232

once said: ‘Never did I witness a par-

ticle of injustice in my father. Never
have I heard him say a word or do an act
which I regret. We venerated him as
something wiser and better than any other
man.” To Maria, he wrote, when she was
about twelve years of age: “Tell me
whether you see the sun rise every day?
How many chapters a day you read in Don
Quixote? Whether you repeat a gram-
mar lesson every day?
Whether you know how

How many hours
a day you sew?
to make a pudding or cut out a beef steak?
To sow spinach, or toset a hen? Be good,
my dear, as I have always found you.
Never be angry with anybody, never speak
hard of them, try to let everybody’s faults
be forgotten, as you wish yours to be;
take more pleasure in giving what is best
to another than in having it yourself, and
then all the world will love you and I more
than all the world. If your sister is with
you, kiss her, and tell her how much I love
her also.”

In 1800, he was elected President of
the United States. At this time Congress
moved from Philadelphia to Washington.
The news of his election was received
with demonstrations of joy. Jefferson was
exceedingly simple in his dress, having a
dislike to anything that catered to Euro-
It is said that Washington

rode to Congress drawn by six cream-col-

pean styles.

ored horses. For some unexplained reason,

raising his hat.

 

PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

—s

Jefferson, on the morning of his inaugura-
tion, rode on horse-back to the Capitol in

a dress of plain black cloth, without guard

or without slave. Dismounting, without
assistance, he fastened the bridle of his
horse to the fence. Right here, we want
to relate a little act om the part of Mr.
Jefferson while he was President of the
United States.

Thomas, were out riding. They met a

One day he and his son,

slave, who respectfully took off his hat
and bowed. The President, acccrding to
his custom, returned the salutation by
The younger man paid
no attention to the negro’s act of civility.
Mr. Jefferson, after a few moments pause,
turned a reproachful eye to his son and
said, “Thomas, do you permit a slave to
be more of a gentleman than yourself?”
He held office two terms and was sixty-
two years of age when he retired. He
At

this time his fortune was on the decline

returned to his family and his books.

Friends, from all over the country, appre-
ciated the priceless value of Thomas Jef-
erson’s services to the nation and now
These
testimonies, like sun-shine, dispelled the

sent him tokens of their love.

gloom which had been gathering upon his
This, though, did not
allay old age, his feebleness continued,

declining days.

and on July 4, 1826, the mysterious sepa-
ration of the soul from the body took
place. Strange that Thomas Jefferson and