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Proclaimed Day of Liberty ★ ★★★ Ä m m jaf jaa ' » v È - S • - yî& m fl Egg a ! v % * i t V-Z , . . i mcxv y x Proclaim ßMmmm • vr r 3K SJ :? 0. I I J J îraMT jTT TJi Æ. i 'à£sM& July 4, 1776 ress, -■ • ■ -V. m w imnm HT Ark if \ a O Jefferson Ever friend of Liberty and the Enemy of All Forms of Despotism tJ D By ROBERTUS LOVE. .. Tt '° Father of His Country [forge Washington, but the Father of he Fourth of July was Thomas Jeffer { on. Jefferson wrote the Declaration ft Independence, which was adopted }-jL signetl on fourth day of July, ' Forever thereafter that day [f s and W HI be "the Glorious Fourth." Die Declaration of Independence » special plea for the rights of the in ""' dua1 -' The whole life of Thomas lefferson was a protest against the aid-time tyranny which sought to limit the development and action of Indl v ilual man. Jefferson loved liberty ind despised despotism. He was the Principal pioneer of democracy in all the world. On this e did and said and wrote, his man tier of living and working, his home his surroundings, are of interest to the world. s ° ^ ar as real human interest goes, the home of Jefferson fruitful of entertaining anecdote and reminiscence than the home of Wash tigtnn. Both homes are in Virginia. Jefferson's home, which he called Mon Ucello divided with Mount Vernon ___ ,' er ® nce an d homage of Americans o have inherited the priceless bless ° f Republican government for ich Washington fought with his ® word and Jefferson with his Sacred to Lovers of Liberty. 18 one America's mes Pilgrimage. The house, below, is three miles from the town of Charlottesville. u ;'.s account all that was and Is more (In' pm Aibermarte d« ». Û m [Sgj 3pS XCŒUï ( SEmXLEA T m 1 V P ! [4 : i ? is™ m ■ I I arwfii* "A JE&Z county, 115 miles from Washington. Fewer persons visit it, because it is much more remote from the main-trav eled roads than is Mount Vernon, al most within sight of the national cap ital. At Monticello Jefferson lived nearly sixty years. Within a stone's throw he spent his entire life, for he was born on the estate, and though he was absent for several years in France as American minister, and for eight years as president of the United States, and also in the occupancy of other offices, that was always his home. He loved it above all other spots on earth, from the cradle to the grave. There was rocked his cradle and there his grave was made, when after 83 years of labor for the rights of man he died on the Fourth of July, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Dec laration of Independence. It was giv en to him to experience half a cen tury of the fruits of his own efforts toward a more equitable form of gov ernment, something new to human so ciety. History of Monticello. In 1769 Jefferson began the con struction of his mansion on the moun tain above Charlottesville. On New Year's day of 1772 he took thither his bride, Skelton, whose Skelton, had died when she was in her nineteenth year, leaving her a consid erable fortune. She was about twen ty-three when Jefferson married her. Mrs. Jefferson was a singularly beau tiful woman, with auburn hair to match the red locks of her famous husband. She lived only about ten after her second marriage. Jef the beautiful young Widow husband, Bathurst years ferson never took another wife. His daughter was the mistress of Monti ceiio and likewise the mistress of the Executive Mansion when Jefferson president of the United States. was Jefferson survived his wife 44 years. For the last 50 years of liis life Jef ferson was hopelessly insolvent. From time to time his precious estate and home were- in imminent danger of being sold over his head, due to various causes. For one thing, he put his name on notes for friends and was held responsible for large Then he was an extravagant His house was perhaps His debts were sums. entertainer, the most commodious and manorllke in America. He was famous In two con tinents. Every person of distinction who came from Europe to visit the United States made Monticello his chief objective point. He must see "the Sage." It cost the Sage money, of course. The chambers occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson are most interesting. Jefferson, a radical In all things, a progressive in an age that was not particularly progressive, had ideas of his own with regard to household fur niture. Heretofore people had slept in massive, cumbersome beds, with great posts or frames at the foot and head. Jefferson changed this, for himself and wife. He built two rooms, con nected by a wide archway. In this archway he placed the Jeffersonian bed, which was merely a large couch of simple design, minus the unneces sary foot and head work. The bed closed up the archway, there being no other communication between the two rooms. In one of the chambers Mrs. Jefferson made her boudoir. In the other Thomas Jefferson studied and wrote. When Mrs. Jefferson