Читать книгу Ryerson Memorial Volume - J. George Hodgins - Страница 12

It was fitting that the next speaker should be a gentleman so long and so closely connected with Dr. Ryerson in moulding the educational institutions of the Province. The Chairman therefore introduced Dr. Hodgins, Deputy Minister of Education, who read a masterly and comprehensive historical paper on Education in Ontario. Dr. Hodgins traced the growth of education in the Province from 1841, dealing minutely and with a thorough knowledge of details with the difficulties encountered by Dr. Ryerson in gaining public endorsation for his scheme of popular education, and the phases through which the system passed until at the Centennial Exhibition, held in Philadelphia in 1876, the Chief Superintendent of Education was gratified by the Commissioners making the following award:—

For a quite complete and admirably arranged exhibition, illustrating the Ontario system of education and its excellent results. Also for the efficiency of an administration, which has gained for the Ontario department a most honorable distinction among Government educational agencies.

Dr. Hodgins concluded as follows:—Having been intimately concerned in all of the events and educational matters to which I have referred, it may not be out of place for me to add a few words of a personal character in conclusion. At the end of this year I shall have completed my more than 45 years' service, as chief of the staff of the Education Department of Ontario. For over 40 years I enjoyed the personal friendship of the distinguished man whose memory we honor here to-day—32 years of which were passed in active and pleasant service under him. How can I, therefore, regard without emotion the events of to-day? They bring vividly to my recollection many memorable incidents and interesting events of our educational past known only to myself. They also deeply impress me with the fleeting and transitory nature of all things human. The chief and sixteen councillors, appointed and elected to assist him, have all passed away. His great work remains, however, and his invaluable services to the country we all gratefully recall to-day, while his native land lovingly acknowledges those services in erecting this noble monument to his memory. Truly indeed and faithfully did Egerton Ryerson make good his promise to the people of this Province, when he solemnly pledged himself, on accepting office in 1844—

To provide for my native country a system of education, and facilities for intellectual improvement, not second to those of any country in the world.

God grant that the seed sown and the foundations thus laid, with such anxious toil and care—and yet in faith—may prove to be one of our richest heritages, so that in the future, wisdom and knowledge, in the highest and truest sense, may be the stability of our times!