The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-04-12

! ditiOns of that famous day; also what
might have been his method or ap-
| pliance utilized for registering the
| heat of the atmosphere. Here again
| the supposedly yalueless documents
! furnish corroborative evidence of JEFF
| Persons ability to obtain the desired
| information. On July 4, ITS, Jeffer-
son called on Mr. Sparhawk to settle
| an account, and this entry appears
among his papers as witness of GER
! tain purchase and payment:
July d, 1776. Paid Sparhawk for a
thermometer, G3, Is. Paid for pr
| probably pair women's gloves. 81
| Gave to charity 1-6.'
The foregoing entry removes all
! doubt as to Jefferson's ability to de-
! termine accurately the rs degrees Of
heat on the noon of July 4th, and cs-
| tablishes the fact that it was a calm
and delightfully."- tempered summers
| day.
Further search among Jefferson's
papers brings to light the correct
name of the German family which fur
nished him with room and board at
the time when he wrote the Declara-
| ton and devised number of designs
for a seal of the young republic, one
entry reading:
'Pd. Mrs. Graaf one weeks lodging,
! 35."
On the 9th day of July, 1776, the
committee on seal met at the tavern
of the London Coffee House, and while
| the report formulated on that occa-
sion contains much Of general inter
est, it is only necessary to consider in
this connection the items in which the
! hand of Jefferson is seen He was
made chairman of the committee and
! it was he who addressed congress on
the subject. While Jefferson's device
| was not accepted by the committee.
! he assisted in creating a conjoint de-
vice in which the ideas of Dr. Frank
| lin, himself and French artist
| named Du Simitier were blended. In
! the report to congress in the fall Of
! l776 Jefferson presented the double
sided idea Of a seal on the diverse. or
front. of which the following appear
| ed:
"a shield divided into six fields upon
which were emblems of the leading
European nations; above the shield
the eye of Providence; the shield was
| supported on the right side by the
goddess of Liberty, on a staff she held
Phrygian cap; on the left side of
| the shield the goddess of Justice held
! forth the scales of justice in the left.
and a sword in the right hand Around
| the entire device the thirteen shields
| of the colonies appeared with their
initials blazoned upon them On the
| back. or reverse. Of the proposed seal
| the Franklin idea was displayed as
| follows:
Legend round the whole achieve
ment, Seal of the United States of
America, MDCCLXXVI'
lon the other side of the said Great
Seal should be the following device:
Pharaoh sitting in an open chariot,
a crown on his head, and a sword in
his right hand, passing through the
| divided waters of the Red Sea. in DUR
suit of the Israelites. Rays from a
/ pillar of fire in the cloud, expressive
| of the divine presence and command
| beaming on Moses, who stands on the
! shore, and extending his hand over
| the sea. causes it to overthrow Phar-
! aoh.
Motto Rebellion to Tyrants Is
! Obedience to God"
But congress rejected the device
and report, dismissed the committee
and appointed a new one Yet JEFF
| Persons keen interest in the heraldic
creation of symbolic seal did not
wane. He kept in touch with several
| future committees and submitted two
other important designs, both of which
| throw new light on the religious and