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a BR Cs Lf ow -- Po his father James MacBrien, Inspector Photo courtesy TORONTO DAILY STAR _ IDEAL WEATHER and an exceptionally pleasin marked the ceremonies at the opening of Port Perry's War orial Library by the Lieut.-Governor of Ontario, the Honourable 'Dr. Herbert A. Bruce. A happy prelude to t $1.50 per year in advance 5 cents single copy Watch your label; it tells when your subscription expires. Place of Honour ; he opening ceremonies was the arrival of Major-General James H. MacBrien, who flew from Ottawa, and landed at our front door--on Lake Scugog. collected an eager and happy crowd to greet "Jim" MacBrien who clasped the hand of many an old friend as he moved through the crowd. The small boys were envious of | drove away to take the Major-General to the homestead at Prince Albert. That was the friendly spirit that prevailed throughout the entire proceedings. When the Lieutenant-Governor C APPY 8 Major-General and the popular Lieut.-Governor found themselves among the friends of their boyhood. THE ADDRESS OF HONOURABLE DR. HERBERT A. BRUCE: Ladies and Gentlemen: To return to Port Perry is to re- turn to the days of my youth. The years pass with the seasons, swiftly, relentlessly but the memories of those days are ineffaceable. There are no memories, of course, so bright and vivid as those of one's youth and to- day recollections of other days crowd thickly upon me. .Heére, where I now stand, a small boy once stood waiting for letters to be given him that he might carry them home. I forget what the boy looked like. Perhaps, there are some- where old photographs of him as he was then. But I do know that he used to watch very intently as Henry Gordon sorted the mail here in the old Post Office. After all, I wasn't at all interested in the external ap- pearances of that boy. Other people actually saw more of him than I did. For I happened to be living inside him. I was fetching the mail. Henry Gordon's daughter Maud, by the way, {s still living in Toronto. She is a brilliant pianist and for many years taught pianoforte in the Toronto Conservatory of Music, It must often have happened that as I came to the Post Office here, or as I was on my way home again, ) would meet another boy. I met him every day at school. My father had greatest respect and admiration for of Public Schools. To-day Major General MacBrien, Chief of the R.C.M.P., the same boy at heart despite all the honours that have come to him si '~e those days, is with me again on the very site of that old Post Office that was so familiar to us, although the occasion of this very happy reunion is very different from anything that either of us could have foreseen. Since those days Major General MacBrien has travelled in a manner 1 can only describe as high and wide-- high in the distinctions to which he hag' attained and wide perhaps in a more purely geographical sense. Con- sider his service in South Africa for example, Only a week or so ago we had as our guest Lord and .Lady Baden-Powell and their two daugh- ters. They stayed with us for a week and the very day they left for Ottawa was the 86th anniversary of the Re- lief. of Mafeking, the town in which Lord Baden-Powell had so valiently withstood seige. Lord Baden-Powell himself told me of the joy with which he watched the Battalion of Can. ians marching to his relief in Mafe- king, and the Port Perry boy--3b years younger then than now--but only in years--James MacBrien was one of the Canadians in South Africa remaining there after the War five years as a member of the South African Constabulary. Years have done nothing to quench his spirit of daring; for only recently he flew by aeroplane from one lonely outspost of the R.C.M.P. to another that was even lonelier and remoter, thus visiting every R.C.M.P. station in the vast northern hinterlands of Canada from east of Hudson Bay to Hershal Island far away in the north of Alaska. He is the only R.C.M.P. Commissioner ever to have visited in person every Police Outpost. And he flew no less than 11,000 miles in less than three weeks. Had he travelled by the more ordinary methods of train, motor car, canoe and dog-sleigh that less than three weeks' journey would have taken two and one-half years. At the age of 87 Major MacBrien's mother, Mrs. James MacBrien is still living here in Port Perry. How proud she must be today at the visit of her distinguished son--whose daughters --Bessie (Mrs, Spurr), Margaret (Mrs, 'Bates) are living near her and Julia is a frequent visitor. Julia be- ing a very well-known and most ac- complished pianist. And to show how closely the links of friendship were forged between us during our schooldays here in Port Perry I might add that Major General MacBrien's brother, Captain Will MacBrien, is on my staff as an Hon. A.D.C.,, while yet another Port Perry boy, Dr. Charles Corrigan, D.S.0,, V.D., now professor of Orthodentia at the University of Toronto, is also an Hon, AD.C.