CANADA'S GRAND OLD MAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 77, 26 January 1914, Page 6

CANADA'S GRAND OLD MAN.

A RI2MARKABLE CAItKKR. PATRIOT, PHILANTHROPIST, AXI) HUMANITARIAN. Jll Ilia delightful hook "The; Pillars of j English Society," .Mr. A. 0. Gardiner writes from intimate knowledge of ami eloso acquaintance with the nonagenarian statesman, wlio.se deeds are to-d.iy | talked over throughout the Umpire whieli he helped so'materially to build up. "Svilney Smith said of Ma: inlay that ho was like 'a hook in breeches.' One may say of Lord Stratheona that he is like Canada in swaliuw-tails. lie is not so much a man as a legend -the legend of half a continent. You shake hands with him, and it is as if you shake hands with a section of Hie British Empire. You talk with him, and it is as iH.'anada is before you telling her astonishing story.

"One day 75 years ago, about the time when the gii'l-(>ucen Victoria was being crowned in the Abbey, there reached Labrador, to take up duties under the Hudson Ray Company, a lad from Forres, in Morayshire—his name IJon.ild Alexander Smith. . . . The lad reached the solitudes of Labrador alone, uu- ' friended and poor, having travelled liun- , dreds of miles on snowshoes. It was the loneliest outpost of a lonely laud, Canada three-quarters of century ago, was still an undiH'Overed country, far more remote than Australia is to-day. The sailing vessel that carried young Donald thither had occupied six week's on rlie journey, and it was not until later in Ul3 'year that Hie first passenger steamer from England, the Great Western, arrived in New York harbor. West of the settlements 011 the St. Lawrence stretched a solitude to the far Pacific shores. Over the vast territory, afterwards known as the province of :!u----pcrtsland—the Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan of to-day—the 11inl-.'m Bay Company held dominion. Here and there, but at incredible intervals, a little fort of the company was planted in the trackless wilderness; and outside of these tiny shelters were the primeval forest and the wandering Indian. One of the chief of these oases was Fort Gurry, with a while population numbering a few score. To-day Fort (lary is the great city of Winnipeg, Hie centre of tlu> chief agricultural industry in the world. "In this mighty transformation 110 single influence has played so great a part as Lord Stratheona. Canada would , have developed without him, of course; but it would not have developed so | rapidly nor in the same direction, lie 1 brought to it at a critical time a consisI tency of purposr and a steady faith that I were largely (he secret of his power. ! Komantic though his career has been, there is 110 touch of romance in 'tis temperament, lie is neither a man of genius nor an idealist, lie is just an ordinary man in an extraordinary degree—simple, honest, clear-sighted, practical as a plumber, stable as the hi'is. Uc himself would lie the last to claim any kinship with the superman. What | he has done has been done with the weapons within the reach of all—'honesty,' frugality, and perseverance'—the lessons of that frugal home where SO years ago he sat leading his 'Horace' by rushlight. 'A mother's early early training',' he will tell you, 'lias everything lo do with a man's career. 1 know mine had with me. She taught me to work when I was young—two very important thing.-, in a man's life.'

"There lire other important, tiling which were not forgotten in i liat humble school. lie. learned the lesson of generosity. It is not difficult, for ;i man whose riches are beyond calculition to be a public benefactor, Hut, it is big great benefactions—the gift and endowment of the Victoria Hospital at Montreal, the equipment of Strathcona's Horse for the Boer War, the millions he lias spent oil M'Gill University and other institutions—that art; the true witness of his generosity, but the habits of a lifetime. ' When' he was a | poor man,' said one who knows him well, ho had the same generous instincts. Jf he had only two rooms, there , was always one for a guest..' And there is an incident on record which shows that though bis mother taught him to save money, she taught him also something even better. When lie was a boy of nine the Fimlhorn and the Spey broke their boundaries and flooded tbe country. Many of tbe peasants with their families, came into Fores to seel; relief, and amongst them the parents of one of Donald's playmates who had been drowned in tbe floods. After school Donald called upon them, and with a gravity far beyond his years condoled with them, and on leaving handed to them his riches amounting to one shilling and some odd coppers. That is as convincing a witness to this pleasant phase of his character as the M'Gill I,'niversitv. |

