When John Quincy Adams was eighty years old he met in the
streets of Boston an old friend, who shook his trembling hand,
and said:
“Good-morning! And how is John Quincy Adams to-day?”
“Thank you,” was the ex-President’s answer; “John Quincy Adams
himself is well, sir; quite well, I thank you. But the house
in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated. It is
tottering upon its foundation. Time and the seasons have nearly
destroyed it. Its roof is pretty well worn out. Its walls
are much shattered, and it trembles with every wind. The old
tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John
Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is
quite well, sir; quite well.”
It was not long afterward that he had his second and fatal
stroke of paralysis.
“This is the last of earth,” he said. “I am content.” (Text.)
(1449)
=Human Companionship Slighted=--See ANIMALS, ABSURD FONDNESS FOR.