not in fifty years, said thomas jefferson in the last days of his life, had the sun caught him in bed. on this morning, having said good-by to the man to whose hands he had entrusted the dearest enterprise of all his life, he turned back to his desk in the little office-room, and throughout the long and heated day, following a night spent wholly without sleep, he remained engaged in his usual labors, which were the heavier in his secretary’s absence.
he was an old man now, but a giant in frame, a giant in mind, a giant in industry as well. he sat at his desk absorbed, sleepless, with that steady application which made possible the enormous total of his life’s work. he was writing in a fine, delicate hand—legible to this day—certain of those thousands of letters and papers which have been given to us as the record of his career.
in what labor was the president of the united states engaged on this particularly eventful day? it seems he found more to do with household matters than with affairs of state. he was making careful accounts of his french cook, his irish coachman, his [pg 106]black servants still remaining at his country house in virginia.
all his life thomas jefferson kept itemized in absolute faithfulness a list of all his personal expenses—even to the gratuities he expended in traveling and entertainment. we find, for instance, that “john cramer is to go into the service of mr. jefferson at twelve dollars a month and twopence for drink, two suits of clothes and a pair of boots.” it seems that he bought a bootjack for three shillings; and the cost of countless other household items is as carefully set down.
we may learn from records of this date that in the past year mr. jefferson had expended in charity $1,585.60. he tells us that in the first three months of his presidency his expenses were $565.84—and he was wrong ten cents in his addition of the total! in his own hand he sets down “a view of the consumption of butchers’ meat from september 6, 1801, to june 12, 1802.” he knew perfectly well, indeed, what all his household expenses were, also what it cost him to maintain his stables. he did all this bookkeeping himself, and at the end of each year was able to tell precisely where his funds had gone.
we may note one such annual statement, that of the year ended five months previous to the time when captain lewis set forth into the west:
provisions $4,059.98
wines 1,296.63
groceries 1,624.76
fuel 553.68
secretary 600.00
[pg 107]servants 2,014.89
miscellaneous 433.30
stable 399.06
dress 246.05
charities 1,585.60
pres. house 226.59
books 497.41
household expenses 393.00
monticello—plantation 2,226.45
“ —family 1,028.79
loans 274.00
debts 529.61
asquisitions—lands bought 2,156.86
“ —buildings 3,567.92
“ —carriages 363.75
“ —furniture 664.10
total $24,682.45
mr. jefferson says in rather shamefaced fashion to his diary:
i ought by this statement to have cash in hand $183.70
but i actually have in hand 293.00
so that the errors of this statement amt to 109.20
the whole of the nails used for monticello and smithwork are omitted, because no account was kept of them. this makes part of the error, and the article of nails has been extraordinary this year.
there was a curious accuracy in the analytical tests which mr. jefferson applied to all the ordinary transactions of life. it was not enough for him to know exactly how many dollars and cents he had expended; he must know what should be the average result of such expenditures. in the middle of a life of tremendous [pg 108]and marvelously varied activities he finds time to leave for us such records as these:
mr. remsen tells me that six cord of hickory last a fireplace well the winter.
myrtle candles of last year out.
pd farren an impudent surcharge for venetn blinds, 2.66.
borrowed of mr. maddison order on bank for 150d.
enclosed to d. rittenhouse, lieper’s note of 238.57d, out of which he is to pay for equatorial instrument for me.
hitzeimer says that a horse well fed with grain requires 100 lb. of hay, and without grain 130 lb.
t. n. randolph has had 9 galls. whisky for his harvest.
my first pipe of termo is out—begun soon after i came home to live from philadelphia.
agreed with robt. chuning to serve me as overseer at monticello for £25 and 600 lb. pork. he is to come dec. 1.
agreed with —— bohlen to give 300 livres tournois for my bust made by ceracchi, if he shall agree to take that sum.
my daughter maria married this day.
march 16—the first shad at this market today.
march 28—the weeping willow shows the green leaf.
april 9—asparagus come to table.
april 10—apricots blossom.
april 12—genl. thaddeus kosciusko puts into my hands a warrant of the treasury for 3,684.54d to have bills of exchange bought for him.
may 8—tea out, the pound has lasted exactly 7 weeks, used 6 times a week; this is 8-21 or .4 of an oz. a time for a single person. a pound of tea making 126 cups costs 2d, 126 cups or ounces of coffee—8 lb. cost 1.6.
may 18—on trial it takes 11 dwt. troy of double refined maple sugar to a dish of coffee, or 1 lb. avoirdupois to 26.5 dishes, so that at 20 cents per lb. it is 8 mills per dish. an ounce of coffee at 20 cents per lb. is 12.5 mills, so that sugar and coffee of a dish is worth 2 cents.
