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THE LIFE OF 
 ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/lifeofisaaceddybOObowm 
 
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THE LIFE OF 
 
 ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 AN APPRECIATION 
 
 BY 
 
 LOUIS A. BOWMAN 
 
 ASSOCIATION PRESS 
 
 New York: 347 Madison Avenue 
 1926 
 
Copyright, 1926, by 
 
 The General Board of 
 
 The Young Men's Christian Associations 
 
 Printed in the United States 
 
Dedicated to 
 MARY JOHNSON BROWN 
 
 FOR THIRTY-SIX YEARS THE DEVOTED COMPANION AND 
 CONSTANT INSPIRATION OF HER HUSBAND, AND 
 WHOSE INESTIMABLE ASSISTANCE IN EVERY TASK UN- 
 DERTAKEN CONTRIBUTED SO LARGELY TO THE SUCCESS 
 OF HIS LIFE WORK 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 Every generation discovers a few men of out- 
 standing character, faith and works. The man 
 whose life is pictured in this brief volume was a 
 leader of rare influence and power in his generation. 
 
 His was a truly contagious character. It was nat- 
 ural for men, and especially young men, to seek his 
 companionship and wise counsel. How many young 
 men the world round will look back upon those mo- 
 ments of encouragement when their life touched his 
 in the fellowship of the classroom, or under the trees 
 on the shore of Lake Geneva or through the nearly 
 thirty years of his stewardship as State Secretary 
 for Young Men's Christian Association work in 
 Illinois! 
 
 The author of this memorial to a sincere and true 
 life has been able to assemble much of that intimate 
 and reflective data with w T hich he has been able to 
 paint a picture of a man whose life had been given 
 in complete surrender to the will of God. 
 
 Isaac Eddy Brown was possessed of many rare 
 gifts of mind and heart. Each of these gifts was 
 cultivated with patience and persistence in order 
 that his life investment might become fuller and 
 richer with the passing years. Reference is made to 
 
vi FOREWORD 
 
 many of the small and apparently trivial things in 
 the life of Dr. Brown. To him nothing was too 
 small to escape being well done. 
 
 One of his chief ambitions was to discover and 
 train by wise coaching and experience a leadership 
 which would be competent to carry on in the grow- 
 ing movement to which he had pledged his life. 
 There was no minimizing of weakness and failure, 
 but there was always the word of encouragement to 
 inspire confidence, a confidence which inevitably 
 leads to "forgetting those things which are behind 
 and reaching forth unto those things which are be- 
 fore," and of "pressing toward the mark for the 
 prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 One of his favorite hymns was "God Send Us Men." 
 
 Those of us who shared with him in the joys and 
 discouragements of life and of service are ready to 
 pay sincere tribute to his unfailing and unquench- 
 able faith. It was a faith which verily removed 
 mountains of difficulty and paved the way to those 
 abiding compensations which are the aim and goal 
 of God's faithful stewards. To that much larger 
 group who will become acquainted with this highly 
 multiplying personality through the reading of these 
 pages we would wish that the simplicity and the 
 loyal devotion of his life to a great cause might be 
 communicated to you and to the generations which 
 follow in his steps. 
 
 K. A. Shumaker. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. General Outline of His Life 1 
 
 II. Ancestry 4 
 
 III. Parentage 8 
 
 IV. Removal to Illinois: Older Boyhood .... 16 
 V. Student Years at Normal 25 
 
 VI. Beginnings in His Life Work 28 
 
 VII. Early Reconstruction Efforts 33 
 
 VIII. The First Decade: First Convention Paper — 
 Early Visitation — Associations for Special 
 
 Classes — Sorrow and Bereavement .... 35 
 
 IX. An Important Decision Reconsidered 46 
 
 X. The Second Decade 49 
 
 XL The Third Decade 52 
 
 XII. Devotion to His Field: Service at Conventions 
 
 and Conferences 59 
 
 XIII. His Work at Lake Geneva 63 
 
 XIV. His Home Life 69 
 
 XV. Service to His Home Church and Denomination 
 
 — As a Citizen 75 
 
 XVI. A Man of Prayer 78 
 
 XVII. His Regard for the Sabbath: A Man of Senti- 
 ment — Far Sighted and Forehanded .... 84 
 
 XVIII. As a Public Speaker 91 
 
 XIX. Fondness for and Participation in Athletics . . 96 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XX. A Man of System 102 
 
 XXI. A Student and a Scholar : As a Teacher— On the 
 
 Faculty of YMCA College 104 
 
 XXII. A Lover of Travel: As a Writer and Editor — His 
 
 Strength in Trial— His Generous Nature . . 113 
 
 XXIII. The Closing Years — Serving the Association Col- 
 lege 119 
 
 XXIV. A Personal Testimony 121 
 
 XXV. Summary — a Remarkable Life 124 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 These pages have been written, not as a complete 
 history of the life of Isaac Eddy Brown, but more as 
 an estimate of his strength of character, an interpre- 
 tation of his life, and an analysis of the qualities of 
 leadership which made him through four decades a 
 most influential factor in the development of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association movement, par- 
 ticularly in Illinois and also throughout our country 
 and the nations of the world. For, of all the men 
 who have chosen service in this organization as a 
 life work, none more perfectly illustrated the sym- 
 metrical development of body, mind, and spirit, than 
 did he. No life devoted to the movement has con- 
 tributed more of inspiration, of practical idealism, 
 more of rugged lessons in the courageous under- 
 taking of large tasks than has his, and none is more 
 worthy of close study and emulation. 
 
 So far as possible minor details and routine have 
 been omitted ; occasionally they do appear, but only 
 because of illustrating some important principle. 
 
 It is hoped that this brief summary of his traits 
 of character and of his work will be of value to all 
 those who are engaged in the field of usefulness to 
 which his talents were devoted, and particularly to 
 
 ix 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 those who contemplate entering similar service, or 
 who are receiving their special training for it. For 
 an intimate knowledge of his life, his work, his 
 character, and his achievements, together with his 
 devotion to the highest ideals in life and in service 
 and his supreme emphasis upon the importance of 
 making the spiritual note the dominant one will 
 contribute largely to the mental, moral, and spiritual 
 equipment of any man, who, studying it, seeks 
 thereby to render the largest service to his fellow 
 men. 
 
THE 
 LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 General Outline of His Life 
 
 Isaac Eddy Brown was born in the little village of 
 Kiantone, Chautauqua County, N. Y., May 17, 
 1849. Here his early boyhood was spent. He at- 
 tended the village school, and was busy out of school 
 hours in farm work. At the age of thirteen he, with 
 his parents, came to Illinois w r here he resided 
 throughout his life and did his life's work. His 
 teen-age years were spent near Lee Center and 
 Sublette, in Lee County, w T here he continued his 
 studies and his farm work. At the age of twenty he 
 decided to make the teaching profession his life 
 work. After several years of teaching at Lee Center 
 and at Amboy, he entered the Illinois State Normal 
 University at Normal, 111., graduating in 1874, hav- 
 ing earned his way through the institution by the 
 hardest labor. 
 
 After graduation, he became principal of the high 
 school at Decatur, 111., in which position his rare 
 qualities as an educator, and his strong influence as 
 
 l 
 
2 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 a leader in Christian activities early made him an 
 outstanding personality in the community. He was 
 early chosen as President of the local Young Men's 
 Christian Association ; his qualities of leadership and 
 his earnest consecration in Christian service at- 
 tracted the attention of Robert Weidensall, pioneer 
 Secretary of the International Committee of Young 
 Men's Christian Associations. In 1880, upon the 
 recommendation and earnest request of Mr. Weiden- 
 sall, he, at the age of thirty, consented to become 
 State Secretary of the Illinois Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Associations. Throughout the following thirty 
 years he fulfilled the exacting duties and met the 
 heavy responsibilities of this position. In 1909, he 
 accepted the invitation of the trustees of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association College to become Dean 
 of the Secretarial Department of the College. Here 
 he served for the last eight years of his life, again 
 employing all his rare qualifications as a teacher 
 and bringing great enrichment to the lives of stu- 
 dents in preparation for their life calling. 
 
 On July 8, 1917, after a lingering illness, his sum- 
 mons to the shores eternal came and he went to his 
 reward, beloved by thousands in this and other lands. 
 
 The funeral service was held at his home church, 
 the Third Congregational of Oak Park, 111., and was 
 attended by scores of lifelong friends and neighbors 
 and by many fellow workers in all departments of 
 the Young Men's Christian Association, local, state, 
 international, and the College. Addresses were given 
 
GENERAL OUTLINE OF HIS LIFE 3 
 
 by his former pastor, the Rev. Arthur H. Armstrong; 
 and by his intimate friend and close associate for 
 thirty years, L. Wilbur Messer, General Secretary 
 of the Chicago Association. Both were eloquent, 
 heartfelt tributes to his personality and character 
 and to his life work of sacrificial service and devo- 
 tion to the highest ideals. Burial was at his former 
 home at Decatur, 111., where his grave is appropri- 
 ately marked and frequently visited by Association 
 and other friends. 
 
 The following chapters give a more detailed narra- 
 tive of his service in these places of leadership, and 
 of the chief characteristics of his singularly devoted 
 and useful life. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Ancestry 
 
 He was the oldest child of Russell M. Brown and 
 Electa (Sherman) Brown, who were sturdy, indus- 
 trious, God-fearing folks of the pioneer type. They 
 were descendants of the earliest New England set- 
 tlers, the ancestral record tracing back to Miles 
 Standish, William and Alice Mullins, John and 
 Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, five of the immortal group 
 of Mayflower passengers; and to John Sherman, his 
 son, Noah Sherman ; to Josiah Ward and to Nathan 
 Eddy — all soldiers in the war of the American Revo- 
 lution. His parents were deeply religious, retaining 
 a generous measure of the Puritan spirit of their 
 forefathers, and rearing their children in accord with 
 the strictest standards of moral conduct, particularly 
 instilling into their young hearts the love of God 
 and reverence for and devotion to the Bible, the 
 Church and the Sabbath. From his earliest days, 
 regularity and frequency at church services, sys- 
 tematic reading of the Bible, and exceptionally rigid 
 customs as to Sabbath observance were features of 
 his life; and they were all three notably character- 
 istic of all his later years. Other principles making 
 
 4 
 
ANCESTRY 
 
 for right living and the development of strong char- 
 acter and uprightness of conduct were vigorously 
 emphasized in his early home life in such a whole- 
 some manner as to make a lifelong impression upon 
 him. His parents were not opposed to play, but the 
 opportunities for a normally playful child-life in 
 those days, and in that environment, were not in 
 proportion to their needs, and so the children grew 
 up as had their parents, accustomed to few pleasures 
 and to the hardest kind of work, evidently inheriting, 
 and still further acquiring, not only a capacity for, 
 but a real liking for, w r ork; and along with the severe 
 toil of those pioneer days, there was developed a 
 depth of devotion to God and a love for His great 
 institutions w T hich their children absorbed and which 
 remained with them throughout long busy lives of 
 useful service. In marked manner were these two 
 great qualities of industry and reverence characteris- 
 tic of the oldest son. 
 
 A GREAT GRANDFATHER 
 
 He was named after his father's maternal grand- 
 father, the Reverend Isaac Eddy, who had served as 
 pastor of the Congregational Church at Kiantone 
 and later at Jamestown, N. Y. The suggestion as 
 to his name came from Isaac Eddy Carey, a cousin 
 of his father, to whom Russell M. Brown had writ- 
 ten, asking for advice as to a probable good name 
 for the new son. The reply was as follows: "Since 
 you have honored me so much, I will give you the 
 
6 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 very best name I can think of — call the lad by the 
 name Isaac Eddy, that good name of our revered 
 grandfather, which he gave to me, his first-born 
 grandson. Let the same excellent name be given to 
 our beloved grandmother's first-born great-grandson. 
 Let us take it upon us to hand that name down to 
 the remotest generations ; I am sure you cannot wish 
 for a more musical name than Isaac Eddy Brown, 
 truly that sounds fine! 0, pray for grace to bring 
 up that precious boy in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord ! Give him to Christ." 
 
 Isaac Eddy, owing to his earnestness and marked 
 ability as a layman in the Congregational Church in 
 early and middle years, had attracted the attention 
 of neighboring ministers who advised him to enter 
 the ministry. This advice, together with his own 
 convictions of duty and the apparent leading of 
 Providence, caused him to respond favorably and 
 he was licensed as a preacher at the age of forty- four, 
 filling the pastorates previously mentioned with ex- 
 ceptional forcefulness and success. That his charac- 
 ter, mentality, and depth of religious life impressed 
 both his own and the succeeding generations is ap- 
 parent from the fact that, sixty years after his death, 
 the following description of him was prepared and 
 published by one of his friends: 
 
 He was a man of mild and agreeable manners, genial 
 and pleasant in his contact with others. Generous and 
 confiding, his social life was guided by the strictest rules 
 
ANCESTRY 
 
 of rectitude. He spoke his opinion modestly but firmly, 
 and it was evident that his worldly opinions as well as 
 his worldly acts were firmly based upon his religious 
 ideas of what was right; he courted not the applause 
 of those by whom he was surrounded, and it was always 
 evident that his eye was steadfastly fixed upon the re- 
 ward of well doing. It was evident from his manner 
 and conversation that he was a man of deep thought 
 and reflection. He was a plain but pleasant speaker, 
 earnest and persuasive in argumentation, and was always 
 listened to with profoundest attention; his kindness, his 
 pleasant manner, his goodness were fully recognized by 
 all; everyone treated him with the greatest reverence 
 and respect. 
 
 All who knew his oldest great-grandson who bore 
 this good man's name for nearly seventy years, can- 
 not but recognize that all these sterling qualities, 
 and still others, were apparently transmitted 
 through succeeding generations, for every word of 
 this estimate of the character and usefulness of 
 Isaac Eddy is peculiarly and equally applicable to 
 the life and service of Isaac Eddy Brown, his 
 descendant and namesake of the fourth generation, 
 more than a century later. See his tribute to his 
 great-grandfather in the closing section of the 
 chapter on his work as a public speaker. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Parentage 
 
 His father was a man of deep religious nature, 
 methodical habits, public spirit, and possessed of a 
 philosophical turn of mind. This is shown by some 
 excerpts from his diary, written in 1852, where he 
 says: 
 
 January 1, 1852. God in his goodness has permitted 
 us to witness the commencement of another year, and 
 we are all enjoying good health. Let God be praised. 
 
 A few weeks later we see something of his regu- 
 larity, his public spirit, and his devotion to a moral 
 cause as he writes: 
 
 This is the first Saturday evening I have been at home 
 for over two years. The Sons of Temperance organized 
 two years ago, and I have attended every meeting; the 
 time is now changed to Monday evening. 
 
 A choice bit of philosophy appears in his entry of 
 May 15, 1852, when he says: 
 
 I again find myself half a month behind in keeping 
 a memoranda. Like all our affairs in life, we find it 
 hard to overtake time after we have once suffered it 
 to get the start of us, and I begin to learn that the best 
 
 8 
 
PARENTAGE 9 
 
 time to do a thing is at the very time it ought to be 
 done and not put it off for a more convenient time. 
 
 His mother was a woman of strong and beautiful 
 character, of rare devotion to her home and family, 
 and of deep religious faith, strong in its simplicity. 
 She was possessed of all the womanly graces to an 
 exceptional degree. She instilled her own high ideals 
 into the minds and hearts of her children, maintain- 
 ing in her home a spirit of family unity and affec- 
 tionate devotion to each other and each other's 
 interests, in accord with all the finest traditions of 
 Christian motherhood. A record of the family shows 
 a happy home life in which the children received 
 the systematic and thorough training which makes 
 for industry, character, culture, ideals, generosity, 
 breadth of interest, religious faith, loyalty to Church 
 and allied organizations, together with the develop- 
 ment of a desire to be of real service and large use- 
 fulness in the world's work. 
 
 With such an ancestral background, with parents 
 of such marked physical, mental, and moral strength, 
 we see something of the heritage into which he came, 
 and something of the foundation which was laid for 
 a life work to be characterized by great industry, by 
 intellectual achievement, and by the strongest reli- 
 gious influence. 
 
 EARLY BOYHOOD 
 
 It is in this incompletely kept diary of his father 
 that we have the earliest recorded facts about his 
 
10 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 son, and in it, at the early age of three, are to be 
 seen manifestations of his physical and mental 
 characteristics. Under date of May 17, 1852, he 
 writes: 
 
 This is Eddy's birthday; he is three years old, and 
 getting to be quite a large boy. His general health is 
 good, yet he has an occasional sick spell; he talks very 
 plain and seems to understand things well for a child 
 of his age; he has learned the alphabet. 
 
 HIS OWN DIARY 
 
 The father's incomplete and partial efforts to keep 
 a record of life's daily events were improved upon 
 by the son, who on his eleventh birthday, May 17, 
 1860, began to keep a diary, probably following his 
 father's request. On that date, in boyish handwrit- 
 ing, he says: 
 
 This is my birthday and some of the boys gave me 
 a good whipping. After school I came home and did 
 my chores and then went to bed. 
 
 On January 1, 1862, he writes: 
 
 I commenced keeping memoranda one year ago the 
 17th day of last May and I shall always keep one, if it 
 is in my power. 
 
 And he did. For throughout a busy life during 
 the nearly sixty years following, with but one brief 
 interruption, he kept a record of the daily events 
 
PARENTAGE 11 
 
 and happenings of his life, the record ceasing only 
 when, near to his journey's end, illness prevented 
 further writing as he made his last entry April 7, 
 1917, simply the two words "seriously sick." 
 
 His first entry on his eleventh birthday indicates 
 something of the physical and mental energy of the 
 lad. He says: "This morning after milking a few 
 cows, I went to studying my Latin lesson." Two 
 days later he writes: "This morning I got up and 
 milked four cows, fed the chickens, weeded my 
 flower and onion beds and then went to studying." 
 More concisely a few days later he again demon- 
 strates an exceptional blending of physical and men- 
 tal energy for a boy of eleven as he says: "Milked 
 eleven cows, studied Latin." May these be taken 
 as foregleams of the physical and intellectual 
 strength which he in later years so generously 
 poured out in the solving of industrial and educa- 
 tional problems? More of hard work was crowded 
 into the early years of this boy than is the case with 
 most men. The years of childhood are rightfully 
 for play, but circumstances deprived him, to a con- 
 siderable extent, of the normal rights of childhood 
 in this respect. He loved play and was at times 
 able to participate, but for long periods, when his 
 young friends were on the ball field and wanted him 
 to join them, he was preoccupied in work for his 
 mother, or for neighbors, through which he could 
 add to the family's modest income. The hard task 
 of milking, performed so faithfully through the 
 
12 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 years of childhood, twisted the bone in one wrist out 
 of shape and it so remained throughout his life. 
 
