The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-12-05
FIVE CHILDREN
OF JOHN BROWN
All That Is Left of Family of
Twenty
JASON Is ABOUT 81
Solomon, the Other Boy, Is 73-Three
Are Glris-AII Are Full of Intimate
Memories of Arblter Of Their
Early Lives.
JASON IS ABOUT 81

From the New York Post.
In thinking of "old" John Brown, and
his death upon the scaffold, half CEN
fury ago this next December, 1t win como
as a surprise to many, no doubt to learn
that five of the children OF that Prophet
of Wrath--hve men and women full of
life and vigor. full of intimate menu
cries Of the arbiter of their earlier des-
tinies-survive him.
OF these five. the eldest Is Jason. second
of John Browns 20 children. Born jan
uary 10. 1923, Jason Brown is now nearing
the end OF his s7th year, and surely no
human being ever lived on whom age sat
more lightly.
Whether 1t be despite the rigors OF his
life, or as he himself believes, because
of them, this little, delicate-featured,
bright-faced, lean old man rejoices In a
degree OF endurance, elasticity and
strength above the average of any Pc
Rod. 1t was only a year ago last sum-
mer that, nonchalantly putting aside the
bathing master who would have dissuaded
one of his venerable appearance from
risking the shock at all, he plunged into
the cold waters of an Ohio lake, and for
three long hours swan, Owed, and per-
formed all sorts of feats of natation,
emerging at last only the liveiier for the
exercise.
Again. each spring, as the long, mild
days begin. the passion for life in the
open comes upon him, and, happy and
carefree as a child, he sets forth on. a
series of tramps which may mean some
and-thirty miles of footing between a
dawn and dark. and which carry him
hither and yon at long tangents over the
smiling Ohio country.
These uncharted rambles are the source
of no small anxiety to Charles P. Brown
Jasons only child, on whose prosperous
farm in a suburb of Akron, Ohio, he has
his home. But the old man loves his in
Dependence; and it Is characteristic not
only that no arguments or pleas can de-
ter him from facing the risks OF pill
grim life when the fever comes upon
him. but also that, during the season In
which he Is content to remain at home
and be cared for by his kindly. tactful
son and daughter-in-law, he refuses to
occupy a room in the cheerful farmhouse
preferrng little one-story cabin at
some distance on the grounds. Here, he
says, he can work over small things"
without fear of disturbance.
Airship Lover.
luc5S tiln6S oios bSSiNo1 MS
beloved flowers, plans, and models, of
parts or of whole of the dream of Ja-
sons life. AS little lad he pondered
"hying machines" AS he grew, the
thought grew with him. And wherever
his wandering habits have led, whatever
his occupation, the vision OF the airship
has lain in the heart thereof Many
an incredible tramp has he taken, on his
own patient feet, to reach the scene of
onofa n
plans and models with increased hope
and earnestness.
A warm lover of nature and OF all
life, passionately sensitive to the appeal
of weaker things, Jason has a marvellous
gift in gaining the confidence of animals,
and has tanned some Of the shyest of wild
creatures through that wistful tenderness
that means understanding. The same
quality has made him ever the ardent
champion of weaker humanity. whether
1t were the abused Indian tribes with
whom he fraternized In his youth, or the
negroes, for whom his father died, or any
solitary stray from health or fortune. Tho
bloody scenes of Kansas, in secret murder
or In open fight made a terrible impress
sion upon him.
John Brown, well aware of his sons
aversion to the taking of life, did not even
ask him to Join the famous Pottawatomie
raid. in May. 1856, and when the grim
news thereof reached his ears, Jason, in
an exaltation Of horror and protest, went
out and delivered himself to the United
States troops. His consequent imprison-
ment, filed hourly with suffering and
with perils, would In any case have kept
him from sharing his fathers warfare OF
the next few weeks. On his release, he
strayed about for time. torn between,
on tho one hand, filia1 allegiance, and the
fvsvo 70 foffh nd
his friends. and, on the other, his innate
aversion. When, once and once only, the
first considerations won, and he entered
the Battle of Ossawatomie" by his faith
er's side. he fought fiercely, and was of
the last to leave the field. But dozen
times, before and after, he displayed
q courage as great in confronting. alone
and unarmed, proslavery men sworn to
exterminate offenders of his stripe, and
there declaring In the most uncompro-
missing terms his abolition principles.
One Of His Fancies.
One of his fancies has always been to
brand himself coward. The truth Is
that there was never coward atom in
the man, and when, in the fateful year
of '59, his father, then summoning all
forces for the eliminating effort called
him to join the raid upon Harpers Ferry
It was pure blood-sickness that inspired
Jason's answer: Father, I cannot CO.
I have seen too much. I have a horror
Of war"
Intensely poetic in his love of nature,
the happiest years of Jason's life. no
doubt, were those spent with his brother
Owen In a cabin on the mountains near
Los Angeles. After OWENS death, the
gentle old man found another lodge in
the wilderness, on a glorious summit in
the glorious Santa Clara region Alone
but for his beloved dog, living In more
than Sparta austerity, he was here bliss
fully content and 1t was not willingly
that he gave way to the pleas of his
son to leave that heavenly lookout and
cone within the reach of care and succor.
But wherever he is found the sun shines
Its broughtness In, daily cheer and hope
and joy and innocent friendliness.
His Tenth Child.
Salmon Brown, John Browns tenth
child and Jason's half brother, is COM
paratively young man, being but just
70. Big. bluff. hearty, genial, rudy
faced, and stalwart, like a type of a
80 "a vyV1yfu. l,a yooIo GOOD <ov, xoo ~