The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-12-15


hero than did any of she glorious PUSHES
which threw the Stadium into widest
excitement, making him the idol of null
titudes Of foot bah enthusiasts.
In telling how he worked fis way
through college, Brill first related what
made it necessary for him to resort to
iuch drudgery. he said that UP to the
age Of 20 his father, Charles F. Brill
IF Hazeiton, Pa, was wealthy. He Yves
a large real estate dealer and stock
holder and director in the First National
| Bank of Hazeiton, and his home was
one of the finest in the city.
| Then came failure, and all MS prop
erty was swept away and the family
eft heavily in debt. At that time Brill
was student at Phillips Exeter acad-
envy. The year before he had lived well,
and had left several hundred dollars
Of unpaid bills behind him, expecting
to pay them as usual when he returned
With his allowance in the fall In now
facing the problem of how to return
to school, he also had to plan how to
pay off those debts.
| 1t was necessary to secure work during
the vacation period, and the only thing
he could find was employment in the
| blast furnaces at Johnstown. This
meant the hardest work in the foundry.
| Stripped to the waist, he lifted ignotsi
weighing hundreds of pounds to height
Of fourteen inches and placed them in
he rollers that turn the hot metal into
steel rails.
His fellow workmen were mostly Hun
garians and Poles, men of prodigious
strength and endurance. No weakling
could stand before the mouths of the
furnaces on hot summer days and do
such work. The scoFching air from the
furnaces made the arms, necks and faces
Of the workmen fiery red Their eyes
became bloodshot, and they were covered
with CRIME, dirt and iron smudge. In
fact, every week or SO some poor devil
was carried out raving like madman,
overcome by the heat and the strain
Of work Brill, in the midst Of it, won
dered when his turn would come, but
he pulled through each day and when
| night came went to the wash house
looking worse than ever he did after
foot bali scrimmage.
| In recalling those days Brill says;
Il made from $3.50 to Sc a day at
the furnaces, something like $500 that
summer, and was able TO 20 back to
Exeter in the fall. thought that was
hard work at the time, but since then
I've found something harder yet, and
that is playing foot ball.
Il learned that summer that I had q
tremendous constitution, and could stand
| the hardest kind of work The next
fact | discovered was that there was
something worse than making steel rails
| That was when ] went to work to wait
on table at the academy for the very
men / had formerly associated with on
equal terms. The first week had a
terrible struggle to overcome my pride.
After that It was smooth sailing.
Il took hold of anything could find
to do scrubbing the floors Of the dorni-
tories, saving and chopping wood for
the mems rooms, attending to the acad-
envy heating apparatus and looking af
ter the furnaces In private houses
| About the time Brill had refused to
| Join the preparatory school fraternity;
had won signal successes in athletics
and his studies, winning for two sue
cessive years the Merrill prize in English.
something never before accomplished,
and had broken the academy record fer
strength by the Sargent test with a
total Of 1,45a.6 points He had also
received loud applause for his share in
winning the foot ball game OF 1901
| against Andover. Perhaps ii was envy
excited hy these successes which started
the report that he had negro blood.
His fathers family is one of the old.
est in Pennsylvania. His sister is q
yassar girl Of 81, and is married to
Prof. Frederick NJ Pennock, director of
the University Of Porto Rico. His moth
err, as already stated, is native Of
Germany, and comes from the Kranche
family, from which Bismarck and many
famous German warriors and statesmen
sprung.
After tie financial crash his father
and mother went to live on a farm IN
Maryland, called Park Hall, famous as
the place where Lord Baltimore set
tied.
/ After finishing at Exeter Brill worked
for a year in order to earn the money
necessary for his first year in Harvard.
He had received inducements from sew
eral colleges on the strength Of his foot
ball playing. Several Eastern colleges
said his university course would cost
him nothing. Harvard held out no in
ducenent TO him in this line. But he
says he was born Harvard man and
never thought Of going elsewhere.
Before entering college he worked a
year, most of his time as motorman on
The Boston & Northern railroad, which
runs from Scollay square to Lynn. He
has natural turn Of mind for scientific
mechanics and found the work Interest,"
inc. The next fall he entered Harvard
as special, not having passed all his
entrance examinations. But he found
| It impossible to continue and so returned
to Exeter for further study.
The following spring he went back
to Cambridge and tok job in black
smith shop for the purpose of being
near the Lawrence Scientific school,
where he wished to take q summer
course. He worked eight hours day
at the anvil and became as hard as nails.
4 year ego last fall he entered Harvard
without conditions and started on his
regular course.
But it was still necessary to earn
money, and so last summer he waited
on the table at Randall Hall, and also
acted as guide about the college grounds.
He is now employed 1t Memorial Hall,
preparing food for the walters behind
the screen. Many think Harvard hard
place for a poor man, but Brill says
he has not found il so.--Boston Her
aid.