Homes of American Statesmen; With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive SketchesVarious
History
Homes of American Statesmen; With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches
Various
Historic buildings -- United States; Statesmen -- United States; United States -- Biography
latter, still bright and substantial, was John Adams's. All these
apartments are connected by a longitudinal passage in the rear, which
communicates with the kitchen.
The Library is in the second story over the Long Room. This chamber was
constantly occupied by the Elder President, both for a sitting and
sleeping room during his latter years. Here the writer saw him at the
age of nearly ninety, delighted with hearing Scott's novels, or Dupuis'
Origine de tous les Cultes, or the simplest story-book, which he could
get his grandchildren to read to him. He seemed very cheerful, and ready
to depart, remarking that "he had eat his cake." When his son came home
from Washington, he converted this room into a library. Of course his
books are very miscellaneous both as to subjects and languages; but they
are not all here. Some are arranged on the sides of passage-ways and in
other parts. A portion of them compose in part a library at his son's
town residence. John Adams in his lifetime gave his library--a very
valuable one--to the town of Quincy, together with several tracts of
land for the erection of an academy or classical school, to which his
library is ultimately to attach. The entire library of John Quincy Adams
comprises twelve thousand volumes. To this must be added a chest full of
manuscripts, original and translated, in prose and poetry. They show
unbounded industry. From his boyhood to the age of fifty, when he took
the Department of State, he was an intense student. In this chest are
many of the earlier fruits, such as complete versions of a large number
of the classics, of German and other foreign works.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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