BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF JOHN KIRKPATRICK. 177 



who had the drafting in chcarge was unpopular, and so was 

 the draft itself. Our member of Congress, Judge Spalding, 

 made the selection on his own responsibility, under the 

 belief that the provisions of the law would be executed 

 with fairness to the people and fidelity to the Government. 

 No man could frighten him from his sense of duty, and no 

 personal abuse could move him from his ideas of justice. 



Soon after the close of the war he was appointed Super- 

 intendent of the City Infirmary. Here were the worst of 

 paupers and vagrants, placed in his charge, requiring firm- 

 ness and oftentimes severity. There were also idiots and 

 lunatics temporarily in the same institution, requiring the 

 opposite treatment. In this work he engaged as in all 

 others, with an absorbing zeal. His physical constitution 

 was above the average of mankind, and his mental vigor 

 was capable of as much strain as his personal. With a tall 

 figure, he was neither spare nor full, but compact, active 

 and powerful. His will for hard work was also fully equal 

 to his powers. 



It has often been ob?erved that persons of such bodily 

 vigor are not those of the longest lite. They are apt to 

 consider themselves too rugged to require care in regard 

 to labor and exposure. He was inexorable upon himself. 

 When a manual day's work for other men was accom- 

 plished, he would commence a mental day's work equal to 

 that of any professor. 



Not much more than a year since laringitis began to 

 affect his speech and his ability to swallow food. This 

 neither alarmed him nor procured a change in his habits 

 of activity and labor. It was only two months since the 

 contraction of the larynx began to tell upon his general 

 health. A general debility followed rapidly. He sank 

 from mere exhaustion. 



On the morning before his death his wife became much 

 alarmed, but he does not appear to have had any serious 

 apprehensions. Last Saturday morning Dr. J. F. Arm- 

 w 



