The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1902-01-30

this right; but no political party has
ever denied the propriety of local home
rule. Democrats, republicans, popu-
lists and prohibitlonists all accept it as
established and unalterable truth, even
though in practice it may be disregard
ed at times.
AS a publicist simply Thomas Jeffer-
son was prominently remarkable, but
he was something more than that. He
was one of the most lucid and finished
writers of his time. He wrote manu-
oil of parliamentary law which is still
high authority on that subject, and his
"Notes on Virginia" is justly held in
high esteem for its literary merit. In
the next place he was o scholar. He
worked so hard at college that he fin
ished his collegiate course and took his
degree in two years, and his knowledge
was not superficial. He knew Latin
and Greek, French, Italian and Span
ish, and read Virgil, Homer, Cervantes
and Dante in the original. He was al
30 musician of rare skill, and he once
said in his old age that during at least
dozen years of his life he played the
fiddle not less than three hours q day.
He was an architect, as we'll as a must
clan, and he designed and planned to
the smallest detail the Virginia state
capitol at Richmond, the classic build
ings Of the university of Virginia and
his home at Monticello.
Singular as it may seem, Jefferson
also had the scientific and practical
spirit. He was an astronomer, o natur-
alist, philologist and an inventor. He
had the most observing eyes in Ameri-
ca, and he was ambidextrous. He was
the first man to introduce the threshing
machine into this country, the first to
announce in this country Watts inven-
ton Of the steam engine, which he
went to England to see, and the first to
introduce the rice plant into the United
States. He was an excellent mathema.
tician and calculated the eclipse of ITS
with entire precision. Hecompiled the
vocabularies of the Indian tribes o.
North America. He promoted thu
western expeditions of Zebulon Pike
who crossed the Rockies, and of Meri
wether and CLARK, the first white mel
to reach the Pacific ocean across cont
nent and return. He secured the in
PRODUCTION Of the decimal coinage sys
tenn in this country and tried to hav
the decimal system adopted for weight
and measures, but did not succeed. Fl
invented hemp break, a predomete
to measure distances walked by pei
son, copying press, folding chair,
revolving chair, such as is now in use
and pillow which received q medal fror
the French Agricultural society.
There seems to have been almost n
limit to the intellectual activities of th
third president of the United States, @
his practical capacities. The man wh
wrote the Declaration of independence
could sew up wound or set broke
leg. The man who was foremost i
American craftsmanship knew how
charm the soul of harmony from tn
fiddle. In his day Jefferson was d.
nounced by his political opponents as
fanatic in politics and an atheist in n
ligion, and he was even accused Of roll
berry as we'll as various insincerities an
inconsistencies. But he was too larg
minded man, to pay any attention
political ISLANDERS. He was as matte
of fact an. admirable man in all the n
, lations. Of life, and there is no pure
character in American history. He wa
a devoted husband and father, and
steadiast friend. In politics as well q
in private life he was the soul of honol
When he was candidate for president
he would not write a letter, or speak
= word, or make promise to infuenc
the result. II is said q promise woul
have given him the presidency in 1870.
but he would not open his mouth. Whe
he lost $50, 900 by indorsing for his oil
' friend, Governor Nicholas, he nevt
once mentioned it to that gentleman
Q though it came at a time when he wG
d burdened with financial misfortune.
: is not generally known that Jefferso
4 made two efforts to have slavery abo
I ished by the state of Virginia, that /
e was the first American statesman
J. breach what was afterwards known
!, the Monroe doctrine, and that he WI
!; the first statesman to put himself G
u record as in favor of civil service r
b form. Then again on the personal sid
!, he was man who never smoked toba
0 co, never played cards, never gamble,
II and never went beyond moderate il
:, diligence in wines.
t Certainly we of this republic ougl
every 18th of April to commemorate til
!, great American. As the founder of d
J. mocracy, as the founder of a great IN
9 versity, as the founder, we may almo
Q say, of American institutions, as Il
d far-seeing statesman who added the te
o ritory Of more than a dozen states
i the Union, as the practical reformer,
It the believer in the virtue and goo
d sense of the people, as the best exp
= nent Of all things American, as Il