Chapter 8

“Abigail Adams.”

(Memorandumsubjoined to the copy of this letter, in the handwriting of Mr. Adams.)

“Quincy,19th November, 1804.

“The whole of this correspondence was begun and conducted without my knowledge or suspicion. Last evening and this morning, at the desire of Mrs. Adams, I read the whole. I have no remarks to make upon it, at this time and in this place.

“J. Adams.”

“A new and strong tie was beginning indeed to bind the stately old men together. They were speedily becoming the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence—the last of the great actors and leaders of 1776. Their common and dearly-loved friend Rush had died in April, 1813, after a brief illness.” Mr. Jefferson wrote to Mr. Adams of this occurrence, and said: “Another of our friends of seventy-six is gone, my dear sir, another of the co-signers of the independence of our country. I believe we are under half a dozen at present; I mean the signers of the Declaration. Yourself, Gerry, Carroll and myself, are all I know to be living.”

Appended to a letter from Adams to Jefferson, dated July 15th, 1813, we find the following:

“I have been looking for some time for a space in my good husband’s letters to add the regards of an old friend, which are still cherished and preserved through all the changes and vicissitudes which have taken place since we first became acquainted, and will, I trust, remain as long as

“A. Adams.”

“Neither Mrs. Adams nor her husband ever met Mr. Jefferson again, but she had the opportunity, and eagerly availed herself of it, to bestow kindly and assiduous attentions on some of his family.

“She lost none of the imposing features of her character in the decline of life. An observing and intelligent gentleman who was a guest at Quincy within a year or two of her death, has given us a description of his visit. Mr. Adams shook as if palsied; but the mind and the heart were evidently sound. His spirits seemed as elastic as a boy’s. He joked, laughed heartily, and talked about everybody and everything, past and present, with the most completeabandon. He seemed to our highly educated informant to be a vast encyclopædia of written and unwritten knowledge. It gushed out on every possible topic, but was mingled with lively anecdotes and sallies, and he exhibited a carelessness in his language which suggested anything but pedantry or an attempt at ‘fine talking.’ In short, the brave old man was as delightful as he was commanding in conversation. Whilethe guest was deeply enjoying this interview, an aged and stately female entered the apartment, and he was introduced to Mrs. Adams. A cap of exquisite lace surrounded features still exhibiting intellect and energy, though they did not wear the appearance of ever having been beautiful. Her dress was snowy white, and there was that immaculate neatness in her appearance which gives to age almost the sweetness of youth. With less warmth of manner and sociableness than Mr. Adams, she was sufficiently gracious, and her occasional remarks betrayed intellectual vigor and strong sense. The guest went away feeling that he never again should behold such living specimens of the ‘great of old.’”

Mrs. Adams died of an attack of fever, the 28th of October, 1818, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. “To learning,” says her grandson, “in the ordinary sense of that term, Mrs. Adams could make no claim. Her reading had been extensive in the lighter departments of literature, and she was well acquainted with the poets in her own language, but it went no further. It is the soul, shining through the words, that gives them their great attraction; the spirit ever equal to the occasion, whether a great or a small one; a spirit, inquisitive and earnest in the little details of life, as when she was in France and England; playful, when she describes daily duties, but rising to the call when the roar of cannon is in her ears—or when she reproves her husband for not knowing her better than to think her a coward and to fear telling her bad news.”

“The obsequies of Mrs. Adams were attended by a great concourse of people, who voluntarily came to pay this last tribute to her memory. Several brief but beautiful notices of her appeared in the newspapers of the day, and a sermon was preached by the late Rev. Dr. Kirkland, then President of Harvard University, which closed with a delicate and affecting testimony to her worth. ‘Ye will seek to mourn, bereaved friends,’ it says, ‘as becomes Christians, in a manner worthy of the person you lament. You do then bless the Giver of Life that the course of your endeared and honored friend was so long and so bright; that she entered so fully into the spirit of those injunctions which we have explained, and was a minister of blessings to all within her influence. You are soothed to reflect that she was sensible of the many tokens of divine goodness which marked her lot; that she received the good of her existence with a cheerful and grateful heart; that, when called to weep, she bore adversity with an equal mind; that she used the world as not abusing it to excess, improving well her time, talents and opportunities, and though desired longer in this world, was fitted for a better happiness than this world can give.’”

