rison.-Jefferson's Devotion to his eldest Sister.-He witnesses the Debate on the Stamp Act.-First Meeting with Patrick Henry.-His Opinion of him.-His superior Education.-Always a Student.-Wide Range
Courtship.-Wife's Beauty.-Bright Prospects.-Friendship for Dabney Carr.
ay. He studied fifteen hours a day. During the most closely occupied days of his college life it was his habit to study until two o'clock at night, and rise at dawn; the day he spent in close application-the only recreation being a run at twilight to a certain stone which stood at a point a mile beyond the limits of the town. His habits of study were kept up during his vacations, which were spent at Shadwell; and though he did not cut himself off from the pleasures of social intercour
s while he was a college-boy, give a fair picture of the
was devotedly attached all thro
of my acquaintance, particularly the Miss Burwells, and Miss Potters; and tell them that though that heavy earthly part of me, my body, be absent, the better half of me, my soul, is ever with them, and that my best wishes shall ever attend them. Tell Miss Alice Corbin that I verily believe the rats knew I was to win a pair of garters from her, or they never would have been so cruel as to carry mine away. This very consideration makes me so su
, he writes to Pa
rite nothing but truth? I tell you, I know nothing that is true. Or would you rather that I should write you a pack of lies? Why, unless they are more ingenious than I am able to invent, they would furnish you with little amusement. What can I do, then? Nothing but ask you the news in your world. How have you done since I saw you? How did Nancy look at you when you danced with her at Southall's? Have you any glimmering of hope? How does R. B. do? Had I better stay here and do nothing, or go down and do less? or, in other words, had I better sta
pride and pleasure she must have watched the early development and growth of her young brother's genius and learning. When five years old, he had read all the books contained in his father's little library, and we have already found him sought out by the royal Governor, and chosen as one
ith Miss Rebecca Burwell-one of the beauties of her day. He was indulging fond dreams of success in winning the yo
flights of oratory. In the lobby of the House was seen the tall, thin figure of Jefferson, bending eagerly forward to witness the stirring scene-his face paled from the effects o
he debate, however, at the door of the lobby of the House of Burgesses, and heard the splendid display of Mr. Henry's talents as
asted through life. While not considering Henry a man of education or a well-read lawyer, Jefferson often spoke with enthusiasm to his friends and family of the wonders and beauties of his eloquence, and also of his great influence and signal services in bringing abo
casion of the breaking up in November, to meet again in the spring, as he was departing in the morning, he looked among my books, and observed, "Mr. Jefferson, I wil
verseers and such-like people, and spend weeks together hunting in the "
rote in. I never heard any thing that deserved to be called by the same name with what flowed from him; and where he got that torrent of language from is inconceivable. I have frequently shut my e
lterations that were made. We find, from his letters to Mr. Wirt, that when the latter flagged and hesitated as to the completion and publication of his work, it was Jefferson who urged hi
n from quoting from Wirt the following fine descri
st his Cromwell, and George the Third-" ("Treason!" cried the Speaker. "Treason! treason!" echoed from every part of the House. It was one of those trying moments which are so decisive of character. Henry faltered not an inst
career, he thus writes of himself: "Without any classical education, without patrimony, without what is called the influence of family connection, and without solicitation, I have attained the hi
t William and Mary, and we have in the followi
that he had spent more of the income from his father's estate than was his share, he proposed that the amount of his expenses should be deducted from his portion of the
was also a finished Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian scholar. He carried with him to Congress in the year 1775 a reputation for great literary acquirements. John Adams, in his diary f
on possessed by him, and which in his advanced years won for him the appellation of a "walking encyclop?dia," we can well understand how this must have been the case. His thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and he seized eagerly all means of obtaining it. It was his habit, in his intercourse with all classes of men-the mechanic as well as the man of science-to turn the convers
duced one subject after another into the conversation, and found him perfectly acquainted with each. Filled with wonder, he seized the first opportunity to inquire of the landlord who his guest was, saying that, when he spoke of the law, he thought he was a lawyer; then turning the conversation on medic
