Trafalgar Castle School - Yearbook (Whitby, Ontario Canada)

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Chapter Six 1875 - 1877, The Early Years The tradition of lectures by noted speakers at the Ontario Ladies ' College began early in 1875 with the visit of the famous professor Goldwin Smith, whose political opinions favor- ing annexation with the United States 15 years later would cause a stir across the country. At the Easter closing, March 24, 1875, his topic was less controversial, --a tour in England. Music was supplied under the direction of Mr. Torrington. The previous month the Board of Directors had reported an enrolment of 80 pupils and a stock list which had surpassed $40,000. Fees for the college were: Primary dept. $3. 00 per term. Preparatory dept. $4. 00 per term. Collegiate dept. $6. 00 per term. Drawing French each $4. 00 per term. Instrumental and painting each. $8. 00 per term. Board with furnished room $2. 75 per week. Fuel, light and washing. 50 per week. College life during the first year of OLC is aptly described in a letter from Miss M. E. Bowman to her sister, dated April 18, 1875: Dear Sister: I have no doubt you will be surprised to hear that on the 8th I started to College. I am in the Collegiate apartment (which is the high- est to be obtained. ) There are three apart- ments. Primary, Preparatory Collegiate. I have to study very hard for we have long lessons a very great many of them. But I have received a card of high value and only been here 10 days which is considered to be a great honor to any pupil. But you will ask if it is very expensive; it costs about $50 a quarter i.e. (ten weeks). I like it well so far. We board and sleep in the College never leave the playground without one of the teachers with us. It is lonely sometimes for I have not seen any person that I was acquainted with since I have been here. No Gentlemen are al- lowed to converse with any of the ladies with- out a note from the Parents if they suspect any correspondence with Gentlemen they will not send the letters or allow them to be sent to the P.O. I do not expect that I will be here more than 12 wks. (that is a term 1 ). On the 30th of June there will be a concert. I sup- ose there will be a great number of Ladies ad Gentlemen attend at which the pupils all ess in white. (I am taking up English ranches with Music. ). But you are tired of lis now. I will conclude by stating that we ! lave six Teachers, 3 Ladies 3 Gentlemen, I one of which is Mo A. another B. A. another a lusic teacher from Toronto. The Ladies all ave First Class Certificates. It is the leriff ' s house converted into a College. Dear iSter I was very much pleased to hear from ou that you are well permanently settled, j Aat Sarah Jane was getting big and making uch rapid progress with her studies. Give my best respects to Albert, Kiss Sarah for me. I would (like) to see you all very much but you will surely make us a visit before long. So good bye this time for the girls are come from church and you know where there is so much talk there is no writing. Write soon tell me all the news, every thing you can talk of. I still remain your true affectionate sister. M. E. Bowman (Please excuse this scribble for it is lamp- light and I am in a hurry for I wish to be in bed by | past 9 o ' clock. ) Early in May, Rev. E. H. Dewart, Editor of the Christian Guardian and Dr. Nelles, the official visitors to the college from the Toronto Conference made their first report. They found there were now 60 boarders and 47 day pupils, with receipts from tuition more than meeting expenses. As far as a cursory examination enables us to speak, the teaching is conducted with ability and efficiency, they stated. The method of teaching is adapted to suggest and stimulate thought; and the answers of the pupils in the different classes indicated an in- tellectual grasp of the subjects taught. High words of praise were offered for the teaching staff. Miss Dunlop, Mr. Torrington, Mr. Hock the drawing master, and Mrs. Hare who was described as a gifted musician. The pupils, from many different Protestant churches, were conducted each Sunday to the churches their parents wished them to attend, and all exercises at the college were conduc- ted in a liberal and unsectarian spirit. A full report of each pupil ' s standing was sent to parents at the end of each term to enable them to see the progress of their daughters. The first closing exercises of the College were held June 28 and 29, 1875 along with public examinations, a practice which has long since been discontinuted. The written exami- nations were conducted privately, but the oral examinations were open to the public, although comparatively few attended. The Revs. Dr. Wood, Dr. Jeffers and E. H. Dewart were to deliver addresses at the musical and literary entertainment but due to the pressure of mis- sionary work, and in one case a train going off the track, only Dr. Jeffers made an appearance. He praised the Ontario Ladies ' College highly for its work, stressing the necessity of religious as well as intellectual culture. The next speaker, a frequent visitor to the closing exercises at OLC, was Mackenzie Bowell, M.P., of Belleville, a future prime minister of Canada. He reflected the same views as Dr. Jeffers on the subject of religion. Jun e 29, the exercises came to a close with a grand concert, the proceeds of which were to aid the college library. Many of the pupils performed on the piano and violin and sang ioeautiful songs such as Lo Hear the Gentle Lark, and The Message, accompanied by Mr. Torrington on the violin and Mrs. Hare

