t in both countries
the hulling and cleaning machine was the same. "Then," thought he, "the
seed of the Italian rice must be better."

So, doing up some small packages of the best seed rice he could find, he
sent them to Charleston. The seeds were carefully distributed among the
planters, who made good use of them, and from those seeds as a beginning
some of the finest rice in the world is now produced in our own States.

JEFFERSON'S GREATEST WORK AS A STATESMAN

But valuable as these services were to his countrymen, Jefferson's great
work in the world was that of a statesman. He first came into prominence
in the Second Continental Congress, when, you recall, the brave men
representing the several colonies decided that the time had come for the
American people to declare themselves free and independent of England.
Here Jefferson's ability as a writer did good service; for of the
committee of five appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence
Jefferson was a member, and it fell to him to write the first draft of
that great state paper.

Congress spent a few days in going over this draft and making some slight
changes in it. In the main, however, it stands as Jefferson wrote it.

After filling many of the high offices in the country, in 1801 Jefferson
became the third President of the United States. In this lofty position
history gives us another striking picture of the man. It shows that he was
simple in his tastes, and that he liked best those plain ways of living
which are most familiar to the common people.

On the day of his inauguration he went on foot to the Capitol, dressed in
his every-day clothes and attended only by a few friends. It became his
custom later, when going up to the Capitol on official business, to go on
horseback, tying his horse with his own hands to a near-by fence before
entering the building. He declined to hold weekly receptions, as had been
the custom when Washington and Adams were Presidents, but instead he
opened his house to all on the Fourth of July, and on New Year's Day. In
these ways he was acting out his belief that the President should be
simple in dress and manner.

Many things which Jefferson did proved that he was an able statesman, but
the one act which stands out above all others as the greatest and wisest
of his administration, was the "Louisiana Purchase."

Let us see how this purchase came to be made. Before Jefferson became
President many pioneers, we know,