The St. Charles Herald

The Magnificence of Jefferson's Residences Downstairs. Economically Compensated For by the Closeness of Everything Above.

The library, study and bedchamber of Mr. Jefferson are on the first floor, and are used by the present proprietor for the same purposes they were employed in the lifetime of Jefferson. The bed is an alcove between the chamber and study and can be used from either room—the door of communication is at the head of the bed. It was in this room that Jefferson died, and not one of the chambers above, as some have supposed. The study was the favorite retreat of Jefferson, and the favorite chair is still in the accustomed place. A large wooden chair with broad arm, where rested the paper whereon he wrote. All about the floor in the neighborhood of the chair are ink spots where the sometimes careless hand of the statesman sent his ink flying. These spots are faint with age, and before many years will have become indiscernible.

The bed-chambers upstairs are very small and very numerous. It is no exaggeration to say that guests at 'Monticello' slept in holes within the walls. Scooped out of the thick, massive walls are little places about the size of the lower berth in a sleeping-car, whereon the bed was laid. If the weather was at all warm, these curious bed-chambers must have been excessively hot. The space was meager allowed to the occupant to dress in, and altogether the bed-chambers are possessed of but little to commend them. The passages are very narrow on the second and third floors—too narrow to permit two persons to walk abreast. The ceilings are low; there are nooks and crannies everywhere, and the conclusion is irresistible that the magnificence of everything downstairs has its economical compensation in the closeness of everything above.—Cor. St. Louis Globe-Democrat.