of law with
him when, at the end of two years, he left col-lege. In five years he
be-gan the prac-tise of law in his old home in Vir-gin-ia. In two years,
so bright and quick was he, and of such a strong, clear mind, that he
had 198 cas-es, held a high place in his State, and was a rich man.

In 1770, while he and his moth-er were a-way from home, the old house
burned down. When news of this came to Jef-fer-son, his first thought
was for his books, and he said to the slave who had told him: "Did you
save an-y of my books?" "No, mas-ter," said the slave, "but we did save
your fid-dle." You see e-ven when he was a great and bu-sy man he still
loved his fid-dle; but the loss of all his law books was ve-ry hard for
a bu-sy law-yer, and it took him a long while to get the new books that
he must have.

[Illustration: MONTICELLO.

The Home of Thomas Jefferson.]

He had be-gun to build a ve-ry large new house at Mon-ti-cel-lo, and
so in the lit-tle end of this he now went to live. Two years lat-er, to
this home, which was to be-come known all o-ver the world, he brought
his bride, Mrs. Mar-tha Skel-ton, a young and ve-ry rich wid-ow. They
were mar-ried on New Year's Day, 1772, and came to their home in such
a hard snow-storm that the hors-es could not drag the coach through the
big drifts, so these two young folks left the warm coach, and rode the
tired hors-es up to the door of their new home. Jef-fer-son and his
wife gave great care to Mon-ti-cel-lo, and it was known far and near
for its great beau-ty and for its choice and rare fruits and flow-ers.

But Jef-fer-son was much from home. In 1762 he was sent to Con-gress,
and here he at once stood at the head of the band of wise and great men
who were then there. His mind was so clear and bright that in all the
grave things that came up he knew at once just what to do, he had the
trust of all men.

He was a great help in writ-ing the Dec-la-ra-tion of In-de-pend-ence;
in fact, it may well be said that he wrote it. Soon af-ter this great
act he left Con-gress and turned his mind to the laws of his own State;
he made them safe and just for all men, both rich and poor. In 1779 he
was made gov-ern-or of Vir-gin-ia; and now his work was hard; not on-ly
must he find a way to keep the In-di-ans from the hous-es of the white
men but the Brit-ish came down to the south and laid his fair home in
ruins. Not for long years did Mon-ti-cel-lo grow in beau-ty once more.
But through all