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MC»SES BROWN: A SKETCH 
 
 BY AUGUSTINE JONES, LL.B. 
 
M 
 
MOSES BROWN 
 
 HIS LIFE AND SERVICES. 
 
 A SKETCH, 
 
 READ BEFORE THE 
 
 RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 October i8, 1892. 
 
 BY AUGUSTINE JONES, LL.B. 
 
 I* 
 
 Principal of Friends School. 
 
 PRINTED BY AUTHORITY OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 PROVIDENCE: THE RHODE ISLAND PRINTING COMPANY. 
 MDCCCLXXXXII. 
 

At a meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society, held 
 Tuesday evening, October 18, 1892, Augustine Jones, LL.B., 
 read a Paper on Moses Brown ; at the conclusion of which, the 
 following resolution was offered by Mr. Wm. B. Weeden, and, 
 after highly complimentary remarks by Mr. Amasa M. Eaton and 
 President Rogers, was unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be, and are hereby 
 presented to Augustine Jones, LL.B., for his able and scholarly 
 sketch of the life and services of Moses Brown, and that a copy 
 of the same be requested for the archives of the Society, that 
 it may serve to honor and perpetuate the memory of one of 
 the founders of this Society, who was an eminent citizen of the 
 State, and an efficient promoter of the cause of education and of 
 humanity. 
 
 Extract from the records. 
 
 Amos Perry, Secretary. 
 
 Note. — Letters referred to in this document are nearly all in the 
 Cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society. 
 
 MS148'li 
 
MOSES BROWN. 
 
 Those gentle, unobtrusive people, who, without 
 seeking the attention and applause of men, have 
 nevertheless contributed to their liberties and their 
 education, and have assisted them to better food 
 and clothing, are now beginning to receive that 
 recognition and appreciation which, until recently, 
 was reserved exclusively for politicians, martial 
 heroes, and demi-gods. These are the true delvers 
 who remove the obstacles from human progress. 
 These are the moral heroes.* It may be said, in 
 
 ♦There is more heroism in self-denial than in deeds of arms. — 
 Seneca. 
 
 The true epic of our times is not "Arms and the Man," but " Tools 
 and the Man," an infinitely wider kind of epic. — Carlyle. 
 
 The time will come when the science of destruction shall bend 
 before the arts of peace ; when the genius which multiplies our pow- 
 ers, which creates new products, which diffuses comfort and happiness 
 among the great mass of the people, shall occupy, in the general 
 estimation of mankind, that rank which reason and common sense 
 now assign to it. — Arago. 
 
the trite words of Swift, without detracting from 
 a noble profession, " that whoever can make two 
 ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon 
 a spot of ground where only one grew before, will 
 deserve better of mankind, and do more essential 
 service to his country than the whole race of poli- 
 ticians put together." 
 
 Industry, invention and education, have fitted 
 out the cottage with comforts, luxuries and refine- 
 ments not possible until recently in the homes of 
 princes. The humblest person by the most unpre- 
 tending fireside, at a minimum cost, may now 
 study the wisdom of the ancients, or the marvel- 
 lous achievements of his own generation. 
 
 The city of Providence, fortunate in its situa- 
 tion at the head- waters of Narragansett Bay, 
 thrice fortunate in its birth of freedom and soul 
 liberty in 1636, was most highly favored in the 
 character and quality of its founders. 
 
 But in all that group of sterling, famous men, 
 who were the colleagues of Koger Williams, not 
 one was more able, upright and spotless than the 
 Rev. Chad Brown. And the descendants of that 
 heavenly minded man have had greater influence 
 upon the fortunes of this city than the offspring 
 of any other man living or dead. 
 
 Moses Brown, in direct lineage from Chad 
 Brown, was born in or near Providence, Septem- 
 
ber 23, 1738, and lived here until his death, Sep- 
 tember 6, 1836, almost ninety-eight years. His 
 long life covered nearly one-half of the existence 
 then, both of the colony and State. He was the 
 youngest son of James and Hope Brown. His 
 brothers were Nicholas, Joseph and John, or as 
 tradition says, the colored servant called them 
 from their sports, "Nickie, Josie, Jonnie, Mosie." 
 Moses Brown survived his brothers many years. 
 He left school at thirteen, having lost his father, 
 and went to live with his uncle, Obadiah Brown, 
 whose daughter, Anna, he married, in 1764. He 
 received considerable property from his uncle, who 
 made his share of his estate the same as that of 
 either of his children. And a further sum also 
 came to him by his marriage. This marriage was 
 blessed by a son and two daughters. The daughter 
 Sarah became the wife of William Almy, in 1794, 
 the other daughter died in infancy. His only son, 
 Obadiah Brown, died in 1822, at the age of fifty- 
 two years, his father surviving him fourteen years.* 
 Obadiah Brown and William Almy were partners 
 with Samuel Slater, the "Father of American 
 Manufactures," thirty years, from 1792 to 1822. 
 They manufactured the first pure cotton goods in 
 this country, under the Arkwright invention. 
 
 *See Letter of Noah Worcester, Vol. XIV., p. 287. 
 
 A 
 
The warps were previously linen. And Moses 
 Brown was the foster-parent of the enterprise. 
 
 He exhibited in childhood that rare judgment, 
 that fine quality of discrimination in men and 
 things, which distinguished him through life. He 
 took pride in old age in the following illustra- 
 tive anecdote : A cargo of molasses was being dis- 
 charged, and the children were allowed with their 
 spoons and bright tin pails to catch the dripping 
 molasses. A customer asked the merchant which 
 was the best cask he had? "I don't know," he 
 replied; '^ask that little Mo-sas-us faced Moses 
 Brown; he will tell you." 
 
 He was a Freemason, and, indeed, was secretary 
 of the lodge eleven years, until 1769. Then was 
 heard, as all through his life, " Moses Brown will 
 be there at the hour." He was, in 1760, admitted 
 to be a freeman, with full privileges of suffrage. 
 
 It marks a change in customs and sentiment, 
 that he was authorized, in 1762, to secure thirty 
 thousand dollars, by lottery, to pave the streets 
 of this city, and that he himself was a director 
 in that lottery. It is not so remarkable, however, 
 when we remember that the best people made use 
 of such means to raise money for churches, or for 
 any other common good. It, however, shows his 
 public spirit. 
 
 The Brown brothers were in partnership ten 
 
years, from 1763, and did a very large and suc- 
 cessful business.* 
 
 Moses Brown lost his wife, Anna, in 1773, when 
 he was thirty-five years of age. He married twice 
 afterwards; first, Mary Olney, in 1779, who died 
 in 1798, Phoebe Lock wood, in 1799, who died in 
 1808. The last twenty-eight years of his life he 
 was unmarried. 
 
 Moses Brown and Stephen Hopkins assisted 
 Joseph Brown in observing the transit of Yenus, 
 in 1769. This was done so accurately that the 
 United States Coast Survey has since found the 
 results very satisfactory. Joseph Brown expended 
 five hundred dollars upon this observation, and 
 the location is now called Transit street. Moses 
 Brown had a special taste and aptitude for mathe- 
 mathics, and, like George Washington, was an 
 accomplished surveyor of land, and possessed an 
 elegant London-made compass. 
 
