"The unveiling of the Ryerson statue in the Normal School grounds, at Toronto, yesterday, was the occasion of recalling the achievements of the late Dr. Ryerson in connection with Ontario's educational system. From 1844 until 1876 Rev. Egerton Ryerson was Chief Superintendent of Education in this Province.... But Dr. Ryerson's services to Canada did not begin in 1844. He was a great man before he touched the educational System. He was born in the County of Norfolk in 1803, and when he was about 20 years of age he was studying in Hamilton in a little house on Jackson Street, not far from the place where the new Y.M.C.A. building is in the course of construction.... In 1826 Archdeacon Strachan preached a sermon on the death of Bishop Mountain. The Methodists at that time were the most numerous religious body in upper Canada but Dr. Strachan set forth the claim of the Church of England to the Clergy Reserves.... Mr. Ryerson was junior preacher under the late Rev. James Richardson, who had his arm shot off while in naval service near Sackett's Harbour during the war.... When Dr. Strachan's sermon was published, it was agreed that Mr. Richardson and Mr. Ryerson should each write a reply to it. They separated, each going to a different part of their large circuit, and when they met a few weeks later young Ryerson had prepared his paper, but Mr. Richardson had nothing ready. It was read before the other preachers and published. The battle had now begun, and it did not end until the Clergy Reserves were secularised in 1854. During nearly all that time Mr. Ryerson was a leading character in Canadian public life. He wrote, he spoke, he worked, appearing before Parliamentary committees, interviewing the statesmen of Great Britain and occasionally taking his stand upon the hustings.... Dr. Ryerson was born in 1803 and became Superintendent of Education in 1844. He was only 42 years of age at the time of his appointment, yet he had performed a greater share of work, and had attained a greater degree of prominence in those forty-two years than most public men can boast of as the achievements of a lifetime. How many men in this latter end of the century get into the thick of the fight and make their influence felt while under 40 years of age? The point we wish to impress is this: Had Egerton Ryerson died in 1844, instead of becoming Superintendent of Education and living until 1882, his history would still have been worth writing, and he would have deserved a monument For the services he performed for his native Province. His long connection with educational affairs to a great extent blotted out the memory of his earlier work and struggles in another connection. He had much to do with founding Victoria College and getting that