While his first care has been, as preacher and pastor, to minister to the spiritual needs of the churches to which he has been assigned, he has always taken a warm interest in the civic life and the social betterment of the communities where he has resided. In addition to the numerous public addresses which are expected from a popular pastor and an interesting preacher, in support of all good causes in the town or city where he may be living, Doctor Bristol has been in demand as a lecturer on literary, ethical and religious themes in all parts of the country. He has acquired a reputation much more than local, as a platform speaker and a lyceum lecturer. He is the author of "Providential Epochs"; "Shakespeare and America"; "The Ministry of Art"; "The Religious Instinct of Man." He is a member of the Masonic order of the Knights Templar; of the Odd Fellows; of the Phi Kappa Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa college fraternities. He is a member of the Republican party. "The reading to which in addition to Bible study," he says, "I have given special attention, is history, biography, art, Shakespeare and bibliography." Walking, swimming and golfing are his favorite forms of amusement and recreation. In college he excelled in sprinting, wrestling and boxing. In regard to his chosen vocation he says, "When I entered upon the religious life, I chose the ministry as a call from God, and left pharmacy in which I was then engaged." The first strong impulse to strive after the best and most helpful things in life came to him from religious sources. He accounts his home as the first and strongest influence in his fife; church second; and third, college. He says, "I have more than realized my hopes so far as success and honor are concerned. My youthful hopes were not extravagant." To young people of America, he writes for the readers of Men of Mark in America: "Righteousness, temperance, good health, cheerfulness, all the education one can secure, all the hard work one can do, all the good books one can read, and a good wife, should be enough to win success for any man."
He was married May 9, 1878, to Miss Nellie Frisbie. They have had four children, three of whom are living in 1904. His address is 330 C Street, Northwest, Washington, District of Columbia.