was ready to retire she disrobed In her boudoir and climbed into the bed from her side. When Mr. Jefferson sought the refreshment of Morpheus he disrobed in his study and climbed into the bed from his side. It was all very handy. Jefferson's Monument. The epitaph on the original monu ment over Jefferson's grave was writ ten by Jefferson himself. It reads; "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Inde pendence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia." It thus appears that Jefferson was more proud of these three achieve ments than of being president of the United States, as he does not even mention the latter distinction. From a hilltop near Monticello one may see the birthplaces of three men whose work and wisdom added to the United States nearly one-half of its present territory on this continent These men were Jefferson, George Rogers Clark and Meriwether Lewis. Through the efforts pf Clark the states of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois, Wisconsin and part of Michigan were added to our domain. Meriwether Lewis, with a younger brother df George Rogers Clark, was sent by Jefferson on the fa mous trip of exploration and discov ery which, many years later, resulted in giving Uncle Sam title tq the Pa cific Northwest (Copyrieht. 1920. Western Newspaper I'nton. > Men of Immortal Memory r »\JLjOs ( l mm •■■fr&Z-v/ÿ, *JÉm mm m » Ü Ci F 3 *7. il: -À >• . p 9 >ifc lÜÀ H *% : ! '°" -, r * T/tomas eJeffenson <John Acfcorus o*. O "**£5* 71 i #K3? ns •• i. € m ^ǧ*f§ "P? independence // \ Ha/t ! V ■ ■ S - - f Æ W: -m O 1 < m mm W&i il i \ô L r j 7 ç > /c/rav^a y //esTry Zee çJoJzn /i&rrcock % pint & f '76 ' Remains an Inspiration to the Youth of the Land ! By CHLOE ARNOLD. It happened rather oddly that the day Bill Cumming went away I dis covered the monument. After all. that day was quite like a Barrie play : so humorous, and pathetically sweet that it left one feeling like laughing and crying at the same time. Bill was the first boy from Ridge field to enlist in 1917, when his coun try called on her sons, and he was going Into camp at Niantic, Conn. In an American household from Scotland, such as this is, of course the "meenis ter" came to supper that Sunday night That was as Inevitable as quo tations from Burns' poems at table, for Burns Is a hero here, just as Roose velt and Joffre are. Everybody talked a great deal and ate little. The minister told of how a descendant of Hannah Dutton, that heroine dear to the hearts of all young readers of history, had helped serve meals in a Rhode Island summer ho tel. where he had spent his vacation. Bill talked about automobiles. Then the time came for him to go. He had said beforehand that he want ed to take his bag to the station alone. He had seen the departure of his company from the Bridgeport ar mory the day before, and he saw that a farewell cannot be too quiet. Just as he went off the veranda the minister took his hand. "God bless yon, Bill," he said, very low, but we all beard it. And it mode the moment a little more solemn than we could have liked. There was a mist in Bill's eyes for a moment But nobody no ticed that any more than they did how his mother went into the house very suddenly. However, those who under stand will understand all about how this was. Just then I set out for the post of fice. For those who love rustic air and the mild monotony of the night insects' songs few walks afford more quiet delight than the saunter down for the evening mail. It is a broad thoroughfare arched with maples whose leaves are silver In the moon light You may meet some townsman you know, perhaps, a driver of some delivery automobile, and he will pass with yon a staccato greeting. Smooth, flowing conversation seems somehow out of place at this time of day. u .j Y-\ -'■gQZi BOUT two hundred yards from the Danbury road. Ahlch turns abruptly from the main street In Ridgefield and winds among the hills out of sight, the monument has been erected. It stands so unobtrusively by the ' 1 .roadside that the village folk who / i : pass It every day would hardly have noticed It; whereas those who pass in their long, steady journeyings to the mountains by motor would never dream that the littlo hillock was once the scene of a bloody battle. The monument is inserted In an old gray stone fence which was put in place by the patient hands of the col onists in the stern old times. And it sturdily defends intruders from its In closure to this day. The carved let ters seemed to stand out more on this particular Sunday evening, and I read : In Defense of American Independ ence at the Battle of Ridgefield, April 27, 1777, Died EIGHT PATRIOTS who were laid in these grounds Companioned by SIXTEEN BRITISH SOLDIERS, Living their enemies, dying their guests. In Honour of Service and Sacrifice, This Memorial is Placed For the Strengthening of Hearts Until five years ago the battle of Ridgefield was unmarked and existed only on one of the