Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-09-12
THEY LOVED BABIES.
PRESIDENTS WHO TOOK SPECIAL De-
LIGHT IN CHILDREN.

Jefferson Was Extravagantly Fond of Girl
Babies-His Letters to His Daughter and
Grandchildren-Lincol Was q Big Play
fellow With His Boys.
Other presidents before Mr.. Cleveland
of course have rejoiced in babies. With
the exception of Washington, who, as the
paternal parent of the whole country, may
be said to have had the finest baby of them
all, our great presidents have all been hap
Ply fathers. And when we speak of our
great presidents we refer to those who
overtopped the rest either by reason of
their own personal greatness or by virtue
of the exceptionally great events in our
history with which they were associated.
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Grant
those four certainly are on the list.
What other names ought to stand in the
same rank with theirs we will not stop
here to discuss. OF these famous four only
the first was childless.
But Thomas Jefferson was a babies
president. He was a confirmed baby wor-
shipper, and when he got through enjoying
the delights of baby play us a father, he
began all over again and enjoyed them
still more as grandfathtr, The domestic
side of Jefferson's life is one of the idyls of
our history. Tender rs u woman was the
great, strong, brainy man. the largest fig
ure by all odds in the heroic period of in
dependence winning and constitution max
ing. Devoted to his wife and never quite
reconciled to her early death, he had moro
than a fathers love for his children He
was u dotard on babies, and for the girl
baby, child or grandchild, he had fond
ness that was extravaganza. Seven children
were born to Thomas Jefferson, all girls
but one They all died in childhood, saw
ing one the Oldest, Martha, afterward
Mrs. Randolph. When their mother died,
in 1889, leaving him with three girls
aged respectively 10 years, years and (the
youngest) monthS-Thomas jefferson,
the man of whom we rarely think except
as splendid figure in public affairs, q
giant intellectually and physically even In
an age of giants, became, in Mrs Ran
dolph's words, "their chief nurse" He
attended in person TO their incubation for
the smallpox, and was loath to leave them
to other hands when congress for the third
time called on him to go to Europe as u
plenipotentiary.
Wherever his busy life as a diplomat,
statesman, party leader, vice president or
president carried him, he always found
time to scrbble notes to his small chill
dren and grandchildren-notest that We're
full of child talk such as only heart full
of genuine child love could instruct the
pen of man to write. And as they grew
his letters kept advancing in seriousness
at an even pace with their intelligence.
1t Is pity that Jcffersons letters to his
children and grandchildren have not been
published by themselves so arranged as to
show their proper sequence Many of them
are long and full of homely philosophy
which might well furnish instructive and
entertaining reading to the children of
this and of all coming time. As models,
to show fond fathers how to write and talk
to their young children, especially their
girls, the charming epistles of the sage of
Monticello to his daughter Martha-'my
dear Patsey"--are without any rivals In
American literature. Queen Victoria has
one of these remarkable letters of Jeffer-
son to his little daughter Martha when II
years of age in her possession. 1t was Civ
en- to her by the Jefferson family at her
own request when she was only Princess
Victoria and herself quite mere girl.
One of Jctferson's granddaughters wrote
this about him: "Our grandfather seemed
to read our hearts, to soc our individual
wishes, to be our good genius to wave a
fairy wand to brighten our young lives by
his goodness and his gifts" He romped
with them like a child when he was gray,
flddled for their dancing, invented games
and pastimes for them and Joined in al!
their sport.
Abraham Lincoln was as fond of his
boys as Thomas jefferson was of his girls.
Unlike Washington, the stately George,
who had far more real majesty in his make
up than the royal George whose dominion
he broke on this continent, we can easily
think of Father Abraham" rocking the
cradle and trying to quiet or amuse tho
children. That pathetically sad face, all
of whose portraits haunt you, after you
have looked ut them, with their mournful.
" anxious expression, found its chief mo.
tive to relaxation in the play he had with
his little boys. He never governed them,
but was just sort Of big playfellow for
them. People who were disposed to criti'
else thought he let them do too much as
they pleased, but, being child lover, he
could not help it.
The decorum of cabinet meeting in
the days when every cabinet meeting was
a council of war, big with the fate of the
Union armies and the Union itself, was
often suspended for few moments while
little Tad ran in, climbed on to Father
Abraham's knee and got license to do
something or other that was frisky and ir-
regular. So, too, the softest spot in Gen
eral Grants heart was the same-his love
for his children. Chary of speech to the
world at large and reticent even with
those individuals who had his confidence,
the great commander was merry tattler
to his little ones. Those of them who sur
yive him tell many charming stories Of
their childhood in which the most famous
soldier of the age figures, like Lincoln and
Jefferson, as one Of the child lovers fra
ternity Baltimore Sun.