Lake Scugog Historical Society Historic Digital Newspaper Collection

Port Perry Star (1907-), 22 Mar 1934, p. 8

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Teacher Andrew Thomson Horne was born February 26, 1838, in Dumfermline, Fite, Scotland, a city famed in Scot« Lish history, also the birthplace of Andrew | Carnegie, multimillionaire and philanthropist. - He was only four years old, in 1842; when his parents, "George and Ann' (Thomson) Horne and. family 'of nine children (other three. having died young in Scotland) emigrated to Canada. - Theirs was not a 6-day trip in crassing the At- lantic, but:'a 6-week sailing vessel voyage, from Leith to Montreal, at' which latter point they re-embarked on a smaller boat for Toronto, The subject 'of this sketch could never recall' clearly any people, things, or happenings in his home city: but did retain through life the very happiest. recollections on board ship, in playing with the sailors during their off-hours; his courteous bearing, sparkling blue eyes, buoyancy of spirit, and restless activities, doubt- lessly found ready response in these strong, jovial, care-free, and perhaps rough, coarse men. The fumily stayed in Toronto a few weeks while the father and two older sons, George and Alexander, gave at- tention to the choosing of a suitable district in which to locate, permanent- ly. They finally settled on the rear 100 acres of Lot 9, concession 11, Reach Township, Ontario County, later known as the Ward farm. Mr. George Horne, Sr., held a good and responsible position in Dumferm- line, as superintendent of its gas works, but gave it up that he might do better for his large and growing fam- ily in a new land with its wider scope. He was rather old, nearly 60, to learn the axe and hand-spike dexter- ously, and missing almost irreconcil- ably the old associations and privi- leges of his former city life, the sacra- fice gradually broke his health. He virtually pined away and died in 1861. Both he and his wife were born in 1794; both are buried in-the old. Pres- byterian grave-yard, Brock Road and 12th line of Reach. Mrs. Horne died in 1878 at the home of her eldest daughter, Ann (Mrs. George Gibson, of Uxbridge. She had been an invalid (spinal trouble) for 20 years. She was a woman of remarkable intellect, a wide reader, eager to know, a keen capable debater in affairs of church and state. Young Andrew Horne, doubtlctasly spent his early years in Canada oh the farm home, in playing, choring and familiarizing himself with farm life. In 1853 his mother sold their farm, and Andrew, now 16, began to work out a few months each summer for neighbouring farms. At 18 to 20 years, he could quite hold his own with hired men much older than he. During his adolescent age, it is un- certain whether he attended school, LJ for schools were few and far between. The teachers had no special training as such, most of them had no certifi- cates, teaching was their apparently better education than-had the average farm- er or the-backwoodsman, and their too evident inability to earn a living at anything else in a bush country. In Scotland, a century or two ago, if a boy showed inaptitude for busi- ness, law, or the church, his perplexed parents would resignedly say;--*"Well, just make a dominie of him." Neither Mr. Horne's daughter nor any of his ex-pupils, to whom I have spaken, can recall ever having heard him re- fer to @ny schol he attended, or, to any of his teachers. Yet we may assume he and his sisters, Grace and Janet, did go to school in Reach, for they obtained a fair public school education, but were too young to be admitted to school before leaving the old land. If there was a school near the. original. Greenbank, at the cross- ing of the Brock Road and the 12th line of Reach,--and I've understood there was,--then, it would be the one for Horne young folk to attend. There was a school about their time at the inter-section of the Brock Road and the -11th line at the west foot of Bethel hill, where later lived the Jas. Scott: family, and later still the Som- 'erville's, Timothy E. Cragg often humorously referred to a big willow ~ tree hard by this school, which had an . untimely death--heart disease, it be- ing overworked in supplying the large demand for gads, or rods of correc- tion, required by the successive teach- ers there. ) When not more than eleven years of age, Andrew Horne was given a jack-knife which he prized highly. He lost it, and was greatly worried as a vesult, He had a habit of walking in ~ his sleep/~ a juvenile somnambulist one late evening, while & young man "was calling on