1920. J Henshaw, In Memoriam: William Brewster. 7 



endowed academy in a rather remote rural district would be pro- 

 ductive of great and lasting good. 



The plan was not a hasty one but had been in his mind for many 

 years, and had been considered from many points of view. William 

 had long been aware of the disposition his father intended to make 

 of the greater part of his wealth and, while in nowise opposed to 

 his plans, was by no means sure of the wisdom of the act. As time 

 went on, however, he wholly changed his mind, and came to the 

 conviction that his father had shown sound judgment and that, 

 on the whole, his wealth could not have been better bestowed. He 

 served faithfully till his death as a trustee of the Academy, to which 

 his father had appointed him, and always took great interest in the 

 welfare of the school and in carrying out his father's plans so far 

 as he was able. 



In the minds of many Brewster is almost as inseparably connected 

 with Concord as Thoreau, but the inception of what may be termed 

 the Concord experiment was largely accidental. Brewster was 

 always fond of the place, and for years its woods, meadows, and its 

 picturesque winding river were familiar haunts to him. He made 

 frequent hunting trips there, often in company with one or the 

 other of his two friends, Dan French and Jim Melvin, both of 

 whom lived in the town. Indeed William and his wife spent two 

 consecutive summers, 18S6 and 1887, in the old Manse, redolent 

 with memories of Hawthorne, and which has become immortalized 

 in his 'Mosses from an old Manse.' It is of interest to know 

 that this book was written, or at least prepared for the press, in the 

 same apartment in which Emerson had penned his 'Nature' six 

 years before, surely enough honor for the little cramped room 

 known as the "Manse study." 



About 1890, learning that Davis' Hill, on the Concord, which 

 was covered with large and venerable pines, was to be sold, he 

 purchased it for the sole purpose of preserving its timber from 

 certain destruction. Charmed with the locality he afterwards 

 acquired the adjoining Ball's Hill, which is one of Concord's 

 landmarks and was mentioned by Thoreau, if, indeed, it was not 

 one of his haunts. Subsequently Brewster built several log cabins 

 on the river bank in which he and his friends could camp. Later 

 still he enlarged his holdings by the purchase of the John Barrett 