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principles as well as what are considered the higher branches and accomplishments. Judge Burnham went on to outline the history of Trafalgar Castle, referring particularly to the visits of Prince Arthur and Baron Lisgar. The Governor-General congratulated the Board on its acquisition of Trafalgar (iastle and expressed his interest in education and the youth of Canada. He took special pleasure at seeing a bust of Sir Walter Scott, one of the princes of European literature in the room where he delivered his address. The Governor-General proceeded to issue a warn- ing about a new class of literature and school of writers whose chief object seems to be to extract amusement and to awake laughter by turning everything that is noble, elevated and reverenced by the rest of the world into ridi- cule. These writers, he said, substituted parody for invention, and coarse vulgarity for the tender humor of a better day, or if this error is avoided, a sickly morbid sentimen- talism is substituted, more corrupting than absolute vice, or a historical sensationalism which is as bad as either. I cannot but think that it is a great matter that in our schools that we should take the greatest pains to main- tain a standard of healthy robust and refined taste. A considerable number of presentations followed, after which the Governor-General and his party left Whitby by train. The actual opening followed the official ceremonies by 12 days. On Sept. 15, 1874, 25 pupils enrolled and a large gathering was held in the evening to acquaint the townspeople of Whitby with the new college. One of the first items to which the new Board of Directors turned its attention after the opening was provision of sidewalks to the college. The matter was brought before the town council with a request for special funds, which resulted in an appropriation of $400 to construct a plank sidewalk six feet wide from the College to Dundas Street. Funds were also supplied to repair the walk to Brock Street. One councillor wanted to limit the expense of the work by constructing a four-foot sidewalk but his amendment was defeated. Late in 1874 the Ontario Ladies ' College secured its first principal. Rev. John James Hare, a man of remarkable ability who was to serve in that capacity for 41 years. A native of the Township of Nepean, near Ottawa, he was 27 years old when he assumed the posi- tion. He was regarded from his earliest years as a child prodigy, having obtained a second class teacher ' s certificate at the age of 12, and matriculated into Victoria University three years later. At 17 he began a teaching career and at 19 entered the Methodist ministry. Mr. Hare served in churches at Chatham, and Smiths Falls before returning to Victoria University in Cobourg to graduate in 1873, winning four first prizes. After leaving college he was ordained and made assistant pastor at the largest church in London, Ont. In 1874, the year he became principal of the Ontario Ladies ' College, he married Miss K. McDowell, daughter of Rev. D. C. McDowell, one of the college ' s founders. By November 1874, the Ontario Ladies ' College had 28 boarders and 14 day students, with applications coming in almost every week. Ten teachers were now employed and enrolment would reach 115 by the end of the first year. On Dec. 23, Mr. Torrington, the musical director staged his first musical and literary entertainment for the public at an admission price of 25 cents. Rev. Dr. Nelles of Cobourg was on hand to give an earnest and practical lecture on popular errors and possible success in the education of girls. Following short readings by the pupils, the president and vice-president of the Board and Mayor Greenwood each delivered addresses. Thus closed the first months at the Ontario Ladies ' College, everyone being certain that a promising future lay ahead. Rev. and Mrs. J.J. Hare ' s wedding photo, 18 '

