AT a meeting of the people on March 4th, 1824, called to consider the purchasing of land for a burying-ground and on which to build a house of worship, Malcolm McNaughton was made Chairman, and James McLaren, Clerk. It was decided, if possible, to buy the south half of the west end of Lot 7 in the 4th Concession, but if it could not be obtained to purchase one or more acres near the centre of the Settlement. Malcolm McNaughton, Duncan Campbell and James McLaren were appointed a committee to make the purchase. They were unable for some reason to buy the south half of the west end of Lot 7, which seems now more unfortunate than it could have appeared then, because it would have afforded a fine location for a Church-building and room for a large cemetery. The committee purchased one and a half acres of land from Andrew Laidlaw, the same being the north-west corner of Lot 6, and obligated themselves to pay in good mercantile wheat at cash price £7. 3s. 3d, lawful currency, the wheat to be delivered at Andrew Laidlaw’s house, or at Jasper Martin’s mill at Trafalgar by February 1, 1825. At , another meeting on April 9, 1824, at which Alexander Bowman was chairman', and James McLaren Clerk, Malcolm McNaughton, James McLaren, Duncan Campbell, Andrew Hardy, and Jasper Martin were elected trustees for one year, and it was decided to proceed with the erection of a meeting-house during the ensuing summer, and also a schoolhouse, and to lay out the burying ground into lots. John McTavish, Robert Shortreed and Alexander Robertson were chosen School Trustees. These pioneers, like their forefathers in Scotland, believed that Kirk and School went together. Where this Schoolhouse was to be built is not mentioned, but there were two school-houses in the early days in the Block about whose location there can be no question. One of these schools was situated at the jog in the sideroad running west from Manse-wood station on the farm of Alexander Robertson, who owned two hundred acres, the same being Lot 5 in the Second Concession. After some years a frame building further west in the Concession was erected on Lot 6 on the 1st Concession Line, and north-east corner. It is said that this school was called “Ligny” by Robert Little when he taught there. Some years ago the school was moved back to near the original location. The other Schoolhouse, which was also a log building with an open fireplace, was situated on Lot 13 in the. 4th Concession West, nearly opposite the lane leading into the farm of John Stewart Sr., and now the property of Stephen Hagyard. The first mentioned school was taught by Alexander Robertson, commonly spoken of as “Squire Robertson.” He was a cousin of Alexander Robertson, Sr., who lived on Lot 8 in the 2nd Concession, the father of Alexander Robertson on whose farm the schoolhouse was built. The other school was taught by William Glass Stewart. The boys and girls who went to these schools were on the lookout for wild beasts. One morning as the two youngest daughters of Alexander Robertson Sr., were on their way to the school taught by Air. Stewart, they saw a big black bear in the woods right before them. As the bear showed no disposition to withdraw, and they did not wish to meet him, they speedily made a “strategic retirement” homewards, and thereby lost a day of Mr. Stewart’s valuable instruction. It may seem strange, but it is true that if the bear had captured the younger of these girls, and carried her off, this chapter woul$ never have been written, and many other events of an interesting character would never have taken place.

The first school teachers who came from the Old Country,^were generally well educated, and able, to teach Latin to any of their pupils who required it. This was true of both Mr. Robertson and Mr. Stewart. At least two boys, John McKinnon and Angus Me Coll, received their start in Latin from ^r. Stewart, and read Cornelius Nepos. These, two, when young men, together with Robert Wallace of Chinguacousy, and Thomas Wardrope of Flam-borough, it is said, rode in a lumber wagon to Kingston in 1842, and became members of the first class of Queens College. Mr. Stewart ^afterwards taught in the Quatre Bras School, and con: tinned teaching in other schools to a good age. He died in Manitoulin Island, where he had gone on a visit. The first teachers were all men, and they held undisputed sway for about forty-five years in the schools of Esquesing. Then began the gentler reign of the young women teachers, which the boys liked better, but whether the change was the best thing for all the boys this historian saith not.

