Nor can we claim for Ryerson that he introduced original legislation. Hardly anything in our system of education was of his invention. New England, New York, Germany, and Ireland gave him his models, and his genius was shown in the skill with which he adapted these to suit the needs of Upper Canada. Even in the details of his school legislation, especially that relating to High Schools, Ryerson adopted suggestions of men more competent than himself to form a judgment. To say this in no way detracts from the man's greatness. Little after all in modern legislation is actually new, and to say of a man that he is successful in using other men's ideas is often to give him the highest praise.
In one department of work Ryerson stood in a class by himself. He was without a peer as an administrator. His intensely practical mind was quick to discover the shortest route between end and means. His energy, his system and attention to details, his broad personal knowledge of actual conditions, his capacity for long periods of effort, his thrift, his courteous treatment of subordinates, and even his sensitiveness to criticism were factors which enabled him to administer the most difficult Department of the Government with ease and smoothness.
The history of Upper Canada during a period of nearly sixty years is as much bound up with the labours of Egerton Ryerson as with the work of any other public man. He gave us lofty ideals of the meaning and purpose of life, and he had an abiding faith in the power of popular education to aid in a realization of these ideals; he fought for free schools in Upper Canada when they needed a valiant champion. Let the present generation of men and women honour the memory of the man who wrought so faithfully for their fathers and grandfathers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada. 28 vols. Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins.
Story of My Life. Egerton Ryerson. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins.
Egerton Ryerson. Chancellor Burwash.
Loyalists of America. 2 vols. Egerton Ryerson.
Ryerson Memorial Volume. Edited by Dr. J. Geo. Hodgins.
History of Upper Canada College. Principal Dickson.
Journals of Assembly of Upper Canada, Legislative Library, Toronto.
Journal of Education, 1848-1876. 29 vols. Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
Ryerson's Special Reports on European Schools. Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
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Gourlay's Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 3 vols. Published by Simpkins and Marshall, London, Eng., 1822.
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Ryerson's Controversy with Rev. J. M. Bruyère on Free Schools. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 50. Library of Parliament, Ottawa.
Ryerson's Letters to Doctor Strachan, on Education. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 83.
Ryerson's New Canadian Dominion. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 418.
Ryerson's Defence Against Attacks of Hon. George Brown. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 418.
Ryerson on the Separate School Law of Upper Canada. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 416.
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Ryerson, a Review and a Study. J. A. Allen. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 667.
Bishop Strachan, a Review and a Study. Rev. Doctor Scadding. Canadian Pamphlets, vol. 169.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] See "Story of My Life," by Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page 42.
[2] See "Story of My Life," by Egerton Ryerson, edited by Hodgins, page 60.