424 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



ease that attends " a real love of work for the work's own 

 sake." And when it became evident that the comparatively 

 unbroken attention requisite for serious botanical study was 

 not to be secured, and as soon as a building was prepared for 

 their reception, he presented all his botanical books which 

 were needed to the herbarium of Harvard University ; and 

 the remainder, with his herbarium, to the Boston Society of 

 Natural History, — not giving up the while his studious hab- 

 its, but transferring his attention back to the Latin and the 

 French classics, and in a certain degree to German and Italian 

 literature. 



As his father was one of the leading promoters of the estab- 

 lishment of the Botanic Garden of Harvard University, Mr. 

 Lowell was also its most efficient supporter through its years 

 of sorest need ; and, in memory of his father, he bequeathed 

 to it the sum of $20,000 in order to make his annual subven- 

 tion perpetual. He made a legacy of equal amount to the 

 general Library of the University, which he along with his 

 father and grandfather had served in a most responsible trust 

 for seventy years. He never sought or accepted any office in 

 city or state ; but few men were more sought for responsible 

 trusts, or ever served their day and generation more devotedly, 

 disinterestedly, and wisely. He seemed always* to have a firm 

 confidence in his own judgment, and that confidence appears 

 not to have been misplaced. 