 As a little fellow, he began assuming respon- 
 sibilities which must have added greatly to his 
 equipment for the larger duties of his adult life. 
 
 His industry and public spirit are manifested in 
 the statement written one month after his eleventh 
 birthday: 
 
 Have been getting folks to sign a subscription paper 
 for the purpose of getting money so as to have fireworks 
 here next Fourth of July. Amount signed at time school 
 let out was $2.85; next day it was $4.35. 
 
 However, his efforts in interesting others in those 
 early years did not always prove as successful, for 
 a little later he writes: 
 
 This forenoon I went down on the flats to get sub- 
 scribers for the American Agriculturist for which I am 
 getting up a club, and I did not get one. 
 
 Total failure of results did not discourage him 
 and limited success did not satisfy him, for he 
 writes: 
 
 I went around today to get subscriptions, but there 
 was only two that paid me. 
 
 The record of his boy life reveals also his ex- 
 ceptionally active mind. While still under twelve, 
 he records having spent an evening in writing a 
 composition on "Life." Also, there is manifested 
 
PARENTAGE 13 
 
 another leading life characteristic, namely, his fore- 
 handedness and ability to plan his work ahead, as 
 he writes : 
 
 Today, Friday, we spoke pieces and the girls had 
 compositions. Next Friday, the boys are going to have 
 compositions. I have got mine written, the subject is 
 "Intemperance." 
 
 His love for reading was early developed as shown 
 by an entry at age thirteen : 
 
 Sat up quite late reading "Uncle Tom's Cabin." 
 
 At this time also we see evidence of his father's 
 appreciation of his son's mentality from the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 Today father got the "History of the Reformation" 
 for me on the condition that I would read it through. 
 
 ■'..... 
 
 His familiarity with church history in this period, 
 
 in his later years, is evidence that he fully met the 
 condition of the gift and that he stored the subject 
 matter in his mind. 
 
 Further, we see, in these formative years, his 
 willingness to render individual service in a moral 
 and religious cause, as he records : 
 
 I handed in eleven names who had signed the tem- 
 perance pledge. 
 
 Those eleven had apparently signed upon his per- 
 sonal invitation and urging. 
 
14 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 His exceptional frankness is another trait of char- 
 acter revealed in these boyish records, for he fre- 
 quently makes record of his errors in spelling, 
 arithmetic, and geography; and every now and then 
 he chides himself in his diary for shortcomings and 
 failings. In some studies he was slow in developing 
 interest, and once wrote: "Could not get any lower 
 as I was always at the foot." 
 
 Occasional touches of humor appear in his early 
 writings. In his thirteenth year he encountered a 
 situation not uncommon in the country schools of 
 those days, and states: "There is a school meeting 
 this evening to see about turning the teacher out 
 of school," to which he adds, showing his early love 
 for orderly and lawful action, "I hope they will not 
 accomplish it." 
 
 In this year, also, is found an early manifestation 
 of two other leading traits of character which were 
 factors in the success of his life work — namely, 
 seriousness of purpose and orderliness and system; 
 his entry reading: 
 
 This forenoon I have been copying off my rules. I 
 am going to frame them and hang them up where I can 
 see them. 
 
 It would be intensely interesting to include this 
 boyish set of rules, framed and hung up so as to be 
 in constant view, but they have not been found. 
 At this time also, is revealed a glimpse of his 
 
PARENTAGE 15 
 
 exceptionally generous and unselfish nature as he 
 says: 
 
 Today I have been to Jamestown with father. I did 
 
 not get anything for myself, but father gave me some 
 money and I got some candy for Lida and Lillie (his 
 sisters). 
 
 And so through those early formative years he 
 worked and studied — always industrious and always 
 studious — developing character and laying a sure 
 foundation for the later years of able and conse- 
 crated service to his fellow men and to the King- 
 dom of God. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Removal to Illinois 
 
 In the spring of 1862, his family reached an im- 
 portant decision — namely, to remove to the west and 
 locate in Illinois. There is a touch of pathos in his 
 boyish record as he writes of these new plans. His 
 dog, a companion since his earliest years, could not 
 make the journey and a sad duty fell to his young 
 master, who writes: 
 
 I had to go up and get our dog Prince and have him 
 killed. I felt very sorry to have him killed for we have 
 been together since I was a little baby and he has been 
 a good dog and could catch a fox on fair running. 
 
 And so — undoubtedly with heavy heart because 
 of the separation from scenes and friendships of 
 early years already dear to him, but with eagerness 
 for the new experiences awaiting — he, on April 9, 
 with his father and uncle, started down the Alle- 
 gheny River on a raft. This method of making the 
 journey was chosen doubtless because of its 
 economy, the mother and younger children going by 
 rail. With the delays incident to the river tran- 
 sportation, the journey to Cincinnati occupied over 
 four weeks. Daily he records the sights and scenes 
 
 16 
 
REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS 17 
 
 of this interesting trip, his comments, even at that 
 early age, demonstrating his rare power of observa- 
 tion and description. Ten years later, one of his 
 college orations was a description of this journey 
 to his new home, the scene of his life work. He re- 
 cords his first sight of the cities passed, saying: "It 
 is very smoky around Pittsburg." Here he came 
 into first-hand contact with the Civil War, writing 
 under April 26, "We met today two steamboats of 
 soldiers wounded in the terrible battle of Pittsburg 
 Landing," and four days later, "Met a boat with a 
 good many soldiers on it with their guns and haver- 
 sacks. They exchanged cheers with every raft they 
 met and appeared in very good spirits, 'though going 
 to face dangers in the battlefields — but they were 
 going to do it for their country." 
 
 On and on the little craft moved, passing by, with 
 occasional stops at, towns and villages, traveling 
 much of the time by night. He saw and described 
 much of the devastation of war; he makes interest- 
 ing comment about the sights and scenes passed, 
 the villages visited, and the people met and ob- 
 served. On May 5, the raft reached Cincinnati, his 
 father receiving compensation of $30.37 for the 
 month's journey. Then by train to Chicago, arriv- 
 ing the next day in the farming community in 
 northern Illinois which was to be his home in the 
 years of his early young manhood. He went straight 
 to work, saying, "I held the plough a little after 
 arriving." On the following Sunday, his already 
 
18 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 well-established custom is continued in the new 
 location, for he writes, "Attended meeting and Sun- 
 day school." His developing religious life is mani- 
 fested a month later when he says, after recording 
 his attendance at morning, afternoon, and evening 
 services: "Thus I attended three Sabbath schools 
 and two meetings; I hope I may improve my 
 privilege of attending Divine worship." 
 
 The summer weeks of this year brought him into 
 still closer contact with the thrilling war events. He 
 says: "The President has called for three hundred 
 thousand nine-months men in addition to the same 
 number of three-year men already called for. Draft- 
 ing is to commence immediately. Father sent his 
 name east to be put on the enlistment roll." And 
 again — "All of us attended a war meeting at Sub- 
 lette; martial music made the scene more lively; 
 when we left fifteen had enlisted and $55 was 
 pledged to support the families of volunteers." "To- 
 day is the fast day appointed by the President; 
 there have been services at the church." And so 
 with this background of hard work and diligent 
 study and the impressions coming into his mind 
 in the days of the great crisis in our national history, 
 we find him developing in his early teens into an 
 exceptionally thoughtful, serious-minded, conscien- 
 tious, and purposeful lad. 
 
 His father's patriotism, manifested in sending his 
 name back to the old home town in western New 
 York for enlistment, caused an interruption to their 
 
REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS 19 
 
 residence in Illinois, for in September of that year 
 the family returned to Kiantone, there to stay with 
 relatives while the father served his country as a 
 soldier in the Civil War. Four uncles of the boy 
 also enlisted in the same regiment and for some 
 days all were in camp near the home town. Daily 
 he visited his father in camp, and on September 12, 
 1862, the regiment left for active service at the front. 
 Of this event he writes one of the most significant 
 sentences of his entire life record, as follows: 
 
 I accompanied father to the depot, but mother re- 
 mained at home. I shall now have to work all I can 
 when I am out of school and try to help mother to get 
 along and take father's place. 
 
 (See facsimile of aote on page 20) 
 
 This noble declaration by a thirteen-year-old boy 
 reminds us of that other boy, growing up in a coun- 
 try village, who, at twelve said: "I must be about 
 my Father's business/' It gives us another fore- 
 gleam of his remarkably fine nature and unselfish 
 spirit as he thus records his sense of responsibility 
 to help his mother by taking his father's place. He 
 lived up to his declaration too, for from then on he 
 did a man's work, though but a boy. 
 
 During his father's period of service at the front, 
 this boy, already a man in his appreciation of his 
 responsibility and in his willingness and eagerness to 
 do a man's part, kept in close touch with his father 
 through frequent letters. Early in his service the 
 
20 
 
 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS 21 
 
 father suffered severe illness, as shown by the fol- 
 lowing entry: 
 
 It is now eight months since father's name was en- 
 rolled in the Company of sharp shooters to which he 
 now belongs, and seven months ago he left for Dixie. 
 The medical director has ordered him to the general 
 hospital at Fortress Monroe. His brigade has been or- 
 dered to move; they expect a battle immediately. We 
 feel very anxious. 
 
 In due time the father was able to return to 
 his home honorably discharged, and after regain- 
 ing his health, the family returned to Illinois, re- 
 suming the plans which the war had interrupted. 
 The son took up again the usual routine of his hard 
 work on the farm, his diligent study, and his regular 
 participation in the services and work of the coun- 
 try church, and continued steadfastly in all three 
 through the next few years, developing in body, 
 mind, and spirit for the life work awaiting. 
 
 These early years of toil, study, meditation, and 
 planning in the open country of Illinois impress one 
 by their similarity to the preparatory years of the 
 Saviour, who, in his village home in Nazareth, had 
 toiled, studied, and formulated his life purposes, 
 increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with 
 God and man. Already following closely in the 
 footsteps of the Master, foundations were being laid 
 strong, firm, and enduring for the superstructure of 
 the years of service to come, 
 
22 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 OLDER BOYHOOD 
 
 The years from thirteen to seventeen were spent 
 steadfastly continuing in the three great purposes 
 already dominant in his young life — namely, hard 
 manual work and diligent study, the development of 
 a strong religious faith, and earnest devotion and a 
 self-sacrificing spirit of service for others. The daily 
 narrative of his farm work is impressive in its 
 monotony; in every year he studied, and with ex- 
 ceptional diligence and thoroughness. For some 
 time he studied in the Academy at Lee Center, 111., 
 doing the janitor work to pay his tuition. Equally 
 or more impressive is the record of his constancy in 
 attendance at church services, and at Sunday school 
 and midweek meetings and his measure of interest 
 in the themes presented and studied. Through these 
 character-forming years he toiled and studied and 
 meditated, thinking much of the future years and 
 considering deeply what his life work should be. His 
 religious faith had become strong and well settled 
 and in an entirely natural and normal way; he did 
 not, as do many, have to go through a stirring ex- 
 perience of decision and conversion ; he never knew 
 any other plan of life than to be following as closely 
 as possible in the footsteps of his Master. He united 
 with the Church at his own initiative — the result of 
 his own thinking — it was natural for him to take the 
 step ; his interest in and affection for the church was 
 
REMOVAL TO ILLINOIS 23 
 
 strong from early boyhood and continuous through- 
 out life. 
 
 At an early age he definitely decided to become a 
 teacher, and after special preparation went to the 
 county seat to take the examination for a teacher's 
 license, passing it successfully. Soon thereafter he 
 secured appointment to the village school at Amboy, 
 continuing here for two years, and using the summer 
 months and other unoccupied weeks in the hardest 
 kind of farm labor. From the record it is apparent 
 that during these first early years as an educator 
 he was exercising those rare talents and finer pur- 
 poses which mark the distinction between a mare 
 schoolkeeper and a real teacher. His problems of 
 discipline in a country school were serious and made 
 heavy demands upon physical and mental energy, 
 but he met them courageously and forcefully and 
 used radical measures only in extreme cases. Scores 
 of lines in his diary indicate that it was ever his 
 constant effort and his studied purpose to teach 
 his pupils to think, to inspire them to grow intel- 
 lectually, and to develop in them the highest ideals 
 of character and service. During these early years 
 of young manhood his earnest desire to be useful 
 in some form of Christian service was made apparent 
 in two different directions — one for work in the 
 homeland and one for service abroad. Both were 
 indicative of the depth of his religious life, his 
 earnest self-sacrificing spirit, and his whole-hearted 
 consecration. His brother, Dr. Elmer Ellsworth 
 
24 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 Brown, tells of a summer Sunday afternoon, while 
 the family was resting on the lawn of their farm 
 home, he was conversing with their father about his 
 desire to go as a missionary among the Sioux In- 
 dians. This was shortly after the great Sioux wars. 
 As they talked of this, his earnest desire, they sat 
 looking off at the setting sun toward the Indian 
 country. "There was in it all a strange sense of 
 perilous and romantic consecration that sank deep 
 into my soul," his brother says. And while still in 
 his teens, this young student and teacher, before he 
 had entered college, and fully a generation in ad- 
 vance of the formation of the Student Volunteer 
 Movement for foreign missions, quietly but earn- 
 estly reached a decision to volunteer for foreign 
 missionary service. The way did not open for him 
 to enter either of these two fields, so he reluctantly 
 gave up that hope, but eagerly set his mind and 
 heart toward preparation for usefulness in the home- 
 land, and, so far as he could then foresee, in the 
 teaching profession. A year or two more of teach- 
 ing, study, and farm work found him ready to enter 
 the Illinois State Normal School. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Student Years at Normal 
 
 In 1871, he completed his plans for further prep- 
 aration for the teaching profession, and with but a 
 few dollars saved from his farm labors and from 
 his meager salary as a country school teacher, he 
 entered the Illinois State Normal University at Nor- 
 mal, 111. 
 
 Here he studied diligently, setting a high standard 
 of scholarship, entering actively into college life, 
 and with exceptional application and seriousness of 
 purpose striving to make the years of training fruit- 
 ful. The necessity for earning his way left but little 
 time for the social, recreational, and athletic features 
 characteristic of college life. His already well- 
 trained mind and his business sagacity saw an op- 
 portunity for possible self-support in a book store 
 which he maintained and operated, earning a modest 
 profit which enabled him to acquire his education 
 without other financial assistance and without ac- 
 cumulating embarrassing indebtedness. Mr. Weiden- 
 sall says he was the most progressive student in the 
 college. He early became identified with one of the 
 voluntary literary organizations of the institution, 
 The Philadelphia^, serving as its president and tak- 
 
 25 
 
26 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 ing a leading part in the programs and debates of 
 this influential group. 
 
 Immediately, too, he became actively related to 
 the Christian activities of the University. He as- 
 sisted his sister in forming the first student Young 
 Women's Christian Association of the entire move- 
 ment. He took the initiative in forming a student 
 Young Men's Christian Association and served as 
 its president. He cooperated in the Christian ac- 
 tivities of the community as well, serving as a 
 teacher in the Sunday school of his church and in 
 other places of useful service. 
 
 The exceptional regularity of his attendance at 
 all Sunday and midweek services of the church, so 
 characteristic of his earlier years, was continued and 
 without interruption during his busy years as a self- 
 supporting student. The summer months of his 
 years in the Normal School were spent in the cus- 
 tomary farm duties, in which he worked hard; he 
 also applied himself diligently to reading and study 
 and managed to save something for the expenses 
 of the ensuing year. 
 
 These years were scarcely typical of the college 
 life of today; he was there, not because he was sent, 
 but because of the urge within him for learning and 
 for preparation for his already chosen calling which 
 he loved and in which he desired to excel. His 
 financial support had to come entirely from his own 
 earnings. So his years of schooling were altogether 
 serious; studying was a business and earning money 
 
STUDENT YEARS AT NORMAL 27 
 
 was imperative. Through these years of accom- 
 plishment it is notable that it was the social and 
 athletic activities which received the minimum of 
 his attention, and that the maximum of his strength 
 went into the intellectual and spiritual development 
 which meant so much to the great life work for 
 which he was preparing. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Beginnings in His Life Work 
 
 It was doubtless providential that while a student 
 he was chosen a delegate to the first state conven- 
 tion of the Young Men's Christian Association of 
 Illinois, which met at Bloomington, November 6 
 to 9, 1873. The records do not indicate any special 
 or leading part taken by him in this first convention, 
 but it is evident from his recorded impressions that 
 it was a time of deep thinking and of rich spiritual 
 experience to him and that it profoundly influenced 
 his future life and work as is so frequently the case 
 with college students and other young men attend- 
 ing their first convention. This early contact with 
 the very beginnings of the movement in which he 
 was to spend his life was a vital factor in his future 
 decision and service. 
 
 During the remainder of his three years in the 
 Normal School and the six years as a teacher and 
 principal, he was in constant contact with the local 
 and state work of the Associations. In 1878, at 
 Normal, he was elected as a member of the State 
 Executive Committee, and in 1879, at the Decatur 
 Convention, he was reelected and also chosen as 
 vice-president of the convention. 
 
 28 
 
BEGINNINGS IN HIS LIFE WORK 29 
 
 During these early years of the movement in 
 Illinois, Robert Weidensall, that statesmanlike 
 pioneer, had been its ever-faithful servant, coun- 
 sellor, and chief inspirational force. 
 
 At this Decatur convention of 1879, Mr. Weiden- 
 sall presented a paper on "The Importance of a State 
 Secretary." This office was vacant in Illinois and 
 had been so in the earlier years, save for the one 
 year of evangelistic work by one who served tempor- 
 arily. Mr. Weidensall was preparing the way for 
 this great and immediate need if the work was to 
 grow and succeed. He summed up this paper by 
 enumerating seven characteristics of a State Sec- 
 retary as follows: (1) He should be mighty in the 
 Scriptures and full of the Holy Spirit. (2) He should 
 possess good common sense, poise, and balance. (3) 
 He should know what will make a true success of 
 any Association, and be quick to discern needs and 
 ability, and have patience to impart that knowl- 
 edge. (4) He should be able in private interview or 
 public address to communicate his thoughts in a 
 forceful and acceptable manner. (5) He ought, of 
 all men, to be an example of humility — not seeking 
 position of prominence for personal glory. (6) He, 
 being the leader and general manager of all the work 
 in the field, must become minister and servant of 
 all, going forth, not to be ministered unto, but to 
 minister; and (7) He must do all for the glory of 
 the Lord and for the building up of His Kingdom. 
 
