gold-mounted walking-staff of animal horn.
as a token of the cordial and affectionate
friendship which for nearly now an half century
has united us in the same principles and pur-
suits of what we have deemed for the greatest
good of our country."

To Mrs. Madison the loss of such a friend
was almost as great a blow as it could be to
her husband, and the sorrow was deepened
by the breaking up of the family, which the
entangled condition of Jefferson's estate neces-
sitated. A few months after the great states-
man's death, the furniture of his house was
sold at auction. The "Madison" and "Correa"
chambers were stripped of their hangings, and
the very clock which for years had stood at
the head of Jefferson's bed passed into the
hands of strangers. A year later Monticello
itself was sold, and all the old joyous days
of visiting and merry-making between the
Jefferson and Madison households were at an
end.

Three years after the sale of Monticello the
Madisons lost the companionship of another
old and valued neighbor, James Monroe, who
retired from the presidency a poor man, and
at last found himself compelled to part with
Oak Hill, his country-place, which lay in

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