 This same year, 1769, Moses Brown moved the 
 Assembly, of which he was a member, to have the 
 northern line of the State rectified. But Ehode 
 Island had so long neglected her interests, that, 
 although she contended one hundred and fifty 
 years in all, she lost, and Massachusetts gained a 
 district over one-fifth of the present size of Rhode 
 
 * "Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of 
 man." — Disraeli. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Island. He was a member of the Committee 
 which reported the line to the Assembly to be 
 four miles north of the present boundary. 
 
 He represented this town in the Assembly more 
 than seven years from 1764, at that period when 
 bitter and strained relations began to exist between 
 the colony and mother country. There was fierce 
 strife, also, between Ward and Hopkins, and, 
 although Hopkins was one of his nearest and 
 dearest friends, and the Ward faction had reason 
 to feel that his sympathies were against them, yet, 
 with a full measure of public confidence, he was 
 again and again re-elected without opposition. 
 He was on the most important committees. He 
 was a member of the committee respecting the 
 Stamp Act, which, by its resolutions in the inter- 
 ests of Liberty, exceeded in spirit and vigor the 
 declarations of all sister colonies. They neither 
 hesitated nor faltered; they said 'Hhat the As- 
 sembly of Khode Island has the sole and exclusive 
 right to lay taxes, and all attempts in that direc- 
 tion by others are unconstitutional." They de- 
 clared that the officers of the colony were to dis- 
 regard the Stamp Act, and the colony will indem- 
 nify and save them harmless."* 
 
 * There can be no affinity nearer than our country. — Plato. 
 
 Of the whole sum of human life, no small part is that which con- 
 
 ^ 
 
11 
 
 It was in 1770 that Leagues* were formed in 
 many places against the use of tea. The mis- 
 tresses of three hundred families in Boston sub- 
 scribed to such a league, February 9th, binding 
 themselves not to drink tea until the Eevenue Act 
 should be repealed. And on the 12th the young 
 ladies of Boston signed one, saying, **We do 
 with pleasure engage in denying ourselves the 
 drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan 
 which tends to deprive a whole community of all 
 that is valuable in life." It reveals to us the 
 intense patriotic sentiments of Moses Brown, his 
 sturdy character, his obedience to duty, that he 
 also then made a vow to drink no more tea, and 
 meekly and quietly kept it more than sixty years, 
 even to the end of life. He furnished to his guests 
 always what Samuel Pepys called a "Chinese 
 drink," of excellent quality, while he drank coffee 
 or herb tea. "If meat make my brother to offend, 
 I will eat no flesh while the world standeth." 
 
 The burning of the Gaspee, in 1772, was stig- 
 matized in England by one high in authority, as 
 
 sists of man's relations to his country, and his feelings concerning it. 
 — Gladstone. 
 
 That grounded maxim, so rife and celebrated in the mouths of 
 wisest men, that to the public good private respects must yield. — 
 Milton. 
 
 *Tea Leagues, 2 Harper's Cyclopedia of United States History, 
 p. 1376. 
 
12 
 
 ''A crime of deeper dye than piracy." And it 
 was suggested that persons from Providence would 
 be sent to England to be tried for their lives, if 
 suspected of a share in it. Governor Hutchinson, 
 of Massachusetts, proposed to annul the charter of 
 the colony. Rhode Island, in her distress, appealed 
 to Samuel Adams. The committee were Darius 
 Sessions, Deputy Governor; Stephen Hopkins, 
 Chief Justice; John Cole, and Moses Brown.* 
 
 The characteristic reply of Adams was, that 
 "An attack upon the liberties of one colony, was 
 an attack upon the liberties of all." He was 
 thoroughly sensible, as Franklin was, when he 
 had signed the Declaration of Independence, that 
 they "must hang together, or they would hang 
 separately." 
 
 The life and future career of Moses Brown were 
 suddenly and effectively changed, by the death of 
 his wife, Anna, Feb. 5, 1773. He was placed on 
 the committee to correspond with the other colo- 
 nies, in June, but his feelings, his desires, his heart 
 were changed. f Returning from the grave of 
 
 * Bancroft's History of the United States, Vol. VI., p. 441. 
 
 f Everything that happens to us, leaves some trace behind; every- 
 thing contributes imperceptibly to make us what we are. — Goethe. 
 
 He has himself revealed his political limitations, in a very interest- 
 ing letter to James Warren, who, after the death of General Joseph 
 Warren, became President of the Provincial Congress of Massachu- 
 setts. He writes : " My Religious Principles, thou art, I presume, 
 
13 
 
 his wife, and meditating upon the Lord's mer- 
 cies and favors, and seeking to know what the 
 Divine will was concerning him, he says : " I saw 
 my slaves with my spiritual eyes as plainly as I 
 see you now, and it was given me as clearly to 
 understand that the sacrifice that was called for 
 of my hand was to give them their liberty."* 
 He was '' not disobedient unto the Heavenly vis- 
 ion."f He " conferred not with flesh and blood," 
 but on the 10th day of the 11th month, 1773, 
 made the deed of manumission, giving liberty to 
 ten slaves.J The deed is duly recorded in the 
 
 sensible, do not admit of my interfering in War, but my love for my 
 country, and sense of just rights, is not thereby abated, and if my 
 poor abilities could be any way subservient to a happy change of 
 affairs, nothing on my part would be wanting. I had thoughts of 
 coming to Cambridge, and giving you some account of affairs, and the 
 disposition I found the people in at Boston, having a considerable 
 opportunity with the principal Officers of the Army and Navy, as well 
 as with the Selectmen. But the fatigues of such a disagreeable 
 errand weighed strongly to bring me home to my family and friends, 
 who were anxiously waiting our return." 
 
 Providence, 11 of 5 mo., 1115. —Letters, Vol. IL,p. 82. 
 
 * Every duty we omit, obscures some truth we should have known. 
 — Ruskin. 
 
 There is no evil that we cannot face, or fly from, but the conscious- 
 ness of duty disregarded. — Daniel Webster. 
 
 To what gulfs a single deviation from the track of human duties 
 leads 1 — Byron. 
 
 ■}• Obedience is the mother of success. — JEschylus. 
 
 J Not the Christian religion only, but Nature herself cries out 
 against the state of slavery. — Leo X. 
 
14 
 
 Probate Records, Vol. 6, page 73, and a copy is 
 in the Cabinet of this Society. This document 
 is full of directions to his legal representatives to 
 take care of these wards, who had not been taught 
 to take care of themselves. 
 
 It reveals, also, the peculiar religious teachings 
 of the Society of Friends, of that period, although 
 he did not join them until the next year. He 
 says to his slaves, " Be watchful and attentive to 
 that Divine teaching in your own minds, that con- 
 vinces you of sin, and as you dutifully obey its 
 enlightenments and teachings, it will not only 
 cause you to avoid open sin, * * * ]3ut 
 will teach and lead you into all that is necessary 
 for you to know as your duty to the Great Master 
 of all men, for He says, ' 1 will write it in their 
 hearts, and they shall all know me, from the least 
 to the greatest.'" He became a member of the 
 Society of Friends April 28th, 1774. The com- 
 mittee to visit him report "that they have had 
 an opportunity with him, and think it may be 
 safe to grant his request. Therefore, he is received 
 under the care of the meeting." 
 
