The lit-tle boy who be-came our sixth Pres-i-dent led a life not at all
like that of an-y oth-er of the boys of whom you have read. His fa-ther
was John Ad-ams, our sec-ond Pres-i-dent, and when, on Ju-ly 11th, 1767,
lit-tle John Quin-cy Ad-ams was born in the old home at Brain-tree,
Mass., his great fa-ther was al-read-y speak-ing brave-ly for his
coun-try's rights in the cit-y of Bos-ton. In 1772 the fam-i-ly moved
to Bos-ton, and lit-tle John, for two years, saw, as the oth-er boys
did, the Brit-ish sol-diers in their bright red coats on pa-rade in the
Bos-ton streets, and heard on all sides talk of war with Eng-land. He
saw a lit-tle of real war, too; for when he was eight years old, his
moth-er took him on top of a high hill, called Be-mis Hill, from which
he saw the smoke and heard the roar of can-non in that aw-ful bat-tle of
Bunk-er Hill. When, in 1776, the Brit-ish left Bos-ton, this lit-tle lad
of nine years used to oft-en ride on horse-back in and out of the city
to bring home the lat-est news. This was a ride of twen-ty-two miles
from the old home at Brain-tree, where Mrs. Ad-ams had gone when her
hus-band went to Con-gress, and I think it took a pret-ty brave and
strong boy to ride all those long miles a-lone.
When John Ad-ams went to France to try and get her aid for A-mer-i-ca,
he took with him his lit-tle boy, then ten years old. It was a rough,
hard trip; for, not on-ly were there fierce winds which lashed the waves
in-to fu-ry, but they were chased by Brit-ish ships, for Eng-land did
not want John Ad-ams to get this help from France. But they reached
Par-is in safe-ty, and lit-tle John was at once put in a French school.
He on-ly stayed for a-bout a year and went back home with his fa-ther
in the spring. Now for three months he was with his moth-er, and then
in No-vem-ber he and some oth-er boys who were placed in his fa-ther's
care, all start-ed for France, where they were to be put in a good
school.
This trip was hard-er than the oth-er one, for the big ship,
"Sen-si-ble," sprang a leak, and af-ter some days of great per-il, they
were glad to go to the near-est land, which was Spain; and now there
was a long, hard trip by land be-fore France could be reached. They had
sailed on Nov. 13th, 1779, and it was not un-til Feb. 5th, 1780, that
the lit-tle par-ty reached Par-is.
For two years now our lit-tle lad was hard at work with his books in
Par-is; then his fa-ther was sent to the Neth-er-lands as A-mer-i-can
Min-is-ter, and he took his lit-tle son there and placed him in a school
in Am-ster-dam; from here he went to the U-ni-ver-si-ty at Ley-den,
where he stayed un-til Ju-ly, 1781.
He was now on-ly four-teen years old; but you see he had been in so
ma-ny lands, that he could speak as the folks did in those strange
lands, and this was a rare thing in those days. In 1781 Fran-cis Da-na,
then the A-mer-i-can Min-is-ter to Rus-sia, need-ing some one to help
him in his work, sent to Ley-den for this young boy. They passed
through Ger-ma-ny on the way to Rus-sia, and here John Quin-cy learned
some-thing of an-oth-er new land. Then, af-ter a year in Rus-sia, he
left Mr. Da-na and stud-ied for a year in Swe-den. The next spring he
went to his fa-ther in Hol-land, and then went to Par-is with him, and
was pres-ent when the trea-ty of peace be-tween Eng-land and A-mer-i-ca
end-ed the War of In-de-pend-ence.
For two years more he stud-ied a-broad, and then sailed for home in May,
1783. He at once en-tered the jun-ior class at Har-vard Col-lege and
grad-u-a-ted with next to the high-est hon-ors in 1787. Then he took up
law, as his fa-ther had done, and be-gan to prac-tise in Bos-ton. He
made few friends; folks did not love him as they had ei-ther Mad-i-son
or Mon-roe, but he was al-ways known to be a man of great pow-er, and
of great learn-ing; and know-ing so much of other lands, he was just
the man to be sent as A-mer-i-can Min-is-ter to these coun-tries.
In 1794 Wash-ing-ton sent him to Hol-land, and in 1796 he was sent to
Ber-lin.
When, in 1801, Ad-ams came back home, it was to find new hon-ors
wait-ing for him. He was sent first to the State Sen-ate and then to
Con-gress. You see the steps by which our Pres-i-dents rose to pow-er
were much the same in ev-er-y case. A du-ty well done in a small place
led to some-thing a lit-tle high-er, and so on to the great-est hon-or
of all--the Pres-i-dent's chair.
The State of Mas-sa-chu-setts was ver-y proud of John Quin-cy A-dams;
not only was he a great states-man and the son of the man whom they all
loved, but he was, as well, a fine schol-ar, and a bril-liant speak-er.
In 1809 he was sent a-broad a-gain for his coun-try; this time to
Rus-sia, where he had not been since he was a boy of four-teen; in 1815
he was sent to France, but he was here on-ly a few months, when war
broke out in France, and all the min-is-ters from oth-er coun-tries were
called a-way; he went at once to Eng-land, and here he had a much more
pleasant time than his father had when he went there as the first
Amer-i-can min-is-ter; the U-nit-ed States was now known as a big strong
coun-try, and no one dared to be rude to her min-is-ter. In 1817 his own
land felt the need of the great man who had served her so well a-broad,
and he was called home to be-come Sec-re-ta-ry of State. No man was so
well fit-ted for this post as he; for there were ma-ny men from the
lands a-cross the sea, now com-ing and go-ing in the cap-i-tal of the
U-nit-ed States, to talk o-ver great ques-tions; there were new states
com-ing in-to the Un-i-on; and oth-er lands were al-ways try-ing to
gain a lit-tle pow-er here; so John Quin-cy Ad-ams, who not on-ly was
a great schol-ar, and a fine law-yer, but al-so knew well so ma-ny lands
be-sides his own, was just the man to help Pres-i-dent Mon-roe through
his eight years of work.
He al-so was the man best suit-ed for the Pres-i-dent's chair, at
the end of Mon-roe's term of of-fice. Not once, while Ad-ams was in
Wash-ing-ton work-ing hard, did he for-get his old fa-ther, watch-ing,
in his home at Quin-cy, the bu-sy life of his great son. Once ev-er-y
year he went to the qui-et old home, and told his fa-ther of the life in
Wash-ing-ton, in which the old-er man had once held so great a place.
At the age of six-ty-eight, Ad-ams went back to his home in Quin-cy, but
in 1830 once more he was sent to Con-gress, and for six-teen years he
kept his seat there; he grew old and gray serv-ing his na-tive land; he
made bit-ter en-e-mies, but ma-ny warm friends; he feared no one, and
his voice was al-ways for the free-dom of this great land. On No-vem-ber
19th, 1846, he had a stroke of par-al-y-sis while walk-ing in Bos-ton;
but three months later we saw him a-gain in Wash-ing-ton, and tak-ing
his old seat in Con-gress. As the gray old man came feeb-ly in-to the
hall, ev-er-y man pres-ent rose to his feet, and so stood un-til he
took his seat. He was too weak now to talk, and on-ly once more did he
try to speak his mind on one of the great ques-tions of the day. This
was on Feb-ru-a-ry 21st, 1848. He rose to speak, but fell in-to the arms
of a man near him; at once they took him in-to a cloak-room, and sent
for his wife. For two days did he lay there, and then, on the morn-ing
of Feb-ru-a-ry 23d, his great soul took its flight. His last words were:
"This is the last of life, and I am con-tent."