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BROOKLYN

tion of the borough, between ocean, river, and bay, mitigates the extremes of winter cold and summer heat, and makes it a desirable place of residence throughout the year.

Its advantages as a centre of commerce and industry are no less than those which made it famous as a city of homes before its consolidation with the metropolis. Its water-front available for shipping comprises two miles on Newtown Creek, including its basins, and nearly 10 miles on the East River and New York Bay. The construction of large docks, such as those of the Atlantic and Erie basins the latter being the chief point of entry of the canal barges that bring great cargoes of grain from the distributing centre at Buffalo to the Brooklyn grain-elevators have largely increased the wharfage facilities of the borough.

Most large cities grow by the absorption of outlying suburbs and adjacent villages, and in this respect the experience of Brooklyn has been striking. The name of Brooklyn, which was derived from the town of Breucklen, in Holland, the home from which came most of the earliest settlers, was first attached to a small trading-village that grew up on the shores of the East River near what is now the Fulton ferry to Manhattan. There were several other villages in the county which for a long time retained their individuality and developed along their own lines. Across the Wallabout swamp, to the eastward - "Wallabout" being derived from a settlement of Walloons - a village was laid out in 1827 which was incorporated under the name of Williamsburg and in 1851 became incorporated as a city. Then Williamsburg swallowed up the older and adjacent villages of Bushwick and Greenpoint, just as Brooklyn had already swallowed up Bedford and Gowanus. In 1854 Brooklyn and Williamsburg were consolidated. The town of New Lots, including the village of East New York, came next, and the work of absorption, as far as Brooklyn was concerned, was completed in 1894, when the towns of Flatbush, New Utrecht, Gravesend, and Flatlands were made part of the city, the corporate limits of which then included all of Kings County. It was a natural process, but usually, when a large city is surrounded by suburbs that are destined to absorption, the lines of development of the suburbs are indicated and set in accordance with their inevitable destiny, and annexation entails no confusion. It was different with Brooklyn. Williamsburg, Flatbush, Canarsie, Bushwick, and East New York - more than 20 villages and hamlets all told, that are now a part of the borough of Brooklyn- had each its own plan and its own system of nomenclature. The result has been hopeless and to a large extent irremediable confusion. Duplication of street names may be corrected by the substitution of new names for the old, and much has already been done in that direction, but the confusion resulting from the multiplicity of independent plans on which the various parts of the borough were originally laid out have never been wholly corrected, and Brooklyn will continue to be a puzzle to strangers and even to old residents.

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It is as a city of homes of middle-class homes that Brooklyn has gained its distinctive character among American cities. The

very wealthy can afford to live in Manhattan,. and the very poor have no alternative but to crowd into its hive-like tenements, but it may he said that, as a rule, the palace and the tenement-using the latter word in its ordinary, not its technical sense are alike unknown in Brooklyn. No place of like population is freer from those congregations and nurseries of crime and disease known as "slums," and in no city is a larger proportion of the population housed under decent and sanitary conditions. It is for this reason, and because the growth of Brooklyn has kept pace in other respects with its growth in numbers, that the population increased from 279,122 in 1860 to 599,495 in 1880; 1,166,582 in 1900, and 1,291,597 in 1903.

The earliest settlement of the Dutch in Kings County was made in 1619, but it was not until more than a century later that Brooklyn had any organized existence. It was the scene of Washington's first battle and defeat during the American Revolution. That battle was fought only about six weeks after the American Congress in Philadelphia had adopted the Declaration of Independence. Washington's army, as yet raw and totally unused to warfare, was massed among Brooklyn's hills, while Gen. Howe, with 30,000 seasoned fighting men, occupied Staten Island. The British crossed to Long Island, landing on the plains of New Utrecht, and on the morning of 27 Aug. 1776, a general advance was made on the American lines. The attack was made at three points. One division advanced through the marshes of Gowanus, and, despite a gallant resistance, drove back the Maryland regiment to the main body of American troops. A second point of attack was through what is now known as Battle Pass, in Prospect Park, where the Americans. were forced back on the entrenched position at Fort Green, but the heaviest blow was struck through the advance of a strong flanking party. It had early that morning passed along the northern base of the ridge of hills in what is now the Twenty-fourth ward, stopping at the Howard House, a tavern in East New York,. and impressing its owner as a guide. It then advanced upon Washington's forces from the east. A misty night fell, with no general engagement, and by morning Washington had withdrawn his troops, under cover of fog, across. the East River. The British retained possession of Brooklyn until the evacuation of New York at the close of the war. Brooklyn's most memorable association with Revolutionary history, however, lies in the fact that the British prison ships. the Jersey and its consorts were moored in Wallabout Bay, and the bones. of 11,000 victims of British severity who died in those floating slaughter-pens are buried at Fort Green, where a worthy monument to their patriotic devotion is soon to be erected.

