Christmas at Monticello with _Thomas Jefferson_ BY HELEN TOPPING MILLER LONGMANS, GREEN & CO. NEW YORK · LONDON · TORONTO 1959 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC. 119 WEST 40th STREET, NEW YORK 18 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., Ltd. 6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON W 1 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 20 CRANFIELD ROAD, TORONTO 16 CHRISTMAS AT MONTICELLO WITH THOMAS JEFFERSON COPYRIGHT © 1959 BY HELEN TOPPING MILLER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IN ANY FORM PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., TORONTO FIRST EDITION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 59-11264 Printed in the United States of America [Illustration: Decorative glyph] _Christmas Tales_ _By_ Helen Topping Miller _Christmas for Tad_ _No Tears for Christmas_ _Christmas at Mount Vernon_ _Her Christmas at the Hermitage_ _Christmas with Robert E. Lee_ 1 _Washington: March, 1809_ Suddenly, as he climbed the long, curving flight of stairs, he knew that now he was an old man. Sixty-six last April, and, though his sandy red hair had merely faded instead of turning gray, there were twinges in his knees that reminded him of too many miles in the saddle, in cold rain and sleet, too many hours standing at his writing table, too much tension, not enough rest. But now he could rest. In the half-furnished rooms of the White House below, the crowd still danced at the Inaugural Ball, with the wife of the new president, sparkling, vivacious Dolly Madison, a gay and charming hostess in a sweeping white cambric dress and the inevitable enormous turban on her head. He was grateful, Thomas Jefferson was thinking as he toiled up the stairs, that he had been able to see his good friend, Jemmy Madison, inaugurated president of these new and struggling United States. But he was even more grateful that his own years of service were at an end. “No third term,” he had told them when they importuned him. “No, never! My work is done. I am going home.”