The Newtown bee., 1909-04-30

IS ISgSllGllGlGlGllGJl1llGJllllIJ delicious humor that had hitherto been more than half concealed. We felt his real friendship then for his interest in his scholars never ceased Gfter they left the school, and his loyalty o lhom was never doubted
 EiS rserve and reticence which was so well known, had its unusual ad- yantages in the school, for we all felt conscious of suggested but un- used power which made it possible to maintain order without discipline. I remember flatly refusing to account
 for myself, when l came in long af- te: hours one night, but it never gave me the slightest feeling that it would be safe to repeat the expert ment. To me, as l dare say to all who knew the man, there stands out above everything his faithful serv. ice effectively pursuing the good of the school and the community in a
 quiet, unostentatious way. There is so much more shouting to-day, so many more spectacular acts of dOuDt full value, so many unsustained at temps to do good, that we gaze with a sort '. 1 envy on his record Wal ter G.. Merritt.
 There is of course in some men there seems to have been in the man whose record is before us-a better instinct than in most, for the moral line, and where it's sinuous course runs forward. It is an instinct and never the working of a code. It points north by some principle with in it, but the principle is a secret from it's possessor, which he does not understand himself It is both an inheritance, an requirement, le habit and standard, bred of all his conscious and unconscious choices. That more lasting educational value, to which reference has been made, must always arise to a greater or less degree, from daily contact with man in whom this sure instinct appears.
 According to Harvard 'S1 Class Reports, MT ,Brinsmade became a member of the Board of Education in Washington in 1888; in the sane year also Clerk of the ecclesiastical Society of the Congregational Church; in 1889, Secretary of the Li- brary Association; in 1893, Secre- tary of the Board of Education; and somewhere about that time Chair man of the Societys Committee of the Ecclesiastical Society. He trained and led the church choir lo' nearly 20 years. These facts indi- rYte but vaguely and partially his close, constant, and many sided in- fluence on the business and fortunes of the town, and the time and toll that he gave freely to- its service, even to the last The following is from an article by the Rev Robert E. Carter, pastor of the Congrega- tional C:urcli, published in the Lttch- field Enquirer of Dc, eml CT r.
 MT Brinsmade filled a place of usefulness and activity which reached out in many and most varied di- rections. His temperament was re. tiring, reticent, yet no one in the community served so many different institutions, and such important ones. He had the faculty of doing unostentatiously, but with great eff ciency, whatever he set out to do. Slow to come to a decision he was unusually steadfast in working out a decision to it's legitimate con- clusion. His was work prominent y characterized by lack of haste and presence of wisdom. If he himself would lave allowed it, UT his health had permitted, the responsibilities upon hir, "oul 1 have been increased even beyond those which he so well bore. For many years MT Brinsma le has been the central and guiding spirit in the public educational sg>. tenn of the town. His position on the the School Board has been of lln- usually 'ong duration in time Cover 20 years) and of great usefulness and discretion in the wisdom of its service to the community. Few smal towns have the privilege of suc.- ex- pert and wise administration in this position. For many years also Nl Brinsmade was the center of the musical interest and life of our com mu1i v. As a young man he s!,'- ceeded to the choir of the Congre- gational church, and at the same time he became Director of the Wash ington Glee club. and led it in the production of a number of concerts In this work he followed Earl Buck ingham, who was our musical patri- arch, and did what nobody else could have done in filling his place. In later years he ably assisted and sec onded MT Arthur D. Woodruff in the now famous summer chorus and con- certs. In every place requiring lead ership in music, whether on public occasions, or in private gatherings, whether festivals or funerals, it was MT Brinsmade to whom our con- munity inevitably turned. The Con- gregational church will miss him very greatly. He was chairman of it's Society's committee, and also secretary of the Society, and was acting as it's treasurer when he died.