 In a word, the State Secretary must be a living, 
 
30 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 speaking encyclopedia on Christian work, especially 
 on that pertaining to the salvation of young men. 
 It is probable that this mighty prophet, pioneer, and 
 seer of the entire association movement, in thus por- 
 traying the qualifications of the leader needed for 
 Illinois, little realized that even then — right in their 
 midst and one of them, in the person of this young 
 teacher, the President of the entertaining Associa- 
 tion and Vice-president of the Convention he was 
 addressing — was one who possessed all the character- 
 istics he had been enumerating, and more, and whose 
 heart and mind were already in preparation for the 
 position of responsible leadership. 
 
 But the following months brought rapid develop- 
 ments. Mr. Weidensall was increasingly drawn 
 toward the young teacher whom he had known in 
 the Normal School, and whose leadership in educa- 
 tional, Association, and community activities had 
 repeatedly and impressively come under his observa- 
 tion. For some years he had been earnestly pray- 
 ing and quietly but diligently seeking for the right 
 man to place at the head of the movement in Illinois. 
 Gradually it was borne in upon him that right here 
 in the ranks was the very man for the task. He 
 saw in him the qualities of leadership, the strength 
 of mind, warmth of heart, and spiritual vision and 
 purpose essential to the successful development of 
 the work. He had thought deeply, searched widely, 
 and prayed long and earnestly for guidance to the 
 man of God's own selection, and here in the per- 
 
BEGINNINGS IN HIS LIFE WORK 31 
 
 sonality and spirit of the consecrated, earnest, cap- 
 able, young educator he became convinced that his 
 prayer was answered and his search ended — that Mr. 
 Brown was the God-chosen man for this great con- 
 structive and reconstructive task. He urged the 
 Illinois committee to invite him to the State Sec- 
 retaryship. (See Mr. Weidensall's pen written 
 memorandum on page 32 setting forth his reasons 
 for this conviction.) The Committee concurred, the 
 call was extended, and a committee composed of 
 A. T. Hemingway, W. W. Van Arsdale. and Robert 
 Weidensall designated to urge him to accept. 
 
 On April 16, 1880, Mr. Brown, at thirty years of 
 age, accepted the position which was to command 
 his abilities, energies, and consecrated efforts for 
 the next three decades. 
 
 Twenty-five years later, L. W. Messer, who had 
 been closely associated with the Illinois work almost 
 from the beginning, in writing a brief historical 
 sketch of the work in Illinois during the quarter 
 century of Mr. Brown's leadership, said, "No better 
 service was ever rendered the Associations of this 
 state than that given by Robert Weidensall when, 
 with a conviction born of God, he urged Mr. Brown 
 to leave his important position as a teacher in De- 
 catur, to become the State Secretary of the Illinois 
 Associations." 
 
32 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 Reproduction of Robert Weidensall's Original Memorandum 
 
 Giving His Reasons for Choosing I. E. Brown 
 
 as State Secretary for Illinois. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Early Reconstruction Efforts 
 
 The seven years intervening between the first or- 
 ganized efforts in the state and the calling of Mr. 
 Brown as State Secretary, had been years char- 
 acterized by fervent evangelistic campaigns, under 
 the leadership of those sturdy pioneers, Moody, 
 Whittle, Farwell, and others. For one year, 1877, 
 Charles M. Morton, devoted, consecrated, able 
 worker, served as State Secretary, traveling exten- 
 sively over the state, conducting impressive and 
 successful evangelistic campaigns, organizing new 
 associations, and so faithfully and earnestly preach- 
 ing the gospel as to bring large numbers of men 
 and women to accept the Christian standard of life 
 and to enroll as members of churches and Young 
 Men's Christian Associations. These early efforts 
 characterized the Association as definitely Christian, 
 evangelical, and evangelistic, and laid strong and 
 sure the foundations for the development of sym- 
 metrical Christian manhood through social, physical, 
 intellectual, and spiritual agencies — the new ideal 
 and goal of the Association movement. This all- 
 round ideal rested deeply in the mind and heavily 
 on the heart of Mr. Weidensall, the ever-faithful 
 
 33 
 
34 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 leader, servant, and friend of the movement in 
 Illinois and throughout the country. None appre- 
 ciated more than he the need and the value of the 
 evangelistic appeal; and none appreciated quite so 
 much the tremendous value of the broader appeal 
 for the development of the entire man, body, soul, 
 and spirit, of which the Association became the ex- 
 ponent, as the agent and representative of the 
 churches. Valuable beyond computation — as this 
 early evangelistic spirit had been — it did not in it- 
 self establish the permanent policy for the building 
 of executive organizations which was essential if the 
 movement were to succeed. He was happy in the 
 knowledge that the right man had been obtained 
 for the wise, tactful, and efficient guidance of the 
 movement during its transition period; from the 
 time when its chief and practically exclusive em- 
 phasis was upon the evangelistic note, into the 
 period when the emphasis, while none the less upon 
 evangelism, should be stronger upon the symmet- 
 rical development of ideal Christian manhood 
 through the broader appeal to all departments of 
 man's nature, and to the idea that the true function 
 of the state organization should be to build up 
 Associations which would carry out this ideal, rather 
 than merely to promote union meetings and evan- 
 gelistic campaigns throughout the state. 
 
 So, with thorough instruction and many prayer- 
 ful admonitions, Mr. Weidensall placed the task in 
 the hands and on the heart of the new leader. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 The First Decade 
 
 Immediately upon Mr. Brown's acceptance of the 
 call to lead the movement in Illinois as State Sec- 
 retary, he began correspondence with, and also did 
 some visiting of, Associations. At the close of the 
 school year, June first, he began devoting his entire 
 time to the new task which was to command his 
 consecrated efforts and untiring energy for the next 
 thirty years. 
 
 The entries in his diary on his first day as State 
 Secretary are indicative of three of his great char- 
 acteristics: first, the dominating spiritual motive 
 of his life; second, his prayerful spirit; and third, 
 his systematic, thorough, practical, and energetic 
 ways of going about a task. He writes (June 1, 
 1880) : 
 
 Accepted appointment as State Secretary. I hope and 
 pray and earnestly desire that this may be for God's 
 glory and that He will use this weak instrumentality for 
 the advancement of His Kingdom. May He grant it. 
 
 Immediately followed by: 
 
 Bought supplies, outfit, and stationery for immediate 
 use. Sent letters to State Secretaries asking for infor- 
 mation and facts. 
 
 35 
 
36 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 He at once began a study of the conditions in his ! 
 large field, receiving a list of sixteen Associations 
 supposedly actively at work. Several of these were 
 found to have disbanded. With this nucleus of or- 
 ganizations he began his large task, seeking early to 
 systematize, energize, and inspire them to better 
 service. 
 
 Early he had the duty of arranging for the State 
 Convention of 1880, which met at Peoria in August. 
 
 Mr. Weidensall had intended to participate in 
 this Convention but was detained in the East and 
 instead wrote a letter which was almost apostolic; 
 certainly in spirit and in content it was greatly like 
 the letters Paul wrote for the encouragement of his 
 friends whom he could not visit in person. Through- 
 out, his letter breathes the spirit of devotion and 
 zeal for effective service. 
 
 He says: 
 
 After much prayer, seeking, and anxiety for a State 
 Secretary, after calling several of the best Association 
 men in the country to this important position and were 
 disappointed because the Lord had not laid upon their 
 hearts to come, your committee were without doubt in 
 my mind, providentially directed to Mr. Brown as the 
 man for this position and the efficiency he has shown 
 since accepting the situation confirms the first judgment 
 in the matter, and not only theirs, but others who anx- 
 iously waited for proof of their judgment. ... 
 
 And, further in the same letter: 
 
THE FIRST DECADE 37 
 
 Since God has signally blessed the work wherever sin- 
 cerely undertaken, and especially since he has provided 
 us with an efficient State Secretary of our own number 
 whom we know and who has been with the state work 
 from the beginning, let us lift up our souls in thankful- 
 ness and with our hearts pray and work as we have 
 never done before. 
 
 In this letter he also characterized this gathering 
 as "the most important State Convention of all that 
 have yet assembled in the entire west." "With 
 the work unified and characterized by singleness of 
 purpose, you are now on vantage ground," he said 
 further, and in closing: 
 
 Let the spirit of God direct the Convention, let unity 
 prevail, let all be of a teachable spirit. Many of these 
 suggestions of mine may be unnecessary but overlook 
 all such, for I write as one who loves each and every 
 one of you. My heart yearns for your true success in 
 doing just what God would have you do. I trust that 
 I shall return to you and that my heart shall be 
 strengthened by what you have done. 
 
 Probably nothing more like Paul's writings which 
 so breathed the spirit of the Master is to be found 
 l in the correspondence of any man of the present 
 | day. 
 
 At the first convention the new program was em- 
 phasized and featured, and here he presented his 
 first annual report. This demonstrated, after only 
 a few summer weeks of labor, that a wise choice had 
 
38 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 been made for leader of the movement. In the 
 change of the point of emphasis from distinctly 
 evangelistic work to symmetrical development of 
 body, mind, and spirit, he had concentrated on a 
 general visitation of the Associations, ascertaining 
 their condition and needs, and making plans for 
 strengthening their work at every point. This first 
 report showed many of the characteristics so prom- 
 inent in all his future labors. He reported accurately 
 the number of letters, postals and documents he had 
 mailed; the number of miles traveled; the number 
 of conferences, meetings, and public addresses. He 
 told of the cities now ripe for establishing new As- 
 sociations and inspired the delegates by his earnest 
 spiritual appeal to "Be strong and of good courage, 
 seeking the blessing of the Master." 
 
 HIS FIRST CONVENTION PAPER 
 
 At this first convention, he presented the first 
 formal paper of his official life, a paper upon "Com- 
 mittees, their Importance and Organization." 
 
 This paper treating of a fundamental Association 
 necessity is a model in conciseness, directness, ear- 
 nestness; and in its closing appeal, as was his cus- 
 tom, for the religious spirit to permeate every effort. 
 It reveals his orderly, systematic, analytical mind, 
 and his deep religious nature. After suggesting the 
 necessity for orderly organization and system, he 
 makes these points: 
 
THE FIRST DECADE 39 
 
 1. Every active member to be assigned to service 
 upon some committee. 
 
 2. Each member of each group to have some 
 definite work laid upon him. 
 
 3. A competent executive leader is needed. And 
 he says in closing: 
 
 4. "In all this care of the machinery of Associa- 
 tion activity, let us not forget that it is only ma- 
 chinery; that there is needed besides all this, the 
 vivifying power of God's spirit." Then in the spirit 
 of earnest prayer so characteristic of all his life work, 
 his paper closes with "May He add His Blessing to 
 all our efforts and thoughts and plans for Him." 
 Throughout his nearly four decades of active service 
 beginning with this his first paper at his first Con- 
 vention, he never departed from nor lowered this 
 high standard. 
 
 EARLY VISITATION 
 
 The record of his early labors in the cities and 
 towns of Illinois shows much of a pioneer spirit 
 and reminds one of the early ministry of Paul among 
 the scattered, struggling churches at the beginning 
 of the Christian era. In October, 1880, visiting one 
 of the leading cities of the state, his entry is: 
 
 I am writing in the rooms of the Association. Found 
 them open — no one here. Lit the gas and have done 
 some writing. No one was at the depot. I shall now 
 go to the hotel for the night. 
 
40 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 The pathos of loneliness is perfectly apparent be- 
 tween these lines; he overcame it in the same heroic 
 spirit of the earlier great pioneer and teacher who 
 wrote "In journeyings often; in weariness and pain- 
 fulness." ' 
 
 Again, a month later, in another city, we are given 
 a glimpse of the deep concern of his heart that the 
 foundations he was laying should be well laid, as 
 he says: 
 
 As there seems to be almost no one who is acquainted 
 with the work, I have great anxiety lest mistakes be 
 made which shall be fatal to the work. 
 
 Discouragements such as these met him at almost 
 every one of the few, widely scattered, inadequately 
 equipped, and but partially organized Associations. 
 Previous to his beginning work, they had little or 
 no contact with each other, were without settled 
 policies or plans, and had no unifying agency. 
 But he threw all the strength of his well-trained 
 mind, his indomitable spirit, and his high spir- 
 itual purposes into the situations as he found 
 them. Conditions began gradually to improve and 
 the results of his service early became manifest. 
 Existing Associations were inspired and encouraged, 
 and reorganized when necessary; new Associations 
 were organized as rapidly as communities were 
 sufficiently prepared to sustain them. The entire 
 movement was gradually placed on its new basis. 
 At each point visited it was his earnest purpose 
 
THE FIRST DECADE 41 
 
 to inspire the organizations to effective religious 
 effort and to the newer ideal of Association service, 
 to meet the all-round needs of the individual man. 
 It required conviction and courage to stand in those 
 early days for this principle — the systematic, four- 
 fold type of work, for the general evangelistic plan, 
 with its stronger appeal to emotion and sentiment, 
 had become the generally accepted type. But the 
 new State Secretary supplied the courageous lead- 
 ership necessary to success; he imparted his en- 
 thusiasm to others, and gradually he led the 
 Associations of the state to revise their programs 
 so as to conform to the broader ideal. New Asso- 
 ciations were placed at the start on this basis, and 
 soon the new principle became so generally ap- 
 proved that the movement was well started on its 
 way to the period of great growth and expansion 
 which awaited it. 
 
 ASSOCIATIONS FOR SPECIAL CLASSES 
 
 In these early years of beginnings, both in his 
 own life work and in the life of a movement des- 
 tined to greater growth and expansion than any 
 other existing organization, it was his task to lead 
 the Associations, not only in providing for the all- 
 round needs of the individual man, physical, social, 
 intellectual and spiritual, but also in adapting its 
 program of service to benefit special classes and 
 groups of men other than those in the cities. 
 
42 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 Student Associations. — During these first years, 
 he continually emphasized the crucial importance of 
 organizing and influencing the college students of 
 the State. "Gain the colleges" was one of the ob- 
 jects he reported to the International Convention 
 the first year. Hence the Associations among the 
 students of the colleges were from the start im- 
 portant factors in the development of the work, 
 and they remained so continuously throughout his 
 long period of leadership. 
 
 Associations for Railroad Men. — The railroad 
 men were much on his heart and mind and among 
 the tasks early undertaken was the development of 
 interest, good will, and a desire to render corporate, 
 moral, and financial support on the part of railroad 
 officials. A number of Associations for railroad men 
 were established and their ministry became a per- 
 manent and increasing power for good, and railroad 
 corporate support both for buildings and operating 
 expenses constantly increased. 
 
 In Towns and Villages. — Likewise in the towns 
 and villages where the normal equipment and pro- 
 gram of the city Association was necessarily im- 
 possible, he encouraged small groups of young men 
 to associate themselves for social and spiritual cul- 
 ture and service to others, and from these small 
 groups many stalwart characters and efficient Chris- 
 tian leaders were developed for the ministry, for 
 the secretaryship, and as lay leaders in church and 
 Associations. The remote country towns were 
 
THE FIRST DECADE 43 
 
 brought into helpful contact with the movement 
 through the appointment of individual correspond- 
 ing members of the state organization. 
 
 Militia Camp Work. — It was during this period 
 that he led in establishing special tent work for 
 the thousands of young men members of the state 
 militia, assembled for their annual encampments. 
 This was the beginning of similar service in many- 
 other states, and a forerunner of the inestimable 
 service rendered by the Associations in the Spanish- 
 American War, and later, in the World War. 
 
 Enlargement of Staff. — For the first four years he 
 worked almost alone and unaided save by the volun- 
 teer help of the splendid group of laymen of those 
 early years. In 1884, his brother, Elmer E. Brown, 
 joined forces with him as Assistant State Secretary, 
 serving for three years. Soon he added a competent, 
 efficient man as office secretary, the first state to 
 employ such. Gradually additional staff assistants 
 were added, so that by the close of his first decade, 
 he was surrounded by an able corps of department 
 heads and specialists, some of whom remained with 
 him for many years of fruitful service under his 
 magnetic and inspiring leadership. 
 
 Thus, through ten years of beginnings, he labored 
 with untiring energy, enthusiasm, and devotion, 
 through his own consecrated efforts, through his 
 associates, lay and secretarial, and through the As- 
 sociations planted everywhere over the state. 
 
44 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 Mr. Weidensall, reviewing the early beginnings 
 some years later, wrote: 
 
 I had to initiate Mr. Brown in the duties of his office; 
 outlined for him a ten-year policy and soon after took 
 my departure; believing him capable and trustworthy 
 to carry it out. Later, I found him almost killing him- 
 self trying to do ten years' work in six months. 
 
 To see the Associations wisely established and 
 constantly growing in numerical and spiritual 
 strength was the absorbing ambition of his life. The 
 close of the first decade found the movement firmly 
 entrenched and well equipped to meet its great 
 objective. In bringing this about the character, 
 mentality, ability, zeal, and dominant spiritual pur- 
 pose of the State Secretary were the chief elements. 
 
 SORROW AND BEREAVEMENT 
 
 In his first year of service he was called upon to 
 bear a heavy burden of sorrow owing to the death 
 of his wife, after a few years of married life char- 
 acterized by great happiness and an exceptional de- 
 gree of mutual helpfulness. This sorrow was in- 
 tensified by the death of a few weeks later of his 
 little daughter, after anxious days of watching and 
 hoping. His heart yearned earnestly that she might 
 be spared. The sorrow of the double loss was deep 
 and his sense of loneliness was very great. His 
 strength of character, his Christian faith, fortitude, 
 
THE FIRST DECADE 45 
 
 and courage, and his spiritual resourcefulness are 
 all manifested in the spirit in which he bore these 
 burdens, for the record shows no trace of despair 
 or bitterness, but rather, that his faith sustained 
 and upheld him and that he realized in special man- 
 ner the comfort God brings to those who sorrow. 
 Returning to his old home for the Thanksgiving 
 holiday in 1880, he writes: 
 
 We are all together taking Thanksgiving dinner — 
 parents, children, and grandchildren. I thought of one 
 year ago when father and mother were at our house and 
 my darling Emma prepared the feast. Now I am left 
 in loneliness; I write in the room where I saw my child 
 breathe out her little life into the arms of Christ. But 
 God upholds his children. His promises are sure. 
 
