishes, which was successful; and in 1839 Mr. Clark was presented by the Crown to the resuscitated parish of Half-Morton. Meanwhile he had been married to a distant relation of his own, Jane Brown, a daughter of James Brown, of Edmonston, but as there was no suitable residence for them in the parish, they had to reside at Longtown, a village of Cumberland, on the English side of the border, till a manse was built at Half-Morton. Here they spent four years in comfort and happiness, till the disruption took place, when they had to leave their pleasant home. They found a temporary residence at Annan, a town ten miles from the church of Half-Morton. This distance from the scene of his labors occasioned great additional labor and hardship to Mr. Clark, more especially as he had often to preach in the adjoining parishes of Canonbie and Langholm, where a strong feeling in behalf of Free Church principles had been excited. During the summer of 1843, the preaching in country places had to be done chiefly in the open air; but at Canonbie a marqué, capable of sheltering several hundred people, was erected in a pasture field near the road-side. Mr. Clark had officiated only two Sabbaths in this place when he was interdicted by the Duke of Buccleugh, who was the sole proprietor of the parish. The duke’s interdict was obeyed, but preaching was immediately begun on the road-side, where increasing numbers attended. A preacher was immediately procured for Canonbie, and when Mr. Clark appeared after a few Sabbaths’ absence, he chose for his text, Philippians i., 12: “I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.” The opposition of the duke only intensified the determination of the people. It is only justice, however, to his grace to add, that some time afterwards he granted a site for a church and manse with a piece of land on easy terms. Towards the close of 1843, Mr. Clark was called to Maxwelltown, a suburb of Dumfries, but the presbytery refused to release him from Half-Morton. In the spring of 1844, however, difficulties having arisen in the congregation of Maxwelltown, the call to him was renewed. This time the presbytery withdrew their opposition to his removal, and he was transferred to Maxwelltown in the spring of 1844. With a good manse and large and beautiful garden which he had planted with the choicest fruit trees, and in the midst of a satisfied and increasing congregation, here Mr. Clark lived with his family in great happiness and comfort till the spring of 1853, when, under the impression that he was called of God, he removed to Canada. This was a great trial to him, more especially as his wife, who was in delicate health, was unwilling to go. She was too good a woman, however, to resist what her husband believed to be a call from God, and, trusting in the Lord, consented to go. In February, 1853, Mr. Clark sailed for New York alone, thinking it better to leave his family to come out the following summer. On reaching New York, he proceeded immediately to Quebec, which he reached on the 1st of March, and immediately entered upon his labors there. He was treated with great kindness by the late James Gibb, of Woodfield, who very handsomely kept him in his house till the arrival of his family in September. Mrs. Clark was very feeble when she arrived at Quebec; the sea voyage appeared to have weakened her, and she did not improve much by the change of air and rest which she now enjoyed. And when the cold weather set in, she began gradually to sink. But she had perfect faith in Jesus, no complaint escaped her lips, and in February, 1854, she died in the full assurance of a blessed resurrection. Instead of enlarging on her beautiful character now, it will answer the purpose better to insert a poem which Mr. Clark wrote on the occasion of her death:— With a sorrowful heart, She prepared to depart From dear old Scotland’s shore; For well she knew, That its mountains blue, Her eyes should behold no more. But when duty called, No danger appalled That heart so devoted and true. She had left, for the truth, The sweet manse of her youth, And now bade her country adieu. In weakness and pain, O’er the dark, stormy main, She came to this old fortress town; Where, in slow decay, She wasted away, My faithful Jeanie Brown. But severe though her pain, She did not complain; For it taught her, she told us, to see More clearly the woe, In the regions below, From which the redeemed are set free. By St. Lawrence’s side, As he rolls, in his pride, To the great Atlantic down, By a walnut’s shade, The dear dust we laid Of my sweet Jeanie Brown. And now she sleeps, Where the green wave sweeps Past the ocean’s river’s shore; But I’ll meet her again, In that blessed domain, Where the weary part no more. Mr. Clark remained unmarried for sixteen years, when he was united in marriage to Amelia Torrance, widow of Thomas Gibb, of Quebec. She has been to him a wise counsellor, a true and affectionate wife, and while she was able, a help meet for him in his great work. After some time, however, she was seized with rheumatism, which at first gave little inconvenience; but it gradually increased in severity, till at last, in the winter of 1872, it