Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 10.

[p. 4] it for sundry scraps and clippings. Later, some of these earlier scraps were covered with others of later date. In addition, there is the usual miscellaneous assortment of scraps having no connection with each other. Whatever he wrote that had appeared in the papers he has preserved, also, any mention of him was duly clipped and inserted.

There are some family scraps, tax bills, etc. Here is a bill rendered his great great grandfather, Cochran Reeve, in 1738, for expenses on account of a slave. The items are specified as freight, nursing, and a coffin. The jailors's bill had not been received, so that could not be included. But for our present purpose we find many clippings which will be referred to from time to time.

It is a strange sensation to study, not to glance hastily, but to study a scrap-book, especially such a personal one as this. In our own experience we find ourselves at times perplexed as to why we preserved some clipping. It was probably Brooks' experience as well. And yet, after reading what he said about the ‘educational antiquary,’ one is struck with these lines, pasted just below his printed signature on a circular regarding the Clergyman's Aid Society. It seems as if he may have again been looking into the future.

But later he wrote these lines, when he was in a reminiscent mood, and dated them 1865.

And though some hopes I cherished once
Died most untimely in their birth,
Yet I have been beloved and blest
Beyond the measure of my worth.