Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-07-01

York, Charles A. Towne OF New 1orK
or James r. Williams Of Illinois.
Jefferson's Versatility.
AS the Fourth Of July approaches 1t Is
proper to discuss Thomas
Jefferson, who more than any other
man made the day immortal.
Its versatility was one Of the most
striking features Of Thomas Jeffer-
sons exquisite mind. which was both
eelesecpic and microscopic In its range
and operations. Shakespeare has been
denominated 1.-THE Myriad Minded"
That description may be applied to
Jefferson without exaggeration or bad
taste.
Lord Bacon declared that he took all
knowledge for his province, which
Jefferson appears to have done also,
although he never SO stated or in
timated. His bent was toward philos-
ophy, and the Philosophical Society Of
Paris voted him gold medal for in
venting a plow with moldboard Of
least resistance.
Sir Isaac Newton is much and justly
lauded by historians for devising a
plan for milling the edge Of coins. but
Jefferson accomplished so many things
Of Importance in so many fields Of hui
man endeavor that little mention is
made Of the fact that he Invented our
system of coinage, weights and meas
ures-based on the decimal notation
thereby comforting AN inestimable boon
upon his countrymen.
Had he not been drawn by circum.
stances into the swirl Of politics he
would as a scientist have ranked with
the father of inductive philosophy.
with the discoverer Of the law Of CRAWL
tation and with the captor Of the light
ming,
It is conceded by all his associates.
whether friend or fos-aHa he had q
full complement Of both-that he thor
oughly mastered the law, to accom-
plish which task Lord Eldon asserted
that zone must 1--we IKE hermit and
work like a horse" Jefferson sub
scribed to the last half Of Eldoa's die
tum, but scorned the first half utterly,
for all his days he was the most socia-
BILE Of mortals, being at home equally
with the plain people and with the
greatest Of the sons Of men.
While mathematics were such per-
petual delight to him that he habitual-
ly carried with him pockRtbook of
llogarithms as an aid in intricate cat
culations, he was thoroughly grounded
in Greek, Latin, French and Italian
and was in posse as universal lin
guist as Eiihu Burritt "the learned
blacksmith" With much labor, indie
fatgable industry and initiate patience,
he collected fifty Indian voeabuiastes,
the loss Of which by theft he incurred
always.
AS presidential scholar he stands
| in class with John Quincy Adams
and James Abram Garfield. He was
80 "cuapiag with his pen," to borrow
a happy phrase from John Adams. that
in point OF literary exoellepce his Sum
mary View Of the Rights Of British
America" his Declaration Of indie
| pendence and his first inaugural ad-
dress rank with Millions prose, the let
tiers Of Alexander Pope and the Book
Of Common Prayer.
To please a friend and as mental
recreation he wrote bis "Notes on vir-
ginia," which is an authority to this
day and which is as pleasant reading
as Goldsmith's Animated Nature"
md much more instructive.
He possessed fine musical talent and
was a famous fiddler, drawing the bow
With the zest Of Paganini and Ole
Bull,
He was familiar with all systems Of
architecture and knew more about them
than any other American OF his gener-
alton.
Agriculture was his hobby. he did
more for Its promotion than any other
statesman that ever lived and deserves
to be the perpetual emeritus president
Of the Patrons of Husbandry. He was
the first man ON this continent to re-
duce farming to science. He divided
his lands into plots and kept an accu-
rate account with each, so that he
could ascertain what sorts Of crops
were suited to particular soils. He OBJ
tanned for the planters Of the south
Turin rice, which has proved a source
of vast wealth to that section. He In,
ported the first Merino sheep. which
are great success. and experimental
with fat tail sheep. which did not
flourish in our climate. Whtle con-
trolling the multitudinous and multi
tarious affairs Of q nascent republic
he somehow found time to personally
establish and conduct a miniature az
ricultural department, botanical gar
den and weather bureau, to make me.
teoroiogicaI observations three times o
day through long series Of years and
to note infinitely the first appearance
in the market and upon the table Of
each particular species OF vegetable,
fruit and grain grown in this iatitHds.
He had made profound study Of
the fauna and fora of America and
was lover of flowers, shrubs, trees
and animals. He was skillful horse
man, and until the day Of his death,
when past the psalmist's extreme allot-
ment Of fourscore years, he would ride
nothing but the pick and chcice n. Viz