completely prostrated her. Towards the summer of 1873 she recovered a little, and it was thought advisable to try the effect of a sea voyage upon her. Mr. Clark, also feeling his strength giving way, after having labored in Quebec for upwards of twenty years, thought himself justified in resigning that important and laborious charge. Accordingly they sailed for the old country in the autumn of 1873; and Mrs. Clark felt more benefit from the sea voyage than from all the medical treatment which she had received. After visiting Mr. Clark’s sister, the widow of Henry Scott Riddell, at Tiviot Head, they spent the winter partly at a hydropathic establishment, near Melrose; partly in Edinburgh, and partly in Dumfries. They then started for the south, spending a short time in London, a week in Paris, and then started for Aix-les-Bains, in Savoy, famous for its hot sulphur springs. After spending some time there they returned to Scotland, through Switzerland and France, arriving in Edinburgh near the end of May, a little before the closing of the Free Church General Assembly. They spent the remainder of the summer very pleasantly among their friends in the rural parts of the counties of Roxburgh, Peebles, and Dumfries, and in the neighborhood of Glasgow, from which port they sailed, and reached Quebec in safety in September, 1874. Mr. Clark was now too old to think of looking after another ministerial charge, but preached occasionally at Quebec and elsewhere as circumstances required till 1880, when he was called to be professor of Church History in Morin College, Quebec, which situation he still holds. While in Half-Morton he prepared a book for family worship, which was published by T. Nelson & Sons, Edinburgh, and obtained a large circulation. While in Maxwelltown, after the death of his only son, he wrote a little volume entitled, “Asleep in Jesus,” which was also published by the Nelsons, and extensively circulated. This little book was afterwards published in Philadelphia without the author’s knowledge. Mr. Clark produced another little work, entitled “The Promise of the Spirit,” which was published by Robert Kennedy, at Prescott. This book did not attract much attention, and was never republished. * * * * * =Thompson, Hon. John Sparrow David=, Q.C., Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Dominion of Canada, Ottawa, was born at Halifax, on the 10th of November, 1844. He is a son of John Sparrow Thompson, a native of Waterford, Ireland, who, after coming to this country, was for a time Queen’s printer, and afterwards superintendent of the money order system of Nova Scotia. Hon. Mr. Thompson chose law as a profession, and was called to the bar of Nova Scotia, in July, 1865, and appointed a Queen’s counsel in May, 1879. He was for six years alderman of the city of Halifax, and for five years a member of the Board of School Commissioners, being for some time chairman of the board. He was also a member of the Senate of the University of Halifax. He was for the last two years of his residence in Halifax honorary lecturer in the Halifax Law School, on evidence and the construction of statutes. He entered the political arena in 1877, and was elected for Antigonish county a member of the Nova Scotia legislature, by a majority of 517. He was returned by the same constituency at the general election of 1878, and was appointed attorney-general in 1878, and was again elected by acclamation. In 1882, on the retirement of the Hon. Mr. Holmes, he was chosen premier and attorney-general; and at the election that followed that year, he was returned by a majority of over five hundred. In July, 1882, he resigned office, and was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. This office he held until the 25th of September, 1885, when he resigned, and was chosen by Sir John A. Macdonald to fill the important offices of minister of justice and attorney-general for the Dominion of Canada. He sat in the House of Assembly of Nova Scotia from December, 1877, until his elevation to the bench in 1882; and was first elected to the House of Commons, at Ottawa, in October, 1885, and re-elected at the general election of 1887, for Antigonish. Hon. Mr. Thompson in politics is a Liberal-Conservative, and in religion is a member of the Roman Catholic church. In 1870, he was married to Annie E. Affleck, daughter of Captain Affleck, of Halifax, and has a family of five children. * * * * * =MacLean, Alexander=, Parliamentary Printer, Ottawa, was born on the 9th December, 1834, in the township of Dumfries, county of Brant, Ontario. His parents were John MacLean and Isabella McRae, both natives of Inverness, Scotland, from which country they emigrated, and settled in Canada. Alexander received his education in the public and grammar schools, and remained at home, his father being a farmer, taking a share of the farm work, until he was twenty years of age. He subsequently taught school for a while, and also served for some years as a mercantile clerk. He abandoned these pursuits for the newspaper press, to which he had become a casual contributor, and became the publisher, in 1865, of the Cornwall _Freeholder_, then the home organ of the late