to fortify our minds against the attacks of these calamities and
misfortunes should be one of the principal studies and endeavors of our
lives.

"The only method of doing this is to assume a perfect resignation to the
Divine will, to consider that whatever does happen must happen, and that
by our uneasiness we cannot prevent the blow before it does fall, but we
may add to its force after it has fallen.

"These considerations, and others such as these, may enable us in some
measure to surmount the difficulties thrown in our way, to bear up with
a tolerable degree of patience under this burden of life, and to proceed
with a pious and unshaken resignation till we arrive at our journey's
end, when we may deliver up our trust into the hands of Him who gave
it, and receive such reward as to Him shall seem proportionate to our
merits."




THOMAS JEFFERSON. (1743-1826), By G. Mercer Adam


JEFFERSON, when he penned the famous Declaration of Independence, which
broke all hope of reconciliation with the motherland and showed England
what the deeply-wronged Colonies of the New World unitedly desired
and would in the last resort fight for, had then just passed his
thirty-third birthday. Who was the man, and what were his upbringings
and status in the then young community, that inspired the writing of
this great historic document--a document that on its adoption gave