Brooklyn was incorporated as a village in 1801, and at about that time the federal government made its first purchase of land at the Wallabout for navy-yard purposes. The Brooklyn navy yard is now the best equipped in the possession of the U. S. government. It covers. an area of over 100 acres, with a capacious drydock, and a mechanical plant capable of shipbuilding on the most extensive scale. Some of the finest ships in the United States navy have been constructed here, and its great repair shops.

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It has been generally assumed that Brooklyn is merely "the sleeping-place of Manhattan." It is undoubtedly true that many thousands of those who are engaged in business in Manhattan find their homes in Brooklyn,— the number has been estimated at between 65,000 and 100,000; but the fact remains that Brooklyn itself is one of the greatest_manufacturing centres of the United States. In many important branches of industry it leads all its competitors. Its most important industry, at the time of the last census, was foundry and machine-shop products, in which there was $13.725,518 invested, and wages to the amount of $5.641,132 were paid to 7,753 workmen. Brooklyn's sugar-refining industry is by far the most important in the United States, nine tenths of the sugar consumed in the country being refined here. this and in the closely allied coffee-roasting industry, the amount of capital invested is nearly $20,000,000, the annual value of the finished product being, sugar, $16,629,982; coffee, $12,247,162. The manufacture of chemicals is another industry in which much capital is invested, and in which 2.984 people find employment. Some of the leading publishers of the United States have located their printing and bookbinding establishments in Brooklyn. It is also the seat of jute manufacture, glass and porcelain factories cordage works, and other important industries.

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Brooklyn's public-school system, up to the date of consolidation with New York, held a high place in the esteem of public educators. In 1897 it was merged in the public-school system of the greater city, but it still possesses many of the characteristics that formerly distinguished it, and few if any cities in the world have a better equipped galaxy of public schools. It has six high schools, of which one is devoted to manual and technical instruction, while another is wholly given over to commercial instruction. Its 133 grammar schools are crowded almost beyond their capacity every day in the school year. Many of the schools in the poorer neighborhoods are kept open during the summer months as recreation schools for the benefit of children who remain in the borough during the ordinary school vacation, and who

are taught many things outside of the ordinary school curriculum.

Brooklyn has no university, but it has many excellent private schools and academies, some of which, such as the Polytechnic Institute, Adelphi Academy, and St. John's College, hold collegiate rank and may grant degrees. The parochial schools also hold high rank, while the Pratt Institute affords thorough technical training to hundreds of pupils.

The Brooklyn Public Library, with which the excellent Brooklyn Library has recently been incorporated, maintains an extensive system of branch libraries throughout the borough; and when this is supplemented by the system of libraries recently presented by Mr. Andrew Carnegie, no community in the United States will be better equipped in this direction.

One of the most notable of the educational institutions in Brooklyn is the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. This valuable and practically unendowed institution is, as regards its present buildings, situated upon high ground adjacent to Prospect Park, on what is known as the East Side Park lands, of which 11 acres have been leased to the trustees for 100 years. It is the development of a school of arts and sciences founded during the middle of the 19th century by Augustus Graham, a philanthropist of English extraction. It has expanded under the direction of Prof. Franklin W. Hooper and a public-spirited board of trustees into what is likely to prove the nucleus of a great national academy. It already has a wellfurnished museum, which is especially rich in prehistoric American relics, and departments of archæology, architecture, astronomy, botany, chemistry, domestic science, electricity, engineering, entomology, geography, geology, law, mathematics, microscopy, mineralogy, music, painting, pedagogy, philology, philosophy, photography, physics, political science, and psychology, each of which is presided over by an expert in the science. Only the first section of the museum building has as yet been erected, but when completed the entire structure will cover a large area, with four interior courts to provide light for the central portions of the building. It will contain on the first floor rooms for collections illustrating the general history of the arts and architecture; on the second floor rooms for the illustration of the practical arts and sciences; and on the third floor galleries for the illustration of the history of painting, engraving, etching, and decorative art. It is expected that before long the splendid library of the Long Island Historical Society will find accommodations within the museum building.

