Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-01

his running for him now. Rowing is
sport left over from school days. HIS
father. Charles A. Brown, was famous
amateur oarsman in the days when
rowing was the great international
sport and the family for generations
in Maine has lived beside the sea. His
taste for aquatlcs is an inherited one
But that is not all his inheritance.
possesses that which has been described
as 1.-The will to serve" To serve the
public. the nation with devotion and
singleness of purpose-this is the ami
so rapidly forging to the front in
national life The new ideal of public
service is theirs and IL is an ideal only
parelleled. but not surpassed, in the
military and naval services of the re-
public.
Patriotism with wrisley Brown. as
with others of his group. is not an idle
word; it is creed. In him, par
ticuIarly it seems an inherited instinct.
He comes of race that has served the
nation His ancestors on both the
paternal and the maternal sides are well
represented on the honor rolls of the
revolution, the war of 1872 and the war
of the rebellion.
His grandfather. Albert Brown. OF
Yorke. Me. fell in one of the earlier
engagements. His father was drum
years Of age. the youngest volunteer
from Maine. His grandmother, Marietta
Brown, left comfortable home In
Maine to go to the front as a Red Cross
nurse. and served through the thick of
the war emerging therefrom honored
for her acts of heroism.
Mary Louise Wrisley of Vermont.
mother of Wrisley Brown. came of an
old New England family. which had
many times responded to the nations
call to arms. She was noted for her
rare beauty and:literary talent
No wonder that Wrisley Brown. who
came of such fighting stock studied for
West Point. But he was deferred from
a career i'll the army by the death of
his father when Wrisiey was seventeen
years of age. This caused radieai
change in his plans for his life work.
AS he grew to manhood he turned his
thoughts to the civil service of the gov
eminent where lies equal opportunity
to serve, possibly in a less spectacular
but certainly in fully as patriotic q
manner.
Nevertheless, he had his fling i'll q
fashion in military life. He held the
commission of the President of the
United States at eighteen as second lieu
tenant of the District of Columbia
National Guard, and at nineteen COM
manded his company as first lieutenant
but resigned soon after because of press
of other duties
The battles Of the republic today are
being fought in the courts and in the ad-
ministrative offices. To fight them is
rising up this school of officials.
Many of them. like Wrisley Brown. have
been trained for the service from youth
UP. They go to their tasks untouched by
the spirit of modern commercialism and
untainted by partisan politics, courageous,
clear-eyed and devoted. The spirit which
moves the soldier gladly to risk life
on the battlefield is duplicated in the
shirt with which these young men are
willing to sacrifice future. financial re-
turns and, as their records show, even
life. in the discharge Of their duty.
That the members of this new and
idealistic school of public service should
rise to positions of power and resronsi-
bility in the government, as Wrisley
Brown has risen, is inevitable: for it
is written in Proverbs that THE hand
of the diligent shall bear rule. but the
elothful shall be under tribute
ASHMUN BROWN.