The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-10-17
PRESIDENTS AND
LITERARY PURSUITS.

| life that is of especial interest-how a
country gentleman, on being called TO
direct the military operations of a great
confederaey, should have exhibited tbs
original gifts and familiarity of an ex-
peIaenced commander. The correspond
ene+ tells how Washington served reg
ular apprenticeship to the employment
Of his mature life during the old French
war, commanding the troops of Virginia
when a mere youth. He saw then, and
remembered it well, the insfficiency of
British tactics
Washington had the advantage, as did
all the men of that time, of writing Of
things that made up his active lif-. lt
as not known how Gen. Harrison will
treat his subject, as he has kept his
manuscript close. John Adams began in
1855, forty-two years before he was prs
ident, to write a diary, and continued
1t thirty years. Besides this, which was
written in a scarcely leg.bl= hand on
scraps of paper a good deal like Pascals
immortal thoughts, his works include an
autobiography, political papers, mes
sages, works on government, etc, which
tog Their with a life by Charles Francis
Adams, make up ten volumes. Jolta
Adams political writings, published dur
ing his lifetime, had been long out of
print and were to be found only in the
libraries of tbs first quarter of this CEN
tury, and his grandson did very valuable
service in rescuing them for no thorough
v ,
can be had without them. 1t was ex-
pectsd that the great mass of manuscript
which John Adams left behind him
would have been edited by his son, John
Quincy, but his active political life pre-
vented this, and tbs task devolved upon
Charles Francis. the dspositary alike of
the papers of his grandfather and faith
er. The ten volumes cost him imm znse
labor, yet to show John Adams and his
achievements was worth the toll of years.
tn, hark h Il IttTnd
thought and spoke. He was a great
and good man, with an abundance of
frailt.es. After all that may be said
commendable of his life and works, thsir
highest value possibly is as "a guide to
young men entering upon the theater of
affairs. They will see in Adams model
without vice or crime.
John Adams idea of writing diary
was continued IN John Quincy, who, en-
larging his fathers methods, carried 1t
to completion. 1t was begun early and
continued almost to tbs end of his ca
reer, covering a period of sixty-five
years. A portion of it is in the Me
moirs" edited by his son. Here We have
Adams, as Washington, Jefferson and
others of the early times. revealed by
his own light. Gsn. Harrison likely
had these men in view when he deter
mined to write a book. His title is not
unlike Monroe'S, who's effort was inef-
fectual from choosing too wide a field.
And the generals IS certainly ample. He
has participated to an extent in the
events of which he writes, but In no
such way as John Quincy Adams did.
From boyhood he was a witness of great
scenes, and from earliest manhood an
actor IN THIN. AT the age of IL he was
breathing an atmosphere of thought
among the statesmen of Europe, and his
whole life was passed in the company
of eminent men. The result shows that
this process of training, an unnatural
one, was not altogether beneficial. Paul
did not put away childish things till he
became a man, and Paul grew to very
great stature. AS to regular schooling.
Adams had but little. He was educated
Ito ambition. Whatever may be thought
of his ability and public service, 1t will
be conceded that his life was remarkable,
and, writing as a chief actor in great
events, he throws much light on their
history. His career was really made
possible by his articles in a Boston paper,
which attracted the attention of WASH
ington, who sent him as minister to Hol-
land. And no part of the diary is more
interesting than that covering this pc
Rod All stars Were then paling BE-
fore Napoleon. So it was as writer
that Adams came before the public,
and as such he has perpetuated his own
memory.
Jzfferson's first reputation was in COM
position. He was a good penman, too.
He is not among those who hold with the
statists of Hamlet's time that 1t is
baseness to write fair See his draft OF
the declaration. He was eminently sue
cessful as a reviser of statutes a work
demanding both thought and expression.
al is shown in his revision of the laws OF
Virginia. JeffersOn's rapid rise in his
prof ssion during seven years OF active
practice and his success in public lire
were due, as we know, to his power as a
thinker and writer. He was no advo-
"a Tn the Sap1uS'On of his mountain
home, by the bedside of a dying Wife,
whose health had bsen shattered by the
horrors of the British invasion, he wrote
his celebrated "Notes on Virginia" On
this production J Jefferson lavished
wealth of information that had been
gathering for years, interspersing it with
original reflections and descriptions. He
was in the right state of mind for writ
ing such a yolume and made 1t captl-
vating Thu demand for 1t at home and
in Francs led to it's publication, which
fairly established Jefferson as an author
and scientists of superior attachments
His Memoirs and Correspondence" was
printed three years after his death, and
in 1853 his Writings in nine octave
volume appeared. In Jefferson's CORE
spondence, here and there, one may see
the germs of the Monroe doctrine twenty
years before 1t was announced. and Wh-n
Monroe consulted him as to the plans OF
the holy alliance, he responded boldly,
which has ever been offered to my con-
temptation since that of independence"
Monroe's papers. comprising reports of
congressional debates and comments,
done in early lif=, were bought by the
government as complement to those
OF washington, and naturally have some
historic value. Monroe entered public
life at IS and can hardly be said to have
left it til the close of his presidency.
His latter years he employed chiefly in
writing and had he followed the example
of the Adamses in dealing with personal
observations would have left a book of
rare excellence. H. was an eyewitness
of many of the most important events
of the American revolution and some OF
those of the French revolution He
knew Washington and his associates and
had talked with Napoleon and many of
the first Frenchmen of republican times.
He had seen Spain at tbs breaking up OF
the old Spanish system and had lived in
England and moved in English society
when it was adorned by men Of high
rank in litsra ture and politics. His m M
ory. was storehous= of wealth. But it
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