EP 7.7

Life seems to be going very well for Brace and friends until shortly after they arrive in New York City, back to back tragedies strike. The first being of another Yale classmate and “Hartford Boy”, whom had grown up with Brace and the Olmsted sons. “In October we find him plunged in grief at the death of William Colt.” taken aback by the sudden nature of the event, he writes “This death of Williams affects me very curiously. I find is so difficult to realize it, and I am constantly calling up remembrances of him which are so peculiarly earthy. Not unpleasant memories, still most unconnected with another life, and yet not, in my mind, unsuited to the most real view of their world or of the next. It was all so sudden… I have not, and cannot free myself entirely from the sadness if has cast over everything. He has gained infinitely, but does that affect my loss… I never had anything so loosen the foundations under my feet.” This quote is from another very long and heart felt letter from Brace to Frederick James Kingsbury, a very successful man Brace would engage with offten. The death of his close friend obviously effected him deeply and would be the biggest tragedy in his life until just a short time later his dearly beloved sister Emma would fall ill.