as to the code of official etiquette which we have seen to exist in washington, the president himself [pg 109]was responsible for it, for we have, written out in his own delicate hand, the following explicit instructions:
the families of foreign ministers, arriving at the seat of government, receive the first visit from those of the national ministers, as from all other residents. members of the legislature and of the judiciary, independent of their offices, have a right as strangers to receive the first visit. no title being admitted here, those of foreigners give no precedence. difference of grade among the diplomatic members gives no precedence.
at public ceremonies the government invites the presence of foreign ministers and their families. a convenient seat or station will be provided for them, with any other strangers invited, and the families of the national ministers, each taking place as they arrive, and without any precedence.
to maintain the principle of equality, or of pell-mell, and prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of the executive will practise at their own houses, and recommend an adherence to the ancient usages of the country of gentlemen in mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass, in passing from one apartment where they are assembled into another.
and so on, through reams and reams of a strange man’s life records.
why should we care to note his curious concern over details? the answer to that question is this—obviously, thomas jefferson’s estimate of a man must also in all likelihood have been curiously exact. he did not make public to the world his judgment of colonel aaron burr, at that time vice-president of the united states; but in his diary, written in frankness by himself for himself, he put down the following:
[pg 110]
i have never seen colonel burr till he became a member of the senate. his conduct very soon inspired me with distrust. i habitually cautioned mr. madison against trusting him too much. i saw that under general w. and mr. adams, where a great military appointment or a diplomatic one was to be made, he came post to philadelphia to show himself, and in fact he was always in the market if they wanted him. he was indeed told by dayton in 1800 that he might be secretary at war, but this bid was too late. his election as vice-president was then foreseen. with these impressions of colonel burr, there never has been any intimacy between us, and but little association.
a certain plan of this same colonel burr’s now went forward in such fashion as involved the loyalty of meriwether lewis, the man to whom, of all others of his acquaintance, thomas jefferson gave first place in trust and confidence and friendship—the young man who but now was making his unostentatious departure on the great adventure that they two had planned.
his garb ill cared-for, his hair unkempt, his face a trifle haggard, working on into the day whose dawn he had seen arise, the tall, gaunt old man set aside first one minor matter, then another, leaving them all exactly finished. at last he wrote down, for later forwarding, the last item of his own knowledge regarding the new country into which he had sent his young friend.
i have received word from paris that mr. broughton, one of the companions of captain vancouver, went up the columbia river one hundred miles in december, 1792. he stopped at a point he named vancouver. here the river columbia is still a quarter of a mile wide. from this point [pg 111]mount hood is seen about twenty leagues distant, which is probably a dependency of the stony mountains. accept my affectionate salutations.
this was the last word meriwether lewis received from his chief. as the latter finished it, he sat looking out of the window toward that west which meant so much to him.
he did not at first note the interruption of his reverie. long ago he had made public his announcement that the time of thomas jefferson belonged to the public, and that he might be seen at any time by any man. he hesitated now but a moment, therefore, when old henry, his faithful black, threw open the door and stated simply that there was “a lady wantin’ to see mistah jeffahson.”
“who is she, henry?” inquired the president of the united states mildly. “i am somewhat busy today.”
“’tain’t no diff’rence, she say—she sho’ly want see mistah jeffahson.”
the tired old man smiled and shrugged his shoulders. a moment later the persistent caller was ushered into the office of the nation’s chief executive. he rose courteously to meet her.
it was theodosia alston, whom he had known from her childhood. mr. jefferson greeted her with his hand outstretched, and, her arm still in his, led her to a seat.
“my dear,” said he, “you will pardon our confusion here, i am sure. there are many matters——”
“i know it is an intrusion, mr. jefferson,” began [pg 112]theodosia alston again, her face flushing swiftly. “but you are so good, so kind, so great in your patience that we all take advantage of you. and yet you are so tired,” she added impulsively, as she caught sight of his haggard face.
“i was not so fortunate as to find time for sleep last night.” he smiled again with humorous, half twisted mouth.
“nor was i.”
“tut, tut! no, no, my dear, that sort of thing will not do.” he looked at her in silence for some time. “perhaps, my dear,” said he at last, “you come regarding captain lewis?”
“how did you know?” she exclaimed, startled.
“why should i not know?” he pushed his chair so close that he might lay a hand upon her arm. “listen, theo, my child. i am an old man, and i am your friend, and his also. i had need to be very blind had i not known long ago what i did know. i am, perhaps, the only confidant of captain lewis, and i repose in him confidences that i would venture to no other man; but he is not the sort to speak of such matters. it is only by virtue of exceptional circumstances, my dear, that i know the story of you two.”
she was looking straight into his face, her eyes mournful.
“i was glad to send him away, sorely as i miss him. but then, you said, you come to me about him?”
