Bernard Barton

“ Of late years John Barton had had a repellent power about him, felt by all, except to the few who had either known him in his better and happier days, or those to whom he had given his sympathy and his confidence. People did not care to enter the doors of one whose very depth of thoughtfulness rendered him moody and stern. ”

“ Barton is not a gentleman—a defect which the farmers and tradespeople of his parish are not slow to discover, and for which they despise him. He is without any misgivings as to himself or suspicion of his deficiencies in any way, and his conduct is correctly described in a lisping speech of the "secondary squire" of his parish, "What an ath Barton makth of himthelf!" Yet for this stupid man our sympathy is bespoken, merely because he has a wife so much too good for him that we are almost inclined to be angry with her for her devotion to him. ”

“ I'le double the same with shillings three.'
'Now, God forbid,' the merchant said;
'I fear your aim that you will miss;
God bless you from his tyranny,
For little you know what man he is.
'He is brass within and steel without,
His ship most huge and mighty strong,
With eighteen pieces strong and stout,
He carrieth on each side along.
'With beams for his top-castle,
As also being huge and high,
That neither English nor Portugal
Can pass Sir Andrew Barton by.'
'Hard news thou shewst,' then said the lord,
'To welcome strangers to the sea ”

“ We picked Barton up amongst us, his wife going first to prepare the carriage for his reception, and carried him to the door.
"Stop a minute!" said Barton, suddenly, "let me see the poor fellow who is dead."
"It is right that the gentleman should see him," said the smaller brother, "he saved the gentleman's life." ”

“ Relinquishing the ship to the care of others, Barton stood apart, gazing dreamily upon the shining river, with his heart full of sad and bitter thoughts, while involuntarily he clutched the mizen rattlins. His eyes were swimming; but he bit his bearded nether lip till the blood came. Suddenly he raised his eyes to a large mansion, which was looming high above others, through the summer haze in which Dundee was sleeping; and then a smile spread over his broad and thoughtful brow. ”

“ Barton's voice was heard calling: 'Now, Alice, Alice, where are you? We are waiting for you! Make haste, for goodness' sake; we are very late as it is.'
The trail of a sachet-scented petticoat could be detected on this length of Brussels carpet, the acrid vulgarity of eau de Cologne hung like a curtain before an open door, a vision of white silk gleamed for a moment as it fled from room to room: men in a strange garb—black velvet and steel buttons—hurried away, tripping over their swords, furtively ashamed of their stockinged calves. ”

“ Besides, the cook, who, when she had had time to think, after breakfast was sent in, had noticed his paleness, had had meat and bread ready to put in his hand when he came out of the parlour; and a full stomach makes every one of us more hopeful. When he reached Berry Street, he had persuaded himself he bore good news, and felt almost elated in his heart. But it fell when he opened the cellar-door, and saw Barton and the wife both bending over the sick man's couch with awestruck, saddened look. ”

“ Barton was lying back in her chair in a sort of stupor, and I was examining the room by the light of one candle—it was now nearly half-past nine—when I heard a sudden outbreak of noise, the bedroom door opened, the key of our door was turned, and the taller of the two brothers looked in.
"The gentleman must come, please," he said, and I hurried out. "He is calling for you," he said, closing the door, "and will not keep still; we can do nothing if he will not keep still." ”

“ At last his adherence to the royalist party compelled him to quit his post, and he removed to New York, where he died, 25 May 1780, aged 50. His wife seems long to have survived him. Benjamin Smith Barton, the American physician and naturalist, was one of his children. ”

“ They pay a heavy price. Days of oppressive weariness and languor, whose realities have the feeble sickliness of dreams; nights, whose dreams are fierce realities of agony; sinking health, tottering frames, incipient madness, and worse, the consciousness of incipient madness; this is the price of their whistle. But have you taught them the science of consequences?
John Barton's overpowering thought, which was to work out his fate on earth, was rich and poor; why are they so separate, so distinct, when God has made them all? It is not His will, that their interests are so far apart. ”

