Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-09-08
M1NTiCELLO.
Desolation and p-ray at the GIG Home Oh
.geffersOn.

GOrresDOn0euCS of the y. TOT!u'
Montlceio 1o-and should he-as ia
miliar and as honored name in Ameri
can ears az is Mount Vernon or the Her
mitage. But how scant respect has been
shown to either Of the homes Of the writer
of the DecIaration-tha where he lived
that in winch he now lies ! visited it not
long since, Just before the passage of the
appropriation Of $4,000 for the erection
Of a monument over the neglected grave,
and found the tomb levellcd with the
earth, the stone above it dejaced beyond
recognition and the diapidated home
stead in the possession of a tramp.
Monticello to which President Jetfer-
son retired at he conclusion OF his sec
ond term, is on the summit of a hill near
Charlottesville, Aibemarle, county, Va,
"the very seat from which, lifted above
*the worlds turmoil, one who has exhaust
cd what it can bestow OF emiuence might
look down, withdraw from its personal
troubles: BAT contem plating at leisure the
distant animation of the scene" On the
spire OF the Blue Ridge, whose varying
outlines stretched away till they are lost
to the sight, with sylvan scene of unsur'
passed loveliness in the vale below, the
quiet Rvanna meandering through rich
fields on che side, the pleasant village
dotted the other, while the porticoes and
domes OF the university rise In the dis
lance behind, it overlooked, says Mr..
Goodwin, "a combination of natural pic
lures that are rarely found in one spot"
'The sky above" says another writer, sis
not more shifting than the scene you may
have before you. 1t takes a new aspect
at almost every moment, and bewitches
you with perpetual novelty
Monticello two generations ago was
more than mansion-it was a commune
ty The $4,000 acres Of the estate were
carefully tiled by small army of labor
ers. 1t was Jeflerson's boast that his car
Iiage and the tools with which it was
made were alike manufactured upon the
estate. The house was spacious, richly
furnished and commodious, with
al extensive and rich library, in which,
seated in 81 low Spanish chair, the Sage
of Monticello "held forth to his visitors
in an almost endless flow of fine dis
course There is a graphic picture Of
him given by "a writer who saw him at
eighty-one, representing him as 'dressed
no longer in the red breeches which were
once famous as his iavorite and rather
conspicuous attire, but still vindicating
by sanguine walst-coat his attachment
to that republican color; in gray shorts.
small silver knee-bucKles, gray woollen
stockings, black slippers, a blue body
coat, surmounted by gray spencer"
He was tall, and though 1.-the and decid-
edly graceful and agile, long and ILL
limbed. Yet his figure was command
ing and striking, though bad, and his
face most animated and agreeable
though remarkably ugly" His leg had
never been conscious of a calf, but he
walked we'll and swiftly and with q light
ness, and springiness Of tread such as few
young men have. He mounted his horse
without assistance and rode some ten
miles day; dismounting at a fence
breast-high he would leap over it, only
placing his hand on the topmost rail.
OF Jefferson as he appeared sixty three
years before, when he was student as
Williamsburg, Va. John Esten Cooke has
given description as interesting. He
was, says Mr. Cooke, tall and thin and his
face was angular and far from beautiful.
81" His complexion was sunburned, his
hair of q andy red, and his eyes gray,
tlecked with hazel-add indication gen
orally Of intellect II Il 4 He dressed
somewhat after the fashion of beau, in
lowered waiscoat, a silk coat, stockings
confined at the knee by fancifully worked
carriers, and used powder, carried his
fine lace hat beneath his arm, bowed low,
paid gallant compliments to the fair sex,
and danced at every assembly, He was
a hard student, working fifteen hours a
day, and was an excellent performer on
the violin. "Of"Ossian's" poetry, then Just
given to the literary world, he ravcd; he
iDtented studying Gaelic so as to read
this greatest of bards in the original.
He was desperately in love with Rebecca
Burwell, his Belinda" daughter of
Lewis Burwell OF White Marsh, left an
orphan at ten, and no less distinguished
of character. He wrote to friend that
he had thought Of "the cleverest plan of
life that could be imagined. "You ex-
change your lands for Edgehill,' he said,
cor [ nine for, Falrtleds you maryS. P. I
marry r. B., join and get policeman and
8 pair OF keen horses, practice the law in
the same courts and drive about 80 all
the dances in the country together
Arcadian plan, but not to be carried out,
for later letter says: "With regard to
the scheme which l proposed to you
,some time since I am sorry to tell it is
totally frustrated by Miss Il. BIS mari
age with Jaequlin Amblel which the PEG.
pie here tell me they daily expect.
Well, the Lord bless her, I say!'' Mr.
Ambler was treasurer of Virginia; his
brother Edward married Miss Cary,
who tradition asserts, had also jilited a
future president Washington, to-wit.
Belinda had been married many years
when her old admirer, then approaching
80, net Martha SHELTON of The Forest,
Charles City, daughter of Mr.. John
Wayles, an eminent lawyer. AT the age
of II she had married in 1866 Mr.. Bath
urst Shelton, who died two years later.
At 90 ttse widow was ''a little above the
medium height, slender, but elegantly
formed" with fair complexion, delicate
ly tinted5 large hazel eyes, full Of life
and feeling; luxuriant hair of rich, soft
auburn; she rode and danced with ele-
gait ease, ssng and played very sweetly,
hal excellent sense. admirable cultiva-
ion, warm heart and large fortune
With Mrs. Ske.tcn Jefferson fell in love
He had two rivals, and one historian
records that they Abandoned the feldto
him when one night (when probably each