United College Collegiate - Tric Tics Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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to the day of his death he directed every energy to the work of build¬ ing up the institution so near to his heart. As in the case of Manitoba College, the early history of Wesley College is a story of humble beginnings. After two years in cramp¬ ed quarters in Grace Church, the classes were taught in an old house on Albert Street. So straitened were the finances of the College at that time that a story is told to the effect that the faculty, Dr. Sparl¬ ing and Professors Laird and Cochrane, visited a second-hand store to buy some stoves for the building. After the stoves were installed and the fires made, the faculty stood aghast to see yawning chasms appear in the black sides of their bargains. The tricky dealer had filled the cracks with putty and blackened them so well that the astute pro fessors were deceived. But when the stoves were tried as by fire their deficiencies shone forth. Interesting stories are told by graduates of those early days. One and all smile as they quote from the first calendar issued, which an¬ nounced that the College had moved to a “ spacious and commodious building” located on Broadway, where Devon Court now stands. Every year, however, the student body became larger, and Dr. Sparling saw that a fine new college building was an absolute necessity. The late principal had wonderful persuasive powers with congregations and in¬ dividuals in his church, and he soon financed what in those days was a gigantic undertaking for western Methodism. First he procured the present site on Portage Avenue for $20,000 (it is now valued at $1,500,000), and then, with infinite satisfaction, he saw the walls of the new building arising in its pride. The new College home was occupied in the late autumn of 1894, and the enrollment of 225 students justified Dr. Sparling’s foresight. From this year down to the last few days of his busy life, the builder of Wes ley College abounded in labors for the ever-expanding institution. It may truthfully be said that he himself was Wesley College. He was a man with a big heart and a big frame, and a great capacity for work. For long years he taught in the College during the week, then every Saturday made a long journey across the prairies to drive perhaps fifty miles on the Sabbath and preach three times, urging each con¬ gregation to help along the good cause which he represented. No one except the immediate members of their families can imagine the noble, self-sacrificing work of both the late Dr. Sparling and Dr. King in their pioneer labors in the interests of higher education in this west¬ ern country. Before he died Dr. Sparling saw his College with a registration of over five hundred students, and in a most flourishing condition. He had managed to collect an endowment fund of $230,000, and had he been spared a few months longer would have been able to complete the work of his last years in gathering $250,000 more for the endow¬ ment. But even if he was not permitted to finish this last piece of work on which his heart -was set, he bequeathed to the Methodist Church in Canada a vigorous institution, with total resources in the neighborhood of $1,700,000. Both Dr. Sparling and Dr. Patrick were hearty advocates of church union. As far back as 1898 they had devised a system of co-operation in the teaching of theology and certain classes in arts. Lectures were interchanged and students in both Colleges, while great rivals in ath¬ letic contests, attended many classes together. For several years before the principals died they had both looked forward to the day when the two Colleges should become one in the united church, for both be¬ lieved that church union was bound to come in the very near future. Unfortunately for us, however, they were not spared to witness the consummation of that great event. On the sudden death of the two principals, many prominent mem¬ bers of both denominations in Winnipeg felt that the way was clear for the appointment of a union principal and the amalgamation of the Colleges. The Board of each College appointed representatives on a committee to consider the question of union. This committee drew up a basis for amalgamation, and this was unanimously adopted by both Boards in August of last year. According to the terms of this amalgamation, each Board appointed five members to sit on a Board of Governors, which body was empowered to suggest to the boards of the separate colleges appointments for principalship and registrar- ship, and also for the teaching staff, of the united college. All finan¬ cial powers, however, are still retained by the respective Boards, as ab¬ solute union of funds and resources is not a legal possibility until the two denominations actually unite. The amalgamation in effect today, then, is a practical one as far as students and teachers are concerned, but it cannot become a financial merger until church union takes place. According to the provisions of the present amalgamation it may be dissolved at the close of any academic year, but this event is not likely to occur unless it is seen that church union is impossible for years to come. But even if church union does not come about (and may God forbid suc-h a disappointment to all our hopes!), it is probable that the United College of Winnipeg will still continue as a monument of brotherly love and common sense.

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