They
would form a pleasing and interesting treatise on female education.
Although Colonel Burr's pecuniary means were limited, yet he was not
destitute. He had an annual income of a few hundred dollars, in
addition to his half-pay as a colonel in the revolutionary army. For
two or three years before his death he suffered under the effects of a
paralysis. Much of the time he was in a measure helpless, so far as
locomotion was concerned. His general health, however, was tolerably
good, by using great precaution in his diet. He had long abstained
from the use of either tea or coffee as affecting his nervous system.
His mind retained much of its vigour, and his memory, as to events of
long standing, seemed to be unimpaired. Few octogenarians had as
little of what is termed the garrulity of age as Colonel Burr. He
never was a great talker, and in the decline of life retained much of
that dignified sedateness which had characterized his meridian. When
visited by strangers he received them with courtesy, unless his pride
became awakened by a suspicion that the visit was one of idle or
impertinent curiosity. On such occasions his manner was formal, cold,
repulsive. Under sufferings of body or mind he seldom complained; but,
during the last year of his life, he became more restive and
impatient. The friends of his youth had gone before him. All the ties
of consanguinity which could operate in uniting him to the world were
severed asunder.
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