a sister; Andrew rose from his bed, sound asleep, but eyes scantily dressed, --being summer | teacher to preside in the new school open, 8 me,--walked by this couple and out A. T. HORNE Farmer their chief qualification for, e_ Citizen into the night. He was followed to the bush, was seen to pick up some- thing and return with it to the house, where he left the article, his knife, in its usual place, when not in use, --or not lost,--and 'went back to beds Next morning he was a surprised and de- lighted boy when he saw his knife, but had not the slightest idea how it got there, nor of his walk, nor of his seeing anything or anybody, during his night ramble, At 12 years of age, he was an inter- ested and alarmed eye-witness of -the big storm,--tornado, July, 1860, which swept through' Reach from north- west to south-east and on through Cartwright and Darlington, losing itself in Lake Ontario. Their log house, in the centre of the storm, was lifted from its moorings and scattered by the terrific wind, while the last one of the household was yet on the steps leading to the cellar, whither the fam- ily fled upon feeling the house trem- ble and seeing fences, trees, outbuild- ings all giving way. Much of their bedding and. clothing was carried far afield; some articles picked up two miles away; others never found. By close study at home during the long winter evenings, -aided. and abetted by those of the family who fortunately Had received a good lib- eral education in Scotland, and his course probably directed by his day __teacher, Andrew secured a Third Class Teachers' Certificate. Thus equipped, he was ready to accept an offer to teach the new school, Marsh Hill, established January, 1866, and located on the east side of the road running north from Ganton's hill, about mid- way between the 11th and 12th lines of Reach. Up to this time the old school stood on the site of John Clyde's existing residence,--a few rods west of the Stott burying- ground. Many of the pupils had long distances to go to school, 2, 8 miles, and more; the building itself was too small to house them all, too many boys and girls for one teacher to handle, hence the division of the .sec- tion by the end of 1864, as the teacher, Mr. Scholes, closed his regime, and career, too, for he died a few weeks later. Mr, Mercer took charge of the eastern portion, being obliged to hold school, the first four months of 1866, in the Temperance Hall, Greenbank, while the old school building was re- moved and repaired. Its new site was on the north side of the 11th line of Reach, at the top of :a-small hill, a half mile east of Greenbank, where it did service ten years; is now a driving shed on Mrs. A. Phoenix's farm. Prior to, and during Mr, Horne's teaching at Marsh Hill, he was farm- ing on the rear of Lot 10, Concession 11, Reach, occupying the house, once a tavern by Isaac Cragg, and its several long long stables and sheds; his mother and sister Janet, living with him. One winter, Dick Real stayed with them, helping with the chores and going to school. After hustling through their morning chores, teacher and pupil rushed back to the house for a wash-up and hur- ried breakfast. Dick, then 12 or 18, would be caught up on teacher's back with legs dangling in front. - Thus they set off to school, 1% miles west, through bush and open fields, A. T. Horne -often running the entire dis- tance with his load, while Dick was clasping their lunch with one hand and hanging on, as best he could, with the other. A new fall of snow and the fences offered feeble resistance. Upon coming to a fence, without any slowing up, the mount would either jump it or placing one hand on the top rail would vault clearly over,--no spilling. . In the winter of 1869, probably on January 1st, Janet Horne was mar- ried to Jonathan Bassingthwaite, Jr., and Andrew, quitting the farm, went to live with the T. Ganton family. One fine summer afternoon the Gan- ton farm house, with most of its con- tents, was totally destroyed by fire. All Mr, Horne's personal belongings went up in smoke save the suit of clothes on his back, at school. During the summer holidays, 1869, only two weeks those years he took his first trip to the United States, to visit the Beaths and Thomsons, cloge relatives of his mother, On the 17th of February, he was married to 'May Stilwell, eldest daughter of Mr, and Mra, Reuben Stilwell, Greenbank, By this union' there was one child, Alma Rosena, (Mrs, T. G. @old), of Uxbridge. Mr. William Blake, teacher of the 'Greenbank school the previous three and a half years, resigned, the sum- mer of 1870. him and