merely
in the acquiring of knowledge and is to be measured by success in
examinations; and he constantly held up to the teachers of youth the
need of caring for such things as 'good manners, courtesy, consideration
for others, respect for seniors, friendly politeness towards all.' He
was also an enthusiastic supporter of the teaching of music in the
public schools. He saw what had been accomplished by training in this
department in Scotland and Germany, for example, among peoples not
naturally musical, and he feared that through our neglect we might
become a songless race. Himself finding in music one of his exquisite
delights, he endeavoured to bring to the rural districts its elevating
and enriching influence.

"Although not a social reformer in the popular sense of that term, he
was deeply interested in efforts for the betterment of the community;
and especially in the last years of his active life the social situation
in Montreal weighed heavily on his heart and conscience. He beheld the
city from his uptown coign of vantage and the vision troubled him. The
social evils of this great commercial centre challenged him to do
something for the alleviation of distress, the improvement of housing
conditions, the prevention of such slums as are a blot on the fair city
which gave him birth, the reduction of the infant mortality which is a
scandal to our population and the bringing of the simple joys and
pleasures of life to the greatest possible number. He saw so many worthy
separate agencies trying to grapple with the social problem without
unity of purpose and co-ordination of effort, he saw the churches so
relatively powerless to effect any appreciable cure because of their
sectarian divisions, that he dreamed a dream that McGill University
might do in this respect what the existing agencies and churches were
helpless to effect, that it might become not only the inspirer of a
great passion for social redemption and not merely a school for the
scientific training of social workers, but also a unifying centre of our
manifold social efforts where existing agencies might be strengthened
and stimulated and co-ordinated. This is really the thought that lay
behind his organizing the Department of Social Service in the
University. Whatever we may think of his method of ministering to the
crying social needs of our time and place, we cannot doubt the sincerity
of his purpose and the intensity of his desire. It was also his
soli