258 CANADIAN LOCAL HISTORY : 



sending a class to their seats, to ask myself whether they had learned anything ; and I was 

 always exceedingly mortified if I had not tlie agreeahle conviction that they had made some 

 improvement. Let none of you, however, suppose that what you have learned here is suflftcient • 

 on the contrary, you are to remember that we have laid only the foundation. The superstruc- 

 tare must be laid by yourselves." Here is an account of his method of teaching Arithmetic, 

 taken from the introduction to a little work on the subject, published by himself in 1809 : " I 

 divide my pupils," he says, "into separate classes, according to their progress. Each class has 

 one or more sums to produce every day, neatly wrought upon their slates : the work is carefully 

 examined ; after which I command every figure to be blotted out, and the sums to be wrought 

 under my eye. The one whom I happen to pitch upon first, gives, with an audible voice, the 

 rules and reasons for every step ; and as he proceeds the rest silently work along with him, 

 figure for figure, but ready to correct him if he blunder, that they may get his place. As soon 

 as this one is finished, the work is again blotted out, and another called upon to work the ques- 

 tion aloud as before, while the rest again proceed along with him in silence, and so on round the 

 whole class. By this method the principles are fixed in the mind ; and he must be a very dull 

 boy indeed who does not understand every question thorouglily before he leaves it. This method 

 of teaching Arithmetic possesses this important advantage, that it may be pursued without 

 interrupting the pupUs' progress in any other useful study. The same method of teaching 

 Algebra has been used ivith equal success. Such a plan is certainly very laborious, but it will 

 be found successful ; and he that is anxious to spare labour ought not to be a public Teacher. 

 When boys remain long enough, it has been my custom to teach them the theory, and give them 

 a number of curious questions in Geography, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, a specimen 

 of which may be seen in the questions placed before the Appendix." 



The youths to be dealt with in early Canadian schools were not aU of the meek, submissive 

 species. With some of them occasionally a sharp regimen was necessary ; and it was adopted 

 without hesitation. On this point, the Address just quoted, thus speaks : "One of the greatest 

 advantages you have derived from your education here, arises from the strictness of our dis- 

 cipline. Those of you who have not already perceived how much your tranquillity depends 

 upon the proper regulation of the temper, wUl soon be made sensible of it as you advance ia 

 years. You will find people who have never known what it is to be in habitual subjection to 

 precept and just authority, breaking forth into violence and outrage on the most frivolous 

 occasions. The passions of such persons, when once roused, soon become ungovernable ; and 

 that impatience of restraint, which they have been allowed to indulge, embitters the greatest 

 portion of their lives. Accustomed to despise the barriers erected by reason, they rash forward 

 to indulgence, without regarding the consequences. Hence arises much of that wretchedness 

 and disorder to be met with in society. Now the discipUne necessary to correct the impetuosity 

 of the passions is often found nowhere but in well-regulated schools : for though it should be 

 the first care of parents, they are too apt to be blinded by affection, and grant liberties to their 

 children which reason disapproves. * * * That discipline therefore, which you have some- 

 times thought irksome »vill henceforth present itself in a very different light. It will appear 

 the teacher of a habit of the greatest consequence in the regulation of your future conduct ; and 

 you will value it as the promoter of that decent and steady command of temper so very 

 essential to happiness, and so useful in our intercourse with mankind." These remarks on dis- 

 cipline will be the more appreciated, when it is recollected that during the time of the early 

 settlements in this country, the sons of even the most respectable families were brought into 

 contact with semi-barbarous characters. A sporting ramble through the woods, a fishing 

 excursion on the waters, could not be undertaken without communications with Indians and 

 half-breeds and bad specimens 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 that process really involved, 

 or what the "nor'-west" precisely was, were things vaguely realized. A sort of savage "land 

 of Cockaigne," a region of perfect freedom among the Indians, was imagined ; and to reach it 

 Lakes Huron and Superior were to be traversed. — At Cornwall the temptation was in another 

 direction : there, the idea was to escape to the eastward : to reach Montreal or Quebec, and get 

 on board of an ocean-going ship, either a man-of-war or merchantman. The flight of severa 



