The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-10

little daughters after they became
motherless, and he was never too busy
TO consider their every need and every
within
The Real Jerersoninn Dinners.
Some of the dinners arranged for the
celebration next Wednesday night oc
the birthday of the sage OF Monticello
have been criticized as TOO luxuripus
to be consistent with "Jenersonian
simplicity" As matter of fact. tIef-
ferson at Monticello lived quito as
elegantly as Washington did at Mount
Vernon. The Duke de la Rouchefou-
cauld-Liancourt. who once spent a
month there, wrote that Monticello
lis infinitely superior to all other
houses In America In point of taste
and convenience" The estan once
boasted of 141 slaves. and in his or
fetal residences also he lived on Law
ish scale. In Paris. while he was min
ister he lived far beyond his salary
to maintain the dignity of his country,
and was looked upon as an elegant
gentleman as well as scholar and
courtier
He brought French chef and but
Ter back from Paris with him. and
his dinners in New York and Philadel-
phia, while he was Secretary of State
and Vice president, were famous. Ip-
deed, few II any of the "Jeffersoniau
dinners" of the coming week will eS-
eel them.
During tho eight years of his presi-
dency his wines cost him Slo,S55.9o. or
s1,3569S per year. according to his ae-
count book. He brought to tho White
House coach and four costing Sl,6o0,
and his coachman and footman wore
such livery as he had seen used by the
nobility of Europe. Yet he never
made any vulgar display. His cxpen-
ditures. as proven by his own accoups
books and diaries. have led many 70
doubt that he! ever appeared as UNI
kempt in his person as he was descrlp-
ed during the first two years that hs
lived in the White House. Yet It was
during those years that he upset ina
old orders of precedence and estah-
lished his social rule of first coma
first served" which he afterward had
to abandon.
Old Age and Death.
So far did he 1.-Two beyond his income
while in official life that upon retiring
from the presidency he found himself
bankrupt. Fatal inroads Into his FOR
tune had also been made by the lavish
scale Of hospitality at Monticello which
Islike Mount Vernon, became verita-
sble hotel. save that no board bills were
Fever rendered A debt of $4,000 over
relief by paying $4,000 for his library
of $500 books. Two-thirds of these
We're destroyed by fire in 1851, and what
remain have been assembled in recent
months in an alcove of the Library of
Congress. Friends also raised $4,000
for his relief and he died with the be-
lief that he was solvent, although he
was not.
When past eghty-one he was visited
by Webster, who found him riding
horseback and described him as still
possessed of his teeth and a head well
covered" with hair, sandy, but "turn-
ing gray" His eyes We're very bright,
his mouth strongly compressed. wear
ing an expression of contentment and
nenevolence." His sight was still good
and he needed glasses only in theev
ing, while his hearing was fair.
1t Is our most interesting coinci-
dence of dates that Jefferson and
Adams both died upon the same day,
and that the anniversary of the indie
pendence for which they both worked
so valiantly-July A. 1926. Jefferson
! thus saw more than two months OF his
eighty-fourth year and was the long
est lived of our Presidents. His re-
fusal while on his deathbed to receive
an Episcopal minister except as a
kind, good friend" was partly respon-
| sible for the popular belief that he died
an atheist. But he left record OF the
fact that he belonged to the sect with
which President Taft Worships to-day.
In 1899, he wrote: II trust there is not
a young man now living in the United
States who will not die Unitarian"
copyrighted. 1910. by John Elfreth
Watkins,)