The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-04-14
for he was dreamer OF great dreams,
and nearly every dream came true.
HIS ACCOMPLISHING

that America ever produced. THE Adj
mirable Crichton'' of the new world, and
defeating to mankind his gifts from
heaven. he laborcd for them harder
than the horniest hand for his daily
bread" Books he devoured as hungry
man might devour the dainties of q
banquet, but he chewed and digested
them. He could have talked history
with Thcydides. Tacitus. Niebuhr,
Hume or Gibbon: he could have discuss
ed Greek and Latin roots With Puffen-
dorf. or "Old Gass." Scion. Justinian,
Coke, Blackstone. Montesquieu. Vattel
or Marshall would have found him u
ripe companion on any point OF munich
pal, constitutional, common statute or
international law. Talk to him OF Seog-
raphy and you would think that he had
wandered with Volrey over the ruins
of ancient empires, and Travelled with
Capt. Cook to the Cannibal Islands.
Socrates OF Plato would have hung
upon his discourse about the destiny of
man and the immortality of the soul had
he sat with them on the porticoes OF
Athens. Did you bring up natural
| science you would find that Cuvier,
Button. an Agassiz, or Darwin might
learn from him the secrets OF nature
| about plants, animals, trees. fossils or
flowers His exquisite genius drank In
with Joy the beauties of poesy. Homer
and Shakespeare. Moliere. Tasso, Dante,
Dryden. Pope. Milton. whether the dull
Get melody or the lofty strain, he quaffed
| them all as the gods might quaff nectar
ION their hills reclined." And had you
called at Monticello just after the revo-
luton you might have found the author
of the declaration engaged with that ac-
complshed French visitor, Major Cen
eIal. the Marquis de ChastellcuX, in re-
citing to each other the poems of Ossion
over the hospitable punch bowl.
A PRACTICAL AND SUCCESSFUL
MAN.
But Jenerson's mind was practical,
| and of that kind that brings things to
| account He loved the mathematics,
and no superstition or beatific vision
could ever lead him from the bed rock
| notion that two and two make four,
world without end. He was as precise
In detail as he was broad and accurate
in generalization. His mind was like
the elephants trunk that can pick up
pin or knock down lion. When he
was President he went regularly to mar
ket. and he kept in his journal year
after year the date on which the early
vegetables and fruits appeared, and the
precise cost of tomatoes. Strawberries.
peas and cabbage. The stately columns
and swelling dome of the university, and
right here the symmetrical beauty of
this old Monticello mansion bespeak the
exalted mind that reproduced In them
| the classic models. But do not forget
he made the estimates of brick and NOR
tar and timber and nails, and trained
the hands that brought the scemly piles
| from the crude material. He founded
| the Patent Office of the United States,
and do YOU know he was himself an in
ventor? How busy was his restless
brain? When in France as Minister he
wrote his admirable notes on Virginia,
and while the revolution there fer
mented around him he invented hill
side pillow. for which he received medal
! from the Royal Agricultural Society of
| the Seine. He also invented afterward
! the revolving chair. such as is found to-
| day in every comfortable home and Of
| flee Napoleon crossed the Alps to
| make spoil of Italy Jefferson, too.
crossed the Alps, but il for a less daZzl-
| ing. nevertheless for more useful and
enduring conquest lie went down into
the rice-growing district to get improved
seeds for America. Finding that the
laws there prohibited their expectation,
| he filed his pockets with them, sent
them to Charleston, gave them out In
| ten or twelve grain quantities 10 farm
| erS. and the Southern rice plantations
! to- day producing the best rice in the
world. applaud the movement by which
Jefferson outflanked the custom house
of Italy and spread broadcast over the
| face of another earth the annual eulogy
OF his venial peccadllo and his useful
circumspection.
HIS INFLUENCE ON LIVING IS
SUES.
In every living issue of the day Is
| seen the prophetic forecast and practical
wisdom of jefferson. We have just
| emerged from the great revolution that
| deluged the land in blood and tears. and
| from the war whose battle thunders
| shook the precincts of both Mount Yer
| non and Monticello. Slavery was Its
cause. that bligh;ing Request of British
avarce forced upon Virginia unwil-
| ingly, protested against, denounced by
| law, but bitter legacy from British
| kings. The first measure he offered in
| the Virginia Legislature, when but TWEEN
| ty-siN years of age. was FIR its gradual
emancipation Nothing Is more GER
tainly written In the book of fate" ne
| said, than these people are to he free;
nor Is II less certain that the two races
| equally free cannot live under the same
government We have realized the
truth of the first declaration: let the pa
irons of force bills remember the second.
Slavery Is dead. Its ashes remain. Woe
be unto him tina, bestre those ashs.
The world is wide. The Anglo Saxon
Is everywhere upon IL. Everywhere he
| is he rules. by the God bego;ten right
Of intellectual and moral ascendancy TO
rule. Or, II ne die. striking that he NAV
rule. the morning star of destiny shines
over his grave, and the sceptcr of power
| springs forth from it,
Discussing tariff, or money, or banks.
Nj Mil E,,xl L.;