seldom-looked-at pages In the histories, though the an cient and well-conditioned hickory tree designated the graves. And by it Miss Mary Olcott reckoned where to place the monument. When tills battle was fought most of the men of military age were away with Washington, Lafayette and other generals. They had no home guard such as parade in full rig about the station grounds of a Friday afternoon. Indeed some historians say that most of the six hundred were men seeking adventure under Benedict Arnold. For he was then a popular hero, and he directed the principal defense against the British. No one has ever known the names of the Eight Patriots. And perhaps some English mother in 1777 won dered at just what spot in the wilder ness somewhere in America they had buried her boy. The British were all buried in one grave, the Americans in another. The tablet pays equal honor to each. And It Is placed only "For the Strengthening of Hearts." On that Sunday morning in April. 1777, the colonists needed some defi nite sign of success In their struggle with the enemy and with the stubborn wilderness from which they had to hew their homes. Indeed It was but three years afterward that Washing ton was inquiring whom he could trust sts : ■v 9 mi ft 5m? v mm fly I OVERNOR TRYON, who for personal reasons had no love for the "rough" dra goons of Connecticut, was chosen to lead the British expedition against Danbury. He knew the country, and he still remembered how the Connecti cut troops had upset the type for his paper all over the streets of New York. So with 2,000 men he disem barked from the 27 ships the British sent to Compo beach, near Westport, and went off to Danbury, where the colonists had collected their supplies. While Tryon was passing through Redding (where Mark Twain's house still stands) he shot up a church by way of something to do. But %'hen he met Arnold in Ridgefield he was not hard put to It for pastime for a while at least .The British had 2,000 men, the Americans but 600, bnt Arnold's men held oat against them and th coaid not get through until they sent Gen eral Agnew around with 200 men and attacked the Americans from the rear. Arnold gave orders to his men to re treat. fought on until his horse was shot. His foot became entangled in the stir rup and a Tory rushed up. "You are my prisoner!" he yelled. "Not yet," Arnold said. He shot the man dead, remarking that one live soldier was worth ten dead ones. He then ran to Israel Putnam's camp', now Putnam park, twelve miles away, after astonishing the British by his reckless courage. The British marched on up the vil lage streets, which are now as they were then. But the wounded of both sides were taken Info Miss Sarah Stebbins' house and tenderly cared for. Her house stood near where Miss Mary Olcott's does now, and the old buttery door, pierced by many shots and a cannon ball, is at the Olcott house. The soldiers who died on the field or of their wounds were the ones to whom the stone was raised. Tryon knew that he was not popular with the most of the Kidgefield vil lagers, so he plundered a good many of them, taking everything they had. and they had to appeal to the general assembly for help, burned the Keeler grist mill and set fire to several houses. In that day the old Keeler tavern was the favorite inn on the way to Boston, Tryon heard, moreover, that the patriots were making ammunition in It. So he mounted his guns in the Episcopal church and fired at the tav ern. Aided by General Bell, h« His men also J II OR a while it fared ill with the ■ tavern ; but, as Innkeeper Keel er said later, it was saved by the grace of God and the strong north wind. A Tory's house stood directly south of It, which commenced to burn merrily. This man got Tryon's per mission to put out the fire, but when he told Keeler whom he could thank for saving his house Keeler attributed his good fortune to other sources. Just as the cannon balls commenced to fly gayly through the tavern a man was coming downstairs. He howled that he was a dead man; that he was killed. But like ail who make such spirited declarations of their death he was unhurt and ran away to hide with the rest For a long time after 1777 the Keeler tavern was kept and continued in favor with travelers. Washington and Lafayette are supposed to have stayed there, though there Is nothing to prove tL However, for one old house It has distinction enough, for certainly Pickering. Comte de Rocham beau, duc de Laucun-BIron, Oliver Wolcott and Lieutenant Govemoi Treadwell, also Jerome Bonaparte did enjoy its hospitality. Altogether the old tavern's fortunes are enviable. For It is now where Cass Gilbert, the architect, spends his It Is called "Cannon Bal summers. house." and the main part U un changed, even to the partition on thi second Boor which they used to pm np to make a large ballroom. A wins is added in the rear and a fountnii from Gilbert's hand makes more beau tlful the end of that fine old street.