Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1873-12-26
jefferson g sss .,rt..

JenefS0ifS nIlaI release from pub Ii
life, after a nearly continuous seryic,
OF forty four years, was now at hand
| During the last years of his Presideac,
lie had lost, in some degree, the s.run'
OF his private affairs, a fact which al,
one will understand who has ever beer
absorbed for a long time in concerns O
magnitude and difficulty, not personal
Every one who has ever pitt his whole
heart INTO writing a book, or conduct
ing a periodical, understands it. Gro
ceries elude the sweep of vision that
takes in all the affairs and interest OF
a great country on q great subject i
and no man can easily subside from
the triumph of an important measure
or the rapture Of a .good number to
that exact consideration which month
| 1y accounts demand. Little by little
the mind floats away from all that de-
tail; until, at last, a kind Of real ina
bility to grasp it takes the place OF
former vigilant attention, which is only
another way of saying that a Presi,
dent should be, il convenient, mar
ried man. 4 few months before his
retirement, it occurred to him to look
into his own affairs and see how he
was coming out cn the 4th Of March,
1869. To Lis CONSERVATION and hor-
ror, he found that there would be a
serious deficit. His plantation had
only yielded four or five thousand dol
lars year, at the best, but the en-
barge, by preventing the expectation
of tobacco, had cut his private incene
down two-thirds. "Nothing,n he wrote
to his merchant in Richmond, chad
been more fixed than my determina-
ton to keep my expenses here within
the limits OF my salary, and | mad
great confidence that / had done so.
Having, however, trasted to rough es-
Inmates by my head, and not being
sufficiently apprised Of the outstand-
ing accounts, | lind, on a review Of my
affairs as they will stand OH the Sd OF
March, that shall be three or four
months salary behind hand. In ordi-
nary cases this degree Of arrearage
wat!id not tye serious, but On the scale
of the establishment here, 1t amounts
10 seven or eight thousand dollars,
which, being to come out OF my private
funds, will be felt by them sensibly.n
He requests his correspondent to ar
range q loan fer him at Richmond
bank, and urges him to lose no time.
{! slsSi.ice have become sensible of this
a3o b "a dadHal 1T haa faaa 9allifte
fore must solicit as much urgency in
the negotiation as the ease will admit.
My intervening nights will be almost
as nothing could be more
to me than to leave debts
here unpaid, if indeed [ should be al
lowed to depart with them unpaid, Of
which [ am by no means certain
Such is the price, or rather u very
small part of the price, which citizens
of the United States have often had
to pay for the privilege of serving
their country. The privilege is worth !
the price; but it is not safe to put the
price SO high that only a very great OF
a very little man can find his account
in paying it. Poverty and abuse-a
Tweed will undertakeaa city on those
terms. So will a Jefferson. But Jeffer-
sons do not Grow on every bush, and
Tweeds can be had on most wharves
Of any extent. The loan was effected,
however, and Mr.. Jefferson was thus
enabled to get home to Monticello with
put danger of being arrested for debt
upon the suit of a federalist with taste |
ior sensation Parton in Atlantic.