arly, and left the home of their youth-Mary as the wife of Thomas Bolling, and Martha as that of the generous and hig
, her death was a great blow to them all, but was felt by none so keenly as by Jefferson himself. The loss of such a sister to such a brother was irreparable; his grief for her was deep and constant; and there are, perhaps, few incidents in the domestic details of history more beautiful than his devotion to her during her life, and the tenderness of the l
d the following touching epi
a, puellar
rentis flo
i terra
ongeque
sisters being all much younger than himself, except one, who was rather deficient in intellect. It is curious to remark the un
practice, at the bar of the General Court of Virginia, in the year 1767, by his "beloved friend and mentor," George Wythe. Of the extent of his practice during the eight years that it lasted, we have ample proof in his accoun
father had stood as a pleader, Mr. Randolph once asked an old man of good sense who in his youth had often heard Jefferson deliver arguments in court, how he ranked as a speaker, "Well," said the old g
e preservation of her ancient records than to him. In this last work he was indefatigable. The manuscripts and materials for the early history of the State had been partially destroyed and scatte
f he could trace in them any likeness to other languages. When he left Washington, after vacating the presidential chair, these valuable papers were packed in a trunk and sent, with the rest of his baggage, around by Richmond, whence they were to be sent up the James and Rivanna Rivers to Monticello. Two negro boatmen who had charge of them, and who, in the simpli
cene-Bond (
iently advanced to enable him to make it his permanent abode. He was from home when the fire took place at Shadwell, and the first inquiry he made of th
idow of Bathurst Skelton, and the daughter of J
a most agreeable companion, full of pleasantry and humor, and welcomed in every society. He acquired a handsome fortune, and died in May, 1773, leaving three daughters. The portion which
d exquisitely formed figure, she was a model of graceful and queenlike carriage. Nature, so lavish with her charms for her, to great personal attractions, added a mind of no ordinary calibre. She was well educated for her day, and a constant reader; she inherited fro
laboring under the impression that the lady's mind was still undecided as to which of her suitors should be the accepted lover, they met accidentally in the hall of her father's house. They were on the eve of entering the
s journey of more than a hundred miles, made in the dead of the winter, and their arrival at Monticello, were, years
nheim, where an overseer only resided, they left it at sunset to pursue their way through a mountain track rather than a road, in which the snow lay from eighteen inches to two feet deep, having eight miles to go before rea
house, and having found a bottle of wine "on a shelf behind some books," the young couple refreshe
very prospect of a prosperous and happy voyage. We find from his account-books that his income was a handsome one for that day, being three thousand do
th their books to the well-wooded sides of Monticello, and there pursue their studies beneath the shade of a favorite oak. So much attached did the two friends become to this tree, that it became the subject of a mutual promise, that the one who survived should see that the body of the other was buried at its foot. When young Carr
areer, has placed his name among the men who stood first for talent and patriotism in the early days of the Revolution. Jefferson hi
judgment, handsome imagination, enriched by education and reading, quick and clear in his conceptions, of correct and ready elocution, impressing every hearer with the sincerity of the heart from which it flowed. His firmness was inflexible in whatever he thought was right; but
icture of the domestic character of Carr, in a
wo servants, is the happiest man in the universe. Every incident in life he so takes as to render it a source of pleasure. With as much benevolence as the heart of
arnest warmth of heart, was passionately devoted to him, and his death fell like a blight on her young life. She found in her brother a loving protector for herself and a fatherly affection and guidance for her
N MY FRIEND D
e, whom every
st; a temper
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lause. No bashf
glected: sy
tear from Sorr
, and taught her
's Exc
nailed on the tree at the foot of
rave with rising
urf lie lightly
morn her earli
roses of the y
th their silver
sacred by thy
of the stone ins
e the r
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d Jane Carr, o
born -
Martha Jefferson
Jeffers
arlottesville,
ix small
od Sense, Learnin
d by Thomas Jefferson,
him