BROOKLYN BRIDGE 



952 



BROOM CORN 



Henry Ward Beecher, who preached in the city 

 forty years, was perhaps its most famous citi- 

 zen. See NEW YORK (City) suburban map. 



BROOKLYN BRIDGE, a bridge over the 

 East River, connecting New York with Brook- 

 lyn, famous because at the time of its con- 

 struction it was considered the greatest 

 suspension bridge in the world, and still one 



BROOKLYN BRIDGE 



The original suspension bridge across East 

 River. 



of the most notable. It was fourteen years 

 in building, having been begun in 1869 and 

 finished in 1883, at a cost of $15,000,000. The 

 center span, between the towers, is 1,595% 

 feet; the side spans at either end are 930 feet; 

 and as there is an approach of 1,562% feet on 

 the New York side and of 971 feet on the 

 Brooklyn side, the total length of the bridge 

 is 5,989 feet, or somewhat more than a mile. 

 Four great cables nearly sixteen inches in 

 diameter support the bridge, their resting place 

 on the towers being 329 feet above high water. 

 With a total width of eighty-five feet, the 

 bridge carries a roadway, a double line of elec- 

 tric railway, and a broad promenade. 



As' the New York metropolitan district has 

 grown the one bridge has been found inade- 

 quate, and three others of like proportions, the 

 Manhattan, Williamsburgh and Greensboro, 

 have been built farther up East River. The 

 latter was opened for traffic during 1915. These 

 also are suspension bridges, but of a somewhat 

 improved type. 



See BRIDGE, for another illustration of one of 

 the New York-Brooklyn bridges. 



BROOKS, PHILLIPS (1835-1893), one of the 

 great pulpit orators of America, for twenty-two 

 years the rector of Trinity Church, Boston, and 

 for the last two years of his life bishop of the 

 Protestant Episcopal Church in Massachusetts. 

 Brooks was born in Boston; he traced his 

 ancestry on his father's side to the Rev. John 



Cotton of Puritan fame, and on his mother's 

 side to the founder of the Phillips academies. 

 He entered Harvard when Lowell, Holmes, 

 Agassiz and Long- 

 fellow were teach- 

 ing there, was 

 graduated with 

 high honors in 

 1855, and then 

 studied for the 

 ministry at the 

 Alexandria (Va.) 

 Protestant Epis- 

 copal seminary. 

 Following his or- 

 dination in 1859, 

 he became rector 

 of the Church of PHILLIPS BROOKS 

 the Advent in Philadelphia, and between 1862 

 and 1869 had charge of the Holy Trinity 

 Church of that city. 



During his long period of service as rector 

 of Trinity Church in Boston, Brooks became 

 one of the best-known men in America, dis- 

 tinguished alike for his broad, liberal views, 

 intellectual gifts, eloquence and winning per- 

 sonality. He wrote widely on religious sub- 

 jects, important titles of his works including 

 Yale Lectures on Preaching, The Influence of 

 Jesus and The Light of the World. Among hin 

 several Christmas and Easter carols the best- 

 loved is Little Town of Bethlehem, a stanza 

 of which is here given: 



O little town of Bethlehem 



How still we see thee lie ! 



Above thy deep and dreamless sleep 



The silent stars go by ; 



Yet in thy dark streets shineth 



The everlasting light ; 



The hopes and fears of all the years 



Are met in thee to-night. 



BROOM, the name of an ornamental shrub 

 of the pea family. The common broom of 

 Europe is bushy, with straight, angular dark- 

 green branches and deep, golden-yellow, but- 

 terfly-shaped flowers. From the botanical 

 name, planta genista, came the name of the 

 royal English family Plantagenet, and one of 

 this family used the broom for his crest. In 

 Europe the broom is used for tanning and dye- 

 ing, and the fibers are made into cloth. The 

 tops and seeds have been used in medicine 

 in cases of dropsy. This plant must not be 

 confused with broom corn, which is described 

 below. See PLANTAGENET. 



BROOM CORN, or BROOM GRASS, a mem- 

 ber of the grass family, native of the East 