 This record is certainly tame in the light of his 
 subsequent career in the Society, of which he was 
 for half a century the most distinguished orna- 
 ment, and the most influential member in New 
 England. Stephen Hopkins was disowned by 
 
 1 
 
15 
 
 Friends, in March, 1773, because he would not 
 liberate a slave woman. He, however, attended 
 the meetings of the Society through life. It is 
 probable that he was annoyed by the officious- 
 ness of the committee in meddling with his pri- 
 vate affairs, and refused to be dictated to by them. 
 He was certainly always in favor of human free- 
 dom. Moses Brown the same year liberated his 
 slaves, and the next year joined the Society which 
 Stephen Hopkins had left. 
 
 The Revolutionary War and separation from 
 the mother countr}^ probably received little sym- 
 pathy from Moses Brown. He was not prepared 
 for resistance to blood. There he found his lim- 
 itation. He was surprised, in 1776, when separa- 
 tion was suggested to him as a possibility. Even 
 Dr. Franklin did not, until the very latest mo- 
 ment, think such extreme results were to follow. 
 Rhode Island, by opposition to impost law, set in 
 motion the agitation which brought forth the Con- 
 stitution of the United States ; and yet she was 
 the last of the original States to adopt it. 
 
 It has been said, on excellent authority, that in 
 that critical period, between 1787 and 1790, -in 
 which the momentous question of the Union wa- 
 vered in the balance, the great personal influence 
 of Moses Brown with his fellow-citizens, (al- 
 though he was in private life,) contributed power- 
 
16 
 
 fully towards the ratification of the Constitution 
 by this State. 
 
 Silent influence, without annals, has often been 
 more potent in great events, than the incidents 
 with brilliant record, which have taken the name 
 of history. 
 
 The once belligerent Moses Brown had become 
 an apostle of peace. The religious change from 
 Baptist opinions and teachings to the views of 
 Friends which he experienced, has been often 
 the subject of comment. He himself related 
 that his first religious interest was awakened in 
 a frightful storm on the bay, when he seemed 
 to stand in the very presence of death. But the 
 loss of his first wife, the liberation of his slaves, 
 and the sympathy received by him from the 
 Society of Friends in this act of justice, his 
 studies, and the natural constitution of his mind, 
 which was of a deeply contemplative nature, 
 all contributed to direct him to that field where 
 his eminent Christian course of usefulness and 
 true nobility of soul were to be most intimately 
 known and felt. 
 
 Not a Friend in the world held slaves in 1776, 
 the era of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 His brother John, or as he called him " Brother 
 John," the chief rebel connected with the destruc- 
 tion of the Gaspee, was captured on his own cargo 
 
17 
 
 of flour, April 22, 1775, and taken by the British 
 to Boston as a prisoner. Moses, the Quaker, fol- 
 lowed him to Boston, carrying nineteen letters of 
 noted people, to aid his expedition, the purpose 
 of which was to save John, who was in great 
 peril. It has long been a difficult question what 
 means and methods such a good man could have 
 used to rescue his brother, when John was the 
 very man, the exact fugitive from justice the 
 English had been searching for during three years, 
 with great vigilance and cost. 
 
 It is very gratifying that Moses Brown has him- 
 self narrated frankly his proceedings in the ex- 
 trication of " Brother John," and thereby removed 
 all possible doubt, if there ever was any, of his 
 own simple honesty and integrity in what he said 
 and did in Boston for his release.* The account 
 of this adventure is in a letter to Tristam Burges, 
 now in the archives of this Society, bearing date 
 January 12th, 1836, written only nine months 
 before his own death, and it assists us to fix the 
 date of the capture of John, if we bear in mind 
 that it was three days after the skirmish at Lex- 
 ington. The Bi-itish were in the city of Boston, 
 
 * The fine conscientiousness, strict good faith and honor of Moses 
 Brown in this affair, appear in his letter to John three days before 
 the Battle of Bunker Hill, entreating him to live up to the promises 
 which had secured his release in Boston. — Letters, Vol, II-, p. S5 ; see 
 also the Answer of John Brown, p. 36. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 and the Americans were besieging it. He passed 
 the American lines successfully with his letters ; 
 he next encountered the British sentinel, who did 
 not see him until he was near to him, and then 
 he says, *' When he turned and saw me near him, 
 he was so angry that he gave me such a blast as 
 I never had, or heard before. I did not know 
 what his fright might induce him to do." They 
 were both thoroughly frightened; but soon his 
 letters took him to General Gage, to Admiral 
 Graves, to Chief Justice Oliver, and also to visit 
 " Brother John." He was the very first Ameri- 
 can who had gone into Boston after the contest at 
 Lexington, and while he waited for General Gage 
 he conversed with Major Pitcairn, who convinced 
 him that he thought the Americans fired first at 
 Lexington. Judge Oliver, who was one of the 
 Commissioners who held Court in Newport a long 
 time, directed by his Majesty to find out who 
 burnt the Gaspee, said to Moses Brown, " It is 
 true there were named before the Court five John 
 Browns, some black, some white, but no person 
 was so identified as to enable the Court to issue 
 any process, and, on considering the subject, we 
 were united in judgment that nothing further 
 could be done, and I will speak to the Admiral, if 
 you wish it." And, at his request, the Admiral 
 set " Brother John " at liberty ; and now follows 
 
19 
 
 the words of Moses Brown, of deepest import, — 
 " It happened well for me and for John that I 
 knew nothing of his being concerned in the burn- 
 ing of the Gaspee, or that he was charged with 
 it." 
 
 It was his honest entreaty in behalf of "Brother 
 John," his perfect certainty that John had no con- 
 nection whatever with the affair, that brought 
 about his rescue. If anyone is still inclined to 
 suspect that he knew more than he admitted, par- 
 ticularly as he was a partner in business with 
 John, the answer to it is, that we have the words 
 to the contrary of an honest man, who, of all men, 
 knew whereof he spoke. He says he not only 
 knew nothing of John's connection with the affair, 
 but he did not know "that he was charged with 
 it." Besides, he had no motive to be false in re- 
 lating the story voluntarily to Tristam Burges, 
 sixty years after the event. There was now no 
 "Brother John" to capture from the merciless 
 British. It is to be remembered, also, that on 
 that night, when citizens in the village of Provi- 
 dence were gathering^n boats to resist the attack 
 on their liberties, he was probably at his home by 
 the Seekonk, more than a mile away, and, as there 
 was little more than a bridle path to it, that dis- 
 tance became a far more remote separation than 
 it would be at present, and hardly a secret in his- 
 
20 
 
 tory was better kept, until there was no further 
 occasion for concealment, than the names of the 
 persons who burnt the Gaspee. 
 
 But to return to the brothers : they both mount- 
 ed the same horse Moses Brown had ridden to 
 Boston, John in the saddle, because he was older 
 and larger, and Moses on behind. They were re- 
 ceived upon their arrival in Providence, with 
 joy beyond expression,*'^* They were immediately 
 called upon to attend the General Assembly, and 
 relate all they had seen and heard. Stephen Hop- 
 kins, then a member of Congress, was present, 
 and thereupon an earnest discussion ensued, and 
 the Assembly, at that very sitting, voted to raise 
 a regiment of five hundred men, and Generals 
 Greene and Varnum to be put at the head of it. 
 
 Moses Brown, having liberated his slaves, be- 
 came an earnest abolitionist. He was a founder 
 of the Abolition Society of Providence. He gave 
 to the colored people the landf on which they built 
 their house of worship. His house was a place 
 of refuge on the underground railway to Canada. 
 He visited Congress in Philadelphia, asking for 
 the suppression of the slave trade. He agitated 
 the subject constantly in the Society of Friends. 
 They held no slaves themselves, but they were 
 
 * See Letter of William Harris. 
 
 t Letter to George Macarty, Vol. XIII., p. 32. 
 