 Truly he sorrowed, but not as those who have no 
 hope, for his strong, simple faith and trust brought 
 to him through the sorrow rich spiritual experiences 
 which made him increasingly through future years a 
 source of comfort and helpfulness to friends, neigh- 
 bors, and fellow workers in times of affliction. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 An Important Decision Reconsidered 
 
 A Vision of the Future. — Toward the close of his 
 first decade as State Secretary he was invited and 
 strongly urged to accept a position on the faculty 
 of the Young Men's Christian Training School at 
 Springfield, Mass. This call came undoubtedly be- 
 cause of his demonstrated success as a leader in the 
 movement and his ever-apparent qualifications as 
 a teacher and educator. This opportunity again to 
 devote his talents chiefly to teaching and in his 
 chosen field of service, together with its freedom 
 from the burden of travel and consequent strain 
 upon his health, appealed strongly to him and he 
 felt constrained to accept. So he presented his 
 resignation, effective upon completion of his tenth 
 year. The State Committee, the local Associations, 
 and his many friends in Illinois, feeling that his 
 going would be an irreparable loss to the work in 
 the state, appealed to him most strongly to recon- 
 sider his decision, making modifications in his 
 duties, and providing for additional assistance. He 
 finally decided to remain in the State Secretaryship, 
 and withdrew his resignation. In making this de- 
 
 46 
 
AN IMPORTANT DECISION RECONSIDERED 47 
 
 cision to remain in Illinois, he had in mind and on 
 his heart the great need for an institution of learn- 
 ing in the West, similar in plan and purpose to the 
 Springfield School, for the training of men for ex- 
 ecutive leadership in all departments of Association 
 service. So, in the first year of his second decade, 
 he took the initiative in founding such a school, its 
 original name being the Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation Training School. It supplemented the 
 beginnings made in the summer school of the 
 Western Secretarial Institute at Lake Geneva by 
 two-year courses in Chicago. He became its first 
 President, served on its faculty, led the new institu- 
 tion in all its stages of development, saw it grow 
 steadily in equipment and service, later becoming 
 the Young Men's Christian College, and spent the 
 last eight years of his life in its service as one of its 
 executive officers, and a member of its faculty. Thus 
 he made undoubtedly a greater contribution to the 
 cause of an educated, especially prepared, and 
 trained leadership for the movement than he could 
 have done had his original decision to accept the 
 Springfield call been carried out. 
 
 Mr. Weidensall in writing later of this said : "Mr. 
 Brown stole a march on some of the older Institute 
 folks and first outlined a policy for the training 
 school in Chicago." Undoubtedly such a school had 
 long been on Mr. Weidensall's heart, and he re- 
 joiced in the leadership given to it by Mr. Brown. 
 The important part the College has taken and is 
 
48 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 now taking in equipping leaders for the movement 
 throughout the nation and the nations of the world 
 is another evidence of his farsightedness and of his 
 spiritual vision. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 The Second Decade 
 
 With the necessary transformation in methods 
 and objective accomplished, the opening of the 
 second decade of his service found him ready, with 
 a well-organized staff of assistants, with an increas- 
 ing number of associations reaching all types of 
 men, and with increasing public favor and support. 
 Associations were planted in cities, colleges, towns, 
 and railroad centers. The discouragements were 
 many, especially in communities where earlier at- 
 tempts to organize had failed. But these were 
 courageously overcome and on the new and larger 
 plan the organization attained a degree of per- 
 manency not possible upon the earlier basis. The 
 principal features of the period from 1890 to 1900 
 may be summarized as follows: 
 
 1. The movement grew rapidly in the confidence 
 and esteem of Christian people in all parts of the 
 state. 
 
 2. There was constant development and expan- 
 sion. New associations were organized, not rapidly 
 but constantly. Membership grew steadily, new 
 secretaries to man the local fields were secured, and 
 
 49 
 
50 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 volunteer committee staffs increased in numbers 
 and in measure of interest in the Associations. 
 
 3. There was marked internal development with- 
 in the Associations. Religious work was systematic- 
 ally and symmetrically emphasized, and Bible 
 classes and evangelistic meetings steadily built up. 
 Educational work began to enroll young men in eve- 
 ning study by thousands. Physical culture took on 
 a new interest, passing from the earlier stage of 
 mere play or sport or special individual athletic 
 development, to the new basis of systematic body 
 building and character building for health, efficiency, 
 and Christian usefulness. Social activities increased 
 greatly in volume and attractiveness and became an 
 integral part of the general scheme of service for 
 the whole need of every individual man. 
 
 4. A constant movement was made toward more 
 adequate and more serviceable equipment. Meager 
 rooms occupied by the Associations at their begin- 
 ning were constantly being supplanted by better 
 ones. In turn, rented rooms were gradually being 
 outgrown and the state was becoming dotted with 
 new buildings owned by the Associations, thus add- 
 ing dignity, force, and permanence to their organ- 
 ized efforts. During this decade Mr. Brown made 
 most thorough studies of the architectural and 
 structural problems involved in Association build- 
 ings and became a leading, if not the leading, au- 
 thority upon the subject among the secretaries of 
 the country. 
 
 
THE SECOND DECADE 51 
 
 5. This period witnessed the real development of 
 the plans for an adequately educated and tech- 
 nically trained employed staff. The summer courses 
 of the earlier years had been of exceeding value, 
 but further training facilities were essential. So, 
 at the beginning of 1890, Mr. Brown, as related 
 elsewhere, took the initiative and led in forming the 
 Young Men's Christian Training School at Chicago, 
 becoming its first President. This school was suc- 
 cessful from the start, its later merger with the 
 summer school at Lake Geneva, the combined in- 
 stitution in time becoming the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association College, making it a factor of the 
 greatest importance to the successful administra- 
 tion of the Association service throughout the West 
 and throughout the entire movement. 
 
 In all these multiplying activities, Mr. Brown 
 was the energetic leader and the wise counselor. 
 Five of the ten years were characterized by severe 
 business depression throughout the state, following 
 the panic of 1893. This naturally hindered progress 
 and made financial support for state and local work 
 much more difficult to obtain. But he knew no 
 such word as discouragement; courageously, ener- 
 getically, and enthusiastically he "carried on" and 
 the years saw the work constantly increase and ex- 
 pand under his consecrated, efficient leadership. 
 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Third Decade 
 
 The beginning of the third decade of his State 
 Secretaryship found him at his prime, and in a 
 place of marked influence throughout his field and 
 the nation. His ripe experience, his sound judg- 
 ment, his mental and spiritual strength were every- 
 where respected and appreciated; his energy was 
 unabated, and his enthusiasm unwavering. Always 
 a close student of past events and history, he never 
 dwelt at length upon the past in his thoughts, but 
 vigorously looked toward the future and planned 
 for far-away results. He inspired his associates and 
 the working forces of the state to do likewise. 
 
 To a considerable extent the third decade, follow- 
 ing the first one of correction and foundation laying, 
 and the second of expansion, was one of internal 
 improvement and intensive development. The 
 leading characteristics of the second decade con- 
 tinued, however, on through the third, and with the 
 new ones of the latter period, may be summarized 
 as follows: 
 
 1. A constant increase in public favor. The an- 
 nual report for 1906 says: "So complete has become 
 the foothold of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 
 52 
 
THE THIRD DECADE 53 
 
 ciation movement in Illinois, that, under careful 
 guidance, its growth year by year is becoming phe- 
 nomenal." Also, in 1907, with the ever-forward 
 look his report says: "The Associations of the State 
 are upon the threshold of greater achievements than 
 ever realized or dreamed of before." 
 
 2. Continued intensive development of existing 
 Associations and constant expansion into new fields. 
 Membership increased, and greater numbers of 
 young men were benefited every year through Bible 
 classes and evangelistic meetings, educational and 
 gymnasium class instruction, and organized social 
 activities. 
 
 3. Acquirement of buildings. In this decade it 
 came to be almost a settled policy that no new 
 Association in a city would be established without 
 first securing funds for a building. At the middle 
 of the period there was a larger number of new 
 buildings under construction than at any other one 
 time in the history of the work. College communi- 
 ties, likewise, in some instances secured buildings 
 and there was increased corporate support from 
 railroads for buildings for railroad employees. Dur- 
 ing the period the short-term intensive campaign 
 for building funds came into general use and was 
 uniformly successful. 
 
 4. The maintenance of the state work at full 
 strength. It was no small burden to keep up and 
 finance the state organization through a period of 
 further financial depression following the panic of 
 
54 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 1907. But the energy and zeal of the State Sec- 
 retary solved this problem. At about this time the 
 first cash legacy of $10,000 was received for the 
 state work, soon to be followed by others. Through 
 the years a multitude of givers of small amounts 
 were raised up and this substantial basis of sup- 
 port could be depended upon even through panics. 
 
 5. Organization for special groups and classes. 
 The student work was steadily emphasized and prac- 
 tically every college in the state had an association. 
 Railroad work grew constantly in its practical min- 
 istry to employees, and in its appreciation by rail- 
 road officials. The county unit of organization was 
 established for the hundreds and thousands of 
 young men scattered in the villages and on the 
 farms. Special emphasis was laid upon organized 
 activities for boys under trained leaders, and with 
 gratifying results. Even in the State Reformatory 
 a special Association was formed and permanently 
 maintained, it proving to be a great benefit to the 
 hundreds of inmates and a factor greatly appreci- 
 ated by the institution officials in maintaining 
 wholesome discipline and establishing correct and 
 high ideals of character and conduct. 
 
 6. The growth of the work in Illinois and 
 throughout the country brought its problems of or- 
 ganization and relationships, there being marked 
 differences of judgment between strong leaders of 
 international, state, and local associations upon 
 questions of Association policy. Throughout 
 
 * 
 
THE THIRD DECADE 55 
 
 these multiplied negotiations and conferences, he 
 was most patient and considerate in his negotiations, 
 wise and tactful in his attitude toward those differ- 
 ing with him, and firm in his convictions as to the 
 wisdom of recognizing the autonomy and authority 
 of the local Association — a policy which has been 
 sustained through the years as fundamentally cor- 
 rect. He stood for the primary responsibility of the 
 local Association, and for the state organizations 
 within the boundaries of the states, for all phases 
 of the Association development. 
 
 7. Throughout this decade, his personal influence 
 was most marked and constantly growing. Workers 
 everywhere prized his counsel upon all their prob- 
 lems and frequently traveled long distances for per- 
 sonal consultations with him. In many instances 
 these interviews were vital factors — in some, the 
 determining factor — in the choice of life work, in 
 the choice of one's future field of service, in the 
 decision to shape the course of one's life anew, in 
 getting a firmer grip upon higher ideals and pur- 
 poses, and in moving forward into a life of greater 
 victory and achievement. Most of his interviews 
 were much more than casual conversations, they 
 were consultations affecting life and work. Men 
 trusted him, and eagerly sought his counsel, in- 
 cluding successful leaders and experienced fellow- 
 workers. They turned to him in perplexities and 
 emergencies, followed his example, and depended on 
 his leadership. It was the testimony of many 
 
56 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 younger secretaries that they derived more of actual 
 help from his kindly, frank, wise counsel; from his 
 tactful, friendly way of pointing out weaknesses 
 which must be overcome; and from his keen anal- 
 ysis, decisive reasoning and clear judgment, than 
 from any other source. Mr. Weidensall said of him, 
 "He had no superior as an interviewer." 
 
 His capacity to create friendships was almost un- 
 limited, for his friendships were many and ever in- 
 creasing, and they were characterized by depth and 
 constancy. His power in personal counsel, his 
 ability to help men reach definite decisions and to 
 decide important questions wisely was an outstand- 
 ing characteristic of his life, and it increased steadily 
 as the years passed. It is notable that Dr. John R. 
 Mott, some three years after Mr. Brown's death, at 
 a meeting of the International Committee, in 
 Chicago, publicly expressed his deep sense of obliga- 
 tion to him for invaluable help and personal counsel 
 to him in his earliest years of service. 
 
 To trace his influence in individual lives would be 
 a fascinating and almost endless study and would 
 furnish material for a volume. He was a great 
 student, a lover of books, and an extensive reader; 
 and it naturally followed that he was not, in the 
 ordinary sense of the term "a good mixer." But 
 the measure of his interest in his fellow men, his 
 good will toward them, the warmth of his wishes for 
 their success and happiness, his constant readiness 
 to extend helpful advice and counsel made him far 
 
 
THE THIRD DECADE 57 
 
 more serviceable than though he had been so classi- 
 fied. For his contacts through the years created 
 friendships strong and permanent, moulded char- 
 acter, made paths of duty and opportunity clearer 
 to see and easier to follow. He was a thinker and 
 an adept in transmitting his ideas and ideals, his 
 convictions, his enthusiasms, and his lofty purposes 
 into the minds and hearts of others. He constantly 
 imparted countless spiritual gifts to those who came 
 into contact with him in any way. He thrust his 
 life out into the lives of his friends and fellow 
 workers in such ways as to enrich them and make 
 them better and more useful for having known him. 
 As typical of his extraordinary personal influence, 
 the following two expressions from men in different 
 callings are mentioned here. His own pastor said 
 of him: 
 
 I realize more and more how much he meant to me, 
 and will always mean. The lessons in moderation, cour- 
 age, faithfulness and hope which I learned through con- 
 tact with him are a part of the warp and woof of my life. 
 
 And a leading general secretary in a metropolitan 
 city said: 
 
 Mr. Brown gave direction to my Christian service 
 and I hold him in the highest esteem of any man I have 
 met throughout my life. 
 
 And so he labored on through these three decades, 
 growing constantly in personal power and influence. 
 
58 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 The arrival and passing of the years of middle life 
 saw no abatement of his energies and his strong 
 enthusiasms. The organized forces of the Associa- 
 tion increased steadily under his leadership. In 
 the thirtieth year of his State Secretaryship, at the 
 age of sixty, and with his work at full tide of suc- 
 cess, he received and after mature deliberation 
 accepted the invitation to become Dean of the 
 Young Men's Christian Association College, the in- 
 stitution he had founded, believing that in this 
 position he would render the crowning service of his 
 life. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Devotion to His Field 
 
 Rarely ever has a man taken his life work more 
 seriously than did Mr. Brown. He regarded the 
 entire state as his field of service and he felt a deep 
 responsibility not only for the success and useful- 
 ness of every Association in the state, but also for 
 the moral welfare of every young man in Illinois, 
 in metropolis, city, town, college, railroad center 
 or farm; hence his heart was burdened for the cities 
 and other centers having no organized associations. 
 He thought, planned, prayed, and hoped for those 
 swarming multitudes of young men. Particularly 
 did his great heart go out toward the country towns 
 where workers were few, leaders scarce and con- 
 stantly removing, making permanence in organiza- 
 tion well-nigh impossible. But here were countless 
 thousands of able young men capable of being 
 reached with inspirational, cultural, and gospel in- 
 fluences, and they commanded his deepest affection 
 and concern. He stood firmly as a champion of the 
 county form of organization, where many strong 
 and wise leaders doubted its practicability. He re- 
 joiced in the large network of corresponding mem- 
 bers in country towns in the interest they developed, 
 
 59 
 
60 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 and in the thousands of young men, who, removing, 
 were followed by friendly letters to new localities 
 and in the new contacts with Christian influences 
 which these letters established. His great soul 
 sought the highest good of all within his field, and 
 every good result flowing from any phase of the 
 work anywhere in the state brought joy to his heart 
 and caused him to express his great gratitude. For, 
 through all the multiplied organizations and ac- 
 tivities, he saw the will of God being wrought into 
 the lives of those for whom his life was being poured 
 out, and he rejoiced in the privilege of having a 
 part in it. This attitude of mind toward his field 
 and his work kept him constantly hopeful and en- 
 thusiastic, even through periods of discouragement 
 and depression. No more optimistic spirit ever 
 engaged in a great task, and no one ever maintained 
 the spirit of optimism more constantly. 
 
 Throughout the thirty years, while his sym- 
 pathies touched constantly the whole country, as 
 well as the nations of the earth, he manifested a 
 measure of devotion to his particular field such as 
 has been seen in but few leaders. 
 
 SERVICE AT CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES 
 
 One great feature of his work through nearly four 
 decades of active service was his attendance at and 
 participation in the programs of many state con- 
 ventions of the associations. Every year urgent in- 
 
DEVOTION TO HIS FIELD 61 
 
 vitations from other State Secretaries reached him 
 to "come over and help us." His own work per- 
 mitted the acceptance of but few, but each year he 
 accepted at least one, sometimes several, usually 
 giving preference to states not previously visited. 
 
 At these gatherings he was called upon to present 
 studies of Association activities, to give addresses 
 upon spiritual and inspirational themes, to address 
 banquets of business men, to lead discussions in 
 conferences of Association groups, to preside over 
 financial sessions, to speak in pulpits, to conduct 
 farewell meetings, and to give counsel regarding 
 tried and tested methods in Association work. This 
 important and responsible service, with its heavy de- 
 mands upon time both in travel, study and prepara- 
 tion, and upon physical, mental, and nervous energy 
 was rendered in the same thorough, careful, and con- 
 scientious manner which characterized all his work. 
 Its great helpfulness to the delegates and to the con- 
 ventions was invariably a matter of grateful expres- 
 sion of deep appreciation from the state visited. It 
 caused him to be sought for eagerly from far and 
 near and to a much greater extent than he could 
 possibly respond to favorably. But he found great 
 joy in responding to a moderate extent and especially 
 in assisting the states where the work was new and 
 leaders scarce. 
 
 Likewise, in the International Conventions, Con- 
 ferences of Employed Officers, State Secretaries' 
 Conferences, and other similar gatherings, he was 
 
62 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 constantly called upon to participate and invariably 
 took a conspicuously helpful part in a most modest 
 way. All of this service was, in the main, apart from 
 and additional to his regular work; through it he 
 exerted an influence nothing short of a constructive 
 force, nation-wide in extent and valuable beyond 
 power of computation. Thus, in true Christian spirit 
 and with real missionary motive and purpose, he 
 generously shared with others his great wealth of 
 mental and spiritual resources, his ripe experience, 
 and his unbounded enthusiasm for the work he 
 loved so well. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 His Work at Lake Geneva 
 
 Early in his service, he, with other leaders and 
 fellow workers, came to feel the need of a place 
 where both secretaries and laymen and their families 
 could assemble under favorable circumstances for 
 rest, recreation, fellowship, mutual conference, and 
 study. Accordingly, he, in cooperation with Robert 
 Weidensall and W. E. Lewis, took the lead in as- 
 sembling his fellow workers at Camp Collie, on 
 Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. This is a beautifully lo- 
 cated spot, now known as Conference Point. Here 
 the great benefit and enjoyment of the summer 
 weeks in two different years still further convinced 
 these three men of God that a great field of useful 
 service existed through the agency of a summer 
 school and recreation center, and that larger facili- 
 ties and the permanent ownership of its own 
 property should be planned for, seeing, as all of 
 them did, that here lay an opportunity which 
 would, if improved, become a vital, essential ele- 
 ment in the development of the Association idea in 
 the West, through all future years. It was on 
 August 12, 1884, that these three prophets of the 
 early days spent the afternoon together on the hill- 
 
 63 
 
64 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 side, planning and praying for Divine guidance, as 
 they decided to carry forward a larger movement 
 and found a new and permanent institution. Nat- 
 urally Lake Geneva, unequalled in natural beauty 
 and convenient in location, was the only spot con- 
 sidered for the new home. Very soon thereafter 
 ground less than a mile from the hillside where they 
 sat was selected and purchased. Two years later, 
 he participated in the dedicatory camp fire. Mr. 
 Wiedensall, writing in later years of these begin- 
 nings says: 
 
 Mr. Brown was one of the three who by prayer and 
 conference for a whole afternoon outlined the purposes 
 and fundamental rules of the Institute that have never 
 since required any radical changes. 
 