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on the piano. The pianos, a Decker and two Hazeltons, were samples of about a dozen supplied to the college by Mason Risch and Newcombe, of Toronto. At the August meeting of the Board of Di- rectors, a bylaw amendment came forth to increase the number of directors from nine to 21, with seven to be ministers named by the Toronto Conference. The seven ministers selected were Revs. Dr. Wood, president of the Toronto Conference; D. C. McDowell, E. H. Dewart, editor of the Christian Guardian; J. E. Betts, J. E. Sanderson, G. Leech and R. H. Smith, whose appointment was ratified at the annual meeting of the stockholders. The annual meeting was scheduled for Sept. 3 but had to be postponed because not all the stock- holders had received their notices. The directors reported a surplus for the first year of $500, to be spent on finishing a suite of rooms for a dining room and kitchen. The secretary, John Rice, reported a total budget of $45, 582. 25 to July 31, 1875, but Chester Draper questioned the report, stating several items were not included, which would give a false picture to the stockholders. The statement was correct as far as it went, but it was not complete, he said. Mr. Coulthard ob- jected to paying both a governor and a principal, when he understood the jobs were to be handled by one man. Mr. Hare replied that Mr. Coulthard ' s remarks were both unjust and un- kind to himself and Mr. Sanderson, who had many difficulties to surmount. Mr. Sanderson said he was receiving $500 less as governor than he did on the Methodist circuit before he joined the college, and was so overworked that he could not even take two days ' vacation from his duties. OLC was not a money-making place or a place of rest he contended, regretting his services were not better appreciated. The Ontario Ladies ' College opened its second year Sept. 7, 1875. The first term lasted from Sept. 7 to Nov. 15; second term, Nov. 16 to Feb. 7; third term, Feb. 8 to April 20; and fourth term April 21 to June 29. In October Mr. Hare reported the donation of a case of stuffed birds from a Mr. Haycock of Yorkville. Further gifts of stuffed animals and birds followed, providing a fine display which was housed for many years on the first floor of Ryerson Hall. The first prize to be offered for competi- tion at the Ontario Ladies ' College was pre- sented at the Christmas concert, Dec. 22, 1875. Called the Christina Teskey Scholarship, after a student who died at the Hamilton Ladies ' College, it consisted of $20 a year, donated by her uncle, Albert Teskey of Appleton, Ont. T. H. McMillan, of Whitby, offered a silver medal, and it was not long before other noted men of Whitby and Toronto added to the list of prizes. Attendance at OLC continued to in- crease into 1876, with 105 pupils registered during the first and second terms of that year, representing an advance in fees of over $3, 000. Elocution instruction under Mrs. Taverner began in April along with gymnastics and riding instruction under Major Dearnally of the Queen ' s Life Guards, who had taught at many ladies ' schools in Canada. Club exer- cises and w alking were his specialty. The gymnastics, offered three times a week, were believed to contribute much to the health and appearance of the pupils. Major Dearnally presented his first demonstration of his teaching at the closing exercises in July 1876, receiving such high praise that four prizes were offered on the spot by interested specta- tors . As final examination time approached again, noted professors from Toronto were called in to conduct the exams. Among these was Prof. Thomas Kirkland, principal of the Toronto Normal School, who took charge of the chemistry examination. Prof. Kirkland con- gratulated the pupils on receiving a standard of 74 to 84 per cent. Had they been up for examination at the University, they would have all received first class, he said. A former headmaster of the Whitby High School, he was pleased to return to his home town. A literary entertainment at commencement featured an essay on the subject This is but the dawn that speaketh of the noontide yet to be, by Miss Lillie Gray, of Cartwright, the college ' s first graduate. On commencement day she received the degree of Mistress of English Literature (MEL) and $100 worth of prizes. More than 150 paintings and drawings by the pupils were neatly framed and exhibited in the drawing room for viewing by visitors. The closing concert, always a tradition at the commencement exercises, was held June 28 and prizes awarded to those who stood first, second and third in the chief subjects of the college: English Grammar, Spelling, Writing, Composition, Geography, English History, Ancient History, English Literature, Elocu- tion, Rhetoric, Bookkeeping, Latin, Arithme- tic, Algebra, Geometry, French, Botany, Zoology, Natural Philosophy, Physical Geo- graphy, Astronomy, Natural Theology, Evi- dences, Scripture, Mental Philosophy, Vocal and Instrumental Music, Drawing, Crayons, Painting, Waxwork, Riding and Walking Exer- cises, and Gymnastics. In August 1876 the visitors from the Toron- to Conference presented their annual report, expressing pleasure at the fine moral and edu- cational standing of the college. The directors reported an attendance of 65 boarders and 20 day pupils for 1875-76 and a net surplus of nearly $1, 500. The 1870s were described as hard times, but the college proved its worth by attracting more than 60 boarders for the coming fall opening to the great satisfaction of the directors. PHOTO AT RIGHT: Announcement of first closing exercises, June 28-30, 1875, printed in Whitby Chronicle.