21 
 
 urged by him to use everywhere their utmost 
 influence to extinguish the evil. He frequently 
 visited other States, stimulating and spurring the 
 people to legislation against the traffic in men. 
 
 Before Garrison and Phillips were born, this 
 excellent man was sturdily fighting the battle of 
 human freedom, with his friends Anthony Bene- 
 zet* and John Woolman as co-laborers. These 
 men assisted in preparing the way for the fincil 
 overthrow of that gigantic wickedness. John G. 
 Whittier says, "I read to Moses Brown, in 1833 
 or 4, at his request, the speech of the Premier 
 on the passage of the Emancipation Act in Eng- 
 land." He gave in his will five hundred dollars 
 to the anti-slavery cause. f 
 
 Every chapter in the life of this noble man is 
 another illustration of his regard for the whole 
 people, without distinction of race or rank. Vital 
 religion and love to God had filled him with love 
 to men. He had learned the luxury of doing 
 good, and that the highest happiness is found in 
 being helpful to others. 
 
 While he labored t6 free the bodies of one race, 
 he sought by education to liberate the minds of 
 all races and classes. 
 
 *Benezet wrote that tract which started Thomas Clarkson on his 
 mission to suppress slavery in the British West Indies. 
 
 •j- Letter to Samuel Coates, Vol. XITL, p. 4. 
 
22 
 
 He was appointed, with three others, by the 
 town of Providence, in 1767, to draft an ordinance 
 for free schools, and Higginson says the report of 
 this committee was the first attempt to embody 
 and organize the free school idea.* He was next 
 on a committee of the Society of Friends, in April, 
 1777, to draw a plan for free schools in the Soci- 
 ety, which was carried out, and Moses Brown was 
 placed on the first school committee in northern 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 He was deeply interested in Rhode Island Col- 
 lege, which afterwards received the name of Brown 
 University. He was a member of the Assembly 
 which granted its charter, and this is given as 
 the reason why he was not a charter member. 
 When Newport, Warren, Greenwich and Provi- 
 dence were all presenting their advantages and 
 special attractions as the abiding place of the 
 college, Stephen Hopkins and Moses Brown were 
 the representatives of Providence in the meeting, 
 
 * The opening of the first grammar school, was the opening of the 
 first trench against monopoly in Church and State ; the first row of 
 trammels and pot-hooks which the little Shearjashubs and Elkanahs 
 blotted and blubbered across their copy-books, was the preamble to 
 the Declaration of Independence. — Lowell. 
 
 Not only the needle-gun, but the schools, have won our battles. — 
 Lehnert. 
 
 Public instruction should be the first object of government. — Na- 
 poleon I. 
 
 Toil of Science swells the wealth of Art. — Schiller. 
 
23 
 
 and by virtue of their offers of endowment, their 
 eloquence and arguments, the college came to 
 Providence, February 9th, 1770. He gave the 
 college one thousand dollars in 1771, and after- 
 wards a donation of books. Dr. R. A. Guild says : 
 "The first motion to have the college in Provi- 
 dence came, so far as we can learn, from Moses 
 Brown." Is it too much to honor him as a founder 
 of the noble University ? He certainly was one 
 of its earnest friends in its infancy. 
 
 During the War of the Revolution, the Society 
 of Friends began to agitate the subject of a school 
 for higher education, and in 1780, ten years after 
 the University was located here, a subscription 
 was taken for such a school, and Moses Brown 
 gave five hundred and seventy-five dollars to it. 
 He wrote an earnest appeal to the Society in 1782, 
 of nineteen printed pages, and, in 1784, after the 
 war, the school began, in a little upper chamber 
 in the old meeting house in Portsmouth, R. I. 
 The building is still standing, visible from the 
 hills of Providence, arrayed, it is to be regretted, 
 in modern ornament. His son Obadiah attended 
 this school, and his Latin Grrammar, with his 
 name in it, in his father's hand-writing, is kept 
 with miser care. Isaac Lawton, schoolmaster, 
 poet and preacher, was the first principal. This 
 school had a brief life, and after four struggling 
 years, took a recess of thirty-one years. 
 
24 
 
 Moses Brown was treasurer. He gathered the 
 scanty fragments of school property ; he invested 
 to advantage, and, in 1814, he offered to donate 
 to the school its present site of forty-three acres 
 of land, and informed the meeting that the rem- 
 nant of the Portsmouth school estate had grown 
 to nine thousand three hundred dollars. The 
 subscriptions, under this impetus, came in freely, 
 and the school opened again, January 1st, 1819, 
 in the principal building of the present Friends 
 School. He gave the school constant care during 
 the last seventeen years of his life, making per- 
 petual donations to it. His son, Obadiah, died in 
 1822, leaving to it by far the largest bequest in 
 one sum, which had been given to any school or 
 college in this country.* The will of the boy was 
 in the hand-writing of the father.f They were 
 united to each other as the heart of one man, but 
 the soul of Moses Brown was marching through 
 the history of the Friends School for almost sixty 
 years. It adds to the historic significance of this 
 large fund, that it came from the first manufac- 
 ture of unmixed cotton fabric in America. 
 
 It is neither the time nor the place to consider 
 the importance of this school to Khode Island 
 and the country. It has sent out thousands upon 
 
 * Letter of John Osborne, Vol. XIV., p. 292. 
 f See Letter of Moses Brown, Vol. XIV., p. 288. 
 
25 
 
 thousands of students to influence countless thou- 
 sands who never saw it. Its founder had the 
 limitations of his sect, as all other people were 
 more circumscribed then than now. I am not 
 sure that they were not quite as unsullied, hu- 
 mane and righteous as we are. He had liberal 
 and broad ideas both as to the means and methods 
 of education. He approved of thorough classical 
 culture.* He wished the advantages of the 
 school to extend beyond the bounds of sect, 
 and to be useful to mankind. Everything he 
 had to do with was planned with a large, far- 
 reaching purpose. It will be remembered, in 
 this connection, that Harvard College, in its 
 beginning, was for Christ and the Church. Its 
 aim was to prepare ministers of the Gospel, 
 but the age and the demands of the times have 
 called it to a wider service. 
 
 Moses Brown invited Samuel Slater to come to 
 Providence, and bring with him the Arkwright 
 invention. He was on his Way to Philadelphia, 
 and was influenced solely by Moses Brown to come 
 here. Moses Brown selected the Wilkinsons, as 
 the best blacksmiths and mechanics for the under- 
 taking, and it was a very wise choice. They are 
 believed to have been the most skillful in the 
 
 *" We do not care how much learning our teachers have." — Letter 
 of Moses Brown to David Daniels, Vol. XIV., p. 319. 
 
26 
 
 country. He had himself been long interested 
 in the subject. He had previously purchased all 
 the machines which he could obtain, that were in 
 the direction of this invention, which invention 
 and undertaking consisted in spinning* cotton so 
 that it could be used for warps in place of linen 
 thread, and in the moving of the machinery by 
 water. It is very important to note how long and 
 how much the mind of Moses Brown was awak- 
 ened on the subject of cotton spinning before he 
 knew Slater. These previous efforts enable us to 
 see why he so readily took up a stranger, an immi- 
 grant without money, drawings, or anything ex- 
 cept his own honest, manly person and character 
 to recommend him. It adds greatly to the force 
 of this consideration, if we call to mind that mul- 
 titudes of imposters had come out from England 
 claiming to be able to construct the Arkwright 
 machinery. 
 
