overnor Jay."

When his term of office expired he was re-elected, so he served as
Governor, in all, six years. The most important measure carried out during
that time was the abolition of slavery in the State of New York, an act
he had strenuously insisted on for twenty years, but which was not made
possible until he had the power of Governor, and crowded the measure upon
the Legislature.

Over a quarter of a century had passed since John Adams and John Jay had
met on horseback out there on the New Jersey turnpike. Their intimacy had
been continuous and their labors as important as ever engrossed the minds
of men, but in it all there was neither jealousy nor bickering. They were
friends.

At the close of Jay's gubernatorial term, President Adams nominated him
for the office of Chief Justice, made vacant by the resignation of Oliver
Ellsworth. The Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination, but Jay
refused to accept the place.

For twenty-eight years he had served his country--served it in its most
trying hours. He was not an old man in years, but the severity and anxiety
of his labors had told on his health, and the elasticity of youth had gone
from his brain forever. He knew this, and feared the danger of continued
exertion. "My best work is done," he said; "if I continue I may undo the
good I have accomplished. I have earned a rest."

He retired to the ancestral farm at Bedford, Westchester County, to enjoy
his vacation. In a year his wife died, and the shock told on his already
shattered nerves.

"The habit of reticence grew upon him," says one writer, "until he could
not be tricked into giving an opinion even about the weather."

And so he lived out his days as a partial recluse, deep in problems of
"raising watermelons, and sheep that would not jump fences." He worked
with his hands, wore blue jeans, voted at every town election, but to a
great degree lived only in the past. The problems of church and village
politics and farm life filled his declining days.

To a great degree his physical health came back, but the problems of
statecraft he left to other heads and hands.

His religious nature manifested itself in various philanthropic schemes,
and the Bible Society he founded endures even unto this day. These things
afforded a healthful exercise for that tireless brain which refused to run
down.

His daughters made his home ideal, their love and gentleness soothing his
declining years.

Death to him