remained its sole teacher to the end of 1876. He was the first erected in 1874,--~opened that fall on Mr, Horne succeeded | Ra a the site of the existing school, which building has been enlarged and re- modelled considerably the last sixty years, - Mr, Horne taught the Greenbank school again for a term or two, some years later; taught at Saintfield one or two years, at Raglan a year, and in| as relief teacher he taught a term in Cedar Creek, and a term 'in the Union School on the town line between Brock and Reach. He kept a small general store in Saintfield during the year 1876; dived in Port Perry, 1878- 79, attending the high school part of the time. In the early 70's he bought a farm on the north side of 14th of Reach, over the hill just west of Saint- field, but did not live on it permanent- ly "until the late 80's when he was well-nigh through with teaching. For two years he both taught and farmed, driving with horse and buggy to the school in the morning, and back home in the evening, having Saturdays and holidays at home; but from Raglan he usdally got home week-ends only. When writing on examinations, especially if mathematics, he often did himself injustice, because con- fused, even 'fussed-up", when held down solely to mental work: in phy- sical employment he controlled his nerves. Upon reaching home, after an examination,--in Arithmetic, say, he would sit down and solve the. pro- blems on the paper quickly and cor- rectly, without aid or hint from any source. The foregoing, notwithstand- ing, he was an excellent teacher, More pupils passed the Entrance ex- amination under him, at Greenbank, than from all the teachers combined, who preceded him. Although a strict disciplinarian, we were never shy in meeting him on_the play-ground, nor backward in asking him questions in the school, bearing upon the lessons,:-He had a sympa- thetic face, a cheerful disposition and an optimistic outlook regarding our lives, present and future. His moral and religious influence about: the school 'and in the community was be- yond question: his critics, and enemies too, if any, gave him credit for his sincerity and honesty of purpose. To learn that a boy had used foul or pro- fane language about the school, very noticeably hurt him. The boy would be consulted and reprimanded,--never geverely punished. In this way there grew up a feeling among the pupils that it was a shame to do, or say any- thing vile, or mean, for the. teacher didn't like it. He never lost an. op- portunity during any 'recitation to drive home practical or moral truths a8 suggested by the lesson in hand. Who, of his ex-pupils, can ever forget his short talks, just before: closing school on a Friday afternoon, on,-- Honesty, Punctuality, Perseverance, Honour, etc., or his comments on the Teri Commandments, which we repeat- ed weekly. As a teacher Mr. Horne ever kept in.mind that he was dealing cogs in a mill for grinding out scholars. .-Thus he was almost unique in his day and generation; Dr. G. F. \Rogers Chief Director of Education for Ontario, in a recent address to the Alumni Association of. Victoria Col- lege, Toronto, said: "The lack of per- 'sonal touch in the relations between teachers and pupils in the public schools of Ontario; the tendency to think we are teaching subjects in this grade or that, and forgetting that we are teaching boys and girls," ete, a criticism applicable today, as viewed by a leading educationist. Seldom did Mr. Horne fail to join the scholars at play, mostly with the boys. He was the king-pin in every game played,--crack-the-whip, tag, baseball hatball, pom pom pull away, goal, wrestling, or pulling on a broom stick, placed horizonally over: the coh- testant's toes, and at right angles to their outstretched arms, as they sat on the floor. - In wrestling, or stick- pulling, often he took in two of the biggest, strongest boys atthe one time, defeating them almost regularly, broom handle sometimes breaking, while they took a quick back flop. His masculine type of play and his many and varied physical stunts in the district were well calciilated to make us boys hero-worshippers, for we had .hever seen any other man whose agility and strengtth combined could do the things he did, and was doing. When playing with the girls, or small boys, he was gentleness itself, At times he would lock his arms, have one girl clasp her hands around one of his arms, another girl likewise on his other-arm, Then he began to spin round, tapping 'his toes always on the same spot, while the centri- fugal force engendered soon had the girls dizay as thelr bodies at full stretch