Page:Everywoman's World, Volume 7, Number 7.djvu/26

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TWO
CONFEDERATION BRIDES

By A. WYLIE MAHON

THE Fathers of Confederation, where are they, and the political prophets, do they life forever? They have followed one another into the wiser and happier citizenship of a country that is fairer even than this dear land they loved so well, and which is to-day giving many infallible proofs of being worthy of their love.

Sir Charles Tupper was the last to leave us, as though he lingered on to see the fulfilment of his wonderful political prophecies—prophecies which many of the wisest of his contemporaries thought were the dreams of a visionary.

Although the Fathers of Confederation have all gone on into another land, the widows of the two who celebrated the union of the Canadian Provinces fifty years ago by getting married, have been graciously spared to us to see this National Jubilee—Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe and Lady Tilley, both of whom have contributed not a little to the happy and wholesome development of this young nation.

It was at surprise to some of the Canadian assembled in London in 1867 to complete arrangements for the Confederation of the Provinces on the First of July of that year, when Sir John Macdonald's engagement to Miss Agnes Bernard was announced, Miss Bernard was the sister of his private secretary and the daughter of an English gentleman who had occupied a most distinguished place in the government of Jamaica.

Lady Macdonald, created Baroness Macdonald at Earnscliffe, 1891.

Lady Tilley, who was a bride of Confederation in 1867.

Lady Tilley’s Message to the Women of Canada

At the request of the Editor, Lady Tilley sends this inspiring and purposeful message to the women of Canada:

"During the fifty years of Confederation the woman of Canada, while lovingly keeping the home-fires burning and making home-life the sweetest thing in the land, have dreamed of larger service, with all the inherited handicaps of life removed. These dreams are coming true to day, and many new doors of loving service have been opened of which we never dreamed fifty years ago, or even three years ago. My message to the readers of Everywoman's World is: QUIT YOU LIKE WOMEN, BE STRONG; for through much tribulation our dear land is being born again, and we have come to our Kingdom for just such a momentous time as this,"

 

It was well known that for some time Sir John had been most devoted to this talented lady, but the impression had gone abroad that she had declined his repeated offers of marriage, not because she did not love him, but because, like a wise woman, she wished to prove him. But presently she accepted his offer, and they were married on the sixteenth of February, 1867. No Canadian marriage in London, or anywhere else for that matter, was ever witnessed by so brilliant an assemblage of Canada's distinguished men and women, and ho affair of this kind has ever awakend so widespread an interest, or has been fraught with happier results.

Bishop Fulford, the Metropolitan of Canada, happening to be in London at the time, tied the nuptial knot, and all the Canadian delegates and many distinguished English persons witnessed the ceremony. The four bridesmaids were Canadian girls, daughters of the Confederation delegates.

At the wedding breakfast Sir John made one of his wittiest speeches. The happy union of the Canadian Provinces, under the gracious rule of the best Queen who ever lived, he said, had led him to contemplate matrimony, to bring his life under the personal sway of the Queen of Hearts.

It was a great occasion in the history of Canada, for no man needed a wife more than Sir John, who had been a widower for nearly ten years, and no one could have made a better wife than the brilliant woman whom he led to the altar that day who, though twenty-one years younger than he, was one with him in all the varied experiences of his eventful life.

Queen Victoria was interested in that marriage, and before the honeymoon was over commanded that the distinguished bride and bridegroom be presented to her at court. Sir John used to say jocosely that he explained to Her Gracious Majesty that day how he had been forced by a woman's witchery to swear allegiance to a new queen, the Queen of Hearts.

The old saying, "Happy is the bride that the sun shines on," was never popular in London, for the sun has a selfish way in that great city of not shining very much on anybody; so Lady Macdonald had no reason to bemoan her fate in having a dull, dreary day for her marriage. She always laughingly maintained that she had learned by observation that wedding days, like dreams, go by contraries,

Canada was no strange land to Lady Macdonald; she was only a girl in her teens when she came with her mother to reside in Ontario, where her brother had preceded her.

There was something very beautiful in the loving devotion of Lady Macdonald to her husband, who needed so much the strength and comfort and companionship of such a wife. Those who saw her, day after day, in the Speaker's Gallery, when Parliament was in session, sometimes wondered whether it was her interest in Canadian politics, or her deeper interest in her husband that brought her to the House. It was said that they learned a deaf and dumb alphabet of their own that they might have a word with each other while the House was in session, without fear of being interpreted of the other members.

During Sir John’s sudden. prostration, a few years after their marriage, almost everybody felt that he could not recover, but Lady Macdonald would not give him up, and by her untiring ministrations succeeded in nursing him back to health; but the time came in 1891, when even her supreme love and devotion could not prolong his days.

When sorrow-stricken, nothing touched this lovable woman more tenderly than the autograph letter of love and sympathy which Queen Victoria sent her. In recognition of the distinguished services which Sir John had rendered his country, the Queen was graciously pleased to bestow a peerage on his widow, who assumed the title, Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe.

Sir Leonard Tilley, who at the time of Confederation, was Premier of New Brunswick, was present at Sit John's marriage, where the matrimonial microbe got in so much effective work that he soon followed his illustrious leader's example.

Sir Leonard was singularly blessed in winning the heart and hand of Miss Alice Chipman, of St. Stephen, New Brunswick, a devoted and charming helpmeet, who by her wise counsel and winning personality contributed not a little to his success in the larger sphere of Dominion politics, and who made his home one of the most delightful and restful that a public man ever enjoyed. When Mr. Gladstone was asked how he succeeded in standing the work and worry of public life he said, "I am happy at home." Sir Leonard could bear the burdens of state because he was happy at home.

It was a brilliant period in the social life of Ottawa when the two Confederation brides appeared at the Capital, and by their striking personalities, rare gifts, and winsome ways won for themselves, all unconsciously, the leadership in that galaxy of notable Canadian women. No social function was complete without their Presence. Both were delightful conversationalists who possessed (Continued on page 26)