was in danger of being arrested in Washington for debt. He was in great
distress, but a Richmond bank helped him for a time with a loan. He
returned to Monticello, where he lived with his only surviving daughter
Martha, her husband and numerous children, and with the children of his
daughter Maria, who had died in 1804.

He devoted hard labor and many years to the perfection of the common
school system in Virginia, and was so pleased with his establishment
of the college at Charlottesville, out of which grew the University
of Virginia, that he had engraved on his tombstone, "Father of the
University of Virginia," and was prouder of the fact than of being the
author of the Declaration of Independence.

Meanwhile, his lavish hospitality carried him lower and lower into
poverty. There was a continual procession of curious visitors to
Monticello, and old women poked their umbrellas through the window panes
to get a better view of the grand old man. Congress in 1814, paid
him $23,000 for his library which was not half its value. Some time
afterward a neighbor obtained his name as security on a note for $20,000
and left him to pay it all.

In the last year of his life, when almost on the verge of want, $16,500
was sent to him as a present from friends in New York, Philadelphia and
Baltimore, more than one-half being raised by Mayor Hone of New York.
Jefferson was moved to tears, and in expressing his gratitude said, he
was thankful that not a penny had been wrung from taxpayers.

In the serene sunset of life, the "Sage of Monticello" peacefully passed
away on the afternoon of July 4, 1826, and a few hours later, John
Adams, at his home in Quincy, Mass., breathed his last. A reverent hush