Existing comment:
Letter from John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 3 February 1813.
As time went by, the signers paid attention to their dwindling ranks. After the death of George Clymer (Pennsylvania), Adams summed up who was left. Jefferson, he thought, might outlive them all:
"Jefferson is as tough as a lignum vitae Knot. He rides Journeys on Horseback. I have within a few days a Letter from him, a very obliging one, written with all the precision of his best years. Not one Symptom of decay or decline can I discern in it." |