Complex sentence: Seeing no future in teaching, he returned to Nova Scotia in 1874 to article for four years at a Halifax law firm (without a formal university education), and was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in August 1878, placing first in the bar examinations.
Split into simpler sentences: Seeing no future in teaching, he returned to Nova Scotia in 1874. In August 1878, he was called to the Nova Scotia Bar, placing first in the bar examinations.