YALE ALUMNI WHHEEKLY
kn falemorian.
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ISAAC H. BROMLEY.
. Isaac Hill Bromley died at Backus
Hospital, Norwich, Conn., on August
tr, of neuritis, after an illness of 16
weeks. He was 65 years old.
It was an unusual scene, on a mid-
summer afternoon, when Isaac Bromley
was laid to rest in the burying ground
at Norwich. He was born in _ that
beautiful city on the Thames, and,
while his busy life had taken him far
away from his birthplace, and the com-
panions of his boyhood, he went back
there at last, to the hill which over-
looked the cemetery, to watch for a
few weeks the green fields of his child-
hood. The officiating clergyman was a
Yale man, friend of Bromley, and
brother of one of his distinguished
classmates. The honorary bearers were
six of his classmates, who met him on
the College Green almost fifty years
before. Two of them were Norwich
ISAAC HILL BROMLEY, EX-’53.
boys: One has reached the highest rank
as a soldier, and the other the highest
degree in the world of letters, but both
of them were always “Ned” to “Brom,”
as they still are to those of us who yet
greet them. Witnessing the coffin as
it descended to Mother Earth, burdened
with its wreaths of flowers, were many
strong men, eminent in journalism and
public life. The tribute was a sincere
and impressive one.
Mr. Bromley’s life was one of varied
activity and usefulness. Beginning as
a lawyer, he was soon chosen to the
clerkship of both the Connecticut
Houses of legislation, and in 1858 en-
tered upon his career as an editor. He
was interrupted in his business by a call
to the war, in which he won honorable
distinction. At the close of the war,
he returned to the profession of his
choice, and continued in it to the time
of his death, excepting for the short
time when he was employed as con-
fidential clerk to the Hon. Charles
Francis Adams, in the management of
the Union Pacific Railroad Company.
It was as an editor that he reached
the extreme of his usefulness. The
discriminating notices which have ap-
peared in the press have been justly
eulogistic of his professional attain-
ments. The masterly obituary estimate
of him in the editorial ‘columns of the
New York Tribune, written by a distin-
guished associate of Mr. Bromley in
that journal, and the tender and grace-
ful tribute to him by the genial and
accomplished editor of the New Haven
Register, and the graphic portrait of
him from the brilliant pen of the
principal editor of the Hartford Courant,
and the graceful verses of Mr. Winter,
another associate editor, are memorials
which would reflect honor upon any
American editor.
As a writer, his style was peculiarly
his own. He was a master of wit and
its kindred quality, pathos. His keen
perceptions of men and things fitted
him for the composition of leading
editorials in leading journals. He had
no hesitation in using the colloquial
style, even when it carried him into
language which ultra  fastidiousness
might call slang. He was relentless in
his attack upon shams, but seldom failed
to charm his readers with bits of honest
and sweet sentiment. His striking
series of articles upon the reconstruc-
tion of the Union Pacific Railroad
Company elicited the admitation of the
business world. His interesting sketch
of the Democratic National Convention
of 1860, he used as a contribution to
the “Lotos Club” book. His reports
of political conventions were most
entertaining and absolutely sw generts.
In his college career, Bromley was
the wit of the Class. It is a pity that
so many clever things, done by under-
graduates, are lost in the echoes of
their voices. Bromley was the life and
soul of the Class ‘Wooden Spoon”
exhibition, but his clever sayings and
droll appearance upon the stage are
only a memory, and a memory of only
a few. In College he preferred social-
ity and conviviality to the routine of
study, but his failure to improve his
College opportunities for classical study
was afterwards made up. None who
have heard his verses at Yale dinners
can doubt for a moment that he was
a wide student of classical learning.
He was ‘an intense lover of Yale. He
loved Yale for her educational useful-
ness, for her athletic triumphs, and
more than all for her manly sociality.
As an orator Bromley was quiet and
conversational, but never failed to make
effective points in fitting phrase. His
talk at the Bob Cook dinners—if I am
right in my memory of the occasion—
upon the “girls in blue’ was a gem.
His speech at the New England Society
dinner, some twelve years ago, in which, |
among other striking things, he pro-
nounced the epigram that “while Con-
necticut was making history, Massachu-
setts was writing it,” was the hit of the
evening. His address at the dedication
of the statue of Capt. John Mason is
one of the historical treasures of the
State.
We ‘have’ said that his wit was. his
own. If the definitions are accurate, he
was witty rather than humorous. While
full of anecdote, he had no ambition
to be a professional story-teller. He
probably never told a long story in his
life, or one that called for much action.
But his wit was larger than anecdote,
it was put in play by his creative facul-
ties . rather than: by* BW “memory.