were ri ftly through hthe air, at an anglé of b to 60 degrees to his body. Some witls. got 8 reel was given, "Tea's Ready." ; demanded the women and ! should #0 first, but seoing 'I stre with boys and girls, and not. simply E big boys, noisily were about to crowd; upon those in front, Mr, Horne step-| ped in between, as a buffer. With out- elbows and tactful admoni- tions first over one shoulder, then the other,--"Steady boys, steady,--no hurry, --steady,--ladies ahead; steady, boys, steady," as they all slowly de- scended a long, winding stairway leading to the basement, he held them in'leash until the womnien and children, without "injury, reached the tables, Although a full-blooded Scotchman, he was not conspicuously canny or cautious, At times his actions were decidedly reckless; then hot emotion ruled him, not cold reason. If we could trace his ancestry back far enough, I fancy, in hig viens, would be the blood of the: Norse, a people who knew no fear, as they braved the stormy seas of the north on their wild voyages of exploration and conquest; else, how account for his frequent daring ventures; note a few: (1) His cleanly jumping into a wagon box as team galloped by school gate towards the village, at 12 noon. PHONE 9, daily. 'Phone orders receive prompt attention. CANADIAN PORK Such. amazing variety of tempting meals may be served with pork products, prepared in various ways, that no other.meat has such widespread popularity. Pork is sold fresh, sweet pickled, peamealed and smoked. Many very delicious meats made from pork are sold ready cooked. Among the finest of these might be listed such pro- ducts as Maple Leaf Home Cooked Hams, and Cooked Pork Tongues. You can always get the Best Pork Products from ; ~ CAWKER BROS. Phone orders to'29 w, Port Perry. dashing to head off a furious runaway team, crazed with the babble of child- | ren who had climbed into the wagon, as the team stood at a store door,-- seizing the bridle of nearest horse as it passed, and by terriffic tugging and jerking, bringing the team to 4 standstill without injury to. anybody. (3) A barn raising' nearly over, 10 to 20 men jubilantly struggling fer | possession of a tamarac rafter, lighter and smaller than the others, --there was a dead-lock,--A, T. Horné sprang to aid his side, and giving one her- culean lurch,--spilling nearly all the men on the ground,--he ran off with the rafter almost. single-handed. (4) Riding bareback his sorrel "Dandy", a short rope around its neck for a bridle,--~travelling at a lively canter, the horse never came to a stop| in passing through three gates-ways, between the road' and a farm house, a half-mile inland, A few yards from an approaching gate, Dandy still cantering, Horne would slip off, spurt ahead to open it, his horse slowing Announcement! that they have taken over the business of Chamber's Bakery and are prepared to supply. High Class Bread and Pastery Phone '93 1 CHAMBERS' BAKERY PORT PERRY Prompt. Delivery 'us to-day." the car. Yhones--94 W and 94 J. Rosedale Alberta Coal Another car. of this high grade Canadian Coal will reach Let us have your order to. 'make delivery off Price $11.00 per ton. . FAMOUS 'READING ANTHRACITE, "that. Better Pen- nsylvania Hard Coal. = A ton of Famous Reading Anthra- . cite is full of-pure hard carbon nuggets, super:cleaned by a special washing process that frees it from all dust and "foreign matter--a clean, safe, longer busning; economical fuel, one tort will convince you. COKE--Hamilton 1 By-Product or Semet Solvay Coke. SCOTCH COAL,' "WELSH COAL, CANNEL COAL, POCO- HONTAS, HARDWOOD, HARDWOOD SLABS, SOFT- WOOD, LIME, CEMENT AND TILE. © 'PORT PERRY COAL YARD W. G. W. PYATT "Reliable Service and Better Fuols" ~~ =4 prizes. breakfast. Novelties at be. 106, TRY OUR HOT CROSS BUNS--Delicios, full flavored. and a real treat for your Good Friday NOVELTIES --A good assortment of EASTER an 15c. GERROW'S BAKERY Bakers and Sentectleners, Port Perry. Regular price 25c. 14th. Noxema EN Lyndon Balm | bottle 35c. A good Spring medicine, Port Perry For chapped or dN skin, Dr. West's Tooth Paste Now 17¢. or two for 38c. until April N The regular 26c. jar for 16¢, McLean's Stomach Powder Used with success' for indigestion and stomach trouble. - 71 Special price for 8 0% © » English Health Salts 3%. per large tin. Morrison' s Drug Store , 7 "Ontario. (2) His leaping over a picket gate, first to u trot, then to d juick walk | as it passed through,--back into a trot again his usual canter by the time the gate was shut and rider sprinting overtook and leaped upon his mount, Cossack a la mode. : (6) At 