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Show The Sage of MonticeSlo "The Sage of Monticello" is the nickname that was applied to Thomas Jefferson for the same reason and in much the same manner as Daniel Webster was given the title "The Sage of Marsh-field." Marsh-field." Jefferson won the title of "sage" for the many glorious truths he uttered, and as Webster loved every inch of the ground of the beautiful Cape Cod village of Marshfield, and its calm scenery he believed gave him just such inspiration inspira-tion as he needed, so at Monticello, Jefferson's Virginia estate, the great statesman found the most delightful retreat from his labors, and the essence of contentment, which inspired him to larger, greater and more beneficial things for tho betterment of his country. Jefferson was born at Shadwell, the homestead of the family, near Charlottesville, Va. When that estate was destroyed by fire in 1770, along with its furniture, books and his law papers, he sought out another location whicfc was even more attractive to him. About two miles from the Shadwell house was a hill named by Jefferson, Monticello (little motint). 1 This eminance commanded com-manded a view of surprising beauty, and he chose this place as the site for a mansion that should embody his ideas of architecture an art upon which he expended much thought and In which he was more than an amateur. After the fire the building of a new house upon his "little mount" was pushed rapidly, and In something more than a year a section was made ready for occupancy. In 1772 Jefferson married and brought to his new mansion Martha Skelton, a cftlldless widow of 22. In a letter written from Paris in 17S6 to Mrs. Maria Conway, Jefferson, referring to his home, said: "And our- own dear Monticello. where has nature spread so rich a mantle under the eye? Mountains, forests, rocks, rivers. With what majesty do we there ride above the storms. How sublime to look down Into the workhouse of nature, to ''see her clouds, hall, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated at our , feet! And tl glorious sun when rising as If out of a distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and giving life to all nature." Jefferson's public life began In 1789. when he took his seat as a member of the Virginia house of burgesses. He was twenty-six years of age at the time. This was only a little more than two years previous to his occupancy of Monticello. which he called his home during the remainder of his life. Therefore all the great things In the lire of rhis great American were centered about this "little mount," and next to the home of Washington Wash-ington at Mount Vernon, the home of Jefferson at Monticello, both in the same state. Is one of the great American shrines |