“ He is a lover of science. He obtained his education in the Talladega College. Mr. Barton says that he owes much to his wife, whom the writer would honor as one of our noble women. Mr. Barton is still full of life and growth.
Our general work has always found in Brother Barton a ready and generous helper. He deserves credit for his industry and enterprise—in material as well as in church affairs. He relates the following: “In the winter of 1876-77 I chanced for the first time to meet the late Harry Woodsmall in one of his Ministers’ Institutes. ”

“ In 1786 he became a member of the American philosophical society, and he was also connected with other scientific bodies. Mr. Bartram was the author of “Anecdotes of a Crow,” “Description of Certhia,” and “Memoirs of John Bartram.” In 1789 he wrote “Observations on the Creek and Cherokee Indians,” which was published in 1851 (“Transactions American Ethnological Society,” vol. iii.) . He drew the illustrations in Barton's “Elements of Botany,” and many of the most curious and beautiful plants of North America were illustrated and first made known by him. ”

“ It had unquestionably been trained to guard John Barton's back; for whenever the man stopped in the street, the dog would instantly fall behind him, face the other way and keep vigilant watch. Once a man, imbued with friendliness, started to lay a hand on John Barton's shoulder—and there came through the air like a bolt of gray wrath, with huge fangs exposed and great head outthrust, that dog. Nothing save the quick thrust of Barton's arm saved the ripping of a man's throat, and provoked the only explanation he, John Barton, was ever known to give of his former life. ”

“ Carson had been accustomed to poverty; but it was honest, decent poverty; not the grinding squalid misery he had remarked in every part of John Barton's house, and which contrasted strangely with the pompous sumptuousness of the room in which he now sat. Unaccustomed wonder filled his mind at the reflection of the different lots of the brethren of mankind.
Then he roused himself from his reverie, and turned to the object of his search—the Gospel, where he half expected to find the tender pleading: "They know not what they do." ”

“ Philip Barton received a liberal education in England, and entered the British army after the Declaration of Independence. In 1778 he held a commission in the Maryland loyalists' regiment, of which he became captain in 1782, and went with his troops to Jamaica. He served in Florida, where he was taken prisoner, and upon his release on parole went to England. After peace was declared he retired on half pay, and in 1785 returned to Maryland, settling in Annapolis in 1790, where he soon attained note as a lawyer. ”

“ I stammered.
"He always does that now," she whispered, "and it frightens me, Mr. Campbell—it frightens me. What does it mean?"
What on earth was I to say? Here was Barton apparently taking the place of his departed ghastly visitor; but how was I to explain this to his wife, who had never heard, and now most certainly must never hear, of her husband's hideous delusion. I was relieved from my difficulty by Barton himself, who now entered the room with the same boisterously cheerful manner that I had noticed before. ”

“ She was at home, and frying ham, before Alice had chosen her nettles, put out her candle, locked her door, and walked in a very foot-sore manner as far as John Barton's. What an aspect of comfort did his house-place present, after her humble cellar! She did not think of comparing; but for all that she felt the delicious glow of the fire, the bright light that revelled in every corner of the room, the savoury smells, the comfortable sounds of a boiling kettle, and the hissing, frizzling ham. ”

“ John Barton began to speak; they turned to him with great attention. "It makes me more than sad, it makes my heart burn within me, to see that folk can make a jest of earnest men; of chaps who comed to ask for a bit o' fire for th' old granny, as shivers in th' cold; for a bit o' bedding, and some warm clothing to the poor wife as lies in labour on th' damp flags; and for victuals for the childer, whose little voices are getting too faint and weak to cry aloud wi' hunger. For, brothers, is not them the things we ask for when we ask for more wage? We donnot want dainties, we want bellyfuls ”