Brooklyn's public park system has been developed on a scale altogether commensurate with the character of the borough, and full advantage has been taken of the cheapness of land to make provision for the needs of the pleasure grounds. The oldest and best known, future in the matter of breathing places and although not the largest of these, is Prospect Park, which includes 516 acres of rolling land, with picturesque lakes and an unrivaled growth of old forest trees. Prospect Park is beautifully laid out, special care having been taken during the 40 years of its existence as a park to preserve its natural characteristics. Its statuary includes figures of J. S. T. Stranahan, one of the pioneers in the matter of providing public

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parks; John Howard Payne, Thomas Moore, Washington Irving, Beethoven, and Mozart. There is also, at the foot of Lookout Hill, a memorial shaft in honor of the Maryland soldiers who fell in the battle of Long Island.

Another notable pleasure ground is Brooklyn Forest, which includes 536 acres on the crown of the ridge of hills on the Queens County border. Except for the laying out of walks and paths it has been left in its natural state. It affords splendid views of the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay, Sunset Park, a reserve of 14 acres on the shores of New York Bay, and the Coney Island Concourse, which runs along the Atlantic shore and contains 70 acres, are unique in their location. In addition there are nearly 40 small parks and recreation grounds in the borough. The system of parkways and boulevards under the care of the park department covers 42 miles of well-paved roadways, to which additions are constantly being made. W. C. BRYANT, Editor Brooklyn Times. Brooks, Charles William Shirley, English journalist, editor of Punch: b. London, 29 April 1816; d. there, 23 Feb. 1874. He settled in London, wrote dramas, contributed to the leading periodicals and journals, and for five sessions wrote the Parliamentary Summary) for the Morning Chronicle. By its proprietors he was sent, in 1853, on a mission to report on the condition of labor and the poor in Russia, Syria, and Egypt, and a result of his observations appeared in The Russians of the South' (1856). He wrote political articles, attracted attention by several dramas and burlesques, and in 1854 joined the staff of the London Punch. In 1870 he succeeded Mark Lemon as its editor. His novels, which include Aspen Court) (1855); The Gordian Knot (1860); The Silver Cord (1861); Sooner or Later,' with illustrations by Du Maurier (1866-8); 'The Naggeltons) (1875), show keen observation. He also wrote Amusing Poetry (1857). His son, REGINALD SHIRLEY, collected Brook's Wit and Humor from Punch (1875).

Brooks, Elbridge Gerry, American Universalist clergyman: b. Dover, N. H., 29 July 1816; d. Philadelphia, Pa., 8 April 1878. His first pastorate was at West Amesbury, Mass., in 1837, and he was subsequently in charge of churches at East Cambridge, Mass., Lowell, Mass., Lynn, Mass., New York, and Philadelphia.

Brooks, Elbridge Streeter, American author, son of Elbridge Gerry Brooks (q.v.) b. Lowell, Mass., 14 April 1846; d. Somerville, Mass., 7 Jan. 1902. He was the author of more than 40 books for young people, intended to familiarize them with American history, among which are 'Historic Boys'; 'Chivalric Days'; 'The Story of the American Indian'; 'The Story of New York'; 'Heroic Happenings' (1893); The True Story of George Washington' (1895); The Century Book of Famous Americans' (1896); 'Stories of the Old Bay State) (1899); A Godson of Lafayette' (1900); Under the Allied Flags (1901). He edited the Wide Awake Magazine for several years, and was the literary adviser of the Boston publishing house of D. Lathrop Company from 1895 until his death.

