he gave to A-mer-i-ca, in the spring af-ter that hard win-ter at
Val-ley Forge. Do you see why this trip at this time was a brave act,
and one by which Ad-ams ran a great risk of los-ing his life? Eng-land
had no wish that he should reach France, and her ships tried in vain to
get him. If he had been caught he would have been hung, as a man who was
false to his land and his king. You know that he went to France though,
and did his work well. He stood up for our rights and had a bill passed
which made the ports of France and Eng-land free to our goods. At the
end of the war he was sent to Eng-land to look out for our rights there;
and, though now this is a pleas-ant task, it was not then, for it was
hard for Ad-ams to be true to A-mer-i-ca and yet not an-ger the Eng-lish
king, George III.

[Illustration: GEORGE III.

From an anonymous print.]

But we have seen how bold and brave a man he was, so the first thing
he said to the king was: "I must tell your Maj-es-ty that I love no
coun-try but my own"; and said the king: "An hon-est man will nev-er
love an-y oth-er." In spite of this, Ad-ams met with much rude-ness at
the Eng-lish court; but he did his best for his coun-try, and when he
came home in 1787, af-ter twelve years of hard work, he was met with
great joy. He was made Vice-Presi-dent with Wash-ing-ton, and at the
end of Wash-ing-ton's term of of-fice he was made Pres-i-dent. He
served on-ly four years and then made way for Thom-as Jef-fer-son.

At the age of six-ty-eight years, with the love of the whole land, he
went to his home in Quin-cy, Mass. His heart was ever with his coun-try;
and he lived un-til his son, John Quin-cy Ad-ams, was made Pres-i-dent
of the U-nit-ed States.

His last thoughts were for his coun-try. On June 30th, 1826, he gave
as a toast for the great feast to be held on Ju-ly 4th the words:
"In-de-pend-ence for-ev-er."

[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF JOHN ADAMS.

At Quincy, Mass.]

He died on the night of this, A-mer-i-ca's great day. His last words
were of Jef-fer-son. He said: "Thom-as Jef-fer-son still lives." But
this was not so, for Jef-fer-son had died a few hours be-fore on this
same day; and this young land wept for two of her great men, both of
whom, in giv-ing up their best to their coun-try, helped to make it
the great, free land that it is to-day.

THOM-AS JEF-FER-SON.

When Thom-as Jef-fer-son was a boy his home was so near the In-di-ans'
camp and he saw so much o