The following morning, November 9th, 1879, I left Emerson for London, Ontario. Arriving in London I repaired to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, the parents of Mrs. Thomas Hooper, whom I rescued from drowning in the Red River, and was invited to make my home with them while in London. I was also invited to visit the Sunday School, Pall Mall Church, in which Mrs. Hooper had been a teacher, and tell them how Mrs. Hooper fell into the river and how I saved her from drowning. I received a hearty vote of thanks, and all were delighted that their dear teacher was well and happy.

The following spring I went East, visiting my friends and relatives in the township of Reach and Durham County. While visiting Port Hope I met the late Colonel Williams, who subsequently became a sincere friend of mine, and in 1882 I was appointed drill instructor at Trinity College school. Having no gymnasium, my work was confined to military drill. There was a well-equipped cadet corps officered by the teachers. A very sad accident occurred during the summer holidays. Mr. Selby Allen, son of Chancellor Allen, Toronto, a student at the school, was drowned near Brockville. Mr. Allen was a splendid athlete and a fine cricketer.

In 1887 I was appointed gymnastic and drill instructor to the Collegiate Institute, Peterboro’. I held this office for eleven years.

Nothing gives me greater pleasure in writing this book than to relate the pleasant and profitable eleven years I spent in the physical education of the students of the Collegiate Institute and Central Public School, and also the convent. I say profitably because the majority of those who obtained the several courses of instruction are to-day pursuing their professions and vocations able to meet the physical endurance of their calling, and all I have met since my retirement nine years ago I found to be specimens of the highest type of physical maturity and invariably athletes. There are at present three doctors practising in this city (Toronto), three teachers in the public schools, and one in Trinity University, and all are of the same type.

I am pleased to say that the physique of the ladies also whom I have met is all that could be desired. Neither have they forgotten the graceful bearing they were taught. I also had large private classes, both ladies and gentlemen, who were thoroughly trained by the system I introduced.

When my appointment was made in the fall, 1887, there was no gymnasium, and the Board of Education the following summer built a very fine one. It was equipped the same as the Oxford University gymnasium, and the system was that used by Professor McLaren. The High School Inspectors, Messrs. Seath and Hodgson, agreed with me that it was the best. Their reports were always satisfactory, and often special mention was made of the progress and development of the pupils.

I was always an enthusiastic lover of physical training, and it was good to me to meet or see my pupils on the street, in the parks or public places of the city, not forgetting their dignity, graceful bearing, elastic and uniform step and perfect carriage, which was always noticeable then. I don’t think they will ever forget it. The Board was always willing to do anything in its power for this department. At the age of sixty, through ill health, I was obliged to resign.

In the same year (1887), I was appointed sergeant-major of the 57th Peterboro’ Rangers, and for several years performed the duties of instructor; but in consequence of increasing classes at the school and private engagements, was obliged to resign. There are some of my old pupils holding commissions in the regiment at present. Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, the present commanding officer, is very popular among all ranks. The reputation of this fine corps is of the very best; in fact, it is a model regiment, and I was delighted in reading the last report to see the Rangers leading the so-called crack regiments of the Dominion. It cannot be otherwise, because the energetic and painstaking Adjutant-Captain Duncan Walker, and the whole of the officers and N.C.O. are splendid workers, and they never fail in keeping that military enthusiasm and esprit de corps among the men, whose physique is second to none, and which, I may add, is a very important factor in the Dominion army. I hope some day to see the battalion on parade again.

In 1902, with my family, I moved to Toronto, and Mr. James L. Hughes, Inspector of Public Schools, who was my pupil in the Military School forty years ago, introduced me to the general manager of the T. Eaton Co., and I was given employment in the stock room of the whitewear department in the factory. Following this my three sons were taken into the factory and learned their trades; the two eldest are machinists and the third a cutter. The latter in his twentieth year was stricken with tuberculosis and died, April 19th, 1907, and I take this opportunity of again thanking and expressing my gratitude to the Company and the department for the solicitous interest taken in my dear boy while he was sick, and at his funeral.

During my lifetime I have been in touch and associated with ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, where refinement and culture was an important factor in their present and future lives. In the Imperial Army, where I spent so many years as an instructor, the first thing we would look for from the incoming recruit was his deportment. If he lacked courtesy, willingness, obedience and other graces that go to make a good soldier and also a gentleman, he would be placed in a position to be taught this character building. Again, in my physical culture work I always impressed upon my pupils the necessity of being courteous and polite at all times and under all difficulties and circumstances.

When I entered upon my duties in the stock room I began to feel my way through this great department and to learn whom I had to meet in my daily business, but it was not long before I found myself amongst the ideal of my life, from the manager and his assistants, Messrs. Allward and Kirby, and from the employees, numbering 350 300 of whom were ladies. The beautiful, capacious and well-ventilated work rooms, together with their cheerful environment, made it one of the most desirable places to work in I have ever seen or heard of. Among the best friends I made in this great establishment were Messrs. W. Hall, Johnston, F. Howard, McWaters, Durno and William Day. Of the latter I learned the following characteristic incident which he would be too modest to mention: One night during the winter of 1905-1906, which was extremely cold, Mr. Day, on his way home, was overtaken by a stranger, a young man, who told him he had not had anything to eat for twenty-four hours. He had walked from Belleville to Toronto looking for work; he was poorly clad, not sufficiently to keep the cold from his shivering body. My friend did not ask who he was or anything regarding his antecedents. He saw before him a poor destitute young man, suffering with cold and hunger; he took him to a store and bought him comfortable underwear, boots and other warm garments, and then to a restaurant and ordered the best meal they could give, handed the stranger a dollar and continued his journey home.

I remained in the factory four years, but in consequence of my age and ill health was obliged to resign in May, 1906.