 Moses Brown wrote to Samuel Slater, December 
 12th, 1789 : ^'Come and work our machines, and 
 have the credit as well as advantage of perfecting 
 the first water-mill in America." Samuel Slater 
 came, and Moses Brown took the financial risk, 
 and furnished him with the best means and oppor- 
 
 * Spinning was performed previously to the year 1767 on the do- 
 mestic one-thread wheel. — Memoir of Samuel Slater, by George S. White, 
 p. 80. 
 
27 
 
 tunity in the country to unfold and perfect the 
 Arkwright invention. Whoever has had his pa- 
 tience tested by the plausible recitals of inventors, 
 or had his bank account depleted in a fruitless 
 attempt to materialize their dreams of impossible 
 things, will have sympathy with the undertaking 
 of Moses Brown, and will entertain a certain rev- 
 erence for that sublime faith and foresight which 
 controlled and guided him in this great and patri- 
 otic service. The eminent services of the En- 
 glishman, Samuel Slater, are justly held in high 
 esteem, while the skill, tact, push, and capital of 
 the native Americans, Moses Brown and the Wil- 
 kinsons, which so largely contributed to the recon- 
 struction of the machinery here that it seems like 
 a re-invention, are little thought of, or cast off 
 with tardy and scanty praise. They are entitled 
 to a much higher recognition in this country than 
 they have received. It was remarked by one who 
 knew, that the timely practical suggestions of 
 Moses Brown followed the construction at every 
 stage. Moses Brown said, "The machinery was 
 so much longer in preparation than he expected, 
 that he was discouraged."* The most clever and 
 expert mechanics in the world were not then 
 
 *They were more than a twelve-month completing, before we could 
 get a single warp of cotton perfected. — Letter of Moses Brown to John 
 Dexter^ Oct. 15, 1791, Memoir of Samuel Slater, by George S. White, p. 85. 
 
28 
 
 swarming in the streets of Providence, neither 
 were huge engines then on every hill and in every 
 valley driving machinery and doing the labor of 
 thousands of men with great perfection and with 
 the versatility almost of human thought. The 
 trials and efforts of Samuel Slater were very great, 
 no doubt. In deep anxiety, with tears in his eyes, 
 he says, "If I am frustrated in my carding ma- 
 chines, they will think me an imposter."* " So 
 great a work it was to found the Roman nation." 
 
 Moses Brown, without any aid from the State,f 
 nation, or other persons, carried through and de- 
 veloped, so far as capital was concerned, this art 
 of manufacture, to the great honor and benefit of 
 Rhode Island, an achievement which both the 
 States of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts sought 
 in vain to accomplish with public bounty. 
 
 Neither were Moses Brown's trials at an end 
 
 * Memoir of Samuel Slater, bj George S. White, pp. 96, 97. 
 
 f " No encouragement has been given by any laws of this State, nor 
 by any donations of any society or individuals, but wholly begun, 
 carried on, and thus far perfected, at private expense." — Letter of Moses 
 Brown ; see Memoir of Samuel Slater, by George S. White, pp. 88, 89. 
 
 John Dexter has shown his appreciation of the services of Moses 
 Brown in his letter of July 7th, 1791, as follows: "I address myself 
 to you on this subject with more confidence, from a full conviction 
 that, as no one in the State has more at heart the encouragement of 
 our infant manufactures — has been more indefatigable and liberal in 
 the establishment, improvement and use of them than yourself, so no 
 one can possibly possess a more competent knowledge of their com- 
 mencement, progress and present state." 
 
29 
 
 when the machinery was in successful operation. 
 When it was known in England that, in spite of 
 law and of guards, the Arkwright invention had 
 really escaped and gone to America, then the En- 
 glish manufacturers combined in associations to 
 flood this country with cheap goods, and, with 
 bankrupt prices, to strangle the infant at its 
 birth* 
 
 Then thrice fortunate for this cause and for us, 
 the tariff of July 4th, 1789, signed by Washing- 
 ton, unconstitutional or not, declared to be for the 
 assistance of these very industries, came at this 
 juncture and crisis, as a barrier, protection, and 
 defence. And also we were fortunate in the cour- 
 age and steadfast purpose of Moses Brown that, 
 with profit or without, this should succeed, for the 
 public good.f 
 
 That we may more fully appreciate the scope 
 and importance of this undertaking, I will quote 
 from distinguished contemporaries. 
 
 Tristam Burges said in Congress,J " A circum- 
 
 *This, I am informed by good auth^ity, was the policy of the En- 
 glish manufacturers, formed into societies for that purpose. — Moses 
 Brown. — Memoir of Samuel Slater, hy George S. White, p. 68. 
 
 f " Fire is the test of gold ; adversity, of strong men." — Seneca. 
 
 Grit is the grain of character. It may generally be described as 
 heroism materialized, — spirit and will thrust into heart, brain, and 
 backbone, so as to form part of the physical substance of the man. — 
 Whipple. 
 
 {Speech on the tariff in the House of Representatives, April 21, 
 1828, p. 80, — See Memoir of Samuel Slater^ hy George S. White, p. 94- 
 
30 
 
 stance worthy of the attention of the whole na- 
 tion, and worthy, also, of a fair page in history, 
 is the art and mystery of making cloth with ma- 
 chinery moved by water-power. This was intro- 
 duced into Ehode Island, and commenced at Paw- 
 tucket, four miles from Providence, about the 
 same time that the American system of tariff was 
 established by the impost law of July 4th, 1789." 
 * * * uj have often thought Divine Provi- 
 dence directed Slater, and brought him to lay his 
 project before the Wilkinsons, because He had not 
 fitted any other men in the country with minds 
 and abilities either to see and at once compre- ^ 
 hend the immense benefit of it, or to under- 
 stand and perform what must be understood and 
 performed to bring this scheme into full and per- 
 fect operation." * * " A yard of cloth made by . 
 the wheel and the loom, cost fifty, never less than 
 forty cents; it may now be had for nine or ten 
 cents. A trade so productive of public benefit, 
 will be duly appreciated by all patriots." 
 
 I think that we shall all agree, that in a higher, 
 if not a truer sense, Mr. Burges ought to have 
 said, that Divine Providence directed Samuel 
 Slater to Moses Brown, and by years of training 
 and experience, prepared him ardently and joy- 
 fully to welcome Mr. Slater. Because the Wil- 
 kinsons were only the chosen agents of Moses 
 
31 
 
 Brown, and from the meeting of Brown and 
 Slater, all came as a natural sequence. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the 
 Treasury, said in commendation : " The manufac- 
 tories of cotton goods, not long since established 
 at Beverly, in Massachusetts, and at Providence, 
 in the State of Rhode Island, and conducted with 
 a perseverance corresponding with the patriotic 
 motives which began them, seem to have over- 
 come the first obstacle to success. The quality 
 will bear comparison with the like article brought 
 from Manchester."* But the Secretary does not 
 mention that Beverly, with the bounty and the 
 Commonwealth at its back, still used linen for 
 warps, and was in the rear, far out of sight in 
 the race. 
 
