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(Incorporated by Act of the Legislature of Ontario,
April 1st, 1899.)

HOME OF THE SOCIETY

Normal School Building, St. James Square, Toronto

OFFICERS 1913-1914

HONORARY PRESIDENT

The Hon. Robert A. Pyne, M.A., LL. D., M.P.P., Minister of Education,

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Sir Edmund Walker, C.V.O., LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.C.,
and the Presidents of Affiliated Societies.

COUNCILLORS

......London

.Napanee
.Toronto

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Alexander Fraser, LL. D., Litt.D., F.S.A.Scot. (Edinburgh),
W. S. Wallace, B.A., (McMaster University)
W. L. Grant, M.A., F.R.S.C., (Queen's University)
James Henry Coyne, LL.D., F.R.S.C.,

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Woodstock

.Victoria, B. C. .......Collingwood

TREASURER

C. C. James, C.M.G., LL.D.,..

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144 St. George St., Toronto

SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN

A. F. Hunter, M.A., Normal School Building, St. James Square, Toronto

261650

CONTENTS.

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The Ontario Historical Society does not assume responsibility for the statements of its contributors.

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"THE TOON O' MAXWELL"-AN OWEN SETTLEMENT IN LAMBTON COUNTY, ONT.

BY THE REV. JOHN Morrison, Sarnia

At many points in the world's history, men have stepped out from the ranks, having some ideal scheme for the reconstruction of society and the betterment of their fellow-men.

Plato, in his "Republic," declares "any ordinary city, however small, is in fact two cities, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich, at war with one another." It will be seen by this quotation, he was out of harmony with the social and economic tendencies of the age in which he lived. What was his proposal by which these should be changed! He proposed to alter the lives of the citizens of the state, from the day of birth. In fact, he proposed to go behind that, by declaring that marriage and the number of births, as well as the industrial occupations, were to be controlled by the guardians or heads of the state.

Of home life, as we understand it, there would be none. Theoretically he advocated "the emancipation of woman," and yet maintained that "the woman was part and parcel of the property of man," therefore, he advocates, "community of wives."

Children were to be taken away from their parents and reared under the supervision of the state. The old nursery tales, "the blasphemous nonsense (he calls them), with which mothers fool the manhood out of their children," was to be suppressed. There will be no rich and no poor, therefore no rivalry, for all are to be provided for by the state. He admits there are difficulties to be overcome, but adds by way of a stimulant to any wavering one, "nothing great is easy."

Sir Thomas More's "Utopia" has many of the characteristics of the "Republic," as community of goods and labor, and the forbidding the private use of money. He differs from Plato, however, in maintaining the sacredness of the family relation and fidelity to the marriage contract. There was to be no community of wives in Utopia. All meals were to be taken in common and to be rendered attractive by the accompaniment of sweet strains of music, while the air was to be filled by the most delicate of perfumes, thus adding to the enjoyment of life.

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