Should his literary efforts be preserved
in a volume, he will be long remem-
bered as a forcible, brilliant, and excep-
tionally witty writer; but, while his com-
panions live, he will be remembered
in a more tender way by the several
circles of friends in whose fellowship
his conversation was conspicuous and
sparkling, and no circle will more
keenly mourn his loss than the surviv-
ing associates of his intimate friend-
ship who, for nearly a half century,
were bound to him by the strong ties
of Yale love and Class affection.
Henry C. RosBINson.
Below are printed in whole or part
the tributes to which Mr. Robinson
refers in the sketch which he prepared
for the WEEKLY.
From Fellow Editors.
[From the New York 'Tribune.]
The death of Isaac H. Bromley after a
long and painful illness, from which
even in its earlier stages he had no
confident expectation of recovery, but
which he bore with cheerful compo-
sure, will deeply afflict a large circle of
faithful friends and bring to a multi-
tude of admirers who never saw him a
sense of personal grief. We do not
need to say, and yet there is a mournful
satisfaction in saying, that to his com-
rades on the staff of this paper the loss
seems irreparable. He came to the
Tribune more than a quarter of a cen-
tury ago, and as an editorial writer at
once confirmed beyond dispute the
reputation for humor of a _ unique
quality which he kept unimpaired until
his death. After a service of nearly
fifteen years he was attracted to a differ-
ent field and kind of activity, but after
a four years’ absence he returned to us
in 1891, and no one who has been’
familiar with his work during this later
period can doubt that in variety and
force and felicity it has equalled, if it
has not surpassed, the productions
which established his repute. He came
back to find that most of his former
companions were gone, but it is signifi-
cant of the sweetness of his nature and
the hospitality of his mind that he was
eager to develop intimacies out of the
mere acquaintanceships of bygone
years, to be the comrade of all his col]-
leagues, to encourage aptness for every
department of newspaper work, includ-
ing that which was peculiarly his own,
and to reward the efforts of the novice
with a veteran’s praise,
We have described Mr. Bromley as
a humorist, but the designation is vague
and somewhat misleading. He had
extraordinary resources for the produc-
tion of amusement, but he was rarely
Satisfied merely to make his readers
laugh. His purpose was to make them
think. The treatment was very often
fantastic, but the substance was clear
common-sense. He had a remarkable
faculty for detecting the essential in-
anity which may be hidden in a plausible
proposition and the selfishness which
often masquerades as generosity, as
well as the useful purpose which does not
know how to declare itself. But while
he has dissected a thousand pretences
he was not unmerciful to the pretenders.
Those who had good reasons to know
that they were his victims seldom or
never cherished the least resentment
against him on that account. There
was no bitterness in his own heart,
and therefore there was no venom in
the wounds which he inflicted.
Mr. Bromley was not only unique in
the quality of his humor, as is proved
by the fact that, though the great bulk
of his work was anonymous, it never-
theless made his name familiar in every
part of the country, but he was excep-
tional in the manner of its production.
Fun is often, perhaps usually, laborious.
Mr. Bromley, when he had found a
topic that attracted him, wrote with
great facility and with hearty enjoy-
ment of the process. His copy was
nat plain to strangers, but it was singu-
larly free from evidences of effort, and
often as many as a thousand words
followed each other without an erasure
or need of any subsequent correction.
This was one of many proofs, familiar
to all who knew him, of the clearness
of his mind, as well as of the positive-
ness of his opinions. And this leads us
to say that in his later life, with more
extended observation of affairs and a
wider reading of history, Mr. Bromley’s
understanding had been strengthened
and his judgment refined, so that he
was frequently drawn to the strictly
serious discussion of questions which in
earlier years would have been less likely
to engage his interest and attention.
This mental and spiritual growth was
obvious to all who knew him, and its
manifestations are now among. their
grateful and consoling recollections.
He has entered into the peace for which
those who loved him are sure that he
has longed, and his memory is dear and
delightful.
[From the New Haven Register.]
We have known few men like this
one. We never knew one better. The
world found out the power there was
in his pen, which flashed wit and satire
to-day and dipped itself to-morrow in
the liquid of profound thought. The
world did not know the tenderness and
sweetness of his real temperament,
which like a shy girl he concealed from
it. He was. frequently satirical. and
sharp when his heart was bursting with
its plenty of loving kindness. He was
uniformly courteous, though a man of
moods. There was no bitterness in his
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As the American Colleges play
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7 TAILORS ~~
NEW HAVEN, - CONN.
“Yale men the world over appreciate high-
grade articles,” is a statement which explains
the following itinerary of the semi-annual
trip of our representative, Mr. Walker :—
Milwaukee, Pfister Hotel, Sept. 14-17.
Chicago, Great Northern, “ 19-22.
Springfield, O., Arcade, < 23,
Columbus, Neil House, “© 24-27.
Pittsburgh, Anderson, i. See a.
Harrisburg, Commonwealth, “ 30.
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