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Show or exactly fifty year ftrr presenting the Declaration to congress. About 8 o'clock the same day Mr. Adam wm roused by hearing the shout of the people peo-ple io a distant grove, celebrating the day. llo meutaoued the fact and added. "Thomas Jefferson still hves." Soon after ho breathed his but. As tbe slow mails of those days spread the news tbo penplo were overcome by the great coincidence and remarked tht heaven itself had set tho seal of ilt high approval upon their groat work by calling call-ing hauie on it first semi-centennial the author aud the chief supporter of the Declaration of Independence. J. 1L Duntx THE SEMI-GKNTENNIAL. The Dramatio Death of Two TaaioM Signers of the Declaration of Iudepondenca, JOHN ADAMS, THOMAS JEFFERSON- Their Deaths Were So Beaiarkable That, Many Saw a Providence. In It. Beyond question the most interesting fact in the history of Independence day is that the man who drafted the Declaration Declara-tion and the man who stood at bis tide when he introduced it into congress, and who predicted with accuracy its future fame, died ujKin the same day and exactly ex-actly fifty years affrr completing the greatest act of their lives. They differed iu almost every element of character, yet both were ardent patriots, patri-ots, upright law makers, and. iu their ways, able statesmen. Tlio Massachusetts Massachu-setts man, with a Puritanical education and inherent distrust of universal suffrage, suf-frage, and the Virginian, of extremely liberal training and utilxmmW faith in democracy, worked their way to exactly the same conclusion iu regard to Ore.it Britain and the colonies. They stood together like brothers while the war lasted, then became the head of radically radi-cally differing parties, and were not reconciled till ago had coo.ed li 'r ambition am-bition and retirement had feMW resentment re-sentment to die. They probably agreed more -arly as to religious questions than any other. John Adams culled himself a Unitarian, and posterity has agreed to call Thomas Jcffcrtton a Deist, yet it ia impossible to define with any exactness how they differed dif-fered as to tho attributes of God or the moral government of the unlvorse. Adams certaiuly Raid tho harsher tilings of Calvinism, but that was probably tie-cuiuk) tie-cuiuk) ho lived where Calvinism wan still tho ruling power; and it is aiumdng to noto that Jivffersun, who never Bpoke of any miui's religion when he could decently de-cently avoid it, was long and vehemently vehement-ly denouuood as a hlutipbuiuor and 'French infidel," while Adams was popularly regarded as ortliodox. The popular instinct, however, was sound; the mind of Adams was rovoren-tial rovoren-tial to a degree far greater than that of Jefferson. Home old writer has summed up their alliance in the Revolution, for different reasons, by saying that Adams wanted the existing IibnrtiuH of Englishmen English-men scoured by CHlttblishlng a greatxr and better England in America, while Jefferson wautml a new system, root and branch, to secure the absolute liberties of humim nature. John Adams was bora Oct, 19, 1UW, and Thojuua JoiEarmm April i), 17411; the former also lived a few hours tlia latar, his age at death being within three months of 91, while thut of Jefferson was but 83. Jefferson was an ritreuas blondo, Adams somewhat darker; the former was tall and in youth somewhat ungainly, while the latter wan rather below be-low the medium giro, tinuly knit and graceful from Id youth. Their fruuid-ship fruuid-ship (teemed to incmase till the ieace and thoy ctrrepondod freely, but in their first service abroad each hail an experience which even then indicated that they were soon to be political opponents, oppo-nents, the narration of which is both amusing and instructive. John Adamx, an the first AineTimn minister to England, was, to pnt it bluntly, blunt-ly, annbbed; Thomas Jeffirraon, on the contrary, was received with enthtniisetio welcome at the court of Franco. The former denounced Goorgo III and his ministers, but bestowed high praise on the British government aud people; the latter passed King Louis XVI over with SHIUAIL ADAMS. something very like a sneer, and railed at his queen. When Minister Adams, after long delay, met Ooorgo III for the first time the king aaid abruptly: "Mr. Adams, I wb.h you to understand that I was the last man to consent to ths independence of Arnorira." Adams luado an equally brusque reply: re-ply: ,"1 have do feeling or affection save for my own country." "An bonnet uiau will have no other," rejoined the king, and so they soon became be-came good friends. Whon Minister Jefferson was introduced intro-duced to Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Antoi-nette, his queen, they overwhelmed blm with compliments and good wishes for "our dear allies, tho Aru'ricans," to which he replied with only official rxmr-tesy, rxmr-tesy, and was soon intensely interested in the signs of the coming Krmch revolution. revo-lution. It was plain, even then, that Thoniau Jefferson would defend that revolution. rev-olution. That Adam wanted a stronger central cen-tral government for the United States and Jefferson a larger measure of local independenee is a fact known to all. Two parties forntwl, and Uion came the French revolution and roiued political pasaion to tbe boiling point If the two had been superior to human nature and intent on remaining friends, their furious furi-ous partisan would not have allowed it. They exchanged only the coldest official courtesies, and for thirteen years did not correspond. The indignation of Mrs. Abigail Adams over a wrong done to brr son. John Quincy, was iudirertly the csb-.c cf wcvn-nliatiim. bne aiu 1 for j n eiplsnationi Jefferson wrote and con- ; vuircd hr that he was In no way respon- j sible, add ouq the old confidence wa j rjeVred. Thus harmonized, tho two old stattav ! rcai fjnd patriot dcarrnded hand Is . hand, as it were, to the grave. Oa th evening of July !, lto, it became evi- I dent that JeSeraon was dying. A little j after midnight hereviv-! and remarked. . "This is the Fourth of July." Early in j the forenoon be hersrne ODemsriorts and j sfoa aeoisrjwi pAlhjCtf I |