life, one of the most conspicuous
financiers in New York, and occasionally has private audiences with
presidents and other magnates. Moreover, I feel certain that he will
welcome this humble tribute to his benefactor with much delight, as the
halo which now surrounds his brow he owes in a large degree to his early
introduction into the smart set by the sexton of Grace Church. The last
I ever heard of Brown, he visited Europe. After his return from his
well-earned holiday he died and was laid to rest in his own native soil.
Peace to Brown's ashes--his work was well done! It cannot be said of
him, as of many others, that he lived in vain, as he was doubtless the
forerunner of the later and more accomplished leader and dictator of New
York's "Four Hundred."

A poetaster paid him the following facetious tribute:

Oh, glorious Brown, thou medley strange
Of churchyard, ballroom, saint, and sinner,
Flying by morn through fashion's range
And burying mortals after dinner.
Walking one day with invitations,
Passing the next at consecrations,
Tossing the sod at eve on coffins,
With one hand drying tears of orphans,
And one unclasping ballroom carriage,
Or cutting plumcake up for marriage;
Dusting by day the pew and missal,
Sounding by night the ballroom whistle,
Admitted free through fashion's wicket,
And skilled at psalms, at punch, and cricket.

An amusing anecdote is told of Brown's financial _protege_ whose name I
have withheld. When he was still somewhat uncertain of his social status
he received an invitation to a fancy ball given by a fashionable matron.
This recognition he regarded as a conspicuous social triumph, and in his
desire to do the proper thing he sought William R. Travers--"Bill
Travers," as he was generally called--to ask his advice in regard to the
proper costume for him to wear. The inquiring social aspirant had a head
well-denuded of hair, and Mr. Travers, after a moment's hesitation,
wittingly replied: "Sugarcoat your head and go as a pill!"

Though not a professional wit, Brown was at least capable of making a
pun quite equal to those inflicted upon society by some of his
superiors. As sexton of Grace Church, he officiated at the wedding of
Miss Phoebe Lord, a daughter of Daniel Lord, whose marriage to Henry
Day, a rising young lawyer, was solemnized in this edifice. At the close
of the reception following the marriage ceremony someone laug