“yes, after he is gone—knowing all that you say—because i trust your great kindness and your chivalry. i come to ask you to call him back! oh, mr. jefferson,[pg 113] were it any other man in the world but yourself i had not dared come here; but you know my story and his. it is your right to believe that he and i were—that is to say, we might have been—ah, sir, how can i speak?”
“you need not speak, my dear, i know.”
“i shall be faithful to my husband, mr. jefferson.”
the old man nodded.
“captain lewis knows that also. he would be the last to wish it otherwise. but, since it was his misfortune to set his regard upon one so fair as yourself, and since fate goes so hard for a strong man like him, then i must admit it needed strong medicine for his case. i sent him away, yes. would you ask him back—for any cause?”
in turn she laid a small hand upon the president’s arm.
“only for himself—for that reason alone, mr. jefferson, and not to change your plans—for himself, because you love him. oh, sir, even the greatest courts sometimes arrest their judgment if there is new evidence to be introduced. at the last moment justice gives a condemned man one more chance.”
“what is it, theodosia?” he said quietly. “i do not grasp all this.”
“able men say that this government cannot take advantage of the sale of louisiana to us by napoleon—that our constitution prevents our taking over a foreign territory already populated to make into new states of our own——”
“good, my learned counsel—say on!”
[pg 114]
“forgive my weak wit—i only try to say this as i heard it, well and plainly.”
“as well as any man, my dear! go on.”
“therefore, even if captain lewis does go forward, he can only fail at the last. this is what is said by the federalists, by your enemies.”
“and perhaps by certain of my own party not federalists—by colonel aaron burr, for instance!” thomas jefferson smiled grimly.
“yes!” she spoke firmly and with courage.
“i cannot pause to inquire what my enemies say, my dear lady. but in what way could this effect our friend, captain lewis? he is under orders, on my errand.”
“i saw him this very morning—i took my reputation in my hands—i followed him—i urged him, i implored him to stop!”
“yes? and did he?”
“not for an instant. ah, i see you smile! i might have known he would not. he said that nothing but word from you could induce him to hesitate for a moment.”
“my dear young lady, i said to captain lewis that no report from any source would cause me for an instant to doubt his loyalty to me. if anything could shake him in his loyalty, it would be his regard for you yourself; but since i trust his honor and your own, i do not fear that such a conflict can ever occur!”
she did not reply. after a time the president went on gently:
“my dear, would you wish him to come back—would [pg 115]you condemn him further to the tortures of the damned? and would you halt him while he is trying to do his duty as a man and a soldier? what benefit to you?”
she drew up proudly.
“what benefit, indeed, to me? do you think i would ask this for myself? no, it was for him—it was for his welfare only that i dared to come to you. and you will not hear new evidence?”
but now she was speaking to thomas jefferson, the president of the united states, man of affairs as well, man of firm will and clear-cut decision.
“madam,” said he, coldly, “in this office we do a thing but once. had i condemned yonder young man to his death—and perhaps i have—i would not now reconsider that decision. i would not speak so long as this over it, did i not know and love you both—yes, and grieve over you both; but what is written is written.”
his giant hand fell lightly, but with firmness, on the desk at his side. the inexorableness of a great will was present in the room as an actual thing. tears swam in her eyes.
“you would not hear what was the actual cause of my wish for him——”
“no, my dear! we have made our plans.”
“there are other plans afoot these days, mr. jefferson.”
“tut, tut! are you my enemy, too? oh, yes, i know there are enemies enough in wait for me and my administration on every side. yes, i know a plan—i [pg 116]know of many such. but one thing also i do know, madam, and it is this—not all the enemies on this earth can alter me one iota in this undertaking on which i have sent captain lewis. as against that magnificent adventure there is nothing can be offered as an offset, nothing that can halt it for an instant. no reward to him or me—nay, no reward to any other human being—shall stop his advancement in that purpose which he shares with me. if he fails, i fail with him—and all my life as well!”
she rose now, calm before the imperious quality of his nature, so unlike his former gentleness.
“you refuse, then, mr. jefferson? you will not reopen this case?”
“i refuse nothing to you gladly, my dear lady. but you have seen him—you have tested him. did he turn back? shall i, his friend and his chief, halt him at such a time? now that were the worst kindness to him in the world. and i am convinced that you and i both plan only kindness for him.”
suddenly he saw the tears in her eyes. at once he was back again, the courteous gentleman.
“do not weep, theodosia, my child,” said he. “let me kiss you, as your father or your grandfather would—one who holds you tenderly in his heart. forgive me that i pass sentence on you both, but you must part—you must not ask him back. there now, my dear, do not weep, or you will make me weep. let me kiss you for him—and let us all go on about our duties in the world. my dear, good-by! you must go.”
