once more, and for the last
time, he came back home to Mt. Ver-non.

At the end of his term of of-fice, Wash-ing-ton on-ly wait-ed to see
the next Pres-i-dent, John Ad-ams, take the chair, and soon af-ter he
came back talk a-rose of war with France; and, of course, the coun-try
turned to him; he was a-gain put in charge of the ar-my, and took up
the pub-lic life he had so glad-ly laid down. But he had not long to
bear it this time, for on De-cem-ber 12th, 1799, while rid-ing in a
hard rain-storm, he took a heav-y cold, from which he died on Sat-ur-day
night, De-cem-ber 14th, be-tween ten and twelve o'clock.

Wash-ing-ton was bur-ied at Mt. Ver-non, and to-day the tomb of "The
Fa-ther of his Coun-try," as he is lov-ing-ly called is a sa-cred place;
not on-ly to us, but to the men and wo-men of the old lands, which were
taught by him so long a-go to hon-or and fear this great, new A-mer-i-ca.

Wash-ing-ton had been dead just one hun-dred years on De-cem-ber 14th,
1899, and the date was made much of in the U-nit-ed States: in New York
Ci-ty, in Wash-ing-ton, and at Mt. Ver-non there was a great time in his
hon-or, for this great man is as dear to his coun-try to-day as he was
when he was a-live.

[Illustration: WASHINGTON FAMILY VAULT.]

JOHN AD-AMS.

John Ad-ams was born, not in the far South with ma-ny slaves to wait
on him, but on a small farm in Brain-tree, Mass. Here, from old Eng-land
had come, in 1636, his great-grand-fa-ther, Hen-ry Ad-ams; and in this
old home was born on Oc-to-ber 19th, 1735, John Ad-ams, who was to be
the sec-ond Pres-i-dent of the U-nit-ed States. Now, on this farm in the
east, there was much work to be done, and few to do it; the folks who
had made their homes here did not lead such lives of ease as those who
lived on the great farms in the South.

As a small boy, though, of course, he was taught to read and write, John
Ad-ams had a good deal of hard work to do. There was wood to chop, and
snow to be cleared a-way; there were hors-es and cows to care for, and
there was much work to do in the fields. In all this work John took his
part, like the brave, strong boy that he was. When the days grew long
and cold, he was sent to an old school near his home, and here he at
once took his place with the boys, as one who would lead in fun and
sport of all kinds. There was a good deal of fun, too, in those days,
for boys and girls both; in the cold days there was good, strong ice on
which