DR. CHARLES R. FLANDERS would have been headmaster of Stanstead College, when my grandmother ETHEL MAY SLEEPER attended the school. FLANDERS was the uncle of RUTH STEVENS who was the second wife of PERRY S. DOBSON, who was the brother in law of ADELBERT H. GALE of Waterville, Quebec. From Website: http://www.stansteadcollege.com/sc/about/history/Flanders/index.htm Dr. Flanders was born in the Eastern Townships in 1852 to Reverend Rufus Arlington Flanders and Mary Charlotte Ruston. Dr. Flanders was educated at Waterloo Academy and Victoria University. While at Stanstead College, he received his degree as Doctor of Divinity from the Wesleyan College in Montreal. His background and experience well prepared him to lead the school through a period of tremendous growth. In 1881, Charles married Martha Elizabeth Davies. They were blessed with eight children: John Arlington 1182-1952, Sidney Reginald 1883-1921, Ruth Ruston 1887-?, Harold Wilfred 1889-1892, Mary Marjorie 1892-?, Charles Robert 1893-1898, Annie Beatrice 1897-1977, Elizabeth 1902-199? Mrs. Flanders, an alumna of the school, was the lady principal. The Flanders were devoted leaders of Stanstead College, but Dr. Flanders regretted how much time he had to spend on fund-raising and balancing budgets as his passion was teaching and spending time with the students. He always insisted on teaching at least one course. "It was a happy place. There was discipline, undoubtedly, but the teachers seemed like friends and no corporal punishment was allowed. The teachers lived in residence, and were carefully picked, of course. In the spring, my father would arrange to take over a sugar bush for the day and we would all go out - my father driving an old coach, drawn by four horses, and some of the teacher would ride in that, the rest of us piled into large sleighs. The sugar would be boiling when we arrive, ready to eat on clean snow, a sort of toffee. It could be stirred in saucers into "maple cream" with little wooden paddles, which the boys carved for their girl friends. After one was sated with sweetness there were olives and dried herring, and then more sugar! The spring woods were lovely, and we watched the men collecting the sap from the buckets on the trees. At Christmas, anyone that wished could go out to get the Christmas tree on big sled, and any pupils who could not go home for the holiday helped with the tree and celebration, of course." Beatrice Bull (nee Flanders), daughter In 1894, Flanders reported to the Board of Trustees that "one hundred and sixty young pupils had been in attendance, representing a constituency extending from Ottawa to Gaspe with several students from Newfoundland and the neighbouring republic. Among these were members of almost every religious denomination, including Roman Catholic and Jewish. "Many of the students were children of missionaries in Turkey and China. "The College has again distinguished itself at McGill exams. Of the five students taking the exams, all have passed in every subject and with good rank. Stanstead has repeatedly stood the test of the McGill exams with commendable success. This fact should convince the public that they have in their midst, and institution which is able to give first class instruction in the first two years of the B.A. course at rates which bring the privileges of a university within each of the moderate income. How reasonable rates are may be seen in the fact that while the tuition per year at McGill is $60, in Stanstead, it is $12. Let it not be thought that this contrast is pointed out with the thought of dissuading young people from going to great university. It is rather to show of the moderate means who cannot see their way clear to go Montreal that the undergraduate course, in part at least, is within their reach." The period when Dr. Flanders was Headmaster of the school was a period of great expansion. Dr. Flanders resigned in 1908 and became pastor of the Centenary Church in St. John, New Brunswick. He certainly left behind a much-expanded Stanstead College, but more importantly, as one of his students wrote, "The optimistic vision which these buildings represent has become settled policy of the College." School With a Heart. The heart at the front of Colby House has a long history. Principal Flanders first conceived the idea of the heart in 1893. He planted the hedges and trees, laid out roads and paths and made an attractive flower garden in the shape of a heart in front of the main building. The heart quickly became a focal point of the campus and is enjoyed as much as it was back then.