Vol. 3-24

Brooks, James Gordon, American poet: b. Claverack, N. Y., 3 Sept. 1801; d. Albany, 20 Feb. 1841. He studied law, and removed in 1823 to New York, where he became editor of the Minerva, a literary journal, and afterward of the 'Literary Gazette, the Athenæum,' and the Morning Courier, continuing in all these papers the publication of his verses. In 1828 he married Mary Elizabeth Aikin, who had written under the signature of Norma, and the next year appeared the 'Rivals of Este, and Other Poems, by James G. and Mary E. Brooks.'

Brooks, John, American soldier, and governor of Massachusetts: b. Medford, 1752; d. 1 March 1825. While pursuing the study of medicine he displayed a love for military exercises, and having settled as a medical practitioner at Reading undertook the drilling of a company of minute men, with whom, on the news of the expedition to Lexington, he marched in time to see the retreat of the British. Promoted soon after to the rank of major in the Continental service, he assisted in throwing up the fortifications on Breed's Hill, and was especially serviceable to the army as a tactician. He was made lieutenant-colonel in 1777, and in the battle of Saratoga stormed the intrenchments of the German troops. He was a faithful adherent of the commander-in-chief during the conspiracy at Newburg. Washington requesting him to keep his officers within quarters, that they might not attend the insurgent meeting, his reply was: "Sir, I have anticipated your wishes, and my orders are given." Washington took him by the hand, and said: "Col. Brooks, this is just what I

expected from you." After the peace he resumed the practice of the medical profession in Medford, and was for many years major-general of the militia of his county. In the War of 1812 he was adjutant-general of Massachusetts, and in 1816 was elected governor of that State, an office to which he was re-elected annually till 1823, when he declined being again a candidate.

Brooks, John Graham, American lecturer on economics: b. Acworth, N. H., 19 July 1846. He was graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1875, and subsequently studied in the universities of Berlin, Jena, and Freiburg. He was for a time in the work of the Unitarian

ministry, and was for several years a lecturer in the extension department of the University of Chicago. For two years he served as an exmaking a report in 1893 upon workingmen's inpert in the department of labor at Washington, surance in Germany. He has published Charity and the Unemployed'; 'The Pope and the Encyclical on Labor'; 'The Social Unrest' (1903).

Brooks, Maria Gowan, (MARIA DEL OCCIDENTE), American poet: b. Medford, Mass., about 1795; d. Matanzas, Cuba, 11 Nov. 1845. She spent her youth in Charlestown, Mass., and the rest of her life in London, New York, and Cuba. Her chief poem is 'Zophiel, or the Bride of Seven,' the first canto of which appeared in Boston in 1825, and the rest was finished under Southey's supervision in 1833. “Idomen, or the Vale of Yumuri,' is an autobiography (1843).

Brooks, Noah, American journalist and author: b. Castine, Maine, 30 Oct. 1830; d. Los Angeles, Cal., 16 Aug. 1903. From 1850 he was connected with newspapers in Massachusetts, California, Washington, and New York.

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He published many popular books for boys, among which are The Fairport Nine) (1880); Our Baseball Club (1884); How the Republic is Governed'; 'American Statesmen' (1893); Short Stories in American Party Politics' (1896); The Boys of Fairport'; The Mediterranean Trip.'

Brooks, Peter Chardon, American merchant: b. Medford, Mass., 6 Jan. 1767; d. Boston, 1 Jan. 1849. He began his business career as secretary in a marine insurance office in Boston, and presently became its principal. He rapidly acquired a fortune, retiring in 1803, and for the remainder of his life took an active interest in municipal and philanthropic affairs. He was the president of several benevolent associations, a member of the first city council of Boston, and sat in both houses of the State legislature. He was one of the most prominent opponents of the lottery schemes then countenanced by many respectable persons. One of his daughters married Rev. H. L. Frothingham (q.v.), and several prominent Boston families of to-day claim him as an ancestor. See Everett, 'Life of Peter C. Brooks.'

