The Newtown bee., 1909-04-16

lhulanlNs iHat eh9hNH hHu arAl ulhs trust, which 0YeTshadawed and half concealed the strength of character Was perhaps, another and earlier phase of what was later a certain humility if inner life, a eer- tain gentleness toward other mems feelings, Q patience with other mems faillngs, Q difference of attitude to- ward other mems opinions, which was much of the secret of the love which men of all types and kinds came to have for him,
 To the recollection of the present writer there was no oyerlaying or e0hcealment of distinction when he first knew him in 1882. He was q noticeable young man, lean. rather swarthy, with large dark eyes, q fine ly shaped head, q face strlKingly good locking and ot unmlstaka 5le power; quiet man, however. Tee served, one with whom 1t was lm- possible to take liberties We boys at the GunnCry school in Washington had an impression that 1t was not feasible. In our own Yernaeulaf, We probably expressed 1t as q broad philosophy, that When mans un- der jaw is gel that Way, 1t doesn't pay to fool with him" He came to teach Greek and Latin at the GIn- nery in the fall of 1881. It is proba- ble that he would have followed his father into railroadlng had 1t not been for the elder William Brins- made's brCak-dnwa ia hea. .h, en,, death in 1880 Had he 80 followed, 'hr executive faculty, the judgment, the grasp of detail, the tact in deal- ing with men, winch were so notice able in later years, would seem to show Lhat he would have been az successful as his father before him
 Railroads early and always, had a pc. culid! fysci. .atiO9 for him.
 Washington is one of the four ol five Litchfeld County towns that have been much relashioned of late years by the influence of more ol less distant cities. in particular by summer residents from New York
 Apart from the natu al attractions of the village and its surroundings
 the deeply cut valley below it ant the hills that surround and oYertoI t. tht original magnet that drew thI'
 outside influence into Washington was the Gunnery |hool, founded about 1S42, by Frederick Gunn, who
 Wus, among the educators of his gen
 eratiOn, one of the most singular anC effective. It was tlom the beginning as it is still, Brinsmade school, a! well as Q Gum school. Frederick Gum, himself a native of Washing
 tor married Brinsmade of Wash ington, and John Brinsmade,-tht
 elder brother, who preceded William
 Brinsmade at Harvard in the clas' of lS14,-had married the daughter of Frederick Gum, and now in 1881
 was principal of the Gunnery. Al that time it was school of forty tt
 fifty boys, who slept in double lecked beds in narrow rooms and en
 loved themselves quite as much a! their successors now mere luxurious
 y housed The old school room wa
 in the house in the north end of tht
 third story, fer the new school wa!
 built in 1882. In the pictures O.
 those days that arise in my owI
 mind l see the little recitation room
 that stood at the top of the seconC
 staircase and was half occupied by ;
 water tank. l seem to hear th'
 stun bling Lranslalions of Caesar ant
 Virgil into appalling English, mt
 seem to -rememher that MT Will'
 as he was called, was never impa
 tient with stupidity or even witt
 idleness, but that for some reasol or other one always preferred t
 know the lesson before going in, an,
 that the room was always quiet
 The ball ground that was or the oth CT side of the village, east of wher MT Richard Barnes house nov
 stands. MT Will, played first-base I remember his particular but infall
 ih:e way of taking the ball, and tn
 look of his long sinewy arms in tn
 act of it. I remember the Glee Gu
 that he organized among us, and le
 for many years. ] remember that h kept a COW and was said to get up | milk it before breakfast, l neve
 knew where he kept the COW. l
 seemed to me an eXtraOrdinar choice of occupation before break
 fast. remember the burden tha
 lay unon Us to get in to breakfas before he locked the door. It be longed to him to lock the door, and was not laid up against him. Never .heless, # ono was ln'ked out. on had to wait breakfastlese and ente
 at last conspicuous and uncomfort able. He had a greyhound, name Ross, as long as a rail fence and ( no great intelligence, whom he use to carry in his arms every night u : the, three flights of stairs to his rool
 ill the "Steeple." I remember lons sllen' wi1ter midnight ride with hil :, from the neighborirg town of Wal l ren. He was soon to become m t broth er-in-law, but my strong likin r for and admiration of him wei l mingled with sort of boyish awe. = In December of 1885 he was maj = ried to Ada Cotton, daughter of tn T Rev w. $. Cotton of Warren. Sh e was preparing at the Gunnery [ I take the harvard examinations, or r of the "Gunnery girls" There wei S always "Gunnery girls" in thos s days. It was tradition of the plac n The old school room, no longer h use. was divided in a suite, fitted u : for "Mr and Mrs Will" and called u t Chalet" In the summer of 18e d they moved into the house up u d hill above the Gunnery, called "Tf " Abbey" where Mrs Gum was a l. ready living, curious compost