f them that I am sure all boys will like to
read of him. His fa-ther, Pe-ter Jef-fer-son, took his bride, Jane
Ran-dolph, to a house on a wild tract of land of o-ver 1,000 a-cres,
way out in Vir-gin-ia, right in the midst of great woods. He was a big,
strong man, and this strength was ve-ry use-ful to him in mak-ing his
new home, for he had to chop down huge trees and then cut them up in-to
the logs of which the lit-tle log cab-in was built. He took with him
in-to this wild new land on-ly a few slaves, but with their help his
farm soon grew large, and he be-came a rich man. The In-di-ans were
great friends of his, and al-ways sure of a warm wel-come in his home.

Still, the In-di-ans were not al-ways at peace with the white men, who
had come to make their homes so near them, and folks had to be on the
watch for fear the red men would rob and kill them. Pe-ter Jef-fer-son
was made Col-o-nel of the men who kept the In-di-ans back in the woods,
and a-way from the lit-tle town that was fast grow-ing up near his home.

Now, this great, strong man was fond of books, and it was with his
fa-ther that lit-tle Thom-as be-gan to stu-dy. He was al-so taught to
ride, to swim and to shoot; and as he was fond of mu-sic he spent long
hours in learn-ing to play on the vi-o-lin, or "fid-dle" as it was then
called. The In-di-ans near his home liked him, and he used to play
tunes for the lit-tle, brown In-di-an boys to dance by.

He was on-ly nine years old when he went to board-ing school with a Mr.
Doug-lass, and here he be-gan to stu-dy Lat-in, Greek and French. He
was so near home that he did not stay a-way long at a time; and in-deed,
this home was such a hap-py one, so full of life and fun, that he did
not want to be a-way from it long at one time.

But this hap-py time did not last long, for Thom-as was but four-teen
years old when his brave fa-ther was shot in a fight with the In-di-ans.
This boy was now at the head of as big a place as the fa-ther of George
Wash-ing-ton had left to him, and though he kept on with his books
he had the care of this great farm to think of and plan for. He was
a bright, well-read boy; and was but six-teen when he took a place
at Wil-liam and Ma-ry Col-lege. Here, his love for books and mu-sic
kept him from the wild life led by some of the young men there, and
made friends for him a-mong the great men, whose homes were in
Wil-liams-town.

He met a great law-yer, George Wythe, and be-gan the stu-dy