 Each of these distinguished contemporaries rec- 
 ognizes the patriotic purpose which dominates this 
 great enterprise, and here, at least, Moses Brown 
 is conspicuous. He says himself, "I, being desir- 
 ous of perfecting the machines if possible, and the 
 business of cotton manufactures, so as to be useful 
 to the country." 
 
 All the other factoriesf in the country sprang 
 from this one. All the others took the mystery 
 
 \ * Report of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury of the 
 
 United States, December 5, 1791. 
 
 I Memoir of Samuel Slater, by George S. White, pp. 106, lOY, 85. 
 
32 
 
 and art from this fountain source. To this group 
 of men, including the Wilkinsons, belongs the 
 fadeless honor of having begun and set in motion 
 the elements of that thrift and prosperity in man- 
 ufacturing with both cotton and wool which has 
 nourished and built up these New England States, 
 and provided the people at large with the com- 
 forts and luxuries of life, and their homes with 
 the culture and refinement which characterizes the 
 highest civilization in the world.* 
 
 We will not snatch the laurel from one brow, 
 to twine it about the other, of these two illustrious 
 men. One was the father, the other was the fos- 
 ter-parent. The cloth they made could not exist 
 without both the woof and the warp. This great 
 achievement required both of them. Let the 
 praise be duly awarded according to the distin- 
 guished merits of each of them, and let all men 
 join in grateful appreciation of what they did for 
 us, without us. But let every Khode Island man, 
 
 * Tristam Burges said "That these manufactures enabled England so 
 to multiply labor and accumulate wealth in the close of the last and 
 beginning of the present century as to stand between the military 
 despotism of one part of Europe, and the entire liberties of the world." 
 — Speech at Pawiucket, June 16, 1828 ; see also Baines' History of Cot- 
 ton Manufactures. 
 
 "Nor will the enlightened judgment of moderns deny that the 
 men to whom we owe such inventions, deserve to rank among the 
 chief benefactors of mankind." — George S. Whitens Memoir of Samuel 
 Slater, p. 91. 
 
33 
 
 in a special manner, proudly remember that here, 
 on this spot most highly favored of Heaven, the 
 cradle of infant manufactures was first rocked for 
 the whole country. 
 
 There was a bit of romance which must not be 
 neglected. When Mr. Slater entered Mr. Wilkin- 
 son's house the first time, the blacksmith's daugh- 
 ter disappeared at the same instant by another 
 door, and Mr. Slater's peace of mind went with 
 her. But the course of love met an obstruction. 
 He was not a Friend, and it was a firm rule of 
 the Society then that Friends must not marry 
 other persons. So it was concluded to send Sarah 
 away to school. But the future father of Ameri- 
 can manufactures said, "You may send her where 
 you please, but I will follow her to the ends of 
 the earth." The contest was hopeless, — the fam- 
 ily yielded. 
 
 The assistance rendered to Slater by Moses 
 Brown, reminds one of Edward Pease, of England, 
 a Quaker, who, it was said, could see a hundred 
 years ahead. He found George Stephenson, the 
 engine-wright, then known as " Geordie," in a coal 
 pit in the north of England, in 1822. People 
 scoffed, but Pease gave Stephenson capital and 
 opportunity, and the locomotive engine is chang- 
 ing the face of the earth. 
 
 It was July 17, 1776, three months after he had 
 
34 
 
 liberated "Brother John," that Moses Brown ap- 
 peared again at the lines of General Washington, 
 in Boston, with a mission to follow in the wasting 
 track of war, and feed the starving poor. Wash- 
 ington could not allow it; the British commanders 
 refused to permit them to pass, but they went to 
 Lynn and sent in provisions in boats, by permis- 
 sion of Admiral Graves.* 
 
 Moses Brown, with his committee of Friends, 
 aided three thousand and thirty families in differ- 
 ent places, consisting of six thousand nine hun- 
 dred and twenty-three persons. The Friends of 
 Philadelphia furnished for the purpose $12,700,f 
 in addition to donations in New England. They 
 followed the whole coast from New Hampshire to 
 Newport, including the islands of the sea. These 
 people were not giving aid and comfort to the 
 enemy; they were saving the lives of non-com- 
 batants, within the city and without. Such action 
 looks for justification to the higher law, rather 
 than to the will of commanders.J It takes its 
 
 *The latest gospel in this world is, Know thy work, and do it. — 
 Carlyle. 
 
 Doing good is the only certainly happy action of a man's life. — 
 Sir Philip Sydney. 
 
 Good deeds ring clear through Heaven, like a bell. — Richter. 
 
 f Letter of Moses Brown to Henry Loyd, Vol. IL, pp. 47, 48, 50. 
 Records of the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England, 1775. 
 
 J Humanity is the equity of the heart. — Confucius. 
 
 ^ 
 
35 
 
 appeal to the court of Heaven. Moses Brown was 
 never thought to be disloyal. His philanthropic 
 work was not done in secret. He continued 
 always in the closest friendship with Stephen 
 Hopkins, who was thirty-one years his senior, and 
 was an ardent supporter of the war. Moses Brown 
 writes, in 1781, "I was with Stephen Hopkins 
 sitting, when General Washington called to see 
 him. I sat some time viewing the simple, friendly 
 and pleasant manner in which these two great 
 men met, and conversed with each other on vari- 
 ous subjects. I have occasionally seen Washing- 
 ton before and since, and been impressed by his 
 simple, easy manner, as resembling that of Gov- 
 ernor Hopkins." The natural inference follows 
 that they both kindly regarded Moses Brown. 
 When President Andrew Jackson visited Provi- 
 dence, June 20th, 1833, he said to him, "lam 
 glad to see thee. I have known all thy predeces- 
 sors in office, and I wanted to see thee." He was 
 nearly ninety-five years of age then. 
 
 The helpful service of this remarkable man 
 appears everywhere in the history of his native 
 city during his long life. He was one of the 
 founders of the Providence Athenaeum library ; he 
 held share No. 1 in that corporation. He was 
 a founder of a Society for the Promotion of 
 Agriculture in Rhode Island. He was a founder 
 of the Rhode Island Bible Society, an insti- 
 
36 
 
 tution of growing influence. He was a founder 
 of the Rhode Island Peace Society. He was 
 also a founder of the Rhode Island Historical 
 Society, and presided at the organization of this 
 society, and at the meeting which adopted the 
 charter.* We have already mentioned that he 
 was a founder of the Abolition Society, the mis- 
 sion of which has fortunately passed away. He 
 was a charter member of several of these institu- 
 tions, and if we add his connection with the Col- 
 lege and the Friends School, we have a worthy 
 exhibition of his quickening and vitalizing influ- 
 ence in this community. The historical service 
 rendered by him was not, however, limited to the 
 Historical Society. If you would study the early 
 commerce and shipping of the port of Providence, 
 the most trustworthy original document, is a letter 
 of Moses Brown. If you are interested in the 
 great storm which, in the year 1815, nearly sub- 
 merged Providence, the best account of it is in a 
 letter of Moses Brown. If you wish to study the 
 history of the University, or other institutions in 
 Providence, or the character and achievements of 
 his distinguished contemporaries for almost a cen- 
 tury, the reliable side-light on the subject is every- 
 where found in a letter from Moses Brown.f It 
 
 * See Circular, Vol. XIV. ; Letters, p. 284. 
 
