Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1912-11-29

This salon is, indeed, room of wonders. Mod
eled after the state apartment of Louis XIV. It
differs from that only in color scheme, for JEFF
ferson chose red for the basic tone in preference
to the original green.
Much has been written of the simplicity Of
Jefferson. To many Monticello signifies only a
fine example of Colonial America roominess and
comfort In fact, Jefferson furnished his mansion
not with crude manufactures of the Colonies but
fitted his home with all the ornate richness Of
the finest palaces of continental Europe. And,
a in the decorating and furnishing of the build
ing he equally esthetic in his for the
creature comfort of his guests
Most of the things that in jefferson
study have been lost track OF, but Mr.. Levy still
has a few, and corner of the floor there
remain thousands of ink stains made by Jeffer-
sons Tipping off the super1uous ink from his
quill
OF the original articles there remain a fiat
writing table made by Jefferson, upon which it is
said he made the first draft of the Declaration Of
Independence.
When Jefferson died his relatives and heirs de-
cded they could not afford the great expense of
keeping open the house 1t then stood. Much
of the furniture and furnishings were distributed
by will, gift purchase. Mrs. Martha Jeffer-
Randolph, daughter of the statesman and
eXecutrix of his will, decided to continue her
home at Edge Hill, the Randolph estate and
anxious to dispose of Monticello. The place
sold to James T. Barclay. a missionary who
sale.
Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy then lieu.
tenant in the navy drove from New York city to
Monticello to inspect the property and concluded
deal by which he acquired from Barclay the
Jefferson mansion and 21S acres of the original
estate. 1t was run down from lack of attention
and there was little the original inside fur.
nishings left Sentimental reasons prompted the
commodore to get back the things that had be-
longed to the who built the wonderful house
and Tor years he sought to regain the articles
that had been scattered about the country
Then came the of the states and the com
modore. continuing his allegiance to the Union
was declared "alien enemy" by the Confed.
eracy. the estate was confscated and the contents
advertised for sale at public auction Again the
mansion was partly stripped OF it's furnishings
and many pieces of furniture were sold at the
conhscator sale to families residing in the neigh
borhood Some of the articles were returned
after the war
After the war, however, when legal adjust
ment of the estate OF Commodore Lew was had
and Jefferson NJ. Levy inherited the property. Mr.
Levy continued the labors of the commodore In
restoring the nome as Jefferson had planned and
left It.
majority of the articles were recovered but
those pieces that had been taken from the coun.
try were beyond reach and few of them were traced
with this as his nucleus however Jefferson M
Levy made thorough search OF family records and
documents, as wei as getting information from
nVlng friends and relatives who had known the
nome when Jefferson lived and from that I,st
ne mas since attempted to get in his many trims
abroad exact duplicates of the works of ART
furniture and ornaments originally brought from
france oy JEFFERSON In this Mr. Levy has suc
ceeded with considerable accuracy fitting mn
Monticello so exactly as it was originally that
Thomas Jefferson might step into the homo -
spirit and lind 1t familiar with objects Intimate
with his earthly residence