Brooks, Phillips, American Protestant Episcopal bishop: b. Boston, Mass., 13 Dec. 1835; d. there, 23 Jan. 1893. He inherited the best traditions of New England history, being on the paternal side the direct descendant of John Cotton, and his mother's name, Phillips, standing for high learning and distinction in the Congregational Church. Born at a time when the orthodox faith was fighting its bitterest battle with Unitarianism, his parents accepted the dogmas of the new theology, and had him baptized by a Unitarian clergyman. But while refusing certain dogmas of the orthodox Church they were the more thrown back for spiritual support upon the internal evidences of evangelical Christianity. Transition to the Episcopal Church was easy; the mother became an Episcopalian, and the future bishop received all his early training in that communion. But heredity had its influence, and in after life he declared that the Episcopal Church could reap the fruits of the long and bitter controversy which divided the New England Church only as it discerned the spiritual worth of Puritanism, and the value of its contributions to the history of religious thought and character. Such were the early surroundings of the man, and the subsequent influences of his life tended to foster this liberal spirit. When he entered Harvard, he came into an atmosphere of intense intellectual activity. James Walker was the president of the college, and Lowell, Holmes, Agassiz, and Longfellow were among the professors. He graduated with honor in 1855, and soon after entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Va. The transition from Harvard to this college was an abrupt one. The standards of the North and South were radically different. The theology of the Church in Virginia, while tolerant to that of other denominations, was uncompromisingly hostile to what it regarded as heterodox.

When the Civil War was declared he threw himself passionately into the cause of the Union. Yet his affection for his Southern classmates, men from whom he so widely differed, broadened that charity that was one of his finest characteristics, a charity that respected conviction wher

ever found. No man, in truth, ever did so much to remove prejudice against a Church that had never been popular in New England. To the old Puritan dislike of Episcopacy and distrust of the English Church as that of the oppressors of the colony, was added a sense of resentment toward its sacerdotal claims and its assumption of ecclesiastical supremacy. But he nevertheless protested against the claim by his own communion to the title of "The American Church,» he preached occasionally in other pulpits, he even had among his audiences clergymen of other denominations, and he was able to reconcile men of different creeds into concord on what is essential in all. The breadth and depth of his teaching attracted so large a following that he increased the strength of the Episcopal Church in America far more than he could have done by carrying on an active propaganda in its behalf. His first charge was the Church of the Advent, in Philadelphia; in two years he became rector of Holy Trinity Church in the same city. In 1869 he was called to Trinity Church, Boston, of which he was rector until his election as bishop of Massachusetts in 1891.

It is impossible to give an idea of Phillips Brooks without a word about his personality, which was almost contradictory. His commanding figure, his wit, the charm of his conversation, and a certain boyish gayety and naturalness, drew people to him as to a powerful magnet. He was one of the best-known men in America; people pointed him out to strangers in his own city as they pointed out the Common and the Bunker Hill monument. When he went to England, where he preached before the queen, men and women of all classes greeted him as a friend. They thronged the churches where he preached, not only to hear him but to see him. It was said of him that as soon as he entered a pulpit he was absolutely impersonal. There was no trace of individual experience or theological conflict by which he might be labeled. He was simply a messenger of the truth as he held it, a mouthpiece of the Gospel as he believed it had been delivered to him. Although in his seminary days his sermons were described as vague and unpractical, he was as great a preacher when under 30 years of age as at any later time. His early sermons, delivered to his first charge in Philadelphia, displayed the same individuality, the same force and completeness and clearness of construction, the same deep, strong undertone of religious thought, as his great discourses preached in Westminster Abbey six months before his death. His sentences are sonorous; his style was characterized by a noble simplicity, impressive, but without a touch showing that dramatic effect was strained for. He passionately loved nature in all her aspects, and traveled widely in search of the picturesque; but used his experience with reserve, and his illustrations are used to explain human life. His treatment of Bible narratives is not a translation into the modern manner, nor is it an adaptation, but a poetical rendering, in which the flavor of the original is not lost though the lesson is made contemporary. He used figures of speech and drew freely on history and art for illustrations, but not so much to elucidate his subject as to ornament it. As might be expected of one who, in the world's best sense, so thoroughly a man, he had great influence with young men and was one of the

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