Mr. Jefferson, despite the feeling that he had not been understood by Mrs. Adams as he thought he deserved, never lost any part of the profound respect and friendship he entertained for her, and soon as the news of her death reached him he wrote as follows to her husband:

To John Adams.

“Monticello,November 13th, 1818.

“The public papers, my dear friend, announce the fatal event of which your letter of October the 20th had given me ominous foreboding. Tried myself in the school of affliction, by the loss of every form of connection which can rive the human heart, I know well, and feel what you have lost, what you have suffered, are suffering, and have yet to endure. The same trials have taught me that for ills so immeasurable, time and silence are the only medicine. I will not, therefore, by useless condolences, open afresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more where words are vain, but that it is of some comfort to us both that the time is not very distant at which we are to deposit in the same casement our sorrows and suffering bodies, and to ascend in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved and lost, and whom we shall still love and never lose again. God bless you, and support you under your heavy affliction.

“Th. Jefferson.”

Side by side in the Congregational church in Quincy, to which he had given the donation to erect it with, lie the mortal remains of Mr. and Mrs. Adams. Within the same house, a plain white marble slab, on the right hand of the pulpit, surmounted by his bust, bears the following inscription, written by his eldest son:

Libertatem. Amicitiam. Fidem Retinebis.D. O. M.Beneath these walls,Are deposited the mortal remains ofJOHN ADAMS,Son of John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams,Second President of the United States,Born ¹⁹⁄₃₀ October, 1735.On the fourth of July, 1776,He pledged his life, fortune, and sacred honour,To the Independence of his country.On the third of September, 1783,He affixed his seal to the definitive treaty with Great Britain,Which acknowledged that independence,And consummated the redemption of his pledge.On the fourth of July, 1826,He was summonedTo the Independence of ImmortalityAnd to the judgment of his God.This house will bear witness to his piety;This Town, his birth-place, to his munificence;History to his patriotism;Posterity to the depth and compass of his mind.At his side,Sleeps, till the trump shall sound,ABIGAIL,His beloved and only wife,Daughter of William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith.In every relation of life a patternof filial, conjugal, maternal, and social virtue.Born November ¹¹⁄₂₂ 1744,Deceased 28 October, 1818,Aged 74.Married 25 October, 1764.

Libertatem. Amicitiam. Fidem Retinebis.

D. O. M.

Beneath these walls,

Are deposited the mortal remains of

JOHN ADAMS,

Son of John and Susanna (Boylston) Adams,

Second President of the United States,

Born ¹⁹⁄₃₀ October, 1735.

On the fourth of July, 1776,

He pledged his life, fortune, and sacred honour,

To the Independence of his country.

On the third of September, 1783,

He affixed his seal to the definitive treaty with Great Britain,

Which acknowledged that independence,

And consummated the redemption of his pledge.

On the fourth of July, 1826,

He was summoned

To the Independence of Immortality

And to the judgment of his God.

This house will bear witness to his piety;

This Town, his birth-place, to his munificence;

History to his patriotism;

Posterity to the depth and compass of his mind.

At his side,

Sleeps, till the trump shall sound,

ABIGAIL,

His beloved and only wife,

Daughter of William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith.

In every relation of life a pattern

of filial, conjugal, maternal, and social virtue.

Born November ¹¹⁄₂₂ 1744,

Deceased 28 October, 1818,

Aged 74.

Married 25 October, 1764.

During an union of more than half a centuryThey survived, in harmony of sentiment, principle and affection,The tempests of civil commotion.Meeting undaunted and surmountingThe terrors and trials of that revolution,Which secured the freedom of their country;Improved the condition of their times;And brightened the prospects of futurityTo the race of man upon earth.Pilgrim!From lives thus spent thy earthly duties learn:From fancy’s dreams to active virtue turn:Let freedom, friendship, faith, thy soul engage,And serve, like them, thy country and thy age.

During an union of more than half a century

They survived, in harmony of sentiment, principle and affection,

The tempests of civil commotion.

Meeting undaunted and surmounting

The terrors and trials of that revolution,

Which secured the freedom of their country;

Improved the condition of their times;

And brightened the prospects of futurity

To the race of man upon earth.

Pilgrim!

From lives thus spent thy earthly duties learn:

From fancy’s dreams to active virtue turn:

Let freedom, friendship, faith, thy soul engage,

And serve, like them, thy country and thy age.

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