son, their third child, was born on the thirteenth

of April, 1743.

But Shadwell was not the scene of all of Thomas Jefferson's boyhood. When he was but two years old his father's friend, William Randolph, died. His dying request was that Peter Jefferson should take charge of his great estate at Tuckahoe and be the guardian of his young son.

To do this it was necessary that Peter Jefferson should live at Tuckahoe. Accordingly he moved his family there, and for seven years devoted a large part of his time to executing the trust of his friend, which he did without pay.

Aside from farming, Peter Jefferson did a great deal of surveying. He made the first reliable map of Virginia which had ever been made. While living at Tuckahoe he was appointed a member of a commission to survey the boundary line between North Carolina and Virginia. He was often away from home on difficult and even dangerous surveying expeditions.

Little Thomas Jefferson never wearied of

hearing tales of his encounters with wild beasts, of nights spent in trees for safety, of days of journeying through unbroken forests with only an Indian for a comrade. In the community that grew up near Shadwell, Peter Jefferson was a leader. He was a justice of the peace, colonel of the militia, and member of the House of Burgesses of Virginia.

His position as colonel of the militia brought him into contact with the Indians. Important chiefs were often entertained at his hospitable home. Thus Thomas Jefferson's interest in the red man may be traced to his early childhood, when he saw the chiefs in his father's house and visited their camps in the woods.

Peter Jefferson took great interest in his son's physical development; he taught him to ride and swim and to take long walks. He often said that men who have strong bodies are most apt to have strong, free minds. His own strength was the wonder and delight of his son.

He could pass between two hogsheads of tobacco, lying on their sides, and lift them,

both at the same time, to an upright position, though each weighed almost one thousand pounds. One day when he was directing three slaves to pull down an old shed with a rope, growing impatient with their futile efforts to do the work, he siezed the rope and, singlehanded, brought the structure down with a crash.

But Peter Jefferson desired strength for his son as a means to an end. When the lad was only five years old he was sent to a good school where he had to work hard. As he grew older he showed unusual ability. This delighted the father, who read and talked with him and took pains to excite in him a true ambition for knowledge. When Thomas was fourteen years old his father suddenly died.

The boy now studied under Mr. Maury. He made rapid progress and was his teacher's pride. He was popular with boys of his own age, and was the darling of his mother and his older sister, Jane. Indeed, he seemed in a fair way to be spoiled; but his father had kindled in him ambitions that were easily

fanned into flame, and at the age of seventeen he wrote his guardian the following letter:

"SHADWELL, January 14, 1760.

"Sir.-I was at colo, Peter Randolph's about a fortnight ago, and my Schooling falling into Discourse, he said he thought it would be to my Advantage to go to the college, and was desirous I should go, as indeed I am myself for several Reasons. In the first place as long as I stay at the Mountain, the loss of one-fourth of my Time is inevitable, by company's coming here and detaining me from School. And likewise my absence will in a great measure put a stop to so much company, and by that means lessen the expense of the Estate in House-keeping.

"And on the other hand by going to college, I shall get a more universal acquaintance, which may hereafter be serviceable to me; and I suppose I can pursue my Studies in the Greek and Latin as well there as here, and likewise learn something of the Mathematics. I shall be glad of your opinion, and remain Sir, your most humble servant.

"THOMAS JEFFERSON, JR.

"To MR. JOHN HERVEY, at Bellemont."

The college referred to in this letter was William and Mary College, in Williamsburg. Mr. Hervey thought Thomas Jefferson's plan a good one, and the boy accordingly became a student in that institution.

CHAPTER II.

COLLEGE DAYS.

THE distance from Shadwell to Williamsburg seemed greater in 1760 than in these days of steam engines and electric cars. A traveler in those days usually allowed himself time for one or two visits on the way. It was winter when Thomas Jefferson first took the journey with William and Mary College for his goal.

He stopped at Hanover to make one of a merry party spending the Christmas holidays at the home of Colonel Dandridge. The visit was a memorable one for Thomas Jefferson not only because he had a very good time, but also because it was here that he first met Patrick Henry.

Patrick Henry was then an uncouth-looking country lad whose principal object in life seemed to be to have a good time and to