Sunday 9 September 2012

1903-02-14



When the roll call of the Hamilton Old Boys is called next August, Dr. Samuel. S. Kilvington, now a celebrated physician and surgeon in Minneapolis, will answer “Here!” He was plain Sam Kilvington when, as a boy, he left Hamilton in 1863 and went over to Ohio to see if a better living could not be made there than here. Sam was born in Hamilton about fifty years ago, on King street east, the paternal home being outside of the city limits in those days. When the rebellion broke out in the Northwest and Canada had need of loyal sons to protect the old flag and put down the insurrection, Sam Kilvington, with many other Canadian boys who had gone from home, was among the first to return and shoulder a musket in defense of his native country. He suffered all the hardships of a soldier’s life during the campaign, and when the rebels were cleared out of the country, and law and the authority of the government were established, he laid aside the paraphernalia of war and once more took up the peaceful pursuits of a private citizen over among the Yankees. Sam went to the city of New York to hunt up a job, and about the first thing that presented itself was a situation in a hospital, and he soon became an expert nurse. One of the surgeons in the hospital took a fancy to him because he was attentive to duty, and took an interest in the work of the operating room, and gave him a deal of valuable instruction, using him for an assistant in the most delicate and complex cases. Sam got a taste for surgery and medicine and took up the study with a determination to fit himself for the profession, and the house surgeon gave him free access to everything that would help. In the course of time, he completed the prescribed course and passed a splendid examination, the practical advantages he had as a nurse and as a student under an eminent surgeon putting high up among the graduates. Now it was S. S. Kilvington, M. D., and with his parchment as authority that he was qualified to practice medicine, he left New York and turned the toes of his shoes toward the great flour city of the Northwest – Minneapolis, Here he put out his shingle and sat down to wait in patience for the patients that must come sooner or later.

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          Dr. Kilvington did not have to wait long, for his opportunity came in an unexpected manner. A wealthy Irishman met with an accident, in which his skull was so badly fractured that it seemed impossible to fit the bones together. The ablest surgical skill in Minneapolis was summoned, but no one made much headway in patching up the gentleman’s head. After a number of the most skillful had failed, and it seemed inevitable that the patient must die, the new doctor was called in. While in the hospital in New York, Dr. Kilvington had seen many cases of fracture where but little of the skull was large in pieces large enough to patch up, and this knowledge now came in good play. Indeed, the case in hand required a first-class mechanic as well as a surgeon, and Dr. Kilvington was a combination of both. There was a double incentive, to save the patient’s life and make a name and make a name for himself in his profession. When he got through with the job, every bone in the Irishman’s head was in place, the broken pieces being fastened together with silver plates, till the skull looked more like a plate of silver than an ordinary skull. The Irishman recovered, and as he was a man of wealth, he rewarded the doctor liberally, and he did more than that, for he was well-known in the city of Minneapolis, and not having anything to do, he spent his leisure in talking of the wonderful surgical skill of the man who saved his life. There is a tide in the affairs of men, and it flowed for Dr. Samuel S. Kilvington. His standing as a physician and surgeon was at once established, and patients and money flowed in upon him till he is now living up on Easy street. The brave young Canadian who went out in ’70 to help put down the Riel rebellion, and gave one year of his life to the defense of his country’s flag, has only turned the half century mark, and with a rigorous constitution and a reputation in his profession that places him high on the roll of surgeons, life must be to him a dream of happiness. When the Old Boys gather in Hamilton next August, Dr. Samuel Kilvington will be here to answer the roll call, and with him will come many of Hamilton’s sons and daughter who now have homes in Minneapolis.

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          We cannot use our space to better advantage today than in calling attention of the young people of Hamilton to what is being done to educate them on the lines of thought and reading that will fit them for the responsible duties of life. The higher the intellect is cultivated, the more refined becomes the individual. Raise a boy in the slums and he will rarely get above his environments. Poverty is no bar to intellectual attainments in these days of public schools, free libraries and free lectures, and all that is required is for one to take hold of the advantages offered. Some of the greatest and most useful men in Canada today had to dig out their own educational path while earning the means to keep body and soul together. There is no patent on brain expansion, and the field is open for every bright boy or girl who wants to get out of the common rut; but if they want to stick in the mire of ignorance, there is no help for it, and they and society are the losers, for it is to the best interest of Hamilton and of Canada that there should be an intellectual citizenship. But to get back to the opportunities for cultivation offered by Hamilton, all a free will offering to those who will avail themselves of the advantages. To begin with, there is the public library, with its thousands of volumes of the best of literature pertaining to science, biography, history, poetry, the higher classes of novels, and very little trash. Here is presented an opportunity for an education even though the student may have to toil in the workshop during the day. Better by far to spend the evening in the library or at home in study than in loitering around the streets, in barrooms or pool rooms. There is always a place up the ladder for brainy young men. The employer in search of brains for his workshop will never go to the streets, or to the bar, or the pool room to find it. In these days of electricity and improved machinery, the young man who wants to make his mark must be a student of science and mechanics; the mechanic who is constantly told how to do his work will, sooner or later, give place to the workman that is keeping pace with new ideas and methods. An hour spent each evening in the library digging up ideas from valuable books of reference will be worth a great deal at the end of the year to the young mechanic. And as girls are now pushing to the front in all the working departments, the same line of study would not be amiss for them.

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          Then there is the course of lectures on astronomy, given in the hall over the public, at which men of thought along that line of study give their services free. The lectures are illustrated and delivered in the simplest language, so that it does not require a technical knowledge of astronomy to enjoy them. To hear such lectures discussed broadens the mind and gives one a taste for reading that might not otherwise be stimulated. It is astonishing the ignorance that prevails on the subject of astronomy, even among pupils in the public schools. The association that manages and pays the expenses of the course certainly deserves credit for its efforts in furnishing free and delightful intellectual treats, and it is unfortunate that the lectures do no draw larger audiences. Among all the scholars in the public schools and in the Collegiate institute, one would think that there would be no difficulty in packing the hall to listen to the distinguished gentlemen who are brought here every two weeks by the association.

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          To the students of photography and the lovers of picturesque art, the Camera club presents an opportunity for study at its open evenings, when the outside world is invited to the library building to spend an hour, free of cost, in looking at the camera work of the Hamilton and other clubs with which it has an exchange connection. The slides displayed on the screen have artistic merit, for none but the best work is permitted. Each night the collection is new, and the visions are not alone of local scenery around Hamilton, but clubs in Canada and the United States send in bits of scenery and of rural and city life, so that the audience gets a broader idea of this world in which we live. And the descriptive lecture is interesting, and educational. An evening spent with the camera club is not only an education in photography, but one learns much in an hour that could not be gathered in a wide range of travel.

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          Then there are Dr. Salton’s travel talks, illustrated by the camera, which are given every two weeks in the Centenary church lecture room; the debating club in the lecture room at Knox church; the literary and debating clubs in many other churches; and the splendid opportunities presented by the Y.M.C.A. to cultivate both body and mind. When one looks at all the advantages the young people of the present day have and compare them with the few offered even a quarter century ago, we cannot only wonder why there are not more appreciated. There is no necessity in these days for ignorance on any subject of art, science, history, biography or literature, for there is a wealth of information to be had by only spending an evening or two each week at any one of the places herein mentioned. Everything is being done nowadays by the churches and educational institutions to brighten the lives and intellects of the young of both sexes. It is noticeable that in all the gatherings for study and mind improvement that women and girls make up the largest part of the audience. They have their reading clubs two or three evenings in the month for the study of the best in literature and poetry. One can always tell the difference between a card club woman and the woman who belongs to a literary club.

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