 Continuously thereafter for a third of a century 
 he was a leading factor in all of the training and 
 cultural activities of which Lake Geneva became the 
 center. The first name of the organization was 
 "The Western Secretarial Institute," he serving as 
 a director and as treasurer in the earliest years. 
 Later he was chosen president, succeeding the 
 lamented W. E. Lewis who had poured all the 
 wealth of his deeply spiritual nature into the under- 
 taking and who in August, 1890, was translated al- 
 most as Enoch of old, from his tent on the spot he 
 loved so well. After a few years, the Lake Geneva 
 organization was legally merged with the Training 
 School of Chicago and a layman secured for Presi- 
 
HIS WORK AT LAKE GENEVA 65 
 
 dent. Mr. Brown remained on the board and as a 
 member of the faculty for both the winter and the 
 summer courses, teaching chiefly fundamental As- 
 sociation principles, courses in building, and in busi- 
 ness, and financial management, and some courses 
 in Bible study and church history. His regular 
 classroom work at Lake Geneva was supplemented 
 by many informal addresses upon educational and 
 inspirational themes, and by twilight talks, leader- 
 ship of frequent group conferences, and prayer ser- 
 vices in the woods, and by personal conferences 
 with hundreds of students and secretaries, which 
 were of a value absolutely inestimable to all. Here, 
 on the shores of the beautiful lake, in the adjoin- 
 ing woods, on hillside or in tent or recitation hall, 
 through his great gifts as a wise, helpful, personal 
 counsellor on vital problems in life and in work, he 
 rendered one of the greatest pieces of service any 
 man ever rendered for his fellows. Many are the 
 successful leaders who look back with deepest joy 
 and gratitude to the decisive helpfulness of these 
 individual consultations. Through them far-reach- 
 ing life decisions were made, spiritual victories were 
 achieved, and destinies were determined. 
 
 Several years before his death, one of the fine new 
 buildings of the summer campus was named in his 
 honor "The I. E. Brown Recitation Hall," and was 
 dedicated one afternoon in a delightfully informal 
 manner, in the presence of a considerate group of 
 his fellow teachers, students, and secretaries. More 
 
66 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 than a dozen of these associates spoke of his mar- 
 velous influence; of the great effectiveness of his 
 work as teacher, leader and counselor; of their high 
 esteem and deep affection for him, and their in- 
 debtedness to him for mental and spiritual inspi- 
 ration. Then there was unveiled a life-size portrait 
 of him. Here, in athletic costume, he listened to 
 those tributes and responded with characteristic 
 brevity, modesty, and humor, using only twelve 
 words, "I can only say that both the picture and 
 the friends greatly exaggerate." 
 
 In the summer of 1911, the twenty-fifth an- 
 niversary of the dedicatory camp fire and prayer 
 service was celebrated on the identical spot. Mr. 
 Brown presided and spoke briefly upon "Early 
 Traditions of Lake Geneva," summarizing them as 
 follows: 
 
 1. Appreciation and enjoyment of beauty in 
 nature. 
 
 2. Pleasurable and valuable social life and social 
 occasions. 
 
 3. Training for larger usefulness and greater ser- 
 vice — a conclusion reached at the memorable first- 
 hillside conference. 
 
 4. Maintaining a calm, quiet Sunday. 
 
 5. Life decisions, first to begin the Christian life, 
 second to enter Christian service as a life calling, 
 third to remain in Christian callings when inclined 
 through discouragement or other causes to leave, 
 
HIS WORK AT LAKE GENEVA 67 
 
 illustrated by decisions of Fletcher S. Brockman, 
 Fred B. Smith and others. 
 
 6. Spiritual uplift, reaching higher levels, catch- 
 ing of new and greater visions, looking out on a 
 broader horizon. 
 
 7. A place of prayer, as reflected in the morning 
 assembly, the earlier private observance of the 
 "morning watch," the dedicatory camp fire which 
 was a service of prayer, the night of prayer spent by 
 W. E. Lewis alone in the woods here, pleading with 
 God that the place might ever be sacred and its 
 spiritual possibilities realized. 
 
 8. The tradition of a world-wide vision — the large 
 part taken by the Lake Geneva institution in in- 
 spiring and training men for positions of usefulness 
 in foreign lands. 
 
 "These are the traditions of the past; upon us 
 rests the responsibility of preserving and intensify- 
 ing these traditions for the generations yet to come," 
 he said in closing. To him it was a sacred spot, al- 
 ways a center of spiritual inspiration. More than 
 any other one man of the remarkable group of 
 founders, he helped to create, intensify, and con- 
 tinue these traditions. And so, through all the years 
 of his work he served thousands in this haven of 
 rest, instruction, and inspiration. His name is thus 
 inseparably linked to this unique institution, as one 
 of the founders, of one of the most remarkable 
 centers of Christian influence anywhere in the world. 
 Through a third of a century he made it a constant 
 
68 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 beneficiary of his finest intellectual and spiritual 
 gifts. It was a leading factor in his singularly use- 
 ful and influential life, and through it he served not 
 only his own generation, but posterity as well. For 
 as long as men and women meet on the shores of 
 beautiful Lake Geneva for rest, instruction, and in- 
 spiration for Christian living and serving, his name 
 and the influence of his life will be felt as a great 
 spiritual force. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 His Home Life 
 
 Rarely does one find a home life so near to the 
 ideal as was that of Mr. Brown. Soon after his 
 marriage on December 28, 1881, to Miss Mary John- 
 son, of Decatur, he carried out one of his firm con- 
 victions, namely, that every family should own a 
 home, by purchasing a comfortable residence in 
 Oak Park. He made regular payments upon this 
 for a period of over ten years, until it was fully paid 
 for. He frequently advised secretaries who sought 
 his counsel on this question that it was a desirable 
 thing for every family to own the roof over its 
 head. 
 
 In the home which he acquired, their lives cen- 
 tered, and here throughout nearly thirty-six years of 
 happy married life they lived, and together shared 
 their joys and carried the burdens incident to his 
 responsible and exacting position. Here were born 
 their three children, Alice, Arthur Earle, and 
 Florence; little Arthur receiving his summons to 
 the homeland in his third year. His home was al- 
 ways to him vastly more than merely a place for 
 life's ordinary and routine necessities and con- 
 venience. It was the center of his heart life, where 
 
 69 
 
70 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 there ever burned those "home fires" of affectionate 
 devotion and loving service. It was a place of ser- 
 vice, of rest, of worship, and of mental and spiritual 
 culture, as well as a center of the most gracious and 
 abundant hospitality. At home he loved dearly to 
 be, to read, study, rest, plan, visit, serving his loved 
 ones, his friends, neighbors, and associates. His 
 devotion to his family was most marked. Mrs. 
 Brown shared with him to an exceptional degree the 
 joys, burdens, perplexities, and responsibilities of 
 his vocation, and he, to a degree far greater than 
 most men, shared in the details of the household 
 plans, and its innumerable duties. It was one of 
 the burdens of his position to be away from home so 
 much. But the absence in the line of duty was al- 
 ways interpreted to be an opportunity, not a bur- 
 den. Throughout the years of his traveling work, 
 it was his custom to write home every day, fre- 
 quently long and interesting descriptions of places 
 visited and persons met, but always at least a daily 
 line of affectionate greeting, if engagements were 
 too absorbing to allow time for the longer word. 
 
 Always he maintained, in the intimacy of the 
 family circle, that high sense of courtesy and kindli- 
 ness which is characteristic of the perfect gentle- 
 man. He never permitted the irritations and 
 annoyances arising in the course of daily work to 
 cross the threshold of his home. At times when 
 multiplied burdens so pressed as to cause throbbing 
 headaches or tingling nerves, his tone of voice was 
 
HIS HOME LIFE 71 
 
 always cheerful and his greeting affectionate. 
 Never did a father plan more devotedly for the 
 education and happiness of his daughters, than he. 
 One of the keenest sorrows of his life was that his 
 sons were not spared to grow to manhood; his 
 daughters thus growing up without a brother, he 
 made it one of his chief objects to maintain with 
 them a spirit of comradeship, becoming their close 
 companion and counselor. 
 
 He rejoiced in the freedom and relaxation of 
 home, but always planned his time at home in ad- 
 vance, using it to good advantage and for definite 
 accomplishment, for mental and spiritual culture, 
 as well as for needed rest and quiet. 
 
 The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Brown was char- 
 acterized to an altogether exceptional degree by the 
 Christian grace of hospitality. Without exception, 
 every new Secretary coming to his staff was invited 
 to their home early in his work, and on oft-repeated 
 occasions. Through a long period of years, at least 
 annually, and often more frequently, the monthly 
 conference of the State Secretaries was invited to 
 meet at the Brown home, spending the entire day 
 in conference, prayer, study, and good fellowship. 
 The bounteous noon dinner prepared by Mrs. 
 Brown with her exceptional skill was always a rare 
 treat to the group whose work compelled them to 
 be away from home and accustomed to hotel fare. 
 Annually for twenty years, they entertained the 
 students of the Association College at an evening 
 
72 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 dinner, occasions which stand out in the memory 
 of these soon to become leaders in the movement. 
 On two occasions a Brown family reunion was held 
 in the home, bringing together many relatives, with 
 interesting family and historical sketches. 
 
 Moreover, hundreds of visiting Association 
 leaders, both secretaries and laymen, were from time 
 to time welcomed to the home. Nearly every foreign 
 secretary going to or returning from the foreign field 
 was systematically extended the hospitality of the 
 home. To entertain thus these leaders in other 
 lands was always regarded by him as a great privi- 
 lege, and he counted it as a part of the education 
 of his daughters to have them know these leaders 
 and their great work. In the autobiography of 
 Richard C. Morse, we read of his own home life: 
 "The two guest rooms were kept ready for use at 
 a moment's notice and were seldom empty. Friends 
 from all parts of the world were welcome to them." 
 Exactly the same is true of the Brown home. Nearly 
 every holiday, found some one, and often quite a 
 group of friends, relatives, or associates, gathered 
 under the hospitable roof, sharing in the comforts 
 of the beautiful, simple home life, the entire atmos- 
 phere of which was permeated with the spirit of 
 friendliness and earnest devotion, and with the 
 highest ideals of useful living and serving. It was 
 always a special joy to him to "bid to a feast" ac- 
 cording to the scriptural rule, those for whom noth- 
 ing is prepared — the stranger away from home. But 
 
HIS HOME LIFE 73 
 
 his earnest devotion to the higher things of the mind 
 and heart never led to being over serious, for the 
 happy, cheerful spirit always prevailed, and the 
 ordinary affairs and interests of all the family and 
 guests were never excluded. He had a keen sense 
 of humor, could tell amusing stories, incidents, and 
 experiences in fascinating manner, and always en- 
 joyed greatly those told by others. He was a model 
 host, always at ease, and an exceptionally interest- 
 ing conversationalist upon any subject introduced. 
 Teachers enjoyed a sense of comradeship, mis- 
 sionaries found him remarkably well informed as 
 to their fields and problems and sympathetically 
 responsive to their tasks. Elderly people were im- 
 pressed by his fine sense of courtesy and kindly 
 deference. Many a diffident youth or college student 
 has been agreeably surprised to learn his familiarity 
 with all current athletic news and contests. But 
 his fine sense of courtesy in the home was never of 
 the kind put on for any special occasion. Whether 
 guests were present or not, it was always the same 
 to each member of the household, and to any one 
 helping in the household tasks. And in all the 
 friendly hospitality of so many years, as host to so 
 many, of different types and temperaments, it was 
 remarkable that he would absolutely never argue a 
 point of difference. Any one seeking to draw him 
 into an argument invariably met a friendly nod, a 
 quiet "ump" and a noncommittal attitude so far 
 as argument in the home was concerned. The keen 
 
74 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 analyses, the decisive answers and ready responses, 
 the systematic points so characteristic of him in de- 
 bates and business discussions were never intro- 
 duced into his home. The heated discussions likely 
 to arise from the petty annoyances and irritations 
 of daily life, were wholly foreign to his home life 
 and family circle. He was both father and brother 
 to his daughters, ever kind and indulgent, ready to 
 grant favors when possible, and when his judgment 
 made refusals wise, he could be as firm as he was 
 kind. He always gave wise, helpful counsel to all, 
 the result of his careful and accurate judgment, 
 and always in the kindliest spirit, never as a 
 dictator. 
 
 The part which his ideally and exceptionally 
 happy home life had in making his life work so 
 uniformly strong and successful can never be fully 
 known. But it demonstrates to a remarkable 
 degree, that any man who would be of the largest 
 service may well give the most earnest heed and 
 systematic attention, and reasonably liberal por- 
 tions by his time, to the duties of his life at home, 
 and thus intensify his happiness and increase his 
 usefulness. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Service to His Home Church and Denomination 
 
 Although his work was essentially interdenomina- 
 tional, he always maintained a vital interest in and 
 a close relationship to his own denomination, the 
 Congregational, for whose principles and forms of 
 Church government he had the strongest admiration. 
 His support to his own local church, in attendance, 
 in service, and financially was always most regular 
 and loyal. He was always a warm friend of and 
 a close counselor to his pastor and was a student 
 of the needs and of the opportunities of the church 
 to which he belonged. Immediately upon estab- 
 lishing residence in Oak Park, he became related to 
 the First Congregational Church there, serving in 
 different official positions. Here the environment 
 was congenial, the friendships many and strong. 
 But, upon the founding of the Third Congregational 
 Church, he, with the real missionary spirit char- 
 acteristic of his whole life, transferred his member- 
 ship to it, foregoing the greater personal pleasure 
 of the larger church, in order to serve in a new en- 
 terprise, where the workers were few and the need 
 very great. Here for nearly twenty-five years he 
 served, placing his ripe experience, his wide knowl- 
 
 75 
 
76 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 edge, and his many talents at the service of the little 
 group in every official capacity, in countless ways 
 strengthening its work. For many years he served 
 as church treasurer, systematizing the finances of 
 the church and putting them on a good basis. When 
 duties permitted his presence on Sundays he taught 
 a Bible class of young men. He served as a deacon, 
 and when not away in his regular work, was in- 
 variably present at and participated helpfully in the 
 midweek meeting. Every pastor of the church 
 bears impressive testimony to the encouragement, 
 the inspiration, the practical helpfulness of his 
 friendship and counsel. He maintained membership 
 in the Congregational Club of Chicago, served on 
 its committees and as one of its vice-presidents. He 
 was chosen as a delegate to the National Council 
 of Congregational Churches. In loyalty to his own 
 local church and to his denomination, and in ser- 
 vice rendered to and through them, he was an ex- 
 ample to all. 
 
 AS A CITIZEN 
 
 Along with his close and constant studies of the 
 underlying principles and the rapidly developing 
 processes of his chosen life work, and an intimate 
 contact with the best thought in all fields of church 
 and religious activities, he maintained an equally 
 constant interest in civic and community affairs and 
 with national and world problems. He always 
 planned his appointments to permit voting at all 
 
SERVICE TO HIS HOME CHURCH 77 
 
 elections, even the minor ones, which many good 
 citizens neglect. He encouraged others to do like- 
 wise. Upon all local and national issues he had firm 
 convictions and, while never emphatic in relation 
 to them, he was always prepared to give clear 
 reasons for his conclusions which manifested careful 
 thought and mature consideration. He served for 
 a time by earnest request of his fellow citizens, as a 
 trustee of the Oak Park and River Forest High 
 School, placing his intimate knowledge of educa- 
 tional problems, his ripe experience, and his broad 
 outlook at the service of his community. He showed 
 appreciation of the part his ancestors took in the 
 early settlement of the country by membership in 
 the Alden Kindred of America; and of the part they 
 took in helping to achieve national independence by 
 membership in the Sons of the American Revolu- 
 tion. While his work for many years was such as 
 to compel frequent absence, he entered heartily into 
 the community life and sought ever to do his full 
 part and more in the common tasks, making the 
 largest possible contribution to general welfare of 
 all. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A Man of Prayer 
 
 The great mental and spiritual strength of Mr. 
 Brown was manifested in many ways, but in 
 none more impressively and helpfully than in his 
 public and private prayers and in his individual 
 prayer life. For to him, prayer was not merely a 
 custom, it was a life. He lived and labored by 
 prayer. From early boyhood, his every decision 
 was reached only after earnest and searching suppli- 
 cation for Divine guidance. The perfect natural- 
 ness of his prayer life is manifested repeatedly in 
 his daily record of his work in the early years, where 
 his handwriting frequently links a fervent prayer 
 to the narrative of the day. On October 27, 1880, 
 he writes: 
 
 Conferred regarding feasibility of raising money for 
 a building and general secretary. God, guide in all 
 this effort, honor Thy name, open the hearts of men. 
 
 Again a few weeks later, his daily comment shows 
 much cause for discouragement, but also reveals 
 an abiding faith in prayer, which enabled him in 
 those early pioneer days to "carry on" in many 
 
 78 
 
A MAN OF PRAYER 79 
 
 situations which at first seemed desperately hope- 
 less: 
 
 Put in forenoon with committee on soliciting funds 
 for the building. They drew up a paper but no one 
 signed it and they seem to be losing their courage. 
 
 Then he adds: 
 
 I am beseeching of the Lord His blessing. Our help 
 is in Him and not in man. Lord, touch the hearts 
 of men. 
 
 The very foundations of the structure he was build- 
 ing were laid in prayer. So also in his personal and 
 home life. 
 
 It is the testimony of Mrs. Brown that his prayers 
 were a chief influence in their ideally happy home 
 life. Their united lives began in prayer and blended 
 beautifully under its constant influence, for she 
 tells of how on that notable evening in which a long 
 friendship culminated in expression of mutual love 
 and betrothal, and as the good night was to be said, 
 it was his suggestion that they kneel together in a 
 joint prayer of thanksgiving and petition. It was 
 his nature so to do, and together, throughout the 
 weeks and months of courtship and throughout 
 thirty-five years of companionship as husband and 
 wife, the spirit of prayerfulness and of dependence 
 upon prayer, found continued and constant ex- 
 pression. 
 