Although not one of the first teachers in the Block we mention here Robert Little, who won greatest fame probably as a teacher. He was a Scotch Presbyterian, a good scholar and a strict disciplinarian. He had taught school in Scotland and England. In 1852 he began his teaching career in Canada in Waterloo school, where he remained one year. Among other pedagogic feats in this , school he made an impression on the hands and memory of the writer, when in his eighth year, with a leather weapon calld ai taws. The taws was an importation from Scotland, and Mr. Little was strongly attached to it. He believed that very valuable results followed from its proper application. In his judgment, founded upon a wide and varied experience, this instrument stimulated the mental facultes of a boy by way of his hands, and secured his great respect and love for school order. Mr. Little went next to Ligny school for nine years, and then to Acton for nine and one-half years. By his knowledge and methods as a teacher, and the frequent use of his cultural assistant, the taws, he helped a number of lads on their way to become teachers, lawyers, preachers and physicians. He became inspector of schools for Halton in 1871, and senior inspector of schools of the Parry Sound and Algoma districts in 1875. George W. Ross, when Minister of Education in the Mowatt Government, had Air. Little prepare first and second readers for public schools. He died in Acton on April 8,. 1885, and was survived by Airs. Little, who now lives in Los Angeles, Cal.

In the Waterloo, Ligny and Quatre Bras schools the Bible was for years a regular text book, and for some time the Shorter Catechism was recited.

One of the first teachers in Milton was Thomas Aitken, and he taught there a Sunday Bible Class for young men. He died while still a young man. He was a brother of Thomas Aitken and Matilda, wife of Alexander Robertson on Lot 5 in the 2nd Concession. They were first cousins of Thomas Carlyle.

The library, kept in an addition to the Quatre Bras schoolhouse, exerted a great influence during the years in which it flourished. It is said that there was not a better selection of books outside of the cities. It had some of the latest and best books in history, biography, travel, theology, astronomy, geology, fiction etc., and the poets.

That some of the solid books of information in this library found readers in the Scotch Block would in these days, probably, be a matter of surprise to many people. The annual meeting of the Association was held in the evening, and the schoolhouse was crowded. Every member was entitled to propose a book, but a majority vote was necessary to a purchase. Many good books were contributed. When the Mechanics Institute in Milton was opened it was decided to close the library and divide the books among the members. A regular patron of the Library coming on one occasion to get a book was told by the Librarian of a certain work, and asked if he would not like to read it. He answered; “Na, it’s nae soun.” These men, for the most part, had decided opinions as to what constituted good books, and good preaching. They were very positive also in their political convictions, but sometimes likely to be prejudiced through partizan feeling. It was one’s own party always in a general election that could save the country from ruin, while the candidates of the opposing party were blind guides, who should never be entrusted with the reins of government.

They were at the same time very conscientious. As an illustration of this they generally believed that they should "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,” but with the best of them it occasionally cost an effort to do so. One of them returning home from Church on that day surprised his brother reading a newspaper recently received from Scotland, and while saying nothing his look was full of pain and reproof. The erring brother folded up the paper at once, but feeling that it was up to him to attempt an excuse said: “hoots, mon, I was just reading over the deaths.”

At the Annual Meeting of the congregation in 1825 Andrew Laidlaw, Thomas Shortreed, Jasper Martin, Alexander Bowman and George Darling were elected Church trustees. Andrew Laidlaw was made Clerk, and Robert Shortreed, Treasurer. The trustees were given power to procure estimates for building a meetinghouse of a certain size and plan, and to let the contract. Each subscriber was required to pay into the treasury one-half dollar, and give five days work, or more if necessary, and failing to perform the labor to pay three shillings and three pence per day. The trustees agreed with William Carhart to frame and cover the building by the last of June, to pay him thirty-five dollars, when the frame was raised, and thirty-five dollars in good mercantile wheat at Jasper Martin’s mill by October 1st 1825. In those days wheat was more easy to raise than money. When the frame was put up many men were present, but only one of them wore a pair of shoes. It was common to wear shoes when men went to Church, but to work, in summer, in the bare feet, both in Canada and in New York State. At a meeting on July 22, 1.925, it was decided that each subscriber to the building should pay one and one-half bushels of wheat in September, or six shillings and three pence, to enclose the building, put in doors and windows in the lower storey, and that those behind in labor should cut, and draw logs to the saw-mills with the first sleighing, and forward the lumber as soon as possible.

