Page:A Biographical Sketch (of B. S. Barton) - William P. C. Barton.djvu/9

Rh before that event. His father left Pennsylvania early in the autumn of 1778, intending to proceed to Europe; but he was arrested by sickness before he could, with convenience embark, and never returned. Thus at the age of fourteen was his son Benjamin left an orphan.

Mr. Barton had, however, before his departure from Lancaster, taken care to provide for his minor children, a suitable and convenient place of abode in the neighbourhood of that town: where they were placed in the midst of many of his best and most faithful friends, and under the immediate superintendancesuperintendence [sic] of a person of great worth and long experienced friendship for the family. Comfortably situated in this pleasant rural retirement, this little household continued between one and two years: and there, abstracted from the noise and bustle of a town, our youthful student—ever assiduous from a very early period of his life, in the acquisition of knowledge,—devoted much of his time to reading. He never appeared to be fond of those active bodily pursuits and athletick exercises, in which boys employ much of their time; though he occasionally engaged in them. The scene around him was well adapted to the contemplation of nature, and he was of a contemplative turn of mind. His inclination seemed, at that period of his life, to direct to the study of civil history; of which he very early acquired a considerable knowledge: but it is not improbable, that having, during the life of his father, and while under his roof, acquired some taste for natural history and the culture of plants— subjects to which that gentleman devoted much of his attention —