s, and themselves tramped with the men
through the mud and rain for a good part of this distance.

Colonel Browne was a brave man. He faced the guns of the enemy at
Fredericksburg where the battle waxed hottest, with as much apparent
coolness as though simply facing his regiment on dress parade. A ball
pierced his mantle; "the noise of battle hurtled in the air," and
death-dealing missiles were flying thick about him, but he neither
wavered nor blanched. Wherever his regiment was ordered to go, thither
he promptly went in front of it, inspiring his followers with courage
both by his genuine heroism and his manly words of cheer.

His bravery, however, was not of the ostentatious or noisy sort. It was
more like the current of a still but deep-flowing river, which moves
calmly but steadily onward, irresistibly drawing to itself, and
unconsciously controlling all the lesser streams about it. He never
paraded his virtues before his fellow-men, or posed as a hero or
statesman for public applause. Indeed, he utterly scorned all attempts
made by others for the sake of notoriety and position as vulgar and
unworthy. He admired, however, and honestly won, the fame which follows
generous and noble deeds, and not that which is sought after by the
demagogue and the charlatan. He was notably considerate and courteous in
his treatment of his subordinates in office, never seeming to command,
while in fact exercising the most perfect control.

Colonel Browne retained an abiding interest in the men of his regiment
to the day of his death. His greetings to them on the street, in the
marts of trade, and especially at their annual reunions, were always
warm and hearty. A single incident will serve to illustrate his interest
in their welfare. Meeting me one day last winter on Westminster street,
he said: "Judge, _I've got some good news to tell you_," and invited me
to step into a bookstore which he was then passing while he should
reveal it. "Do you remember Sergeant ----, of Company ----?" said he, his
face all aglow with that expression of happiness which was peculiar to
him. "Yes, Colonel, I do; what about him?" "Why, he's been out West, and
by diligence and skill in a profitable business which he there engaged
in, first as clerk and subsequently as one of the firm, and now as the
manager thereof, has actually made his fortune, and is to-day a rich and
highly respected man. And he came to see me the other day and told me
all about it."