20, Horne followed closely the heels of fighting Jack as they were cradling grain, Jack some years older was an adept cradler, but protested as Horne constantly pushed on as if to pass him, Jack in turn admonished, scolded, bragged and threatened; 'until Horne finally accepted to fight a duel, the right, chopped and slashed. a semi-circular path to come out well ahead of the challenger's spléndid but vain efforts, Horne's swath of cut grain, however, looked as 2 struck by a tempest. . (6) Then more than - Mr, Horne coiled a field of: heavy timothy one afternoon, fully catching up to his man's raking, who had the start by one hour or more, and kept right up, /despite the horses' trotting towards close of the day." The boss broke two pitch forks in his tremendous display of muscular power and determination, but the piles of hay thus gathered were small crude stacks; not neatly formed coils. "Had A. T. Horne lived in the 16th century to enter 'the Scotch sports, testing the speed, stréngth, and .en- durance of :the mighty, oatmedl fed competitors, he' would have: 'won With many of the games' of our day, where team-play is para- mount," I much doubt he could have béen trained to catch a place. "He was at his best when acting on his own volition: to be under orders of a coach, or a captain, would have been intolerable, On a rugby team in a match, a few points behind and a {minute to go, he might pull the game] out of the fire by gaining possession of the ball, a run down the side dodg- ing most of his opponents, bearing down /others, and finally dragging a couple of tacklers across the line for a touchdown; or, in a tug-of-war con- test, if placed. nearest the centre for 'his. side-as captain and "stroke'" what power and inspiration to his men! | At school we never saw.'Mr. Horne Jose his temper, nor did he' use the strap as an aid to discipline. He did shake up a stout, insolent boy of 12; one day, so effectively -that the lad was perfectly subdued. During the shake-up it was difficult to tell which end of the boy was head, which feet. Another time, quite a big boy was saucy as well as disobedient. With one hand on the boy's shoulder, the teach- er carried him from his seat to the door, opening it with his other hand, then using both hand,' he fired this amazed chap into the snow drift some feet awdy. Upon being teased about the incident by the.young men of the district, the boy confessed, "I don't know - where Andrew Horne gets his strength." ~ Ours was not a quarrelsome lot of pupils, nor deliberately troublesome, yet being very human, at times teach- er Horne must have had 'his annoy- ances, probably anxious moments too. The district tiffs and jealousies, east against the west, had become a thing of the past. Our worst faults were due to thoughtlessness,--e.g,, one very | fine late winter afternoon, we boys were idly loafing, basking in:the sun during the recess, the teacher just | coming out, said: "Boys, let's have a run, Try catch me," as off he started. Fred , jocosely remarked,--"We are not anxious to run after a don- key." Teacher turned back in a flash as we all loudly 'guffowed' to ask what had been said. Fred told him, "I'm not a donkey." Li "No, Sir." He was sent into- the school, after recess the hoy was called up, reprimanded, let go. At another time in school as a his- tory class was reading aloud the day's lesson before questioning began, Tom nn read from Collier's British History, a sentence: "William Wallace was betrayed by Sir John Monteith into the hands of the English, was a [taken to London where he was hanged, quartered and butchered," and with- out pausing he added;--'"and sold for beef,"--evidently had in mind a scene on his farm home where a fat beast had undergone a like fate, The class laughed explosively. The teacher sharply turned to learn the cause, The only one not laughing, not even smiling in fact, was pale and: was Tom, who was forced to | "That's not there," "No sir." Then | followed a rebuke and some advice re- garding supplementary notes, - "Often we had over 100 pupils in actual attendance, over 125 on the|' roll. Among them were tHe teacher's several nieces and hephews, some brothers:in-law, and one sister-in-law, It was never even hinted at that Mr. Horne favored his relatives; Some {cue 'he was, if possible, more strict wih them than with others, he not wishing to give any pupil a chance Ito charge him with partizanship, His "own fie duclew, Sonny 'was Hal cradle as weapons, Horne veering to nasi only boy suspended indefinitely tow' Greenbank school during those five years, George had beaten up a small- er