80 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 Regularity was an outstanding characteristic of 
 his devotional life, for he scarcely ever varied from 
 his stated times of prayer. To a greater degree than 
 most men, even the most earnest, spiritually minded 
 type, he regularly maintained family prayer and 
 worship, regarding it as vital to his own spiritual 
 life and to the religious development of his family. 
 To him it was a sacred privilege, maintained with- 
 out interruption through thirty-six years, and even 
 through the last weeks of his life when pain and 
 severe illness would have seemed reasons for 
 omitting. 
 
 But not only in the bosom of his family, but also 
 in the pressure of daily duties, did his prayer life 
 express itself in strength and purpose. To him, 
 prayer was a method of work and he made it his 
 principal method. Through many years when the 
 day's work was begun in his office, it was his joy 
 to assemble his associates, consider a verse or two of 
 Scripture, and in earnest prayer lay the day's work 
 and its needs before God. Occasionally, when 
 opportunity afforded, the close of the day found him 
 kneeling with others for a brief word of thanks- 
 giving or supplication. In the monthly conferences 
 with his staff, no matter how pressing the business, 
 nor how complex the problems awaiting consider- 
 ation, always the first hour was devoted to a period 
 of searching the scriptures, and an unhurried season 
 of prayer. In Association Conventions, he was fre- 
 quently called upon to lead in prayer, and always, 
 
A MAN OF PRAYER 81 
 
 in such instances, the wonderful effect of his prayers 
 in creating an atmosphere of communion with God 
 was most apparent. In the annual conferences of 
 the secretaries of Illinois, he was usually called 
 upon to offer the closing prayer and many times 
 he mentioned individually by name every Secretary 
 in the State, fifty, sixty or more men, omitting not a 
 one, offering a concise petition relating to the special 
 burdens or problems in each field. Always his 
 prayers were timely in relation to both regular and 
 special experiences, needs, and responsibilities of the 
 day, in family, church or daily work; always they 
 were purposeful, never routine nor formal. Petition 
 was always an important element in his praying, for 
 no one ever asked more definitely and specifically 
 for the actual needs of the daily life than did he; but 
 his prayers were more of communion than of mere 
 petition — they were the expression of his inner life, 
 his close companionship with his Heavenly Father. 
 To him prayer was "a vital transaction" as ex- 
 pressed by Dr. Fosdick, "not simply a pious habit or 
 an inherited bit of propriety." Brevity, directness, 
 clearness, and a beauty of diction characterized his 
 every audible prayer, and these added to their depth, 
 sincerity and earnestness, united, all unconsciously, 
 to make an appeal of truest eloquence. At the Inter- 
 national Convention in Indianapolis in 1893, he 
 arrived after the evening session had begun, having 
 been detained by the death of his little son. The 
 presiding officer did not know of the circumstances 
 
82 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 which had detained him from the earlier sessions, 
 and suddenly, soon after Mr. Brown entered the 
 room, he was asked to lead in prayer for a fellow 
 State Secretary who had been summoned home 
 an hour before owing to serious illness in his family. 
 In this rather trying situation, Mr. Brown, heavy 
 in heart but not in spirit, responded with a petition 
 so direct, so sympathetic, so appealing, so assur- 
 ing, and so beautiful in expression as to be nothing 
 short of the truest eloquence, and many of the 
 strong men in the great audience were moved to 
 tears. 
 
 Thus, through years of incessant toil, of constant 
 travel, of multiplying burdens and increasing re- 
 sponsibility; years of deep anxiety, of illness, of 
 deaths in his family ; years which taxed his physical 
 endurance, and his mental energies; and even when 
 health gave way under the strain, he lived by 
 prayer, and his whole life constantly reflected its 
 hidden but sustaining power. Every crisis or 
 emergency in his work, whether of major or minor 
 importance, was characterized by periods of earnest 
 supplication for Divine direction. It should be 
 noted, too, that his exceptionally strong faith in the 
 efficacy of prayer never approached even remotely 
 any spirit of fanaticism and never lost balance or 
 poise, for invariably his faith and his earnest peti- 
 tions were followed by energetic and systematic 
 efforts to bring about the ends for which he prayed. 
 And so, year after year, in home, office, or church, 
 
A MAN OF PRAYER 83 
 
 in convention halls, in his tent or on the hillside at 
 Lake Geneva, on trains, often in large assemblages, 
 more frequently with individuals, fellow workers or 
 friends seeking his counsel, he kept his own heart 
 close to the eternal springs and led others to wonder- 
 ful experiences in fellowship with the Infinite, 
 through his life of intercessory prayer. His whole 
 life was a continuing prayer, and it ended in prayer. 
 For, as it neared its close, he, realizing that the time 
 of his departure for the shores eternal was near 
 at hand, called together the members of his family 
 and spoke his last tender words of affectionate fare- 
 well, and poured out his soul to God in his last 
 audible prayer, one of intercession, asking God to 
 care for and bless the little group which he had tried 
 to shield, and to continue His blessing upon the 
 world-wide work in which he had spent his life. 
 Soon after his tired heart ceased to beat. He had 
 fought a good fight, he had kept the faith, and the 
 crown of righteousness laid up for him passed into 
 his eternal possession. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 His Regard for the Sabbath 
 
 His appreciation of the Sabbath Day as a time 
 for rest, worship, and service was far deeper than 
 that of most men. Few, even of the strongest lead- 
 ers in Christian thought and service, adopted as 
 strict rules in reference to it as he did for him- 
 self. His work as State Secretary compelled al- 
 most constant travel and special work on Sundays, 
 but it was his invariable custom, lived up to quietly 
 but firmly through his entire life, not to make 
 appointments which involved Sunday travel. His 
 attitude in this regard seemed to some to be almost 
 extreme or Puritanical. But his convictions were 
 strong and he succeeded in living up to them. He 
 advised his associates to work on this plan, but never 
 dictated or sought to coerce, leaving it to each man 
 to form his own decisions. He often walked con- 
 siderable distances on a Sunday afternoon or eve- 
 ning to speak at a meeting, or rode his bicycle, 
 or accepted the kindness of a friend to drive him, 
 but never accepted an appointment which, in fill- 
 ing, he would compel others to labor on Sunday. 
 And because of his loyalty to this principle, he 
 was willing to undergo inconvenience to himself, 
 
 84 
 
HIS REGARD FOR THE SABBATH 85 
 
 his family, his friends, and his work. He never 
 mapped out a route requiring Sunday travel. A 
 neighboring State Secretary, earnestly urging his 
 presence at his State Convention, sent him a time 
 schedule showing how quickly he could be back 
 home by leaving on the 11:45 Sunday night. His 
 reply was, "Your 11:45 train leaves just fifteen 
 minutes too early for me." He accepted the ap- 
 pointment, rendered a valuable service to the Con- 
 vention and was considerably later in reaching 
 home because of not being willing to use the fifteen 
 minutes of Sunday in travel. Exceptionally strict 
 with himself though he was, he never criticized 
 others who did not see the question as he did. Nor 
 did his strictness reach any point of bigotry or 
 fanaticism, for when emergencies compelled a 
 temporary waiving of his fixed rule, he cheerfully 
 adjusted his actions to the circumstances. Such in- 
 stances, though, were exceedingly few. When he 
 was a guest in a home where his host used the 
 cars on Sunday, he waived his usual rule in courtesy 
 to his host. For years the telephone in his resi- 
 dence remained unused and unanswered on the Sab- 
 bath. For him most Sundays were filled with 
 abundant labors. Most remarkable was his insist- 
 ence for himself and associates whose Sunday duties 
 prevented rest, that one day in seven should be 
 used for rest, with freedom from ordinary tasks, 
 and seldom were the instances when this practice 
 was departed from. At times it was the wonder of 
 
86 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 his friends how he could, with many pressing prob- 
 lems and burdens, deliberately absent himself for 
 a day in midweek. But he did, and thus added to 
 his power and efficiency and lengthened the years 
 of his service. These rest days were never spent in 
 idleness, for while real physical relaxation and 
 genial companionship with his family and friends 
 characterized them, they were days of mental and 
 spiritual culture, of quiet study, of heart searchings, 
 of earnest prayer and of strengthening of his great 
 life purposes. He could work with energy and 
 enthusiasm, but he was wise enough and strong 
 willed enough not to work incessantly. If he laid 
 down his burdens for a day each week, it was only 
 that he might take them up again the next day 
 with renewed vigor, greater energy and increased 
 consecration. In discussing the question with fellow 
 workers he frequently said, "It is a sin not to." 
 In his early years of service, pressure of the work 
 permitted but scant summer vacations, resulting in 
 a serious breakdown in health. Recovering, he 
 thereafter always insisted that the best interests 
 of the work he loved so well required that he and 
 all his helpers should have each year an adequate 
 period of uninterrupted rest and freedom from reg- 
 ular duties. It is probable that in his altogether 
 exceptional and continuously consistent practice of 
 the weekly day of rest and the annual vacation, 
 we see one reason for the wondrous mental energy, 
 
HIS REGARD FOR THE SABBATH 87 
 
 the exceptional physical endurance, and the great 
 vigor of spirit so characteristic of his entire life. 
 
 A MAN OF SENTIMENT 
 
 All through his life were evidences of the strong- 
 est feelings of sentiment, but with an entire ab- 
 sence of sentimentality. His love for his parents 
 was particularly strong and tender. His reverence 
 for his forefathers and his interest in their achieve- 
 ments were most marked. His affection for his 
 immediate family circle was most notable in its 
 depth and strength. All personal, family, and As- 
 sociation anniversaries were of great interest to him 
 and were almost always remembered and in some 
 way observed. Every article of furniture about the 
 home, every book, heirloom, every gift was prized 
 for its associations. He was a lover of music, sang 
 in the church choirs in early years, and always 
 encouraged it in his home. He regarded music as 
 the language of the emotions, even as speech is 
 the language of the intellect. He usually had sing- 
 ing as a feature of family worship. He aimed to 
 hear, and to have his family hear, the best musical 
 artists. He encouraged his students to appreciate 
 music as a vital element in worship and as a real 
 source of soul culture. 
 
 All historical places were of intense interest and 
 any spot where great deeds had been done was 
 always more than mere earth to him. His love 
 
88 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 of country was very strong and his sense of civic 
 duty was keen. It was one of the sorrows of his 
 life that his sons were both taken in early child- 
 hood, for it would have been a joy and a deep 
 satisfaction to have seen the Brown family name 
 perpetuated through his line. 
 
 He always took particular pleasure in participat- 
 ing in the very beginning of any new work, or the 
 starting of any new plans, or in noting the anni- 
 versary of any important event. On June 6, 1894, 
 which was the fiftieth anniversary of the founding 
 of the first Young Men's Christian Association by 
 Sir George Williams in London, England, he was 
 in London in attendance at the Association Jubilee 
 Conference. On that day, he sought out the small 
 upper room where the little group of half a cen- 
 tury preceding had made their historic beginning, 
 there to spend, alone, a few moments in medita- 
 tion and prayer and rededication of his life to the 
 great movement which he had made his life work. 
 To him the spot was sacred and the anniversary 
 significant; they brought to him a permanent addi- 
 tion to his mental and spiritual equipment for his 
 life task. 
 
 His wealth of intellect, his capacity to think, 
 to plan, to absorb and to give out, his constant ap- 
 preciation of the higher and finer feelings in mind 
 and heart, all made life most interesting and beau- 
 tiful to him. With the poet, he was a part of all 
 that he had met. And all his wealth of sentiment, 
 
HIS REGARD FOR THE SABBATH 89 
 
 his affectionate nature, his inherent love of the 
 strong and the beautiful, found a constant, enduring 
 climax in his personal devotion to the crucified, 
 risen, ever-present Christ. 
 
 FARSIGHTED AND FOREHANDED 
 
 A notable characteristic of his entire life and es- 
 pecially his Association service was his farsighted- 
 ness. Invariably his plans looked far into the fu- 
 ture. This was manifested in his advice to every 
 Association and community he visited, and his let- 
 ters, consultations, and addresses always counselled 
 in this direction. In forming organizations, in plan- 
 ning campaigns and programs of work, in directing 
 the arrangement of Association buildings, he al- 
 ways had the long look ahead. He was always ahead 
 of his work. His public addresses and papers were 
 unusually carefully prepared considerably in ad- 
 vance of the time of their presentation and were 
 invariably thoughtfully arranged and systematically 
 outlined. 
 
 Similarly in his personal and family affairs, even 
 from earliest years he planned far into the future. 
 Always a generous and systematic giver to many 
 branches of Christian work, he was constant in his 
 practice of thrift, saving systematically and in- 
 vesting wisely. Early in life he purchased, and by 
 systematic payments through many years, acquired 
 clear title to a valuable residence, residing there 
 
90 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 throughout his life. But also, he bought land and 
 built upon it, a few blocks away, a comfortable 
 cottage, intending to live there in retirement after 
 his years of active service were over, renting his 
 larger property. 
 
 Several years before his death, after a serious 
 illness, which caused him to fear that his tenure 
 of life might be short, he sought out a friend at 
 his business office, stated his fears to him and asked 
 the friend if he would, after his summons came, 
 be the business advisor of his wife, commending 
 her to the kindly and sympathetic attention which 
 he felt she would need; an evidence of his desire 
 to cheer her path and lighten her burdens during 
 her time of loneliness — an exceptionally thought- 
 ful preparation and one which too many men 
 neglect. 
 
 In his work and in his industrious life, almost 
 no duty, emergency, or crisis ever arose for which 
 his trait of looking and planning ahead did not 
 find him well prepared. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 As a Public Speaker 
 
 In his chosen field of service, public speaking 
 was an important feature, and a frequent duty. 
 His training for it began in his earliest school days, 
 when he was frequently called upon for essays and 
 declamations in his country school. During his 
 years at the Normal School he served as presi- 
 dent of the Philadelphian Society, a leading student 
 organization, participating in debates and oratorical 
 contests with high honors. His gifts in this direc- 
 tion were utilized during his years as a school prin- 
 cipal, speaking at church services, gospel meetings, 
 jail meetings and similar gatherings. 
 
 Strangely enough, he had a natural shrinking 
 from public speaking and did not like it. In taking 
 up the state work, however, he deliberately schooled 
 himself to overcome this dislike, and in this effort 
 succeeded remarkably well, for he became one of 
 the most forceful and effective speakers of the en- 
 tire Association movement. His addresses were 
 eagerly sought for all over the state and soon he 
 was in active demand as a speaker at Association 
 conventions throughout the country. He could ac- 
 cept but a limited number of these, but always 
 
 91 
 
92 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 aimed to respond to one or two each year. He 
 always made studious, thorough preparations for 
 every address, having it in concise outline form. 
 Necessarily many of his addresses were prepared 
 and delivered on very short notice but even under 
 these circumstances, they always demonstrated the 
 careful logical thinking of an orderly, well-disci- 
 plined mind, a purposeful life, and the highest ideals 
 in individual and organization usefulness. 
 
 As a speaker at conventions, he presented care- 
 fully thought-out studies of every phase of Asso- 
 ciation work, always with the highest idealism, a 
 broad vision, a spiritual appeal, and a profound 
 conviction of the usefulness of the Association in 
 the particular phases of work he was presenting. 
 His masterful summing up of discussions and de- 
 bates in conventions showed rare genius and in- 
 tellectual strength. 
 
 His concise summaries of essential facts, under 
 points one, two, three, four, and five became pro- 
 verbial among the secretaries of the country, many 
 referring to him good naturedly as "five-point 
 Brown." 
 
 As a speaker at church services, anniversary occa- 
 sions, and other celebrations and events, he was 
 exceptionally impressive, presenting his facts, argu- 
 ments and illustrations in clear, concise, convincing 
 manner, always under definite headings and in man- 
 ner which appealed equally to the reason and the 
 feelings of his hearers. His addresses at evangelistic 
 
AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER 93 
 
 meetings were warm-hearted logical appeals to 
 young men to accept the leadership of Christ and 
 to honor and serve Him in every relationship in 
 life. His Bible talks showed a wide reading and 
 a thorough study of the Scriptures and invariably 
 presented to the audience the highest ideals of true 
 and useful Christian living. 
 
 Always direct, simple, and clear, his addresses 
 frequently contained sentences of real eloquence 
 and descriptions most impressive in their beauty 
 and strength. "Whatever he said on all occasions 
 was always well considered, particularly appropriate, 
 correctly and compactly expressed," said Robert 
 Weidensall. 
 
 He realized the forcefulness of brevity as but 
 few speakers do; it was frequently said of him, 
 "Why did he stop?" but never, "Why does'nt he 
 stop?" Many times he closed his address when 
 the entire audience desired him to continue longer. 
 Particularly was this illustrated at a large union 
 mass meeting in his home church in Oak Park, 
 called in the interest of a new Association building. 
 There were six of seven speakers on the program, 
 each limited to five minutes. Mr. Brown was the 
 last one and in introducing him the chairman 
 said that by unanimous consent and desire he would 
 remove any time limit in his case, requesting him 
 to occupy much longer time. Mr. Brown smiled, 
 made no reference to the request, proceeded im- 
 mediately in a well-rounded, magnetic presentation 
 
94 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 of the possibilities of the proposed new building 
 and an appeal for its erection which fairly electri- 
 fied the large audience, resuming his seat in four 
 minutes and forty seconds, with every one wishing 
 he had spoken longer. At the close of his talk, a 
 leading business man, general manager of Chicago's 
 largest mercantile house, leaned over to the writer 
 and said, "Mr. Brown always hits the nail on the 
 head." To be able to stop when the audience 
 wishes he would go on, is a fine test of a speaker's 
 success; and in this rare art, few, if any, excelled 
 Mr. Brown. The public speaking of this master 
 workman in the Kingdom, greatly enhanced his in- 
 fluence and his usefulness, for he consecrated his 
 talent to the highest purposes. 
 
 Two years before his death, he was invited to 
 deliver the address at the unveiling of a memorial 
 tablet to his great grandfather, the Rev. Isaac Eddy, 
 in the Congregational Church at Jamestown, N. Y. 
 This address was notable in its fine tribute to his 
 ancestor, its scholarly research, its analytical and 
 descriptive powers, and in the earnestness of the 
 climax — an appeal for the highest spiritual life and 
 earnest service, as follows: 
 
 In this presence may we not call upon each other to 
 solemnly and fully dedicate our lives to the same cause 
 for which Isaac Eddy laid down his own. Shall not 
 we, his sons and daughters to the fourth and fifth gen- 
 eration, honor his memory by the gift of life, and on 
 
AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER 95 
 
 the fleshly tables of our hearts write our three-fold task. 
 
 First: to catch the vision of the Christ and be loyal 
 and true to Him. 
 
 Second: to give self-sacrificing service to His Church, 
 following the example of this father of ours. 
 
