The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-12
PHILLIPS BROOKS
FAMILY TIES--~SOME BITS FROM
HIS LETTERS,
Words of Good Cheer, of Comfort aud
of Appreciation.

The whole life Of Phillips Brooks, as
one of his brothers looks back upon it,
is but continual expression Of his In
tense and supreme valuation of family
ties, and in the brief space allotted me
for this immense subject. l can at
tempt to show but fragment merely
OF what his love of family was A food
OF "reminiscences PUSHES upon one as he
stops to think, but Indulgence in this
must be forgotten, in order to record
what he himself was perpetually telling
one or another of us, parents or broth
ers, with wonderful power and fullness
of feeling.
or his mother he wrote in his grief
Tor her death: MY mother has been
the center of all the happiness of my
HE. l did not know I could ever be so
much like child again; but tonight
the world seems desolate and lonely.
All my life l have feared and dreaded
what has come this week. The hap
piest part of my happy life has been
my mother" At that moment he
reached out instinctively to reassure
himself of the strength of the family
tie, feel that it was not broken. He
the new chapter of life has begun. and
the Brooks boys have got to stand to-
gether as long as they are left. Well,
we have done it pretty well so far, and
/ guess we shall do it to the end" Here,
too, is the testimony that he bore to
the impress which the life of his father
had made upon his own life. mo faith
er ever was to his boys what ours has
been to us. He was so bright and hap
Ply and simple and strong through all
the long years while our lives revolved
around his: There is nothing that is
not good to remember His was as
healthy and true a life as ever was
seen, and now l miss him as / never
dreamed that could miss anybody,
and it will be so to the end. I know
The recollection of his earliest years
were always very precious to him, and
he loved to share them with his older
brother, William. He wrote to him
from distant Spain, where he had heard
of the death of his faithful aunt, who
shared with our mother the care of us
all from the beginning of the family:
at seems as if this great change swept
away from the world the last remnants
of the background of our earliest life.
Even after father and mother went as
long as Aunt Susan lived there was
somebody who had to do with us when
we were babies. Now this generation
has all passed away. How many old
scenes it brings up!' He was fond of
noting the milestones of life with his
brother and counting over with him the
happy years. II am 20 years old to-
A1.s,a
are getting along Well, shere are very
few fellows who get to be as old as we
are and have such good time general
ly all the way along. We had a nice
time before we went to school, nice
time at school, and nice time since
We left" His nature was beautiful
one in its simplicity of enjoyment, in
loving and being loved alike.
This is my chief memory of him from
my earliest years, and l always felt the
family life holding us fast together as
7 grew up, in spite Of difference of age.
His love for me reaches back even be-
forem remembrance. My mother used
to tell me that when I was an infant
the tall boy used to rush in from the
Latin school with the eager question,
sWhere's the baby?" and that he
would then sit down to his lessons with
me safely tucked under his arm, where
he would manage to keep me quiet and
amused as he studied. A faded note
hastily written on a torn half-sheet of
paper, now 20 years old, lies before me
to remind me of the day when it came
from him to me, small boy full Of
HELPLESS enthusiasm for the sick and
wounded heroes of the war. 1t reads:
at do certainly think that a penniless
brother ought to be helped and the SAN
itary commission fair supported more
over, your note saves me from great
embarrassment. / have been puzzling
myself to know how I should wish you
a Merry Christmas this year. Won't
this way do? Spend it at the fair or
any other way you like, and ont forget
your loving brother Phil"
Two years later he hears of the same