John Ad-ams was born, not in the far South with ma-ny slaves to wait
on him, but on a small farm in Brain-tree, Mass. Here, from old Eng-land
had come, in 1636, his great-grand-fa-ther, Hen-ry Ad-ams; and in this
old home was born on Oc-to-ber 19th, 1735, John Ad-ams, who was to be
the sec-ond Pres-i-dent of the U-nit-ed States. Now, on this farm in the
east, there was much work to be done, and few to do it; the folks who
had made their homes here did not lead such lives of ease as those who
lived on the great farms in the South.
As a small boy, though, of course, he was taught to read and write, John
Ad-ams had a good deal of hard work to do. There was wood to chop, and
snow to be cleared a-way; there were hors-es and cows to care for, and
there was much work to do in the fields. In all this work John took his
part, like the brave, strong boy that he was. When the days grew long
and cold, he was sent to an old school near his home, and here he at
once took his place with the boys, as one who would lead in fun and
sport of all kinds. There was a good deal of fun, too, in those days,
for boys and girls both; in the cold days there was good, strong ice on
which to skate; there was snow to play in, and to make fine roads for
long rides in a sleigh; and, when the days were long and hot, there were
fish in the big streams, and there was game in the wild woods. John was
not fond of his books, but still he did good work at school; and when
he was quite young went to Har-vard Col-lege. He left it in 1755,
just at the start of the "Sev-en Years' War"; and the name of George
Wash-ing-ton, the brave young Col-o-nel of Vir-gin-ia, rang loud in his
ears.
[Illustration: JOHN ADAMS.]
He taught school in Wor-ces-ter to earn the means to take up law; and
in 1758 he be-came a law-yer. He had ma-ny cas-es, and grew wise and
great, though he did not make much mon-ey, as folks in the small town
of Brain-tree were far from rich and paid small fees. But he did make
ma-ny kind friends, and far and near he was known as a man of clear,
strong mind and quick, bright thoughts; he had a fine, sweet voice,
too, and his speech-es were al-ways wise and showed much thought.
In the strife with Eng-land he was, from the start, on the side of
A-mer-i-ca. So much did Eng-land fear him in 1757, the Eng-lish king
sent word that he would give him great wealth if he would serve him at
this time. Ad-ams would not do this; he would speak and act just as he
thought right, and be bound by no king. When the "Stamp Act" passed in
1764, he made a great speech, which was sent to those at the head of
his State; and when, in 1770, a troop of Brit-ish fired on a mob of
A-mer-i-can men and boys in the streets of Bos-ton, he took the case to
the courts, and spoke for the Brit-ish Cap-tain and his men, though they
had killed five of our men. It may seem strange to you that Ad-ams, who
stood for A-mer-i-can rights, should here take sides with the Brit-ish;
but, first of all, he stood for law; and, though he knew he ran the risk
of los-ing his high place in the hearts of A-mer-i-can men, still he
would do what he thought right. But men love truth, and like to see a
brave man act as he thinks right, and so felt that he had just the
clear, cool head and brain and the strong warm heart to give aid in
the dark days that were to come to the land. He was sent to the First
Con-gress and was one of the three men who drew up the Dec-la-ra-tion
of In-de-pend-ence.
[Illustration: CARPENTER'S HALL.