The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
RETIREMENT / FROM PRESIDENCY
I have rarely written to you; never but by safe conveyances; and
avoiding everything political, lest coming from one in the station I
then held, it might be imputed injuriously to our country, or perhaps
even excite jealousy of you. Hence my letters were necessarily dry.
Retired now from public concerns, totally unconnected with them, and
avoiding all curiosity about what is done or intended, what I say is
from myself only, the workings of my own mind, imputable to nobody
else.
Now a word as to myself. I am retired to Monticello, where, in the
bosom of my family, and surrounded by my books, I enjoy a repose to
which I have been long a stranger. My mornings are devoted to
correspondence. From breakfast to dinner, I am in my shops, my garden,
or on horseback among my farms; from dinner to dark, I give to society
and recreation with my neighbors and friends; and from candle light to
early bed-time, I read. My health is perfect; and my strength
considerably reinforced by the activity of the course I pursue;
perhaps it is as great as usually falls to the lot of near sixty-seven
years of age. I talk of ploughs and harrows, of seeding and
harvesting, with my neighbors, and of politics too, if they choose,
with as little reserve as the rest of my fellow citizens, and feel, at
length, the blessings of being free to say and do what I please,
without being responsible for it to any mortal. A part of my
occupation, and by no means the least pleasing, is the direction of
the studies of such young men as ask it. They place themselves in the
neighboring village, and have the use of my library and counsel, and
make a part of my society. In advising the course of their reading, I
endeavor to keep their attention fixed on the main objects of all
science, the freedom and happiness of man. So that coming to bear a
share in the councils and government of their country, they will keep
ever in view the sole objects of all legitimate government.
to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 26 February 1810
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