TEMPERANCE, 



337 



the day on which his last illness set in, he was its " main- 

 spring." 



On April 3 his sister Mary completed her seventieth year. 

 In a letter which Philip wrote to her for that day, he says, " I am 

 sorry to find, from the Minister of Justice, that it is by no means 

 settled to send a delegate to the Stockholm [Prison] Congress. 

 The fact is, Canada is -in pecuniary collapse. . . . The nuns 

 gave way about the jail,* and have consented to have a part 

 walled off for the Protestant women, who will be moved 

 shortly. The deputy warder of the men is a well-disposed, 

 practical man : he has promised to report to the St. George's 

 Temperance Society any cases likely to improve ; and they 

 undertake to visit them regularly." April 8, he wrote to 

 Susan : " We had an unexpected visitor during the Easter 

 holidays — Hon. A. Vidal f of Sarnia, one of the few faithful 

 temperance men in the Senate. He took tea with us alone 

 on Saturday evening, and on Easter Monday we invited a little 

 party of congenial people to meet him. He is a singularly 

 gentlemanly and agreeable man. very earnest in religion of his 

 Presbyterian type ; but not at all bigoted. . . . 



"It was arranged for Mr. Vidal to preside over the St. 

 George's Temperance Meeting, the clergy and principal 

 members being all busy at vestry meetings. Unfortunately I 

 was unable to go with him, having sprung a leak in the 

 lumbago line. Perhaps something in the air, as Mr. Carmi- 

 chael was struck similarly, w T hile administering the Lord's 

 Supper at the early service on Easter Sunday : such a church 

 full of serious people. 



6 6 I never saw such a solemn service (I think) in a 



* See p. 319. It was to be built on land belonging to the nuns, who were 

 to be paid for the female prisoners, who would be all under their charge. 

 Philip wrote to the Prime Minister, the Solicitor-General, etc., respecting it. 



t The last letters in Philip's "manifold" were to Mr. Vidal, President 

 of the Dominion Alliance. Mr. V. wrote to him from Ottawa, April 19 : 

 "We had a good discussion in the Senate on my resolutions. . . . With 

 the leaders both of the Government and Opposition against me, I and my 

 friends were well satisfied with the vote. It is a good beginning. . . . 

 Give my kindest regards to Mrs. Carpenter. I shall ever retain a pleasant 

 recollection of the kind and cordial welcome extended to me at your 

 house." 



Z 



