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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