The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-31

| paying $500 dollars. In case Randolph
nved longest, he was to have S4000
worth of Jefferson s books,
aI is related that when jefferson was
SSTuiting Sltng the rich young widow Martha
bne,utn. bn t. wnom he ultimately married,
ne ehtered into an agreement with two
otner admirers that each should nscer,
tam MS fate in turn. jefferson IS trial
| came hrst, and the other suffers ware
SO eager to learn the result that they
walked past the lady's home. AS they
nrew near they heard such Joyous and
M naI 11oni0ns ~ n S sounds issuing from Jeffer-
oit, EUt iidale and the widow s spinet that
wl1hout more ado they gave up hope
and sadly wended their way homeward
A1ter his marriage jefferson took les.
sons from an Italian artistic named AL
oerte and attained such proficiency that
a, paroled British officer who Visited
Monticello during the revolution saws
ihae ne was the finest amateur performer
| Te ever heard; There were some of
Jefferson S nighbors, however, who were
SO much welded to ''breakdowns that
they did not enjoy his classical perform.
ances and considered him "the poorest
1lddler In Virginia. While minister TO
france he fell and broke his right wrist
and quit fiddling forever.
Like Washington, Jefferson was a
hoi seuidn' Ills RlanQQaughJer
says that at one time it was his habit
when a horse was brought out to rub
Its shoulders with fine cambric hand
kerchlef and if the handkerchief showed
The slightest speck Of dust. he sent the
animal back to the stable. He was
especially fond of long solitary rides,
for his love of nature amounted to a
passion, and he wished to commune with
her without interruption. His letters
while president to his young grandchil.
dren were full of illusions to the first
bird S nest, the first roses, and the first
strawberries.
His interest in games, except those
ne played with children, was not great
HIS granddaughter says that he would
not allow a pack of "the DEVILS pic
ture cards" in his house. Yet he some
times played not only cards but also
other games of chance for small stakes,
When an old man. he won so at one
sitting at cards and Ia cents at back
CANNON, but lost nearly So at lotto.
His matured judgment was that "gam-
bling corrupts all dispositions, and
creates habit Of hostility against all
mankind ~
In his later years Jefferson IS recrea-
tlons were more than ever intellectual.
He was an omnivorous reader, and only
one other president has approached him
IN versatility. In fact. he was a sort
of Virginia edition of Benjamin Frank
lin. He was a statesman, an inventor,
an author, a scientist a philanthropist.
and philosopher. He corresponded
with many of the chief European scien.
lists and literary men and was con-
stantly making scientific experiments.
| He invented the mold board plow and
the copying press, and he made col
lection of Indian vocabularies. In one
of the crises of his administration Wis
itors at the White House found its floors
covered with the bones of mammoths
and mega atheriums from Big Bone Licks
About the Poet President.
Another learned and versatile pres
ident was John Quincy Adams. He had
perhaps the strangest diversion Of all,
for he spent many of his spare hours,
as his voluminous journal bears wit
ness, In composing poetry. Luckily he
was never forced to depend upon this
talent for livelihood, for his produc-
tions lacked Imagination, delicate i'm
agery, and other essential merits. He
realized his own limitations In writ.
ing Of a poem entitled "Dermot'' on
which he was engaged in 1881, he said |:
"My style is the mock heroic, but it
wants vivacity, humor, poetical inven-
ton, and large command of Ian
guage" He displayed wonderful inter.
est in the pastime, however. and per
| haps secretly hoped that by persistence