A few days before he had taken his final dispositions and seen all the members of his family. He was not a man to indulge in a painful display of emotions, but he told his dear daughter Martha that "in a certain drawer in an old pocket book she would find something for her." It was a piece of paper on which he had written eight lines "A death bed adieu from Th. J. to M. R." There was no philosophism nor classical reminiscence in it; it was the simple expression of his last hope that on the shore
"Which crowns all my hopes, or which buries my care" he would find awaiting him "two seraphs long shrouded in death", his beloved wife and his young daughter Maria.
He was buried by their side in the family plot of Monticello. According to his wishes no invitations were issued and no notice of the hour given. "His body was borne privately from his dwelling by his family and servants, but his neighbors and friends, anxious to pay the last tribute of respect to one they had loved and honored, waited for it in crowds at the grave." A typically American scene, without parade, without speeches and long ceremonies—almost a pioneer burial in a piece of land reclaimed from the wilderness.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] To Mrs. Bingham, Paris, February 7, 1787, Memorial Edition, VI, 81.
[2] To Jefferson Randolph, November 24, 1808, Memorial Edition, XII, 197.
[3] To John Adams, June 11, 1812. Memorial Edition, XIII, 160.
[4] "Domestic Life of Thomas Jefferson", by S. N. Randolph. New York, 1857, p. 27.
[5] "Notes on Virginia." Query XV.