 Third: to cherish the sweetness of life, the warmth 
 of heart, the tenderness and sympathy which were so 
 marked in him. By so doing we shall consecrate today 
 a memorial more precious than bronze or marble and 
 more enduring as well. 
 
 And so, as a little child of the fifth generation of 
 descendants unveiled the memorial, it was with this 
 ringing appeal to the hearts of the public, closing 
 as did practically all of his public addresses, with 
 a clarion call to better living and greater service. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Fondness for and Participation in Athletics 
 
 A real liking for games manifested itself in early 
 boyhood. 
 
 Baseball. — As a lad in his early teens he played 
 baseball with typical boyish enthusiasm, as is evi- 
 denced by his lifelong friend, Dr. William E. Barton 
 of Oak Park, who recalls the exceptional energy 
 with which he circled the bases and the pride with 
 which he shouted to the scorekeeper, "Brown, tally," 
 upon reaching the home plate safely. His oppor- 
 tunities for play were, even in these early years, 
 limited because of the necessity of being at work. 
 Fascinating though the game was to him, he, time 
 and time again, left his companions at their play, 
 while he sought and performed all sorts of odd 
 pieces of work to help his parents. During his 
 years in the Normal School, his time seems to have 
 been so fully absorbed by intensive study, and by 
 the labors incident to earning his own way, as to 
 leave almost no opportunity for the active partici- 
 pation in athletics, which is so characteristic of col- 
 lege life. But neither then nor in the busy years 
 of his later life did he ever lose his interest in or 
 liking for the great national game. Usually several 
 
 96 
 
FONDNESS FOR ATHLETICS 97 
 
 times each year, he found delight and recreation in 
 taking an afternoon off, and with some friend or 
 fellow-secretary, witnessing a major-league game. 
 He knew the leading players, their records, and chief 
 characteristics; he was familiar with the fine points 
 of the game and could converse intelligently with 
 the most ardent baseball enthusiast. The writer re- 
 calls having witnessed an exceptionally interesting 
 triple play, made, almost unassisted, by Johnny 
 Evers of the Chicago Nationals, who, finding he 
 could not successfully complete the play alone as 
 first attempted, finally threw speedily to the third 
 baseman for the third put-out. In relating this 
 incident of the diamond to him, he immediately 
 asked, "Was the third baseman Steinfeldt?" sur- 
 prising even his close associate by his intimate 
 knowledge of the game and its players. 
 
 Football — His athletic interest included football, 
 and in days when it was less popular than now. 
 He aimed to witness one or more of the leading 
 college games every season and he surprised many 
 a college man who visited his home, by his intimate 
 knowledge of the teams and their relative strength. 
 
 Bicycling. — During the period of great popularity 
 of the bicycle, he purchased one and used it for 
 pleasure, for exercise, and for practical purposes as 
 a mean of transportation. His pleasure in it did 
 not cease when the general popularity receded, for 
 he used it constantly for twenty-five years, realiz- 
 ing that the open-air exercise enhanced his health, 
 
98 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 bringing benefit as well as pleasure and convenience. 
 
 The early years of his Association service, with 
 their increasing burden of responsibility and the 
 demands upon his time caused by constant travel, 
 afforded him no opportunity for active personal 
 participation in athletic exercises. The result of 
 this overtaxing his strength, or rather, of failing to 
 maintain a sufficient balance between work and 
 play, was a nervous breakdown which kept him 
 from his labors for several months. Following his 
 recovery, he made a decided readjustment in his 
 mode of life and began deliberately a program of 
 diversified, recreational physical exercise, not in 
 watching others play, greatly though he enjoyed 
 that, but in actually playing himself. 
 
 Swimming. — He at once took up swimming, re- 
 ceiving instruction in the art at Lake Geneva. 
 Quickly he attained far more than ordinary profi- 
 ciency in it, and in the summer of 1890 swam across 
 Lake Geneva, a distance of two miles, accompanied, 
 of course, by friends in a boat for safety in the 
 event of emergency. A characteristic action of his 
 in making this water journey, certainly a test to 
 the physique of a new swimmer, was that while in 
 midlake upon being seized with cramps in one 
 limb, instead of giving up as many would have 
 done, he deliberately massaged away the cramps, 
 continuing his swim successfully to his destination. 
 Thereafter, for nearly thirty years more of summer 
 
FONDNESS FOR ATHLETICS 99 
 
 periods at Lake Geneva, swimming was a part of 
 his daily program. 
 
 Tennis. — His enjoyment of games and his partici- 
 pation in athletic exercises found their best ex- 
 pression in his great liking for the fascinating game 
 of tennis. Learning to play at Lake Geneva, it be- 
 came his favorite recreation and exercise. Al- 
 though not beginning the game until after the age 
 when most players quit, and when some physicians 
 think they should quit, he played throughout the 
 succeeding twenty-eight summers. And he was a 
 good player, too, as all who played with him in 
 tournament or friendly contest can testify. He 
 played with energy, enthusiasm, and a determina- 
 tion to win. He worked hard for every point. Upon 
 making a poor stroke, the emphatic manner in which 
 he would express self-indignation, as his expres- 
 sion "nonsense" rang out over the courts, was a 
 matter of familiar comment among his tennis 
 friends. He played with the vim and enthusiasm 
 of men thirty years younger. He was a good loser, 
 finding intense pleasure and satisfaction in the ex- 
 ercise and recreation of the game, pleased if he 
 won, happy to have tried hard if he met defeat. 
 It was in the playing and the trying, rather than 
 in the outcome that he found such keen delight. 
 He often said, "It's just as good exercise when you 
 lose, and almost as much fun." 
 
 He was past sixty before expressing any prefer- 
 ence for doubles over singles, but even up to his 
 
100 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 last year, at sixty-eight, if partners were not avail- 
 able for doubles, he played singles with his ac- 
 customed interest and zest, the writer playing with 
 him late in the fall of his last year. 
 
 Golf. — He felt an interest in golf, to the extent 
 of buying sticks and joining a club, but he played 
 golf but little, owing to his strong preference for 
 tennis. He liked more vigorous exercise and more 
 competitive play than golf supplies, finding a thrill 
 in surprising his opponent, and a satisfaction in 
 overcoming his opponent's plans and strokes, such 
 as the golfer has no opportunity to experience. It 
 was a greater pleasure to him to go for a ball in 
 motion, and to be moving in the effort, than to 
 stand still and strike a ball lying still. To his ac- 
 tivity in playing tennis he attributed in large part 
 the greatly improved health conditions during the 
 last twenty-five years of his life. 
 
 Pentathlon. — It should be noted that his interest 
 in all-round athletics led to his suggesting to Dr. 
 Luther Gulick the reviving of the ancient Grecian 
 Pentathlon, or "five events," which was soon there- 
 after introduced into the athletic contests in the 
 Associations throughout the country. 
 
 And so, while up until his fortieth birthday, he 
 had, according to his own statement, "never been 
 astride a wheel, swung a racquet, or swum a stroke," 
 he took up the recreational type of exercise and 
 pleasure which these articles and acts typify, and 
 
FONDNESS FOR ATHLETICS 101 
 
 thereby brought to body, mind, and spirit an in- 
 crease in happiness, health, strength, and efficiency. 
 Truly his exercise added not only years to his life, 
 but life to his years. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 A Man of System 
 
 He was exceptionally methodical and systematic 
 in all his public and private activities. From his 
 eleventh birthday he kept a daily record of each 
 day's work and of how his time was spent. The 
 use of his time and the performance of his duties 
 were planned for with system, regularity, orderli- 
 ness, and precision. The details of his home life 
 and personal affairs, his studies and reading, his 
 recreations and pleasures, as well as the important 
 concerns of his official position, were planned for 
 usually long in advance. Each day's work was 
 mapped out ahead, the men to see, the tasks to be 
 accomplished were listed and checked off one by 
 one as rapidly as completed. Every trip he made, 
 whether it was to a neighboring park, or museum, 
 or to the countries of Europe, was thoroughly pre- 
 pared for and the time systematically arranged, 
 so as to bring to him and to those with him the 
 largest measure of information and of permanent 
 values. 
 
 He was always exceedingly careful in fulfilling 
 all his appointments and it was a matter of pride 
 with him, that throughout his long life of public 
 
 102 
 
A MAN OF SYSTEM 103 
 
 work with its multiplied engagements, he was never 
 absent from a place where he was expected, unless 
 prevented by illness or delayed trains, and that 
 when so prevented, there never failed to be a tele- 
 gram explaining his unavoidable absence. 
 
 Daily he recorded and balanced his personal ex- 
 penditures and annually he revised an inventory of 
 all his assets and net financial worth. This trait 
 of his character was a factor in aiding him to reach 
 decisions the more readily and quickly; it added 
 greatly to his efficiency and enhanced his capacity 
 for accomplishment. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Student and Scholar 
 
 A marked characteristic of this leader of men 
 was his mental energy and a deep-rooted love of 
 study. His was an exceptionally keen, discerning, 
 active intellect. Throughout his boyhood days his 
 record shows unusual application to his studies and 
 that he studied because of his love of learning. His 
 participation in the village lyceum, his early work 
 as teacher in country schools, his literary work in 
 college, his correspondence, all demonstrated a mind 
 of strength, power, vision and purpose. His years 
 of middle age saw no abatement, for his mental 
 strength and energy manifested themselves in many 
 activities, an ever-increasing appreciation of the 
 value of constant intellectual application and 
 achievement. And the later years of full maturity, 
 even as he neared the three score and ten, found 
 him constantly planning for still greater accom- 
 plishment. Upon leaving the teaching profession 
 for the life of a busy Association executive, with 
 the added burden of constant travel, it would have 
 been easy, if not natural, for him to have ceased 
 largely, possibly entirely, his general studies. But 
 not so. During his first year of work he enrolled 
 
 104 
 
STUDENT AND SCHOLAR 105 
 
 as a student in the Chautauqua Literary and Scien- 
 tific Circle, completed its four years of study, 
 graduated, and received his diploma, having accom- 
 plished this entirely while on railroad trains. He 
 also enrolled as a special non-resident student in 
 Knox College, Galesburg, 111., and under a special 
 arrangement with the college authorities, he pur- 
 sued courses of studies, visiting the college from 
 time to time and taking' assigned examinations, 
 graduating in 1892 with the degree of Bachelor of 
 Arts. Continuing his studies further, he met all re- 
 quirements for, and was awarded, the degree of 
 Master of Arts. His thesis was "Thirty Years of 
 History/' in which he demonstrated remarkable re- 
 search work, and powers of narration, description, 
 and analysis such as could rarely be equalled even 
 by one devoting all his time to scholarly pursuits. 
 Here he wrote: 
 
 Aside from the thirty years during which our Master 
 lived and wrought, no thirty years in the world's history 
 seem of greater moment than the thirty years beginning 
 with the discovery of America. 
 
 After tracing concisely the great achievements 
 during these three decades, and enumerating the 
 great men of the period and their achievements in 
 art, sculpture, architecture, military, government 
 and discovery, he says: 
 
 But greater than all these, greater than pictures upon 
 canvas, or forms carved in marble, or buildings by the 
 
106 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 skill of the architect, or armies conquered, or nations 
 swayed by the scepter of power, or new continents dis- 
 covered, were the mighty movements during this period 
 in the religious world, movements touching the hearts 
 of men and the eternal interests of individuals and 
 nations. 
 
 Then he traces in remarkably concise and com- 
 prehensive manner the service of the religious lead- 
 ers of the period; the spread of Christianity in 
 Western Europe; the world-wide expansion of the 
 missionary spirit; the rise of Protestantism; Luther 
 and other great reformers of that day; Calvin, who 
 swayed the hearts of men and left an impress upon 
 the theology of the ages; John Knox, who cried out 
 in agony for the souls of his countrymen "Give me 
 Scotland or I die." This thesis is a most scholarly 
 product and affords a glimpse of his wondrous 
 powers of description, analysis, and spiritual dis- 
 cernment and something of an indication of the 
 great contribution he could and would have made 
 to religious literature had he chosen it for his life 
 calling. Here, as in so many other ways, he was 
 a shining example to every man busy in responsible 
 executive work. His life refutes the impression 
 that men carrying heavy burdens and multiplied 
 duties in middle years have no time or opportunity 
 for intellectual effort and achievement. By his men- 
 tal energy and application, he added joy, satisfac- 
 tion, and efficiency to his own life and work and 
 
STUDENT AND SCHOLAR 107 
 
 brought great inspiration and substantial encour- 
 agement to hundreds if not thousands of those who 
 knew and heard him. 
 
 His general reading was constant, widely diversi- 
 fied, and of the choicest type. It was his custom 
 to keep a list of the books read each year on one 
 of the pages of his diary. Through many years and 
 in every year this list shows a substantial number 
 of important volumes, in addition to much technical 
 and special material. He was always exceptionally 
 well informed upon the current events of the day, 
 national and international questions, and upon mat- 
 ters pertaining not only to religious activities and 
 service, but also those relating to science, literature, 
 education, poetry, missions, athletics, and all that 
 interests men. His thirst for knowledge, and his 
 desire for intellectual achievement did not abate 
 upon passing middle age, for he was continuously 
 energetic in this field, nothing but death stopping 
 his quest for knowledge. Just shortly before his last 
 illness, his diary shows a record of an interview 
 with the president of one of the great universities 
 of the state with reference to plans for completing 
 a course of study leading to the degree of Doctor 
 of Philosophy. In preparation for this, he had 
 spent a number of years in special studies, and some 
 weeks of resident work in the university. Had 
 his life been spared a while longer, he would un- 
 doubtedly have acquired the degree he was am- 
 bitious to possess. Throughout the years he was a 
 
108 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 most diligent, constant and systematic student of 
 the Scriptures. As truly as the Psalmist of old 
 he could exclaim: "How I love thy law, it is my 
 meditation all the day." His affection for the Bible 
 was deep rooted. His methods of study varied, but 
 his study was constant and never spasmodic. It was 
 his invariable custom, at home and when traveling, 
 to read a few verses upon arising and again upon 
 retiring. He always carried out the plan of con- 
 secutive reading, no matter what special Bible 
 studies he might be following. He read at family 
 worship. He studied various outlines and courses 
 for his own spiritual culture and enrichment, in 
 addition to his studies in preparation for teaching 
 Bible classes, and for public addresses upon Bible 
 themes. He always had some plan of study imme- 
 diately ahead. The strength of his intellect went 
 into the culture of his spiritual life; the two blended 
 most beautifully in his nature and in the union 
 each became stronger. He studied not only to 
 achieve knowledge but to serve more efficiently. 
 He sanctified his intellect for the sake of his fellow 
 men, even as the Christ sanctified himself for the 
 sake of his disciples. 
 
 As a Teacher 
 
 He was frequently referred to as a "born teacher" 
 undoubtedly because of his forceful work in ad- 
 dresses and in conferences and discussions in con- 
 
STUDENT AND SCHOLAR 109 
 
 ventions, summer schools, and classroom. In this 
 connection it is interesting to note that he was one 
 of a group of four exceptionally gifted children, and 
 that the life work of each was in the field of educa- 
 tion. His only brother, Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, 
 took the highest rank in educational circles through 
 service in the universities of Michigan and of Cali- 
 fornia, as United States Commissioner of Education, 
 and by a long service as Chancellor of New York 
 University. His sister, Mrs. Lida McMurry, be- 
 came a leading authority upon primary-school prin- 
 ciples and methods and an author of exceptionally 
 valuable treatises upon child training. His other 
 sister, Mrs. Lillie Fairchild, performed a memorable 
 life work as the wife of a college officer. Thus, 
 all four served in places of large usefulness in the 
 field of education, and it was as a teacher of teach- 
 ers, that the oldest of the group utilized his rare 
 gifts as an educator, leading those who came under 
 his influence out into lives of greater knowledge, 
 stronger character, and higher purposes. Those who 
 studied under him felt the magnetism of his per- 
 sonality, teaching them to think, drawing out their 
 very best, stimulating their ambitions and purposes, 
 and inspiring them to higher ideals of conduct and 
 service. There can be no finer exemplification of 
 the real art of teaching than this. He, from his 
 earliest days as a country lad teaching a country 
 school, was never content to be merely a school 
 keeper, a routine hearer and marker of recitations. 
 
110 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 He not only imparted facts and information, but 
 did it in a way which created a desire to learn, 
 moulded character and inspired to right conduct and 
 useful living. 
 
 Throughout his years of executive work in the 
 State Secretaryship, these fine teaching qualities 
 were constantly manifested in personal counsel, in 
 directors' meetings, in conventions, conferences, and 
 public addresses. From its founding in 1890, he 
 taught certain courses in the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association Training School (later renamed 
 Association College). Here his influence as a 
 teacher of Bible courses, logic, philosophy, Associa- 
 tion administration, and church history was most 
 marked. Likewise he taught similarly for thirty- 
 three consecutive years in the summer school at 
 Lake Geneva, impressing the thousands of students 
 by his rare intellectual powers, his deep spiritual 
 purposes, and his fine art of imparting inspiration 
 as well as information, and of drawing out and set- 
 ting to work their highest faculties and bringing 
 to them new visions of their hidden possibilities. 
 
 ON THE TEACHING STAFF OF Y. M. C. A. COLLEGE 
 
 His great gifts and high purposes as a teacher 
 found their finest opportunity for expression in the 
 last eight years of his life, spent in the service of 
 the Young Men's Christian Association College, as 
 a faculty member and administrative officer. With 
 
STUDENT AND SCHOLAR 111 
 
 a freedom from the executive responsibilities of the 
 preceding thirty years, he threw his entire strength, 
 his ripe experience, his mental and spiritual energy, 
 into the task of moulding the lives and characters 
 of the hundreds of students who were in preparation 
 for places of leadership in all phases of Association 
 activity throughout the nation and in many foreign 
 lands. He taught the underlying principles of the 
 work to which his life had been devoted. Every 
 subject taught was most thoroughly and compre- 
 hensively studied and every class session was most 
 conscientiously prepared for, both in mind and heart. 
 No minister ever prepared his sermons more care- 
 fully and earnestly than he prepared for his class- 
 room hours with his students. His high sense of 
 responsibility and opportunity which characterized 
 him was reflected in the lives of those who studied 
 under him, it being the invariable experience that 
 his students, both at Chicago and at Lake Geneva, 
 testified in impressive manner as to the great help- 
 fulness to their intellectual and spiritual lives of 
 their contact with him as teacher. Some of his 
 students were Chinese young men; his friendship 
 for them and his interest in their preparation for 
 service in their home land led him to donate his 
 entire collection of Association books and litera- 
 ture to the National Committee of the Associations 
 of China, a gift they accepted with marked grati- 
 tude and appreciation, and which they use con- 
 
112 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 stantly, naming it the "I. E. Brown Memorial 
 Library." 
 