 f The voluminous extant correspondence of Moses Brown, assures us 
 
37 
 
 seems proper and needful, if we would thoroughly 
 appreciate him, that we should follow him more 
 closely still, into his personal and home life.* 
 
 I think he began his married life at what was 
 known as the ^^Neck Farm," opposite the Swan 
 Point Cemetery, and it was his confident expecta- 
 tion to have remained there the rest of his days, 
 in retirement, but in about 1770, he bought of 
 the executor of the will of John Merritt, the 
 "Elm Grove Farm," near Red Bridge. He built 
 the first bridge, and here he had his home until 
 the end of life.f A home around which clusters 
 great historic interests. He paid six thousand 
 dollars for this broad domain, where Mr. Merritt, 
 a princely Englishman, with the true instincts of 
 an Englishman, dwelt remote from town on his 
 landed estate. Mr. Merritt had the proud distinc- 
 tion of having, if not the first, certainly at one 
 period, the only coach in Providence, and when 
 this coach came into the street by way of Olney's 
 Lane, the children attended it with the same 
 
 of his wide personal influence, both public and private. It includes 
 letters to and from the foremost men of his period, upon a great vari- 
 ety of subjects. — See Letters of Moses Brown to George Washington^ John 
 Hancock, and others, in the Cabinet of the R. I. Historical Society. 
 
 It is also worthy of note, that he did a great service for very 
 marty families, by collecting and preserving their genealogical records. 
 — See Genealogical Papers of Moses Brown, R. I. Historical Society. 
 
 *Home is the sacred refuge of our life. — Dryden. 
 
 f Letter of George W. Peck, Vol. XIII., pp. 4 and 5. 
 
38 
 
 eagerness with which they greet a modern show. 
 Mary, the sister of Mr. Brown's wife, took the 
 farm which he left, but in 1771 he carried a small 
 elm tree on his back from Cat Swamp and planted 
 it before the door of his first home. This tree is 
 still, at the age of more than one hundred and 
 twenty years, hale and hearty.* Multitudes of 
 happy people have mingled in the festivities and 
 merry-makings under its spreading branches and 
 grateful shade, cooling themselves with ice-cream, 
 and entertaining themselves regally with that ber- 
 ry of which Dr. William Butler said, " Doubtless 
 God could have made a better berry, but doubtless 
 God never did," a sentiment approved in the "Com- 
 plete Angler," and by mankind generally. This 
 tree extends a hundred and fifteen feet from one 
 extremity to the other, one of the largest trees in 
 the State. It still flourishes in pride and beauty, 
 a stately and magnificent emblem of the noble 
 institutions he planted. It will have crumbled 
 to dust when they, in the vigor of their usefulness 
 will be still spreading aloft over men their benefi- 
 cent influence. 
 
 Moses Brown retired early from business, be- 
 
 * Old trees, in their living state, are the only things that money 
 cannot command. — Landor. 
 
 A tree is a nobler object than a prince in his coronation robes. — 
 Pope. 
 
39 
 
 cause he was afflicted with a fearful vertigo, which 
 attended him all his life, and must have seriously 
 interrupted the plans, purposes and activity of 
 such a man. His own infirmities led him to give 
 thoughtful attention to disease in every form, and 
 to the remedies. An extensive knowledge of med- 
 icine thus acquired, rendered him, when good 
 physicians were scarce, exceedingly useful to his 
 neighbors."^ He was constantly consulted, and 
 freely administered both advice and medicines.f 
 He was fond of mathematical study, and found 
 in Stephen Hopkins a kindred spirit in these 
 delightful fields. He gave constant attention 
 to physics and chemistry. He sought in every 
 way to put to practical and daily use all that he 
 saw and read. The roof of his carriage was cov- 
 ered with white material, to resist and not attract 
 the heat of the sun. He had extensive physical 
 apparatus, and materials for chemical experiments 
 always at hand. 
 
 The home at '^Elm Grove" was the abode con- 
 stantly of a deep, sincere spiritual life. And this 
 is the root and ground of the influence which 
 everywhere emanates from this saintly man. He 
 never himself posed as a saint, and for that reason 
 we are more inclined to believe he was one. His 
 
 * Letter of Jessie Howard, Vol. XIV., p. 285. 
 t Letter of M. Rotch, VoL XIIL, p. 1. 
 
40 
 
 life seems to centre on the two Commandments, 
 on which "hang all the law and the prophets," 
 Love to God and Love to man. He and his relig- 
 ious associates laid great stress upon personal, super- 
 natural, Divine, spiritual guidance. The command 
 to set free his slaves was an instance in point, 
 of this illumination. The Friends were highly 
 charged also with the Puritanic hostility to the 
 superfluity and vanity-fair of this world, which 
 consumes the lives of men in a perpetual round 
 of folly.* They felt that " Life is real, life is ear- 
 nest," a solemn truth, as vital to-day as ever. It 
 is important, however, to note that circumstances 
 alter cases, and that many things which in that 
 day would have been luxurious and extravagant, 
 even for the rich, the use of machinery has made 
 almost essential in the humblest home. There is 
 now leisure and money for art, which did not 
 exist when the struggle for bare subsistence was 
 so fierce and doubtful. The elements which deter- 
 mine what is extravagance, change from age to 
 age, but the testimony against it when recognized, 
 ought to be perpetual. 
 
 Moses Brown was no ascetic. He thankfully 
 received and used every reasonable creaturely com- 
 fort. Four meals a day, the year round, was the 
 
 *It is the age that forms the man, not the man that forms the age. 
 — Macaulay. 
 
41 
 
 rule at " Elm Grove." Breakfast at eight o'clock, 
 dinner at one, tea at five or six, and supper at 
 nine, and to bed at ten o'clock. He was a mode- 
 rate eater, and selected his food more with regard 
 to health than to appetite. He was very hospit- 
 able; he often had twenty or thirty guests at a 
 time to lodge at his house. It was full indeed, 
 sometimes to overflowing. It is related that on 
 one occasion, finding himself perplexed to furnish 
 beds for his guests, he entered the room and said, 
 " Friends, we shall have to make Shaking Quakers 
 of you, and separate the men from the women, to 
 give you all beds." 
 
 He was for very many years a venerated patri- 
 arch and peace-maker in this neighborhood.* If 
 any man or woman had a quarrel or perplexity, 
 they taxed the patience and sought the judicial 
 wisdom of Moses Brown, through almost three 
 generations. His correspondence, contained in 
 eighteen well-bound volumes in this cabinet, shows 
 that his life must have been heavily burdened 
 with the troubles of persons who sought advice 
 and assistance constantly. He rarely, if ever 
 failed, so far as we know, to do the right thing in 
 the right way, to say the right word at the right 
 time. Sometimes attempts were made to impose 
 
 *See Letter of Phebe Fenner, Vol. XIV., p. 285; Zebedee Hopkins, 
 Vol. XIII., p. 30; Mary C. Waterman, p. 31. 
 
42 
 
 on his good nature, and the scathing lightning of 
 his displeasure would frown the person out of his 
 presence, rebuked and discomfited. When occa- 
 sion required, he spoke his convictions. The 
 habitual expression of his face was pensive, but 
 not sad. Conspicuous in his character were good- 
 ness, generosity, charity, and wisdom. He was, 
 as Sir John Denham said of Father Thames, 
 
 " Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull. 
 Strong without rage, without o'erflowing, full." 
 
