Trinity College School - Record Yearbook (Port Hope, Ontario Canada)

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TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD T pranks. As a matter of fact, he left his school at Dundas at the request of the management. When he was at school at Barrie he was known somewhat playfully as one of Barrie's bad boys . And even when he was at this School he once spent a few hours in what is called the custody of the law, because of some merriment carried a little too far, I expect that during the time he was at school he was most famous amongst his fellows because in his last year he was first in the hurdle race of 200 yards, and of 400 yards, first in the 100 yards hop race Cwhatever that isjg Hrst in the mile steeplechase and in throwing the cricket ball. I think he was the sort of boy you would have all liked. At least, he was the sort of boy that people kept on liking for seventy years. But his boyhood was not all mischief and laughter and the playing of games, although both work and play were to him the best of fun. When he looked back, he always said that three wonderful things came to him while he was a boy at this School. He thought their coming the most important happening in his life. The three things were, a man, an instrument, and a book. You have all heard of the Reverend W. A. Johnson, who was the first warden of this School. Johnson was the godson of the great Duke of Wellington, and had been a soldier and then became a parson and teacher. He was one of those men who had a genius for teaching, especially for teaching the things he liked to the boys he liked. He loved books, and above all was interested in the wonders of the world around him--in the way of a bird in the air, in the beauty of a flower in the woodland, in the delicate tracery of the moss on the stone. He was one of those pilgrims of whom the nrst great English poet said gladly would he learn and gladly teach . A glad teacher likes to meet no one as much as a glad learner, and a glad learner welcomes nobody more than a glad teacher. And so Father Johnson became Osler's friend, teacher and hero. He gave him his first microscope. What Osler saw through that microscope brought near to

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6 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD business and finance, another the most notable Canadian lawyer of his day, another Chief Justice of Ontario, and yet another Sir William Osler, Regius professor of Medicine at Oxford. It is sufficient to say that the house of the Rev. Featherstone Lake Osler and his wife, Ellen, was a home of Christian piety, of simple joys, of some hardships. of laughter and of good talk, and of those deep unspoken certainties which join men in love to one another and in adoration and obedience before the ways and laws of God's Providence. One of Osler's nephews told me the other day how his own mother had brought from that household two lessons which he was never allowed to forget. One was, as his mother constantly reminded him. If you cannot speak good of any one, keep silent and never speak evil g the other. If you are feeling depressed or ill, do not allow your own depression or ill-health to spoil the happiness and enjoyment of others . It is not easy to gaze through the shadows and to see what sort of a boy came to this School nearly eighty-four years ago. When you are older you will find that it is not easy even to remember much of your own boyhood. Does not the greatest of school songs picture those who sing. looking back forty years after and forgetfully wondering what they were like in their work and their play? Because Osler's mother and father were Cornish, he was always described as one of those dark Celts who are usually found in Cornwall or the Western parts of Wales or Ireland or Scotland. He was short in stature and had a swarthy complexion. His eyes Cwhich somebody once called the windows of the soull were full of fire and brightness and seemed to dance in his head. He was Very lithe and brisk and moved very quickly. One of his nieces said that he always came down the street with a swinging pace, with a spring on the ball of his foot--a habit of walking he kept to his last days. As a boy, and even as a man, he was full of pleasant mischief and fond of harmless

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8 TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL RECORD him many hidden horizons and opened up a wonderland that awaits everyone with eyes to see. Johnson also first introduced Osler to a famous old book, Sir Thomas BroWne's, Religio Medici , The Religion of a Doctor . The English in which it is written is almost the most stately music which has ever been fashioned from the words of our tongue. It is a difficult book and a scholar's book. It must have been an extraordinary man who could interest a boy in that book. It must have been an extra- ordinary boy who was fascinated by its language and its teaching. Nevertheless, that miracle happened in this School, and when Osler left for the University of Toronto, his boyish plan became a man's purpose. He made up his mind to become a scientist. a doctor, and a teacher. Johnson rests in the Churchyard at Weston. I hope that his monu- ment is cared for and that the trustees and masters and boys of this School will always keep fresh the grass upon his grave. During Osler's time at this School, and after that at Toronto, another great teacher, a visitor to Trinity College School and a Professor at Trinity College, James Bovell, brought his wonderful influence to bear upon the moulding of Osler's life. At McGill, Dr. Palmer Howard, the most famous medical teacher of his day, in Canada, possessed the last strong hand that fashioned the pattern of Osler's dedication to the service of mankind. Throughout his days, Osler continually said and wrote that the purpose of his life, the direction of his toil, and the success of his labours were due to these three noble teachers. When he wrote his own greatest book he de- dicated it to them. His speeches and his letters were full of their grateful memory and I am sure that before the last darkness closed his eyes, their faces passed before him in the proud procession of his life's unforgettable love. I can almost hear them saying to Osler, and Osler saying to those whom he taught in his turn, the Words that have always lurked unspoken on the lips of those whose high