The Washington herald., 1909-11-14
JOHN BROWNS CHILDREN
Five of Twenty Still Living JASON Almost 81, and Salmon,
Only 73 Being the Boys

the West that stir their blood and their
memories. His life. from boyhOOd up. has
been filled with adventure. Like all the
Browns, he is gifted with strong sense
Of humor. and with great and fearless
originality Of thought and diction. and ne
is inspired with that rare genius-a
knowledge and unfailing selection of the
pertinent and OF the true. From him. as
from all his kin, you may look for the
clean-cut fact In clean-cut words that de-
scribe il, though the heavens fall; and to
him you must be drawn. by the power
Of hearty, sunny. honest humanity.
or a temperament entirely different
from his brother Johns. Salmon Brown,
then a powerful. hlgh-spirited lad in his
teens. who had long been chafng at the
patient endurance of the Free State men,
welcomed the chance 90 '1et little blood
on the other side" when the gantlet was
down. IN Kansas. From tie day In May
1856, when he dropped his spade I'm the
field 10 march to the relief of threatened
Lawrence, TO the moment, that following
summer, when a tearing rifle wound de
prived him Of the use of an arm. he
fought. straight through, with gayety and
with relish. keen in his JOY of the game.
Mr.. Browns memory. like his elder
brothers, is of extraordinary power. Both
recall in detail the circumstances and Sc
quence Of the events of their long years
and careful comparison OF their state
ments with authenticated facts only adds
TO the marvel Of their accuracy. Botn
men. moreover. possess the rare faculty
of knowing the boundaries Of their recol-
ulative. halfway ground; they know. or
they have forgotten; and they rarely for
get.
His Daughter Annie.
Up in the remotest hills OF California.
around the shoulder of Cape Mendocino
in a tiny cottage in an eyrie as inacces-
sible as it is superb. lives John Browns
daughter Annie. His confdante. his
watch dog" It was often on her wit
and Unsleeping vigilance that his safety
and that OF his men depended. OF the
little company that for so many weeks
lay hidden in the farmhouse on the Mary
land heights, awaiting the moment when
they should strike their desperate blow
for freedOm-when they should. in strik-
ing at the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, dare
the whole force Of the United States,
Annie Brown, now Annie Brown Adams.
alone survives.
Her "reminiscences of those thrilling
days, OF the little band who, for the most
part, knowing that they should perish.
gave all for the sake OF conscience and
OF the oppressed, are OF vital interest A
keen critic OF human nature. Mrs. Adams
Characterization OF the young men who
followed her father 10 their doom are
vivid as life. To hear her describe the
DAYS at Kennedy Farm, or those earlier
years at North EIba, when father
plan" was at once the dread secret and
the handspring Of every act Of that de-
voted. self-sacrihcing family. IS To see
the scene before ones eyes. Like the
other Browns. Mrs Adams thinks so
kcenly that she is incapable of express
ing herself in commonplace words; her
talk. like theirs. has the clarity and the
wit Of a classic.
Mr.. Adams, very considerably his wife S
senior, and one son constitute the fam
ily in the little house IN the forest. Mrs.
Adams. single-handed does all the sim
PIE household work. and when fl is done
viii often mount a horse and go off Tor a
solitary ride in the glorious mountain
air through country so beautiful as
fairly to seem unreal. The Browns were
ever pioneers and lovers Of nature I'M
disturbed. but this one has exceeded
them all, and certainly has found al
once the farthest and the finest refuge
that the continent affords.
other Daughters.
Down to the southwark. in Santa Clara
County, near San Jose. lives another
daughter OF the Liberator, Miss Sarah
Brown. Her home is a cozy little 5unga-
low. buried in prune orchard. all her
own. A fig tree grows by the corner OF
her porch, and from her windows you
may look across to the great, inenable
mountains. pearly. opalescent. living
green, or gray. swimming through their
| lceaSeless changes, from beauty 10 beauty
hour by hour
To those familiar with the portrait OF
John Brown IN his younger years, Miss
Browns resemblance to her famous IA
ther IS very striking. Her delicate but
strongly marked aQuiline features and
the classic lines of her head seem but a
feminine version Of that strong prototype
and as she talks expressions fit across
her face that bring back with almost
startling force expressions OF Johr
Browns own that the sun CHANGED tc
perpetuate. Miss Brown IS a lady Of the
old New England type, reserved anC
4 Orliet hammered while fui Of kfndtipaes