Calvert of Strathore

ce-her days and years of grace were over!) 1789. The handsome mansion at the corner of the Grande Route des Champs Elysées and the rue Neuve de Berry, which had lately belonged to Monsieur le Comt

provided himself on setting up his establishment as minister of the infant federation of States to the court of the sixteenth Louis. At the porter's lodge that functionary frequently left his little room, with its brazier of glowing coals, and walked up and down beneath the porte-cochère

'Twas to his daughter in her convent of Panthemont, and full of that good advice which no one ever knew how to give better than he. The letter being folded and despatched by a servant, Mr. Jefferson was at liberty to indulge his restless mood. This he did, walking up and down with his hands clasped behind his back, as was his fashion; but, in spite of the im

porter's lodge. In an instant he was out of the room, down the great stairway, and at the entrance of the rez-de-chaussée, just as the postilion, dismounting, opened the door of the carriage from which emerged a large, handsome man of about thirty-five or six, who

ally by the hand again and again and drawing him toward the open door. And then passing quickly out upon the step to where the young

otion, "I cannot tell you how welcome you are, nor h

sir," replied the young man, much moved by M

uests, Mr. Jefferson led them into the house, follow

appy mood seemed suddenly to cloud over, and he spoke absently and almost as if reassuring himself. "But come," he added, brightening up, "I will not talk of such things before we are fairly in the house! Welcome again, Mr. Morris! Welco

forgot what the sight of one was like, and I was beginning to wish that this"-he looked down and tapped

ldest winter France has known for eighty years-the hardest, cruellest winter the poor of this g

r. Morris, shivering slightly. But Mr. Jefferson paid no attention to the sufferin

em the warmer, sir," said Calvert, from where he s

inceton have made another fellow of my old Calvert of Strathore." He went over to the young man and drew him into the midd

uch taller, but 'tis the same slender, athletic figure, an

cover his embarrassment, at the close scrutiny he was undergoing. "But I fear not. I fear my college life has l

through college, and most creditably. Dr. Witherspoon himself ha

was born a student. He couldn't have helped being a scholar if he had tried. But for you, Mr. Calvert, who dislike study

he college. Dr. Witherspoon, in writing me of his progress, was pleased to say many complimentary things of several excursions into verse which he has made. He

n of your years find a more inspiring theme than a college building to write upon? Instead of an alma mater

uld have made no such mistake at Ned's age," and he sighed a little as he thought of the gay pleasures of hi

capable of composing verses to fair ones yet, Mr. Jefferson." And indeed he

ense, scarcely understanding it, indeed, for as yet he carrie

have sent my things on to the Hotel de Richelieu-

nk. And that is the sister of your old friend d'Azay. And what does Patrick Henry and Pendleton these days? I hear that Hamilton holds strange views about the finances and has spoken of them freely in Congress. What are they? My letters give me no details as yet." And more and more questions during the abundant breakfast which had been spread for them in the morning-room adjoining Mr. Jefferson's library. Now it was a broadside of inquiries aimed at Mr. Gouverneur Morris concerning the newly adopted Constitution which he had helped fashion for

de Beaufort, Lafayette's young kinsman and officer in the American war, who came in directly, bowing to Mr. Morris, whom he had known well in America, and embracing Calvert with a friendly fervor that almost

zay-le-Roi, his chateau near Tours, to fetch them. But come! I am all impatience to show you a little of my Paris. We won't wait for d'Azay's return to begin, and I am sure Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Morris w

ome service of silver plate, the view of the large gardens from the windows, the reception-hall, the doorways, the great staircase ornamented with sculptured salamanders, for Monsieur de l'Avongeac's ancestors had built the house during the reign of Fran?ois I. and had adorned it everywhere with the Ki

efferson dismissed the two young men with a final injunction to return soon, as he had much to talk over wit

I was scarcely pleased. 'Tis a long trip to make in the company of one who may not be wholly congenial. But from the moment Mr. Calvert presented himself to me in Philadelphia, on the eve of our sailing, until now, I can truly say I have enjoyed every instant o

o is now in Italy travelling for his health, like myself, is overworked; there are a thousand affairs to be attended to each day, and so little method in our arrangements as yet; our instructions and remittances from Congress are so irregular, our duties so c

you probably know, we have made large shipments of tobacco, contracted for by several farmers-general, but such has been the delay in delivery and payment after reaching this country that we deemed it

e eve of some great change-some great upheaval. I see it in the faces of those I meet in the salons of the rich and noble;

me some detailed account of the state of this government and country. I should like to know just where I stand. At the distance of three thousand miles, and with slow and irregular packets as the only means of communication, we in America

he very doers of them, that Mr. Jefferson most deeply impressed his listener. For there was no attribute of Mr. Jefferson's mind so keen, so unerring, so forceful as that peculiar power of divining the drift of the masses. It was this power which later made him so greatly feared and greatly respected in his own land. Forewarned and forearmed, he had but to range himself at the head of multitudes, whose will he knew almost before they were aware of i

ne had so clearly divined was to come and of which the other so clearly comprehended the consequences. It was inevitable that the man who had the sublime audacity to proclaim unfettered liberty and equality to a new world should differ radically from the man whose supreme achievement had been the fashioning and welding of its laws.