6 Henshaw, In Memoriam: William Brewster. [j a u n 



As in his life time it was always within the reach of the earnest 

 bird student for purposes of study, so he desired it to be after his 

 death. 



Brewster's father was, as stated, a keen business man and a very 

 successful banker, and it was natural that he should desire to pass 

 on to his only child a highly lucrative and successful business, the 

 fruits largely of his own energy and sagacity. William was a 

 dutiful son and loved his father who, though no naturalist, sympa- 

 thized with his son's tastes and was always ready to grant his every 

 reasonable desire. In response to his father's earnest wish that he 

 should at least give business a trial he entered his father's office in 

 1869, when he was about 19, with the Understanding that if, after 

 a year's trial, he found himself unfitted for a business life, he was to 

 have his liberty and follow the bent of his own mind. Otherwise, 

 after he was duly qualified, he was to enter the firm as a partner 

 and ultimately to succeed his father on his retirement. With an 

 aim of mastering the business from top to bottom he started in as 

 messenger, and after a short time was promoted to a more respon- 

 sible position. But it is not necessary to follow his short business 

 experience further than to say, that in something less than a year 

 he had convinced himself, and incidentally his father, that he had 

 no interest in a business life and was not fitted for it. The experi- 

 ment therefore terminated. Nevertheless I am persuaded that 

 Brewster possessed the making of a successful business man had 

 necessity compelled him to adopt business as a means of livelihood. 

 In after years he proved himself in his own affairs to be keen and of 

 sound judgment, and to be an excellent judge of character, while 

 his prudence and sagacity enabled him, not only to keep what 

 his father and mother left to him, but to somewhat augment his 

 inheritance. If Brewster's father was disappointed by the failure 

 of his hopes he showed no signs of it, but ever treated his son with 

 the same invariable kindness and sympathy. 



This would seem to be a fitting place in which to speak of Brew- 

 ster's connection with the Brewster Free Academy of W T olfboro, 

 New Hampshire. After due provision for his son and others of his 

 relatives, his father left the balance of his large estate to found and 

 perpetuate this school. He seems to have had a strong affection 

 for the place of his nativity, and to have believed that a well 



