362 MARTIN BRIMMER. 



them by deserving it." No man ever deserved to be remembered 

 better than our late associate. 



He was born and brought up in the midst of all those things which 

 are commonly held to excuse and incapacitate men from hard work. 

 He had an ample fortune, so secured that it might be enjoyed and not 

 dissipated ; he had an assured social position, which exempted him 

 from all toil or strife to bring his name into prominence ; and a slight 

 physical infirmity might have been held in his case, as in that of the 

 historian Prescott, rather to justify idleness than otherwise. Mr. 

 Brimmer yielded to none of these allurements. He conceived that he 

 held all his personal and social advantages as in trust for the com- 

 munity. He positively enjoyed to work for the strengthening of all 

 that is good, and the suppression of all that is evil, in modern society. 

 By example and by precept, by personal labor and by contributions of 

 money, perhaps most of all by the fact that he was known to be 

 always upon the side of what was high, noble, strong, and lovely, 

 whether he was actually speaking, giving, or working, he was a living 

 proof that what are sometimes censured or ridiculed as the showy 

 fungi of a decaying civilization may be really the healthy flowers of a 

 new and hopeful republic. 



The thoughtful student of our society, its merits and its wants, must 

 see clearly that one serious danger to our happiness and prosperity 

 arises from the temper of second thought, — of suspicion and distrust 

 of ourselves and others. A vast number of our ablest, wisest, and 

 most virtuous citizens seem unable to execute their highest purpo.ses 

 without tormenting themselves all the time by some speculation as to 

 what secondary effect their action may have on themselves or others. 

 Mr. Brimmer combined with the soundest and most cultivated intelli- 

 gence an absolute simplicity of character. Open or reserved as the 

 case demanded, whenever he did speak or act he was perfectly sincere. 

 He was by no means without honorable ambition ; but it was an am- 

 bition held in strict subservience to courtesy, to honor, and to conscience. 

 He was firm in his opinions and distinct in their expression ; but it 

 could only be a very mean or a very brutal person who could be 

 offended by his high-minded and polite refusal to agree to what he 

 thought wrong. The word " culture," so sadly soiled and travestied at 

 the present day, had in Mr. Brimmer its perfect fulfilment. He stood 

 to uncultivated men as an apple does to a crab. In this age, which 

 fancies mere tartness or bitterness constitute flavor, such a presence as 

 his was a living instance of how much the raciest nature is improved 

 by the development of sweetness and tenderness. 



