A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
He talked the matter over with the late Rev. Michael
Harris, and on a confirmation visit to Perth, he had an interview with
Bishop Strachan on the subject. They both approved his decision, and
while offering words of encouragement, pointed out the great
difficulties that would have to be overcome, the subjects that would
require to be studied and mastered before he could take a college degree
and qualify for holy orders. Nothing daunted, the young man determined
to persevere—what others had done he could do—it was only a question
of time. He now reduced his course of studies to a system. He had to
work ten hours a day in the printing office to support himself; so he
rose at four o’clock in the morning, winter and summer, and studied
Greek till six, when work commenced at type-setting. Of the breakfast
hour and dinner hour he devoted forty minutes of each to the study of
Euclid. From seven till ten p.m. was devoted to the study of Latin. Of
course, his health occasionally broke down under this severe strain and
compelled a short cessation, but only to be resumed again. Kingston was
the seat of government when young Rice went there the second time and
got work in the _News_ office. Parliament opened in the fall, and Dr.
Barker, of the _British Whig_, secured the contract for the government
printing; and as he offered higher wages than the _News_ was paying,
young Rice entered the _Whig_ office on the parliamentary work. Lord
Metcalfe was governor at the time, and quarrelled with his ministers
(Baldwin, Lafontaine, Rolph, etc.), on the question of responsible
government. The ministry resigned, parliament was dissolved, the work in
the _Whig_ office stopped, and a lot of journeyman printers, young Rice
among the rest, were thrown out of work, and he concluded to return to
Perth, which at that time and at that season of the year was no easy
matter. A small steamer, the last of the season, was advertised to leave
Kingston for Brockville, and on this steamer he took passage and left in
the afternoon, arriving in Brockville about four o’clock the next
morning; the steamer’s paddle-wheels having got so coated with ice as to
render progress difficult and slow. From Brockville he took the stage to
Perth, a two-wheeled cart drawn by two horses, and the journey to Perth
in that cart over rough and hard frozen roads, on a cold December day,
was one not soon to be forgotten. Once more in Perth, he engaged with
Mr. Thompson to work on the _Courier_ half time, an arrangement which
just suited him, as it gave him means enough to live on, and afforded
ample time to pursue his studies. And here it may be as well to mention
that while living in Kingston, a Frenchman from Paris, who was giving
private lessons in French in the city, came to board in the same house.
This was an opportunity not to be lost, and young Rice at once entered
on the study of the French language, and worked at it diligently every
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