“ John Barton gasped, but not with fear. It was only that he felt it terrible to have inspired such hatred, as was concentrated into every word, every gesture of Mr. Carson's.
"As for being hanged, sir, I know it's all right and proper. I dare say it's bad enough; but I tell you what, sir," speaking with an out-burst, "if you'd hanged me the day after I'd done the deed, I would have gone down on my knees and blessed you. Death! Lord, what is it to Life? To such a life as I've been leading this fortnight past. Life at best is no great thing ”

“ Barton, introduced him speedily into notice, and soon after he began to get into some practice as a physician. By his reputation, too, for attainments in natural science, he acquired literary and academick honours, at a period of life when, in ordinary cases, the conferring of such would be deemed premature; for soon after his return to America, [12] he was chosen a member of the American Philosophical Society in this city, of which he became on the 1st of Jan. 1802, one of the vice-presidents, an office he continued to hold till the day of his death. ”

“ Barton vibrated between the fire and the tea-table, his only drawback being a fancy that every now and then his wife's face flushed and contracted as if in pain.
At length the business actually began. Knives and forks, cups and saucers made a noise, but human voices were still, for human beings were hungry and had no time to speak. Alice first broke silence; holding her tea-cup with the manner of one proposing a toast, she said, "Here's to absent friends. Friends may meet, but mountains never." ”

“ She stood listening and "comforted," till the little buzz of conversation again began, and then entered and told her errand.
Both grandfather and grand-daughter rose instantly to fulfil her request.
"He's just tired out, Mary," said old Job. "He'll be a different man to-morrow."
There is no describing the looks and tones that have power over an aching, heavy laden heart; but in an hour or so John Barton was talking away as freely as ever, though all his talk ran, as was natural, on the disappointment of his fond hope, of the forlorn hope of many. ”

“ Barton changed countenance, and sighed profoundly.
"Come, come; I protest this will never do," continued the General; "you are more like a man on his way to the gallows than to the altar. These devils have made quite a saint of you."
Barton made an effort to change the conversation. ”

“ OLD ALICE'S HISTORY
"To envy nought beneath the ample sky; To mourn no evil deed, no hour misspent; And like a living violet, silently Return in sweets to Heaven what goodness lent, Then bend beneath the chastening shower content." --ELLIOTT. Another year passed on. The waves of time seemed long since to have swept away all trace of poor Mary Barton. ”

“ The eyes of John Barton grew dim with tears. Rich and poor, masters and men, were then brothers in the deep suffering of the heart; for was not this the very anguish he had felt for little Tom, in years so long gone by that they seemed like another life!
The mourner before him was no longer the employer; a being of another race, eternally placed in antagonistic attitude; going through the world glittering like gold, with a stony heart within, which knew no sorrow but through the accidents of Trade; no longer the enemy, the oppressor, but a very poor and desolate old man. ”

“ I knelt down by him, and he seemed to recognise me, but in a moment his eyes closed, and though he breathed for more than an hour he never recovered consciousness.
"WE RUSHED AT HIMTOGETHER. HE KNOCKED THE FOOTMAN HEAD OVER HEELS."
You read my evidence at the inquest: of course my description of Barton's delusion was necessary to establish the poor fellow's undoubted madness, but I did not think it incumbent on me to enter into great detail. Now, I want your opinion as a medical man. This affair has shaken my nerves in the most terrible way. ”

“ The son of Sir Andrew Barton may compete with any man! True, he began life as a poor ship-boy and skipper's varlet; but he died a knight and Laird of Barnton. Woe to both Home and Hailes, if they come within arm's-length of me; some day I may overhaul them, and show them the foretop with a vengeance! ”

“ Perhaps some one else, far more handsome, and far more grand, would show him one day that she was good enough to be Mrs. Henry Carson. So temper, or what Mary called "spirit," led her to encourage Mr. Carson more than ever she had done before.
Some weeks after this there was a meeting of the Trades' Union to which John Barton belonged. The morning of the day on which it was to take place he had lain late in bed, for what was the use of getting up? He had hesitated between the purchase of meal or opium, and had chosen the latter, for its use had become a necessity with him. ”