Ryerson Memorial Volume: Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889Hodgins, J. George (John George)
History
Ryerson Memorial Volume: Prepared on the occasion of the unveiling of the Ryerson statute in the grounds of the Education department on the Queen's birthday, 1889
Hodgins, J. George (John George)
Education -- Ontario; Ryerson, Egerton, 1803-1882
The audience then sang the national anthem. Bishop Sweatman
pronounced the benediction, and the statue of the great educationist
was left to posterity to admire and to preserve intact and inviolate.
The report of _The Empire_ necessarily traversed the same ground.
I can therefore only give the salient points in addition to those
referred to by the _Globe_, it said:--
The great educational lights of the Province were present in front
of the Education Department building yesterday afternoon, when the
statue of the Rev. Dr. Ryerson was unveiled. The day was appropriate
for doing honor to the memory of a man who had so ably served his
Queen and country. A large crowd of citizens witnessed the unveiling
and listened to the addresses that were delivered.
The following relatives of Dr. Ryerson were present: Mr. Charles
Egerton Ryerson, (his only son), Mrs. C. E. Ryerson and their
two sons, (Egerton and Stanley), Mrs. Edward Harris, (his only
daughter), Dr. G. S. Ryerson (his nephew) was absent with the
Grenadiers at Berlin, Mrs. G. S. Ryerson and son were present; also,
Mrs. Hardy (his niece) and her daughter, Miss Ethel Hardy, Dr. John
Beatty, of Cobourg, and Mr. James R. Armstrong, (brothers-in-law),
Mrs. J. R. Armstrong, Mrs. George Duggan, (sister-in-law), His Honor
Judge McDougall, (a connection by marriage)."
The main points of _The Mail_ report were as follows:--
It would perhaps be too much to say that, while the gay and
thoughtless were seeking amusements in other parts of the city,
it was only the wise who repaired to the grounds of the Education
Department to take part in the unveiling of the Statue of the late
Egerton Ryerson; yet it cannot but be admitted that those who
assembled to witness and assist in this ceremony were men and women
worthy to have the privilege of publicly honoring the memory of
Canada's greatest educationist. Among those present were men who
have attained to eminence in every department of public life, and
it was but right that they should pay the tribute they did to the
memory of him who was the founder and for many years the head of
the greatest of all departments. There were men present who for
years were associated with Dr. Ryerson in his great work; men whose
characters were to a great extent moulded by his example, and men
whose ambitions have been wakened and whose purposes have been
inspired by the contemplation of his achievements.
Early in the afternoon the crowd begin to gather around the statue,
the front part of which was veiled by a large British flag, the
folds of which hung almost to the foot of the pedestal. In front
of the statue, under the shade of a couple of the maples that help
to make the grounds of the Education Department and Normal School
so attractive, a platform had been erected for the use of those
who were to take part in the ceremony, and around it were placed a
number of seats.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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