e Chateau Chaviniac. But a great conflict was going on--the Seven
Years' War was being waged. He heard the call of his country and he
felt it his duty to respond.

There was a sad parting from his beautiful young wife; then he dashed
down the steep, rocky roadway from the chateau to the village, and so
galloped away--over the plains, through fords and defiles, toward the
German border--never to return.

Lafayette's ancestors on his mother's side were equally distinguished
for military spirit. His mother was the daughter of the Comte de la
Riviere, lieutenant general and captain of the second company of the
King's Musketeers.

But this "hero of two worlds" inherited something more than military
spirit. The ancestors from which he descended formed a line of true
gentlefolk. For hundreds of years they had been renowned throughout
the region of their Auvergne estates for lofty character and a kindly
attitude toward their humble peasant neighbors. It was only natural
that this most famous representative of the line should become a
valiant champion of justice and freedom.

This great man was destined to have as many adventures as any boy of
to-day could wish for. To recount them all would require not one book,
but a dozen. Think of a lad of nineteen being a general in our
Revolutionary War, and the trusted friend and helper of Washington!
Lafayette was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, boyishly happy
at the achievements of the American soldiery, and taking especial
pride in his own American regiment. This period was followed by a
worthy career in France, but for five years--from his thirty-fifth
year to his fortieth--he was unjustly imprisoned in a grim old
Austrian fortress. At the age of sixty-seven he made a wonderful tour
through our country, being received with ceremonies and rejoicings
wherever he went; for every one remembered with deep gratitude what
this charming, courteous, elderly man had done for us in his youth. He
lived to the ripe age of seventy-seven, surrounded by children and
grandchildren, and interested in the work of the world up to the very
last.

The birth of Lafayette is recorded in the yellow and timeworn parish
register of Chaviniac. This ancient document states that on September
6, 1757, was born that "very high and very puissant gentleman
Monseigneur Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Dumotier de Lafayette,
the lawful son of the very high and the very puissant Monseigneur
Michel-Louis