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The University of Virginia at Charlottesville

THE CHILD OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S OLD AGE When Thomas Jefferson retired from the Presidency he was surrounded at Monticello by his daughter, her' husband, and eleven grandchildren. Daily association HOMES AND HAUNTS OF THE CAVALIERS with the young people made him more anxious than ever to carry out a plan that was the growth of years. He wanted to see other children as happy as were those in his own home, and he felt that the one thing he could do to increase their happiness would be to see that the State made provision for their education.

During the remainder of his life he never lost sight of his project. While he did not live to see his system of common schools established in Virginia, it was his joy to see the University of Virginia grow under his hands from an academy to a college and then to a university. From 1817 he labored for State appropriations for the school. A friend in the State Senate assisted him nobly. The reader of the published volume of the correspondence between the two men, a volume of 528 pages, will see how untiring was the labor that had its reward when the appropriation of funds made sure the founding of the university. Three hundred thousand dollars were provided for construction, as well as $15,000 a year for maintenance.