The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-03
WAS NOT AN ORATOR.

While Jefferson was a brilliant con-
versationalist he was not an orator. In
congress he seldom spoke. why, Mr..
Jefferson was not distinguished in pop
ular debate" says William Writ, has
often been a matter of surprise to those
who have seen his eloquence on paper
and heard it in conversation. He had
all the attributes of the mind and the
heart and the soul which are essential
10 eloquence of the highest order. The
only defect was a physical one; he
wanted volume and compass of voice
for a large deliberative assembly, and
his voice, from the excess of his SEN
Sibility, instead of rising with his feel
ings and conceptions, sunk under their
pressure, and became cultural and in
articulate. The consciousness of this
infirmity repressed every attempt in a
large body in which he knew he must
fail" But, independently of this de-
feet, Jefferson seems to have been
averse to speech making. This may
be inferred from his sharp criticism of
the debates in the continental con-
gress. Day after day. he remarks,
was wasted on the most unimportant
questions" To a member who had
asked him how "he could sit in silence,
hearing so much false reasoning which
woru should refute," he replied that
Ito refute was easy, but to silence was
impossible" He added that it was
the trade of lawyers TO question every
thing, yield nothing and talk by the
hour" and that $50 of them Ehould
do business together ought not to be
expected jefferson, however, appre-
eiated oratory. He observed of Pat
rick Henry that "he appeared to me to
speak as Homer wrote" and of John
Adams he said, he was one of our col
ossus on the floor" and came out with
a power of thought and expression
which moved us from our seats.
JEFFERSON AS A BOY.
AS a boy jefferson had very little
home life, in the sense of living with
his family. AT years of age he was
under the tuition of q clergyman, who
taught him French and the rudiments
of Greek and Latin. When only IA he
lost his father. Half a century later
Jefferson, in q letter of advice to his
grandson. gave an account of this criti-
cal period of his life, and of the perils
that beset him. When 1 recollect," he
wrote, that art IA years of age the
whole care and attention of myself
was thrown on myself entirely. without
g relative or friend qualified TO advise
or guide me, and recollect the various
sorts of bad company with which l as
sociated, 1 did not turn off with some
of them and become as worthless to
society as they were. From the cir
cumstances of nay position l was often
thrown into the society of horse racers,
card players, fox hunters, scientific and
professional men, and of dignified men,
and many time have I asked myself,
in the enthusiastic moment of the
death Of fox or the victory of a fav-
orite horse, the issue of a question elo-
quently argued at the bar. or in the
great council of the nation: Well.
which of these kinds of regulations
should / prefer? That of a horse
Jockey? A fox hunter? An orator? Or
the honest advocate of my country S
rights? Be assured, my dear Jefferson,
that these little returns into ourselves,
this self-criticising habit. is not trifling
nor useless, but leads to the prudent
selection and steady pursuit of what
is right"
A LIVELY YOUTH.
AN the same. young jefferson kept up
pretty well with the crowd and did not
allow himself to be deprived of his
share of whatever fun was going on
And, although a trifie more sedate
when he went to William and Mary
college, in Williamsburg, the old cap
ital of Virginia, he helped to sustain
the reputation Oh lildC eSldDllSiIiciiI
for scholastic vivacity in the regula-
ton pranks played upon the towns
people. At college he gave no extra
ordinary evidences of genius, but he
was a hard student, resolute in the
pursuit of knowledge, with strong
turn for original investigation. Mathe-
mates was his favorite study and he
excelled in the ancient classics and in
the fine arts.
HIS FIRST LOVE AFFAIR.
The future author of the declaration
of independence was wildly in love with
a Miss Rebecca BuTwell at the age OF
10. He was reading law at the time,
and, dwelling upon the picture of Re-
becca, which ne carried in his case, he
fervently wished in letter to a friend
that ''the devil had old Coke. for he
was sure he never was so tired of an
old dull scoundrel in his life" To add
to his mental agonies, the cherished
picture was ruined by a rainstorm one
night and the rats ran off with the
silk carriers the fair hands of Rebecca
had made for him. Despairing of the
success of his suit, he planned foreign
tour, England, Holland, Spain, Egypt.
Should he ask herr" was the great
problem. inclination led that way. but,
if refused, he would be ten times
more wretehed than ever" This dread
full state of suspense lasted nearly a
year. Bold resolves to end the agony