He was ordained an Anglican minister in 1865, and served in two parishes (Mascouche and Mansonville) before leaving the ministry in 1867 due to ill health.

In addition, he "published poems, essays, translations, or short fiction in virtually all of the major Canadian journals of his day.

[1] In 1881 Reade edited Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon's posthumous collected poems, The Poetical Works of Mrs.

[5] Rose-Belford's Canadian Monthly and National Review printed Reade's long poem, "Madeleine de Vercheres," in 1878.

Lighthall selected "Madeleine" and two other Reade poems for his anthology Songs of the Great Dominion: "Hastings," which he used to begin the book, and "The Winter Carnival."

Despite such praise, the late-Victorian personal, political, and poetic values characteristic of Reade’s poetry and criticism led to their general disregard within a few years of his death.