 He was retiring, never self-asserting. He would 
 not have his picture painted, and it was taken 
 without his knowledge. He had no sympathy 
 with persons who did good works to appear unto 
 men. They should be done, he thought as a duty 
 to God, and to men, with little or no mixture of 
 selfishness. 
 
 There is something very admirable in a builder, 
 author, or anybody else, who, in self-forgetfulness, 
 labors for the good of remote generations, which 
 can never reward his service, whether it be to 
 plant a tree by the wayside, or write a book, or 
 paint a picture, or design the Cathedral at Co- 
 logne."^ Unselfishness anywhere and everywhere, 
 
 ♦There cannot be a more glorious object in creation than a human 
 being, replete with benevolence, meditating in what manner he might 
 render himself most acceptable to his Creator, by doing most good to 
 his creatures. — Fielding. 
 
 You will find people ready enough to do the Samaritan without 
 the oil and two pence. — Sydney Smith. 
 
43 
 
 is God-like. It is such, even in battle. The hom- 
 age of mankind has attended the memory of that 
 poor common soldier who saved the life of Sydney 
 on the field of Marston Moor, and, when found 
 that he might be rewarded, refused to give his 
 name, saying, " It was not for that I did it." 
 
 No one was allowed to paint his picture, and 
 no one was encouraged to write his biography. 
 Had he been a religious minister, the work of the 
 Lord might have been spread out on the printed 
 page, but not the outward career of the poor un- 
 worthy creature himself* 
 
 We live in another age, under another gospel. 
 When all men are taught to make this world 
 appear to blossom as the rose, while not neglect- 
 ing the next, or themselves, and that all human 
 greatness, goodness, and nobility should be held 
 aloft by the just themselves, for the reasonable 
 admiration and imitation of mankind. 
 
 The moral heroes are the greatest. There are 
 marked distinctions in great men. One order 
 of leaders, like X^aBsar or Bonaparte, seem to use 
 their gifts exclusively for their own emolument 
 or personal advantage.f Another, like Lincoln, 
 
 *The humble soul is like the violet, which grows low, hangs the 
 head downward, and hides itself with its own leaves. — Frederika 
 Bremer. 
 
 f If I am asked who is the greatest man, I answer, The best; and 
 
44 
 
 Washington, and the entire army of philanthropic 
 men, have sought to be of use to men, to improve 
 the conditions of human existence. 
 
 And to this end they have taken greater per- 
 sonal risks of life, property, and reputation, and 
 have bravely stood, like the heroes of Thermopylae, 
 in the pass where the battle of ideas, of intellec- 
 tual and spiritual freedom, as well as personal lib- 
 erty, was to be struggled for in behalf of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Quiet, unnoticed, but steadfast, able heroes, who 
 counted no cost too dear, no suffering too great to 
 be endured, in the service of their fellow-men. 
 
 Moses Brown belongs to this noble class of 
 moral greatness and grandeur. And let his own 
 State be proud of him. He is " to the manner 
 born." He drew the elements that made up his 
 grand character from this vicinity. His life has 
 the flavor of the soil of Rhode Island. The same 
 which produced the great and saintly Channing, 
 the eloquent, incorruptible and matchless Curtis. 
 It is not a small matter to have lived almost a 
 century, and to have been so guided by intellect 
 and moved by high moral sense, as to stand at 
 the end of so long an exposure to the eyes of men, 
 
 if I am required to say who is the best, I reply, He that has deserved 
 the most of his fellow-creatures. — Sir W. Jones. 
 
 I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility. — Rushin. 
 
45 
 
 still true, just, noble, sustaining a moral character 
 without a flaw. 
 
 It has been a great misfortune to many a one 
 that he lived too long, and survived his useful- 
 ness ; but here was a man who " husbanded out 
 life's taper to the close," "And, although his days 
 were many, the very last were rich and eventful." 
 He seemed to descend the declivity of old age 
 without a consciousness of decay.* He never for 
 a moment lost his interest in things about him, 
 spiritual or secular, to the very closing hour of 
 life. Multitudes of his friends had passed away, 
 and there he stood like an ancient oak on the 
 mountain side, towering above later generations, 
 serene, majestic, unclouded. 
 
 He changed his will several times a little be- 
 fore his death, without the least indication of loss 
 of mental power. 
 
 He withdrew for many years, more and more 
 from the society of the world, to the sacred com- 
 panionship of the same religious faith. 
 
 The sectarian fences were higher and more bit- 
 terly guarded then. The grand unity of Chris- 
 tianity was less known and felt than now. There 
 was one lessening circle of kindred spirits which 
 grew constantly dearer and more interesting to 
 the very close of his life. One theme and one 
 
 * See Letter of Joseph E. Worcester, Vol. XIV., p. 283. 
 
46 
 
 purpose united them into holy sympathy and 
 tender fellowship.* This was not the withered 
 and hideous old age depicted by Montaigne, when 
 he said, *'Age imprints more wrinkles in the mind 
 than it does on the face; and souls are never, or 
 very rarely seen, that, in growing old, do not smell 
 sour and musty. Man moves all together, both 
 towards his perfection and decay." Did Mon- 
 taigne overlook the sweetness and light which 
 spring from a correspondence fixed with Heaven 
 through the growing years ? Did he not know it 
 is possible for both body and intellect to waste 
 away and the spirit meanwhile to grow stronger, 
 clearer, deeper and nearer to the Eternal, even to 
 the end, and that it is the Divine Spirit which 
 sends the " Gulf Stream of Youth into the Arctic 
 Eegion of our lives ?"t "But the path of the just 
 is as the shining light that shineth more and more 
 unto the perfect day." 
 
 A poet who had known and felt it all, says more 
 sweetly and truly, "Age is opportunity, no less 
 than youth itself, though in another dress, and as 
 the evening twilight fades away, the sky is filled 
 with stars invisible by day." J 
 
 This poet has beautifully delineated in these 
 
 * Letter of John Griscom, Vol. XIV., p. 286. 
 
 t The youth of the soul is everlasting, and eternity is youth. — Richter. 
 
 \ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 
 
47 
 
 picturesque lines the daily life experience and 
 faith of Moses Brown. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson wrote his own epitaph, " The 
 Author of the Declaration of Independence; of 
 the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom; 
 and the Father of the University of Virginia." 
 But here is a life-work of greater depth and com- 
 pass than the composition of Statutes or Declara- 
 tions of Liberty. It embraced freedom for the 
 colored man, manufacturing industry, patriotism, 
 education, philanthropy. No marble shaft towers 
 above his grave in the old North Burying Ground. 
 No mausoleum points to his abode among the rich 
 and great. The brief stories of his birth and 
 death are legible on a small unattractive stone, 
 almost lost to sight in that wide field of sorrow, 
 not far from the grave of his honored and beloved 
 friend, Stephen Hopkins. 
 
 But he has set in fadeless colors the influence 
 of his useful life-work on these hills and valleys. 
 His monument is about us.'^ Wherever commerce, 
 wherever the arts and humanities touch and en- 
 noble the race, Moses Brown is present, though 
 his name may not pass from lip to lip.* 
 
 " Fear not but that thy light once more shall burn, 
 Once more thine immemorial gleam return." 
 
 — Matthew Arnold. 
 
 * When good men die, their goodness does not perish ; but lives 
 though they are gone. — Euripides. 
 
i 
 

_ F?>2 
 
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 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
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