a pleasant hour playing
their violins together.

We have a description of Jefferson as he appeared at this time. He was
over six feet tall, slender in body, but with large hands and feet. His
freckled face was topped by a mass of sandy hair, from beneath which
looked out keen, friendly gray eyes. He stood erect, straight as an arrow,
a fine picture of health and strong young manhood.

Thus we may imagine him as he stood one day while a law student at
Williamsburg, in the doorway of the courthouse, earnestly listening to his
friend Patrick Henry as he delivered his famous speech against the Stamp
Act. The fiery words of the eloquent speaker made a deep impression upon
young Jefferson's quick, warm nature.

Both young men were earnest patriots, but they served their country in
different ways. To Patrick Henry it was given to speak with the silver
tongue of the orator; while Jefferson, who was a poor speaker, wrote with
such grace and strength that he has rightly been called "The Pen of the
Revolution."

Before taking up his public life, it will be of interest to us to see how
he helped his countrymen in other ways. Two valuable and lasting
improvements have come down from him. The first of these was the system of
decimal currency, which replaced the clumsy system of pounds, shillings,
and pence used in colonial days. When you are called upon to work out
examples in English currency, be grateful to Thomas Jefferson that we have
instead the much simpler system of dollars and cents.

The second improvement--which was for the benefit of agriculture, in which
Jefferson always felt a deep interest--had, perhaps, even greater
importance, for it was not merely a convenience but a means of increasing
wealth. It was a new form of plough, which, sinking deeper into the soil,
vastly increased its productive power, and has been of untold value to the
people not only of our country but of the whole world.

Jefferson showed his interest in the work of the farm in another way.
While he was in France as American minister to the King he found that,
although the French ate a great deal of rice, especially during Lent, very
little of it came from the United States, because rice raised here was
thought to be of an inferior quality. The best rice came from Italy.

[Illustration: A Rice-Field in Louisiana.]

Wishing to help American rice-growers, Jefferson, therefore, went to Italy
to study the Italian method of growing it. He found tha