--to my great pleasure and satisfaction, Many of you will no doubt rémem- ber Colonel Chas. Corrigan's father, Mr. Thomas 8S. Corrigan, who was as- sociated here in business with Mr. Campbell and who left Port Perry many years ago with his charming Irish wife. They have yet another son in Toronto--Mr. Fred 8. Corrigan who is now Vice-President and Gen- eral Manager of General Steel Wares, Limited. And now that I have recalled some of the friends of "Auld Lang Syne", other faces, other memories come to me. There was, for example, Dr. J. H. Sangster, our family doctor. He hid a very large practice here ami program Immediately there Jarold Archer as he even now I can remember a particu- 2 PR NRE NTT AL Who can pay a proper tribute to our dead? We thought we knew them in the days of peace, but often their failings hid We did not realize the greatness that men possess if it can but be kindled into action by some noble call. Neither did the men themselves suspect the truth of the matter, - / for it is only when death touches life and the eternal dawns upon us, that heavenly light reveals the heroic nobility of which we their real character. are capable. Their country gave them life. peace and plenty. yet uncompleted. lives such as these. Departed Soldiers Mem- arrived of the organ that they had forgotten! after, very nervously, with quickened the organist. It was not until the organ was placed in the Church that it occurred to anybody to ask the, it?" " Brown took over my duties. question "Can anybody play And the answer was a loud and dis. stressingly emphatic "no." An organ there was, but no organist. So it happened that somebody came to me, The Men Who Have Gone They grew to pressed pl ated, for the famous ---- At thee . the ribbon barrier at the front of the Library, the doors were opened wide, and the Library was declared open to the public. APG IR FALE Freedom was their native breath, for others had suffered and died that they might have liberty. They moved "about their daily duties even as we do--unheeding, unsuspecting the great and tragic events that should crown their lives. Our soldier boys made the great sacrifice when the task was It is but fitting that we thank God for noble Words fail to convey any adequate idea of the debt we owe to these men, and to thousands upon thousands who rest in death upon the battle-ficlds of Europe. i pulse and bated breath, I used to of- ficiate at the organ on Sundays--and occasionally too on week days. Then came the blessed day when Agnes She was very capable -- much more efficient than I, and I can to this day almost " hear the audible sigh of' relief which EAN AAV ANC Yy manhood in gw ~S We cannot AT RRNA grasp the greatness of their sacrifice--it is beyond us. Nor can we all understand what this means to the mothers and fathers, sisters, wives and brothers of those who have What a loss has come to them. fallen. been conferred upon them. these men have realized God and eternity. were doing the highest duty to which men are called--defending home and country, and fighting for the liberty of the oppressed. Friends of 'the fallen, your fellow citizens mourn with you. Friends of the fallen, your fellow citizens know the honour that has heen conferred upon you. treasure house; and, as the years lengthen, and life goes into the valley, hope will quicken that God will permit you to be re- united with your hero boys. Their task is done: ours still goes on. sacrifice they made? The temple of civilization is not complete. We must rear a structure strong and beautiful that shall shelter the oppressed and be a glory to Him who first died that men When? might live more richly and happily. larly brilliant speech he made when the new pipe organ of the nearby Methodist Church was formerly opened. That was a happy day--a day most unfortunately marred some- what by an omonous oversight. The Trustees who had carefully planned its installation had thought so much then a lad in my earliest teens, and suggested that I should play the or- gan. Very obediently I went for weekly organ lessons to the Ontario Ladies' College at Whitby where Dr. Edward Fisher taught me--or so 1 most piously tried to believe--to play the organ, For six months there- What an honour has Life has been touched by death and Your memory will be your Are we worthy of the ARNT ZINA EERE] { A When they must have risen in blissful unison from the members of the congrega- tion--and not least, I assure you, from myself.