''And in addition to work and thrift, his career has been founded on two other homely virtues--duty and >onstancy. lie is never fired of inculcating duty. 'Don't, go to Canada to have an easy time; you won't find the streets I laved with gold, jjut- work and do your duty, and you must succeed.' lie himself would put 11is success on no higher plane than llial, and if he is proud of anything, it is of felling liow he did his duty under difficulties. There is one typical story lie fold of (hose glim hard years lie >pcnl on the coast, of Labrador, where lie laid the foundation of his fame as one of the best fur dealers in Ihe company's .service, anil acquired ib.it intimacy with the Indians which served hilil so well when lie became the chief adminisf rjitor of the company in llupertsland. IScing threatened wilfi snowblindnes-, Donald Smith, with three Indians, made a journey of .11111 miles hj, dog sledge In Montreal, where an operation to his eyes was successfully neyformcd. It was the depth of u win!cr of exceptional severity even for these latitudes, anil hi> friends tried to dissuade. him from returning to lii.s post, for (lie journey almost certainly meant death. Ilul young" Smith had a guiding principle which admitted of 110 exceptions. 'lt was my duly to perform,' lie said in telling f.ln* story. 'Kvervtliing ,11111st give place to one's duty, you ,know. The Indians insisted that they could never reach the post alive, (he .snow was so deep. They were light, poor fellows- two died from cold 11111 I he hardships we were forced to endure belore we. had gone halfway; the other succumbed when we were over 101) miles I rom the post. ... J went oil -alone, f_ don't like to think of that time; it was too horrible. However, my rise in "u'lson J Say Company was very rapid after I hat. i am glad f took the nip.' Bui nil or nil. .il is ])js sioadfasln'Ns Hial has hoi'ii his ronfribution In Canada, Ami the Supreme memorial of Unit slourtjastnofH is the Canadian Paoifie Railway. The late Sir Cluis. Turner onco publicly declared that thai railway would not have been built but for Lord stratheona. It is true thaf it would not have been constructed then, and perhaps, ultimately, it would have heon well for Canada if it had not been con-

