58 SOME AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANISTS 



His personal character in all records is shown 

 to be that of a genial philanthropist with a capa- 

 bility for righteous wrath on occasion. He seems 

 to have anticipated Tolstoy in the " simple life," 

 with his slaves emancipated before the war sit- 

 ting at the lower end of the dining table, and the 

 fare plentiful but plain. He loved his Bible and 

 read it to his boys and girls. Over the windows 

 of his study was carved: 



" 'Tis God alone, Almighty Lord, 

 The holy One by me adored. 



" John Bartram, 1770.'' 



Glimpses are caught of his home life in un- 

 expected places. Dusty volumes piled around 

 and wearily read often light up after some little 

 search with glowing accounts of the man I seek. 

 Here is one — Letters from An American Farmer 

 written for the Information of a Friend in Eng- 

 land (1782). Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, 

 the author, was Consul-General to the United 

 States and, being interested in agriculture and 

 natural science, went to call on Bartram, and 

 keenly enjoyed the host and his homestead. 



" We entered into a large hall where there was 

 a long table full of victuals : at the lowest part sat 

 his negroes ; his hired men were next, and at the 

 head the venerable father and his wife presided. 

 .... Soon after dinner, I heard, as I thought, 

 a distant concert of instruments Anxious, 