At the Annual Meeting in April, 1826, John Sproat, David Knight, David Darling, William Campbell and David Scott were elected trustees. It was decided to lay the floors of both stories, to lathe and plaster the house and put in windows, the carpenter work to be done by the last of September, and the ceiling by the end of October. Each subscriber was to pay one dollar by August 1st, and the remainder by January 4th, 1027, and the labor this year was to be four days for each subscriber, and more if necessary. At the meeting on April 1, 1827, Alexaxnder Robertson, Walter Laidlaw, James Campbell, James McLean and Adam Sproat were elected Trustees, Alexander Robertson, Clerk and Robert Shortreed, Treasurer. In September, 1827, James McLean was paid £15. 2s. 3d., for carpenter work, it being certified that he had done his work in a mechanic like manner. In April, 1831, Mr. McLean was paid in full. In April, 1829, it was decided that all wheat payments in arrears, and all new payments, should thereafter be paid in money. Wheat was no longer a medium of exchange in Church transactions.

Details as to names, dates, and business dealings have been given so far, because they! throw light upon conditions existing when the meeting-house was being built. Although in use, it was not completely finished until 1835, when Duncan McCallum was paid £35, 5s. for the carpenter work done by him. The people had the necessaries of life, but money was scarce. The building progressed by stages. It was a long pull, but done at last to the great satisfaction and joy of the people, and those who can remember the interior of the Church still think it was not bad to look at, and very comfortable. The pine of the inside finish, if memory is correct, was without a knot, and the workmanship of the best. The exterior was somewhat barn-like, and there was no paint without or within.

The Church stood endwise to the public road, as does the present building, which is on the same site. There was a door at each end, and as one entered there was a stair leading to the gallery, which extended around three sides of the audience room, and on the south side, high enough to command a fair view of the gallery, the panelled pulpit with a sounding-board overhead was placed. The minister reached it by a longer stair than is seen in the modern Church, and when he gained the summit he opened a door with a brass knob, and let himself in, and sitting down on a seat with a red cushion left only the top of his head visible from the floor. Below the pulpit, and in front of it, was the box, or desk, of the precentor, who also had to open a door to get into it. The pews of the Church had doors also, but just why these old Churches had so many doors the readers of this history will have to guess. In the worship of the Church the people stood up in prayer, and remained seated while they sang. They sang the Psalms to the same tunes they did in Scotland.

“Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And ‘Let us worship God;’ he says with solemn air.”
They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim;
Perhaps “Dundee’s” wild warbling measures rise,
Or plaintive “Martyrs,” worthy of the name,
Or noble “Elgin” beats the heavenward flame.
The sweetest far of Scotia’s holy lays;
Compared with these Italian trills are tame;
The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise;
Nae unison hae they with our Creator’s praise.”
—Burns.

Walter Laidlaw occupied the precentor’s desk for many years. He generally took notes of the sermon, and his face was an index of his valuation of its worth. At a Gaelic service Duncan McCallum led the singing.

The table on sacramental occasions extended along the aisle running from the front door to the opposite door at the rear, and in the boyhood days of the writer was occupied at least twice. The services in connection with the observance of the Lord’s Supper were held on four days: Friday, Saturday, the Sabbath and Monday. Friday was the fast day, and Monday was a thanksgiving day. On Friday, or Saturday, the tokens, which were small pieces of metal, were handed out to intending communicants. The great day of solemnity was the Sabbath, and the house was filled to its capacity.

For years begininng with April 29, 1839, as the worshipper entered the Church he was confronted by a plate, which appeared to be of pewter, inviting him to place an offering thereon before he passed on to his pew. This method was followed by boxes with long handles passed along the pews.

We have been anticipating. At a congregational meeting held after the completion of the Church, prices were assessed on sittings. The person taking the highest number of sittings in a pew was entitled to the pew. All who wished to retain their pews from year to year could do so, but any person not paying his rent ten days after the expiration of the year, and failing to satisfy the trustees for his neglect, was to forfeit his pew, or seat. It seems there were slackers in those days, also, who failed to come across promptly with their money for Church support, and they were penalized for their tardiness. The front gallery sittings, as being most eligible, were fixed at ten shillings, and those behind them for less. Sittings on the ground floor were fixed at nine shillings.

Those who sat on the back seats of the gallery found they could sleep as well there as at home.    .

The men who had contributed to the payment for the land, and the building of the meeting house, are in the Church reports spoken of as “Subscribers,” and as “Proprietors,” and some of them seem to have assumed that in voting in congregational meetings they had privileges not belonging to people who came later into the congregation.