The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-02
Autograph Relics and
 MementOes of Greatness
BY WILL T. STEPHAN.

BY WILL T. STEPHAN. But words are things, and a small Falling like dew upon thought That Which makes thousands. perhaps
 Iris strange the shortest letter which man makes,
 Instead of speech may form lasting
 Of ages; to what strait old Time re-
 duces
 Frail man. when paper-even rag
 survives himself. his tomb and all
 that's his"
 They are prophetic words truly. The
 searching half cynical, half serious iilt of them proclaims their author. Lord Byron. Copied and framed they are hung on the study wall of Rev. Bert E. Brown of Eufauia and about the framed quotation are the treas ures of perhaps the finest collection of autographs in all Alabama. It Is fit and proper quotation to make the center of an autograph collectors museum.
 But the appropriateness of the words is intensified by glance at their nearest neighbor on MT. Browns walls. This is nothing more or less than note at hand executed by the same gifted and cratic genius. The note was a four months paper bearing date in January. 1872. It Is sig nal example of the truth of the poets words for the note was drawn up dur ing those notorious days he spent
 at Newstead Abbey with his absolute companions, a period which aiienated him for all time the regard of the i purintanical middle class of England.
 The note further shows py It's endorse kA xxr,a aft n- ious when the paper fell due for he had to pay for his overdue time the extra interest of two sni1iings and two pence.
 Mementoes of Greatness. This is perhaps the rarest ana tne Alabama. the collection owned by MT. Brown, a young and talented minister of the Episcopal Church. MT. Brown has lately moved to Eufau1a 10 accept the pastorate of St. Jame's Church of that city. He went to Eufaula from Uniontown where the earliest years of his ministry were spent and where the endeavors of those years were rarely successful and appreciated. The whole community of Uniontown saw him deep regret
 MT. Brown is a studenv and think CT. The collecting of autographs Is to him congenial relaxation from the study and the activities of pastoral work. So much as this work of in- formation is due the personality Of the young minister who has gotten to- gether letters and signatures, which l would delight the heart Of any true collector.
 The items in the collection have come to him at odd times in the past eight or nine years. Some of them, most of them have come from dealers | in. such interesting 2uriosities. In this way he became possessed Of oh- cial papers of the Grand Army or
 France endorsed and signed by the Imperial N of the great Napoleon. Others he has picked up by chance, even as he did the personal letter oi John Randolph of RoanoKe. addressed l to the late William Tay:oe, who died | few months ago, more than ninety years of age at Gallon. near union- town.
 One comes to think. when he consid- CTS it, how unusual Is the gentle diver sion of autograph collecting in the
 more money and afforded far less sat | isfaction. The great man who towers
 above his fellows like the mountain
 pTsa ppiways s1oys figure ire of spsculation, of ,n- terest The autograph letter the slg-
 nature on some paper that throws great figure of history, nearer and
 closer even as the field glass moves the
 mountain close to the on-looker. | The Imperial N.
 MT. Browns study walls are lined
 with tastefully framed curios which
 were once part and parcel of some
 great man, of whom all is vanished hut
 his place in history. Letter. document and official paper are carefully cher ished. There are but few of them
 which have not been honored with | frames. In the meanwhile the collec- tion grows. The New York dealers
 write MT. Brown when they have
 something out of the ordinary and his l friends every now and then put him
 in the way of securing some auto graphic curiosity. Tho gem of the rich store in Mir. Browns study is, after all. merely
 matter of taste. It might be consid- | cred the Napoleonic item. The Impe-
 rial N. is signed to each of several ap- plications filed for furloughs by off cers of the Grand Army. The papers
 bear date of June 14, 1908. At that | time the army was in camp at Bayonne and the requests were directed to the Emperor by Marshal Berthiere The wording of the requests as they came to the Emperor were as follows:
 Sire, Marshal Victor requests leave in favor of Mons. Brisson. Chief of Bat | tallion of the 63rd Regiment of the
 Line who wishes to go to take the hot baths" In the slender handwriting of Napoleon the word "Accede. N" is
 written and Mons. Brisson had permis- sion to Ego to take the hot baths" 1 Mons. Tozy. 2nd Lieutenant of 3rd | Regiment Foot Artillery wished to go home and settle some family matters,
 his father having died" He got the permission. The old parchment like 1 paper bears the Imperial authorization
 of if.
 Henry of Navarro. perhaps the most picturesque of all men in France with
 the single exception of Napoleon is | represented in the collection. It was Henry of Navarro who said that during
 his reign every peasant of France
 should have a chicken to put in the pot on Sunday. The letter of the French
 King. in MT. Browns possession, is in harmony with that monarch's ancient
 reputation for charity for in 1t he di- | rects his treasurer to pay over certain
 moneys to Parisian almshouse.
 From Henry of Navarro. The Henry of Navarro letter calls to
 mind the peculiar distinction that the , Brown collection has in that every
 successor of that monarch, every l French ruler who followed him down | to Napoleon is represented. From each of them is a letter or an autograph
 The letter from Louis XIII, who im- mediately followed, orders the Arch | bishop of Marseilles to have Te Deums | sung In the churches In honor of his | accession to tic, throne. The letter is | in the handwriting the young Kings
 mother. Marie De Medici, then Regent | of France.