-- (See Footnote.) Miss- Agnes Brown incidentally is now Mrs. Chas. R. Sing, of Victoria, B.C. She is the daughter of John H. Brown at one time a very well known merchant here in association with Will Currie. "Another daughter, Florence, is the wife of Mr. Forbes of the Toronto General Trusts Corp. When Mr. Brown died my father pur- chased his house. Another daughter, Edith, is a Reg. Nurse. Dr. Sangster, who spoke so well in opening that almost historic organ. built a» very beautiful home to the north of the Town and being a great lover of flowers spent all his surplus income upon the development of a great variety of blooms. His garden was famed for leagues around and 1 believe Mr. Fred Kent, who acquired his property has carried on the fra- grant tradition of flower cultivation 'with such excellence that his garden is one of fhe show places of Ontario, By the way, the gentleman who was called upon to endure and actual- ly to co-operate with me in my youth- ful incursions as an organist into the high, rarefied atmosphere of sacred music was Mr. Al J. Davis, for so long a druggist and prominent citizen of Port Perry. He was extremely patient with my shortcomings. I am delighted to see present to-day Rert. Hutcheson whose wife T knew as Blanche Adams, davghter of Mr. David Adams. Their daughter, Miss Fthelwyn Hutcheson graduated from Wellesley Hospital a few years ago. I am glad to hear that Edith Adams, daughter of John Adams, is still car- rying on in the oid homestead on the Island. I have just returned from a visit to my old boyhood friend Mr. W. L. Parrish, whose long and painful ill- ness we all very much regret, IT was delighted to find him considerably better. You will be glad to know that Dr. Rennie hopes to have him sufficiently convalescent to be about again in three or four weeks' time He has been out of bed a little for the last few days. Lew Parrish-and 1 were chums at school. His father was Mr. W. T. Parrish, one of our most prominent citizens and his sister, Edith Parrish, who later married Dr. McDowell, is now living in Toronto with her cousin Annie Roberts, a daughter of Mr. A. W. Roberts of this town and now the wife 'of Canon Woodcock, the distin- guished Rector of Christ Church, who did such excellent service during the jreat War. It seems but a few years since I was best man at Lew's wed- ~ assisted by Major-General Jas. MacBrien Colourful Ceremonies enriched by presence of Veterans, Guard of Honour, and 34th Regt. Band. given to Relatives of With the arrival of the 34th Regimental Band and the Guard of Honour, the various bodies concerned took their places, the local Veterans marched into position, the school children paraded to the front of the Library, the relatives of deceased soldiers took the place of honour, and the Lieut.-Governor arrived for the inspection of the Guard of Honour and the Veterans. Dr. Bruce, Mrs. Bruce, and their son Maxwell, together with Major-General MacBrien, were received by Reeve Letcher and Mrs. Letcher, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Harris, and Mr. H. G. Hutcheson In a most appropriate address Reeve Letcher welcomed our. distinguished guests, and thanked the Officer Commanding the 34th Ontario Regiment for their kindly co-operation. easure in seeing the happy school children present. : 1d wel He also ex- ' ding in Napanee when he married Nell Henry. : I imagine I could go on for ever re- calling the days of my youth in Port Perry. The name of Aaron Ross i comes to mind. He had an elevator here and a general store. He was succeeded by his son William Ross, as one time M.P., for South Ontario, and now living in. Toronto, as are three brothers--Robert Charles and Dr. John Ross, a prominent dentist. William Ross!s daughter Gertrude is Superintendent of Wellesley Hospital. Old associations are not always lost. Some of you will doubtless remem- ber Jim Platten--another boyhood friend of mine who left here to enter railroading in the United States, where his great ability was recognized by promotion after promotion until ultimately he became President of the Pennsylvania Railway. Dr. E. R. Campbell, who abandoned the medical profession for another branch of transportation, viz: the motor industry in the United States and at his death four years ago left a fortune of some $10,000,000. His elder brother, Dr. Duncan Campbell, is still practising medicine in New York State. Their mother died here at an advanced age seevral years ago. From those far off days many re- main to bridge the span of years be- tween then and now. I am glad to sce Mr. Sam Jeffrey here today and Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Purdy. I like to think that the years have dealt kindly with them. Mrs. Allison, widow of Mr. S. E. Allison, whose drug store 1 well remember, is also still with us as are S. T. Cawker, Mr. Wm. Willard and Mr. T. J. Widden. To speak of the earliest day of my education here, to recall the boys who were at school with me is inevitably to think also of my old schoolmasters. First of all there was Alexander Rae, Principal of the Public School, where I first acquired rather more than a nodding acquaintance with the three R's. Alexander Rae, was, I recall, a disciplinarian who, however, admin- (Continued on back page) FOOTNOTE--In talking with Dr. Bruce after the ceremonies, he saja that he would not vouch for the his- toric accuracy of his listing of organ- ists who succeeded him.--Editor, . There was another boyhood friend, = ' vid gs a po A Sie INS fp Ep oh ld 0%, Bary gp 5m Po pp 7 i ord mg Nid J, ~ Say tow i FC IRC v 5 [3 | N oo ran Grr EI Tm ER nt rot TEA AT FO et aden a os at NEL