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Show Hiif gs ii THOMAS JEFFERSON. mm ! i H 1 II " wrer on Jefferson giving incidents of his f f. wonderful scholarship and the marvelous versatil-1 versatil-1 ; ! -i H I I ity of the man, notes that he at the same time was Bf jjj I ' I often following foolish theories and dreaming im-Bf im-Bf J f j 1 possible dreams. He evidently had an absolutely l ' nil 1 1 I restless mind and so explored all the sciences, I i lj I ' I ! learned half a dozen languages, was as familiar I ' I 1 Is 1 wn Greek and Roman classics as with a mod-B mod-B I ' f ern sPemS book and declared that he derived B j 1 ' I more pleasure from his familiarity with Greek H 'h, 11 and atin tlian from any other accomplishment. B j f I J But ho was always fond of mathematics. "We H i j) 1, have no theories there," he was wont to say; "No K ) !f II H uncertainties remain on the mind; all is demonic demon-ic ''' Tl! 8' stration and satisfaction." f ! i 8 Still, ho was full of kinks. He collected much ' i V'' I data to establish that cold and moisture fl , j .I. ' fl rather than heat increased the size of animals, B j 4 I 9 and 'when it was pointed out to him that elephants B. Ciflf flji were large than any animal of a cold climate, he Hi lH s insisted that there must be undiscovered fl j f ' n beasts among the ice-bound regions of the earth B , j figj that would exceed in size anything in the tropics V l4 1 m because cold and moisture must necessarily ln- H !!l jj IB1 crease their growth. The author of the history V ! I H adds: "Curiously enough the largest prehistoric V i fJ mammals have been found buried in the snows V i $ ' fll of slberIa-" Tnat only shows that a historian V I ' m i ' II should likewise be a scholar. It is true that the V i H I ! mammals have been found buried in Siberian V '! Ph 01 snow, but it is just as true that only tropical B IBj plants grew around them when the cataclysm H lu! came that overwhelmed them. The earth is much fl ' t if Ij! inclined on its axis; suppose it were to right itself B It 'fit UP "Would there not be once more a tropical re- j jflj gion in the far north under the direct rays of the I m sun? Those mammals were browsing on tropical i B plants when the tip of the earth came. The j H earths crust was shivered, the grasses and hot W water arose to a great height and when the water ill fell it was snow, and all animal life had ceased I H t to exist on the planet. But we were speaking of 1 iS Jefferson. He wanted to found a National Acad- j H emy similar to the Institute of France, but he im- ' ! 'm ported the first threshing machine, and when 'I Uli grading a site for his home at Monticello, he, '' ' Jffi noticing that some worlcmen used wheelbarrows B WW t-W0 wneels &nd some with only one wheel, sat 1 -US down, measured the loads and the time required n mW'1 for flIling and unloading and then ordered that B ma only the two-wheel barrow should be used. He BB jji ji9 was accomplished in a hundred sciences, but his imi ma most earnest desire was to improve the condition I w mm ks fellow men- There was a law in Italy for- S Hfl bidding the export of rice, but Jefferson invoked IB H "tlie bigaer law" Ailed his overcoat and coat pock- Hfl ets with the finest rice to be obtained, sent it to BV " 1 America, where it was planted and carefully tend- l' m flH ed and from a the rice grown since in Amer- mB ! '' HM ica came- He had no humor, little imagination and BB , W, mm would take nothing for granted, not even the Bible. H I wM without convincing proof. He believed in per- BB ! 1 petual advancement. He wrote to Madison: "No H r B society can make a perpetual constitution or a W ! perpetual law. The earth belongs to the living I H generation. The constitution and the V ,; w nsl laws of theIr Predecesosrs are extinguished in Bb Hii i IB tlaelr natural course with those that gave them H 11 B being." B mw B Jefferson was not always great, but of tener than H H IhI most other men and the energy of mind seems to BH i IbwI have been more intense than even that of Frank- bb J IB lu- MB fjil! HH |