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HE common maxim, that "blood will tell," is as well enforced in the case of Thomas Jefferson as of George Washington, or any other conspicuous character. Though it must never be forgotten that some other things "will tell," also. Work will tell; virtue will tell; persistent effort will tell; manhood, worth, courage will tell; all good qualities have a telling force. Not all good blood tells for great character. In families of the best blood, only a few become conspicuous. Though good blood is a good thing, there are better things-strong mind; noble will; virtuous heart; resolute high-mindedness.

The ancestors of Thomas Jefferson, on his father's side, were of good Welsh stock, occupying good places in society in the. mother country, and exhibiting strong force of character and rightness of purpose. They did not deteriorate in their change of home. The forest did not hurt them; the new experiences rather developed their power.

Virginia was begun as a settlement as early as 1607, thirteen years before the Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock. The ancestors of Jefferson were some of the early comers. They took up large landed estates, and became thrifty and influential. Peter Jefferson, the father of Thomas, was born February

29, 1708. His early education was neglected, but he made it up as well as he could, by much reading and intelligent observation. He learned surveying, and did much good service in that line in the early days of Virginia. He was the intimate friend of William Randolph, of Tuckahoe, and the preferred suitor for the hand of the oldest daughter of Isham Randolph. Three years before he was married he "patented," as it was called, a thousand acres of land on the James river, which included the tract and hill since called Monticello, and went about preparing for a home. He was married to Jane Randolph in 1738. The Randolphs were English people of opulence and high standing. They were educated and influential; had large landed estates; kept up old English customs prevalent among the gentry, and did what they could to renew old England in America. It was their expectation to see great estates and rich scenes of opulence and taste all over the rich Virginia lands.

Peter Jefferson was a strong, large, independent, honest and warm-hearted man. He had cultivated a strong taste for literature, and read many of the old poets with hearty appreciation.

Thomas Jefferson, the subject of this sketch, was born April 2, 1743, and was the third child, Jane and Mary being older. Six other children constituted the family group.

HIS EDUCATION.

At five years old he was sent to an English school, in which he learned the rudiments of an education. An evidence of an early activity of his mind is given, of his remembering when two years old of being handed up on a pillow to a slave and being carried on horseback when the family moved to Tuckahoe for a time. A year or two later he remembered, when his dinner was delayed, of going out and repeating the Lord's prayer, in the hope of sooner getting his dinner. Few memories go back even to the third year.

At nine years old, on the return of the family to Shadwell, their home, he was placed in the school of Mr. Douglas, a Scotch

clergyman, who taught him in Latin, Greek and French. While here his father died, leaving him at fourteen years of age to the sole care of his mother. This is another instance of a widow's son rising to greatness and worth, by the inspiration and help of a mother's wisdom and love. It is recorded of her that she was a beautiful and accomplished woman; cheerful, with a fund of humor and fond of writing letters. Well educated as she was for her time, with these things related of her, it is evident that the literary talent was in her, though developed only in her friendly letters. As both father and mother gave evidence of literary taste, and both belonged to strong families, and the mother especially to one of the most intellectual and vigorous families in the colony, it is clear that on grounds of heredity it would be reasonable to expect good literary abilities in their children. Thomas showed a combination of the physical and intellectual qualities of both parents. His father was large and muscular; his mother slender and fine-fibered. He was tall, slender, agile and closely made. He had his father's strength and his mother's fiber and endurance. From the accounts given. of the two, Thomas was a genuine combination of the leading qualities of both.

Added to this favorable heredity bias toward literary pursuits, there was the early training in language, having begun Latin, Greek and French as early as nine years of age. To his susceptible and imaginative nature, this early training in language must have given a strong bent toward a close observation. of the elegance and finish and force of complete forms of speech, and an appreciation of the thought couched in what he read. Books early became his boon companions. Their thoughts becamo his thoughts. The humor, piquancy, liveliness of his mother, must have acted on the strong talent received from both parents, as yeast in bread, to give it ferment, stir and uplift. He drew nourishment from her brain as well as breast. Brainy forces went into his original make-up, and brainy influences were about him from the beginning.

Still more: when his father died, he left the request that Thomas should be sent to college, so that from that time the

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