 It was his high purpose to lead his students into 
 an attitude of mind which compelled them to think, 
 and reason, and choose, and act, and accomplish 
 because of the mental culture and discipline of 
 their studies. He was never content to teach only 
 the intellect; he sought to reach the heart and to 
 develop character through every classroom hour. 
 He taught not merely facts, but ideals, and helped 
 his students to realize more fully the opportunities 
 for the highest Christian usefulness as leaders of 
 leaders; he imparted not only knowledge, but in- 
 spiration; not only history but moral purpose; he 
 created a love for the highest and best in Christian 
 thinking and serving; he made every student a 
 stronger man, and a better-equipped workman in 
 the great harvest field. Like his Master, he, too, was 
 "a teacher sent from God." 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 A Lover of Travel 
 
 His duties through nearly four decades required 
 much travel, particularly in Illinois and frequently 
 in other states and provinces. His service in visita- 
 tion of the many states of the union is outlined under 
 the chapter on conventions and conferences. In 
 the course of official duties, he visited nearly every 
 state in the union and every province in Canada. 
 In accepting the limited number of these outside 
 engagements which time permitted, he systemati- 
 cally gave preference to states never previously 
 visited, in order that new sights, new contacts, ex- 
 periences, and friendships might constantly be 
 formed. And in the cases of the few states not 
 visited officially, he systematically planned educa- 
 tional and pleasure trips, so that before he had 
 passed middle life, every state in the union had been 
 visited and its chief historic spots studied. He 
 regarded travel as an opportunity for education, 
 inspiration, pleasure, recreation, and a broadening 
 of vision. His time on trains or steamers was al- 
 ways systematically planned for and profitably and 
 beneficially employed. With him the journey itself, 
 short or long, was always a part of the destination. 
 
 113 
 
114 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 So, he occasionally made trips not specifically re- 
 lated to his work, sometimes alone, sometimes with 
 friends, sometimes, and as often as possible, with 
 part or all of his family. Every journey brought 
 to him its permanent impressions and lessons. He 
 encouraged his fellow workers and students to plan 
 for occasional trips to new sights and scenes, regard- 
 ing such practice as an added equipment for use- 
 fulness and a source of mental and spiritual culture. 
 He made but one trip abroad, attending, in 1894, 
 the World's Jubilee Convention of the Associations 
 in London, England. In this brief trip he visited 
 also Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Ger- 
 many, Belgium, and Holland. For this journey his 
 preparations were most thorough, the itinerary and 
 program of every day being outlined long before 
 sailing. The most interesting historical and scenic 
 spots were visited, his keen mind rejoicing in the 
 opportunity and privilege of such a trip and de- 
 riving the fullest measure of information and in- 
 spiration from it. His letters home were marvels 
 of concise, vivid, brilliant description and narra- 
 tion. He saw the beautiful wherever he went, and 
 he saw it the more clearly and rejoiced in it the more 
 abundantly because he carried so much of it with 
 him in his own mind and heart. 
 
 AS A WRITER AND EDITOR 
 
 Throughout his nearly four decades of service, he 
 was a frequent contributor to the columns of the 
 
A LOVER OF TRAVEL 115 
 
 official Association paper, first known as The Watch- 
 man, later as The Young Men's Era, still later as 
 Men, and finally Association Men. His literary style 
 was always attractive. His writings were clear, con- 
 cise, definite, logical, informing, inspiring, and 
 strong in spiritual appeal. Articles from his pen 
 were eagerly sought by the publishers and ab- 
 sorbed by secretaries and laymen. He always gave 
 careful thought and frequently substantial blocks 
 of time to the problems of the Association paper. 
 When its reorganization, change in name, and plan 
 became essential to its continuance, he was urgently 
 requested to accept the responsibility of editor-in- 
 chief. He responded favorably, putting much of 
 his finest thought and editorial skill into the paper. 
 Confidence in the value of the paper to the move- 
 ment was greatly strengthened by his service, and 
 he assisted largely in establishing it on a new and 
 permanent basis. After some months of editorial 
 leadership, he asked for relief from this additional 
 responsibility, as others were now prepared to bear 
 it forcefully and efficiently and he desired to give 
 his undivided attention to the state work. 
 
 This was another of his great contributions to the 
 movement as a whole. 
 
 HIS STRENGTH IN TRIAL 
 
 His broad policies, his determination to keep his 
 work at full tide of efficiency, the very success of 
 
116 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 his work, brought to him, from some sources, as it 
 does to most forceful leaders who have initiation 
 and courage, some measure of criticism and dissatis- 
 faction. Strong-minded, able men on his staff did 
 not always agree with him, nor were they always 
 loyal to his policies. This spirit of criticism on the 
 part of a few came to a climax in 1908 and 1909. 
 Throughout this period, when some strong friend- 
 ships of many years were strained and in one case 
 broken, he maintained a calm, a poise, a patient, 
 kindly, courteous spirit which indicated a strength 
 of character nothing short of true greatness. He 
 responded promptly, frankly, fully to all criticism, 
 welcomed and assisted in all inquiries. The out- 
 come of the criticisms was an emphatic endorse- 
 ment of his work, by those in authority, his policies 
 being sustained as wise, economical and efficient in 
 achieving results. 
 
 Dr. John R. Mott, writing in the January 1924 
 Association Forum says: 
 
 You estimate the greatness of a man by his attitude 
 and spirit when under fire. On the one hand, if one is 
 cowardly in the face of attacks, or callous or oblivious 
 to charges against him, or manifests a disposition to 
 evade the implications of opposition, you make up your 
 mind that he is a weak man and is not destined to true 
 greatness. On the other hand, if a man brought under 
 fire gives prompt heed to what is said against him, wel- 
 comes the most searching inquiry, shows proof that he 
 is ready to act upon any new light, cost what it may, 
 
A LOVER OF TRAVEL 117 
 
 and if he manifests proper and righteous indignation 
 against any charges which are the result of unfairness 
 or animus, we recognize in such a life solid foundations, 
 true leadership, and a life which will expand into larger 
 helpfulness. 
 
 He was not writing of Mr. Brown in this article, 
 but of the war-time criticisms of the Association, 
 but if he had been framing these sentences with 
 him in mind, he could not have more accurately de- 
 scribed the solid foundation and true leadership 
 which characterized his whole life and which did 
 expand into the larger helpfulness of his last years. 
 There was no fainting in the day of adversity, for 
 his strength was not small, and in his abiding faith 
 he went from strength to strength. 
 
 HIS GENEROUS NATURE 
 
 He preferred others before himself, a trait mani- 
 fested in early boyhood and continuing throughout 
 his entire life, in all his family, business, Associa- 
 tion, and church relationships. It was a regular 
 practice with him to deny himself, even ordinary 
 comforts, that he might do for others. He con- 
 stantly spent his time, strength, means, and talent 
 in ways which demonstrated the absolute unselfish- 
 ness and the noble generosity of his nature. No 
 sacrifice was too great in order that his two daugh- 
 ters might receive college degrees. Throughout the 
 years of his work income was frequently long de- 
 
118 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BR OWN 
 
 layed, but he always saw to it that the salaries of 
 his staff were paid in advance of his own, regardless 
 of the inconvenience it caused him. He was very 
 systematic and generous in his giving, setting aside 
 never less than a tenth and usually a fifth of his 
 entire income for benevolences. These sacrifices, 
 for they often were much, brought him deep joy. 
 It was his invariable custom to make liberal gifts 
 to all the church and Association agencies. Wher- 
 ever there was special need caused by flood, famine, 
 or other disaster, he was prompt to send check for 
 his part, often not waiting to be asked. 
 
 One outstanding act, illustrating his generous 
 spirit of self-sacrifice, even to great limits, is known 
 to but few and may be recorded here to demonstrate 
 anew to his friends this strong trait in his char- 
 acter. The business of a close family connection 
 being in peril, following one of the periods of busi- 
 ness depression, Mr. Brown deliberately mortgaged 
 his home for its full loan value, placing the funds 
 therefrom at the disposal of the one he desired to 
 help, risking his all for another in a spirit truly 
 heroic. Fortunately his action saved disaster, and 
 the mortgage was later paid off. Only a few men 
 would ever take such sacrificial action, but he had 
 so fully absorbed the spirit of the Christ who sac- 
 rificed everything for others that it was perfectly 
 natural for him to do so, and gladly, willingly he 
 took the risk and rendered this immeasurable as- 
 sistance where it was needed. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 The Closing Years — Serving the Association 
 College 
 
 Taking up his new work as Dean in the college 
 was not to him a radical change, for he had been 
 so thoroughly a part of the institution, since he, its 
 founder, had assembled and presided over the open- 
 ing session of the little group of students and 
 friends, that he was fully at home in every phase 
 of its activity, whether in the winter sessions in 
 Chicago or the summer sessions at Lake Geneva. 
 Into his work in the college, new and yet not new, 
 he put not only his superior talents, his ripe experi- 
 ence, his mature judgment, but also the finest en- 
 thusiasms of his life, such as would ordinarily be 
 expected only from a younger man. He taught 
 courses in Association History, Principles and Meth- 
 ods, Christian Evidences, Business Management and 
 other subjects. He kept his courses constantly re- 
 viewed and revised to date. He took his full part 
 in all administrative problems. He was the con- 
 stant friend and advisor, both of faculty members 
 and students. None ever sought his counsel in vain, 
 and it was constantly sought on vitally important 
 problems in individual life and organization activi- 
 
 119 
 
120 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 ties. All the athletic, literary, and social activities 
 of the college commanded his interest, support, and 
 cooperation. He participated in all the various 
 conferences on the recruiting and education of men 
 for employed officers. He represented the college 
 frequently at state conventions and other confer- 
 ences. He carried a heavy volume of work during 
 the weeks of the summer session at Lake Geneva 
 and added to it courses of Bible studies and many 
 inspirational and devotional addresses. All his ex- 
 ceptional qualities as a teacher, referred to in the 
 chapter on his work on that field, were utilized in 
 these closing years, when the burden of his effort 
 was not administrative and executive, but to teach 
 those who were to become teachers and leaders of 
 others. 
 
 In the summer of 1916, his last at Lake Geneva, 
 the board of trustees of the college conferred upon 
 him the Degree of Doctor of Association Science, 
 "in recognition of eminent service as organizer and 
 counsellor in the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion movement." 
 
 The college was immeasurably strengthened, and 
 the faculty and four generations of students greatly 
 benefited by his invaluable service during these 
 evening years of his active, fruitful life. The sense 
 of loss felt by all, when the time of his departure 
 came, was exceedingly great. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 A Personal Testimony 
 
 For nearly twenty of his thirty years in the state 
 work, the writer was intimately associated with 
 Mr. Brown as a member of his staff. Sir Henry 
 Stanley said of David Livingstone: "For four 
 months and four days I lived with him in the 
 same house or in the same boat or in the same tent, 
 and I never found a fault in him, but each day's 
 life with him added to my admiration for him." 
 With nearly equally close contact, and through a 
 period sixty times as long, my mind and heart offer 
 similar testimony to the life and character of I. E. 
 Brown. 
 
 The following testimony was written soon after 
 his death. 
 
 During those years I was brought into contact with 
 him under a great variety of circumstances. I have 
 been with him in the pressing duties of daily life and 
 in the quiet of his home; in great conventions and in 
 personal conferences; in large cities and in country 
 towns; in business interviews and social gatherings; in 
 times of the greatest business pressure and during vaca- 
 tions. I have been with him in hotels; on railroad 
 trains; on ocean steamers, and in visiting foreign cities. 
 
 121 
 
122 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 I have been with him in joy and in sorrow; amid suc- 
 cesses, and in times of apparent failure; and in a wide 
 variety of social, patriotic, and devotional meetings. I 
 have been with him in recreation, particularly as a 
 partner or as an opponent in the fascinating game of 
 tennis. I saw him occasionally during the last weeks 
 of his life when he was battling with the illness from 
 which he hoped to recover for more years of usefulness. 
 In all these diversified points of contact, through a long 
 period of years, one surely would come to know him, 
 his motives and his purposes very thoroughly. 
 
 Under all these varying circumstances and throughout 
 the years, he was always kind, patient, generous, and 
 considerate; he was always calm, gentle and well poised; 
 he was always hopeful, optimistic, and courageous; he 
 was always studious, ambitious for the highest welfare 
 of others, and enthusiastic in his chosen life work. It 
 was with a rare fidelity that he devoted his life, his 
 strength, and his talents to the upbuilding of the cause 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association in Illinois and 
 later to the Association College. His faith in God was 
 strong and unwavering. His ideals were the highest, his 
 purpose the most noble. His life record is that of the 
 ideal Christian man, and the true, earnest, devoted ser- 
 vant of God. Could anything greater be said? He has 
 gone to a great reward and his splendid life of fruitful 
 Christian service will ever be held in most grateful 
 memory by tens of thousands, not only in Illinois, but 
 throughout the nation and world. 
 
 Henry van Dyke says: 
 
 Most writers of biographical sketches omit failures 
 
A PERSONAL TESTIMONY 123 
 
 and weaknesses and mistakes and draw liberally upon 
 imagination in emphasis of virtues. 
 
 If these studies apparently omit reference to 
 failures and weaknessses, it is solely because many 
 years of close observation revealed none, or so few 
 as to be negligible. The emphasis herein given to 
 virtues, moreover, is based wholly upon facts and 
 with no drawing whatever upon imagination. Van 
 Dyke also says: 
 
 A tribute to the memory of a friend must be full of 
 deep and warm affection if it would express in any 
 measure the thoughts and feelings of the many who knew 
 him personally in the crowded pilgrimage of life. 
 
 This simple tribute to the memory of a great man 
 is made with a full measure of sincere affection, 
 and with the hope that it expresses to some extent 
 the feelings of the thousands who knew him and 
 were helped to become stronger and more useful 
 men through his wonderful example and influence. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Summary — a Remarkable Life 
 
 This incomplete review of the character, person- 
 ality, and life work of Isaac Eddy Brown indicates 
 something of his great usefulness, his wonderful in- 
 fluence, and his fruitful service to his generation in 
 a great Christian calling. His record of achieve- 
 ment in the realm of his own physical, mental, and 
 spiritual life, and of service to his fellow men, can 
 be equalled by but few men. We see him, fortunate 
 in his parentage and ancestry, but depending not 
 on any inheritance, save only the love for hard 
 work; we see him as a lad, industrious, studious, 
 serious minded and purposeful, developing a nor- 
 mal, active religious life; we see him manifesting 
 all these traits of his youth throughout the years 
 of his educational preparation, acquiring an educa- 
 tion in the spirit of earnest practical preparation 
 for life's responsibilities. Also we see him as a 
 skilful leader in community life, particularly in 
 matters educational and religious; we see him 
 through years of service in a responsible executive 
 position, requiring courage, ability, and efficient 
 methods of organization in carrying forward a great 
 constructive task for character building and moral 
 
 124 
 
SUMMARY— A REMARKABLE LIFE 125 
 
 welfare. In his private life we see him as a genial, 
 warm-hearted personality, manifesting the spirit of 
 good will in all contacts; we see how bravely and 
 heroically he met sorrow and bereavement, deriving 
 from them spiritual comfort and assurance; we see 
 his great devotion to his field of service and his 
 interested service to other fields reaching to the 
 uttermost parts of the earth; we see him as an in- 
 tensely practical man, filled with sentiment but free 
 from sentimentality, far sighted, systematic, a wise 
 planner for the future, able to work hard without 
 becoming a slave to overwork, able to use recreation 
 wisely and for physical, mental, and spiritual in- 
 vigoration; we see something of the beauty of his 
 ideal home life with its prevailing spiritual at- 
 mosphere and its unbounded, genuine, purposeful 
 hospitality, always a center of culture, inspiration, 
 good cheer and kindly ministry to others, particu- 
 larly the lonely; we see him as a loyal citizen, al- 
 ways prepared and willing cheerfully to carry his 
 full share and more, of collective responsibility; as 
 a faithful member and officer in the church, as a 
 helpful friend and wise counsellor in all problems, 
 especially those pertaining to the religious life, to 
 life callings, and to organizations carrying on Chris- 
 tian service. We see something of his intellectual 
 achievements and his constant mental culture 
 through reading, study, travel, and contact with 
 leaders in thought and action; we see his initiative 
 and statesmanship in creating new work and in 
 
126 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN 
 
 founding institutions, destined to meet a great need 
 in his chosen field; we see his exceptional power 
 in public speech, his strength in trial, his remark- 
 ably generous nature, his rare devotion to the high- 
 est ideals, his ability to carry convictions into daily 
 life and practice. 
 
 But greater than are those, we see the beauty, the 
 breadth, the depth, the strength, the sincerity of 
 his religious life; we come to know him as a man 
 of faith and prayer and spiritual courage, who gave 
 his time, talent, and strength unreservedly to the 
 cause of Christian character building among young 
 men ; who gave a full measure of devotion, through 
 a long life, to the Christ whom he loved and served. 
 His deeply spiritual nature manifested itself in 
 every phase of his life and work. His emphasis 
 upon the religious life and the development of 
 agencies of religious service was both strong and 
 constant. He frequently said in classroom and in 
 public address: "The work that I do I shall be 
 separated from some day, but the man that I am 
 will go with me through eternity." The separation 
 from work though meant only the ceasing of earthly 
 labors, for he found constant and almost unbounded 
 joy in the assurance that he was spending his life 
 in work which would abide forever. An equally 
 frequent and favorite expression was, "I shall meet 
 my work in the eternal, where the banker sees not 
 his money, nor the merchant his merchandise." In 
 that faith and assurance, he lived and worked. His 
 
SUMMARY— A REMARKABLE LIFE 127 
 
 great personality has been woven into the entire 
 fabric of The Young Men's Christian Association. 
 Through half a century he has been a leading factor 
 in making the history of the Association and all 
 its organized agencies — local, state, international 
 and world, and especially the Association College. 
 Wherever the Young Men's Christian Association 
 exists and wherever its beneficent work shall be ex- 
 tended, his memory will be cherished and his name 
 loved and honored. He has stood preeminently for 
 a consecrated, educated, professionally trained lead- 
 ership in every position of Association service, and 
 for the supremacy of the spiritual life and the vital 
 importance of the religious spirit permeating every 
 phase of the Association work. His ideals were the 
 very highest, and he lived up to and attained them 
 in a way which makes his memory a constant in- 
 spiration to the many thousands who knew him, 
 and they will likewise inspire future generations. 
 The record of his altogether beautiful and service- 
 able life should strengthen the higher purposes of 
 every reader and send him forth to larger useful- 
 ness and greater achievement in Christian service. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 B.B7872B C001 
 
 THE LIFE OF ISAAC EDDY BROWN; NY 
 
 3 0112 025404846