structcd then. Ihil, considering tins necessity of the undertaking, his claim to gratitude cannot be overstated. The idea of driving a railway through thc/nv auds of miles of pathless forests and mountain ranges to a desolate shore when; Vancouver, with its noble streets and hustling life stands 10-day there was not'then even a log cal>:n--was one before which the most courageous adventurer might quail. It was a more daring idea than the Cape to Cairo railway, which united two great centres of world activity. The Canadian-l'aciiic was a plunge through nothing In nothing; it was a stupendous guess at the f-jLure. l.ut: Donald Smith never faltered tor an instant, lie had reached middle life end an affluence tluil would have turned most, men's thoughts to repose. Thirty years of work and thrill liad brought him out of the wilderness, ami made him the linancial King ot • Canada. He was supreme in the great j company that had held half Canada in fee, but had now surrendered its sov •- reignty to the (State; and through thai Hunk of .Montreal he controlled with l.ord .Mount Stephen Ihe only resources at all adequate to tile enterprise, lie staked everything upon the venture with a quiet fortitude thai has few I parallels. At every crisis, as was said | of a great man in a grealer connection, 'hope shone in him like a pillar of tire.' 1 Donald Smith, then in Kngiand, engaged ! 'in communicating his own conlidenee to liiiinieiers, receivul a long letter Ironi the company, couched in lerms of despair. lie cabled back one word. It was a Highland clan cry, 'I raigel-iachie"; its meaning "Standfast." And, when, finally, the victory was won, and the two sets of constructors met in the liagle Valley in the heart of the great ranges which had made construction so dili'cult, the place was named 'Craigellachie'; and it'was here thai 'Standfast' Smith drove in the In-t .spike that bridged a continent. "This constancy extend.- to his personal associations. When John J. Hill, who is - now one of the great railroad kings of America, made hi- coup of the St. Paul'and Pacific Railroad, it was Donald Smith's linancial backing and loyalty that saved him. lie wanted a railway to Winnipeg to open np the Hudson Hay country, and lie believed in Hill's schemes as well a- in his honesty. Xo temptation would induce him to desert him. The American magnates determined to capture the undertaking at all cost, l.'p bounded the shares higher and higher. Hill's fate hung on Donald Smith. A large fortune was in his grasp if be chose in -ell, but he had placed his confidence, on Mill, and would see him through, .and not a share could be wrung from him, 1.0 matter what monstrous price was ottered. Indeed, 110 share is ever wrung from liini. lie is one of the men who "never sell," however black the skv. In tlio days when Canadian l'acities slumped to 50 (to-day they stand at 1! 12), and there was an almost universal "sauve qui pent," "Standfast" Smith was immovable as ever. "The story of his intervention in tile first I.otiis Kiel rebellion how he journeyed, mostly by dog -ledge, 2(11111 miles away from .Montreal i" Fort, liarry, which Kiel with his half lireds had captured; how he was held prisoner for two mouths; how he refused to yield )iipapers; and, finally, through the wellaffected French, forced the holding of u meeting of the. people: how in the open air, with the thermometer gtMcg below zero, and in circumstances where r;ne rash word would have set the country in a llamc. ,he won the people from ihe rebel leader, so that when, later, Sir tlarnet Wolseley appeared at the head ot" a military expedition Ihe lir.-t Kiel rebellion was at an end all this stands as a witness not <>ul\ in his practical wisdom, but also to hi- personal and unaH'ceted courage. "His character is one of rare simplicity of thought and motive. If you do not like the Smiles ideal, which certainly has its limitations and has fallen into some disrepute tlic-e days, your admiration for this (irand ( Ihl .Man of Canada will be qualified. I'm- lie is the sublimation of the, industrious apprentice, and he remains to-day. with his vast wealth—his palaces 011 both sides of the Atlantic, his pictures, his reputation --■ unchanged in intellect and moral outlook from the honest, lad who sailed westward to make his fortune long before voti and 1 were born, 'livery mother should teach her children to he honest, to work, and to save their mousy. When 1 was earning only ."1 cents a day I saved half of it.' And his respect lor 'lien was governed by these considerations—Carnegie working anil saving as .elegraph operator, J. J. Ilill as a mud ■lerk in. the levee at St. Paul, with >0 cents a day, saving' on his clotlies n order to buy books and 'prepare himielf'—these are the heroes of his simple reed. And with these admonitions to le industrious and frugal. Lord St rath • ona mingled warnings against the pur-' II it of wealth for itself.

Great wealth cannot bring happiness. 'Real happiness must conic from a. contented mind and hard work. (Srcat, wealth i,s a burden, for one has to think very hard how to make the best, use of his money. I would not advise any mail to strive after great wealth. I would rather lie a very poor man than a very rich man. It is all in tbe style oi Franklin and the liagiology of Smiles And, after all, a philosophy that produced a life like this, though it may lie inadequate., cannot be. wrong." I Apropos of the princely gift of ,t HROfH) which Lord Straiheima gave to M'Gill University in acknowledgment of being spared to enter upon bis ninetieth year, tin: writer was present among this -2IKHI odd guests whom ihe High Commissioner for Canada hid bidden to the White I'alace in honor of Dominion Day. and lie will never forget Ihe scene, of wild enfliUMa-m which followed the announcement Im' Professor I'cferkm, .of M dill, nor the thrill of emotion which passed through the breast of every man in that vast assembly, when ' Lord .Stratheona stated in simple language, and with tear-dimmed eyes, that Ids action was dictated by thankfulness to the Almighty for having vouchsafed to liiui such a long and useful life, and for having protected him from untold danger. Such men its Lord Si ra (hcona belong to Nature's nobility, and the world is enriched by their presence.