[BURWASsH ] INAUGURAL INTRODUCTION TO SECTION II 11 
choice of the best, and that in large variety sufficient to meet the varied 
yearning for life of the youthful spirit. 
But we must now apply this to the question in hand. Has our 
Canadian literature arrived at that stage of perfection which fits it 
for use as an implement of education? Still further, is that stage 
of development sufficiently advanced to create for it a history? Or, 
in other words, has it assumed a distinctive Canadian type, and can 
we trace the operation of the forces by which that type has been 
developed ? 
To the first of these questions we may very confidently give an 
affirmative answer. Our Canadian literature is now sufficient, both in 
quantity and quality, to afford most excellent material for the purposes 
of education. This is, we think, true, both as regards style and con- 
tent. We have prose writers who, for chaste purity and simplicity of 
diction, and for dignity and beauty of style, may safely be presented 
as models to our young people. We have also among our poets quite 
a number who have given us melodious and felicitous expression of 
noble thought, an expression which may well be claimed as a fit setting 
for the gem which it encloses. Such things deserve to live and to be 
cherished in the land of their birth, and nothing will contribute more 
to the elevation and refinement of our Canadian people than that 
through the years to come these sweet melodies should go singing 
through their brains and voicing their best thoughts and remembrances. 
In content also our literature is taking both a wider range and 
a more distinctive character. It is no longer a mere rehearsal of 
Canadian history or description of Canadian scenery. It is beginning 
to enter more widely and more deeply into life, and that life of a 
national character, and there is no difficulty in selecting from our 
literature rich material for the inspiration of our youth with noble 
ideals. In high moral standard, in strong religious faith, in devout 
reverence, in profound respect for the common rights of humanity, in 
refinement of taste and purity and depth of social feeling, in love of 
humanity, and in honourable regard for every man as a man, in these 
and many other aspects of the best that is in man, our writers have 
been the prophets and teachers of their generation and deserve the 
grateful recognition of their country. 
Still further, there is no doubt that our literature is beginning 
to assume a distinctive national character. Of course, such a char- 
acter must exist in the hearts and lives of our Canadian people before 
it can be reflected in literature. It is also obvious that in our young 
country our varied population has not yet been completely fused into 
a perfect or even approximate unity of type. In the Province of 