Hon. Sandfield Macdonald, and continued its publisher until shortly after that gentleman’s death, in 1872. He then joined the staff of the Toronto _Globe_, as its Ottawa correspondent, and this position he held for several years, until he became (with Mr. Roger) one of the contractors for the printing of the Senate and House of Commons, and of the government at Ottawa, and such he has been for the last fourteen years. Mr. MacLean is a justice of the peace for the united counties of Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry; a director of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company; of the Canadian Granite Company, both of Ottawa; and of the Cornwall Gas Company. He is also interested in several other public enterprises. He early joined the Masonic order, and is now a past worshipful master. He is a Liberal in politics, and in religion, belongs to the Presbyterian denomination. On November 20th, 1863, he was married to Sarah, daughter of John Smith, St. George, county of Brant. * * * * * =Perrigo, James=, M.A., M.D., M.R.C.S., (Eng.), Montreal, was born in the city of Montreal in 1846. His parents were John Perrigo and Eleanor Reeves. The doctor’s family have always been Conservative in politics, and we find that in the war of 1812 his grandfather served against the Americans; and it was in consequence of his patriotic services on this occasion that he escaped being expelled from the country during the troublesome times of 1837, he having commanded the rebels in the skirmish that took place near Beauharnois in that year. He received his education at McGill University, and afterwards went to England, where he further prosecuted his medical studies, and while there he was elected honorary secretary of the Obstetrical Society of London. Returning to Montreal in 1872, he began the practice of his profession, and now occupies a front rank as a medical practitioner in that city. He is a professor of surgery in Bishop’s College Medical School. In religion Dr. Perrigo is an adherent of the Episcopal form of worship; and in politics is a Liberal-Conservative. In 1885 he was married to Marion G., daughter of the late H. Chandler, who, during his lifetime, was a merchant in Montreal. * * * * * =Medley, Rev. Charles Steinkopff=, B.A., Rector of Sussex, New Brunswick, is of English birth, having been born in Truro, Cornwall, on the 16th September, 1835. He is a son of the Right Rev. John Medley, D.D., bishop of Fredericton, and Christiana Bacon, a granddaughter of the great English sculptor of that name. The Rev. Mr. Medley received his early education in the classics and mathematics at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, England, and came out to New Brunswick in 1855, his father having preceded him. Shortly after his arrival he entered King’s College, Fredericton, where he took the arts course. He studied theology under his father. In June, 1859, he was ordained deacon by his father, and the following year priest. He was first sent to the mission of Douglas, York county, New Brunswick, where he labored fifteen months, serving meanwhile as a school trustee, and doing good religious and literary work. At the end of this period Rev. Mr. Medley returned to Fredericton to assist his father in the Cathedral. After a short residence in Fredericton he removed to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where he was incumbent of St. Mary’s Church for three years, and then returned to New Brunswick in 1867, to become rector of Sussex. Since his settlement here he has done good work for the Master. A neat and tasty church edifice has been erected, with black ash and pine sheathing, one of the finest houses of worship of its kind in the province. The old church whose place it took was one of the earliest built in this part of New Brunswick, Sussex having been settled by U. E. loyalists. It is situated about half a mile from the village, and, like the residence of the rector a few rods from it, has beautiful rural surroundings, and is a most inviting place for man to worship God. Rev. Mr. Medley was appointed canon to the cathedral at Fredericton in 1869; and rural dean in July, 1880. He is an excellent scholar, a polished writer, a sound theologian, and has a pleasant delivery in the pulpit. Canon Medley was married on the 21st April, 1864, to Charlotte, daughter of Robert Bird, of Birdtown, York county, New Brunswick. * * * * * =Macdonald, Charles De Wolf=, B.A., Barrister, Pictou, Nova Scotia, was born on the 23rd October, 1854, at Pictou, N.S. His father was the late Alexander Cameron Macdonald, Q.C., barrister, who, during his lifetime, represented the county of Pictou in the Nova Scotia legislature for eight years, and occupied the position of speaker in the House of Assembly, previous to the confederation of the provinces. His mother, who still survives, Sarah Amelia De Wolf, is a descendant of a well-known loyalist family, of German noble origin. Charles received his primary education at Pictou Academy; matriculated in 1869 at Dalhousie College, Halifax, when fifteen years of age, taking the first provincial scholarship, and, making the highest aggregate each year; graduated in