boy on the way ho m school, --not without provocation, but was too proud to express regret for whey he had done, had rather a false idea of honor(?) $0 had to leave school. - Mr. Horne was very absent minded and forgetful, too. As a boy on the - tarm he would overlook taking with him @ fork, chain or clevis, required, as he drove his team to a back field, Back to the barn he would go, and running both ways in a very few 'minutes was with his team again, At school, it may have been a book or box of chalk he was to bring from home. He 'would often forget it, do so a second time, althought probably wear- ing a red string around his finger to remind him--the charm sometimes lost its spell, the string wearing, was deliberately taken off, he ignoring what it was there for. Going to and from school he was al- - ways on the run, unless he had some- body with him. = As' he ran, every few steps he would bound up in the: air not unlike' that of the jumping-deer. By some he as not considered a good horseman ror a good, trainer of horses. Was absoluetly fearless, but too kind, made pets of his horses," thus failing to make them reliable servants, Yet by his patience and kind tactics he often got results from his balky drivers in a few moments, whereas more drastic methods very likely 'would: have proved worse than useless. . He, his: wife and child were at our farm house for tea, on a fall evening, As they were setting off tor home, quite dark, the horse tiring of the long farewell talkings, refused . fo budge, Mr, Horne jumped out of the 'buggie, lifted the horse's right front foot for a few seconds, as he patted his neck, hoped into his seat, - still no go, out again, foot up again, back to his: seat, but the horse.not yet ready--a third time this was repeated, perhaps a 'fourth, when the horse was off like a shot, having concluded we' were all laughing at him, the horse made up his mind he would: not stand for it' any: longer. - Seriously. as. Mr, Horne took his' work, -and his religion, - always ob- serving the sanctity -of the Sabbath, he was no joy killer, had a ready sense of humour. Teaching a class in 3rd book literature the word out- law 'appeared. Mr, Horne explained it at length, then asked the class if any of them could give the name of any outlaw. For a few seconds they were dumb, at last Ned mentioned Sir John A. Macdonald. It was too good to keep, the ieacher hugely enjoying the absurd illustration given, turned about to tell it to the 4th and bth. classes, "After ceasing teaching, Mr. Horne confessed one day in conversation that if he could go through his teach- ing experience he would try to be less exacting in demanding immediate - obedience; thought that with older boys-and girls there were times if given a minute or two to think the matter over they would see the only thing to do was obey. In politics, Mr. Horne was a Liberal, in religion a Presbyterian, a non-user of tobacco in any. form, an uncom- promising prohibitionist, and a' tee- totaller, He disliked controversy of any kind, thought it évery one's divine privilege to hold his own views, and expected every person should extend to him the same right. Because of failing health he left his farm and retired to Uxbridge to spend his latter years, Through 60 years or more he was so rugged and strong, so buoyant and active that he too surely disregared the importance of slower eating, the removing wet clothes when, caught in the rain, and other vital matters. Nature at last was to take its toll. With his robust cofistitution there was no human rea- son why he should not live to be 100 ° years old, if he had exercised a reas sonable amount of care toward his bodily welfare, In the early or middle 60's He was plainly failing in health, Later he had a complication of ail- ments: asthma, rheumatism, shingles, bad teeth, constant head aches, etc. He was nearly 72 when he died, in January, 1910; he is buried in the Ux- bridge Cemetery, Hearing of his ill 'condition I wrote m a letter of sympathy and appre- , in it I asked' questions thus:- i What regrets, if any, have you #' as you look back through life? <2. What would you stress most if you could live your life over again? '8. What ideal would you try most to have your pupils attain. To all, his answer was practically the same: "To give my. heart to the Lord early in life, and serve: Him with more zeal and diligence all through my life." Fortunate were the boys and girls who spent a portion of their forma: tive years under teacher, 4 T. Horne, 7 H WELL 595 Dovercourt Road, oontn

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