Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/29

 school of high grade had to be set up in which Lat-in should be taught.

John Ad-ams had a fine chance to know all that the schools taught. He was fond, too, of games and sports. He could swim, skate, ride, drive, and hunt, and had much fun with his mates. Still, books were dear to him, and as soon as he could he went to Har-vard Col-lege.

When, in 1755, the day came for John Ad-ams to leave col-lege, he went to Worces-ter and taught school.

All the land then thought of war. French and Brit-ish ships-of-war were near the coasts. More for-ces came from Eng-land. A-mer-i-ca raised troops too, and with Brad-dock in charge, they went to the O-hi-o woods to drive out the French.

John Ad-ams taught his school and was well at work when the dark news came that Brad-dock was dead with half of his men. It was said, too, that it was young Ma-jor Wash-ing-ton who had saved the rest. This made the name of Wash-ing-ton sink deep in the minds of men.

John Ad-ams thought hard as to how he could help in these bad times. He knew that with him the pen would be of more strength than the sword. He could talk and write in a clear, bright way. He had a fine, strong voice, and could make a good speech, and folks were glad to hear him, for he knew much of what was good for the land.

It had been the wish of his heart that he might preach the Word of God. He would have done so if he could have taught the thoughts that were in his mind, but there were, in those days, creeds which he did not like and would not help the folks to learn, so he gave up his plan of life work and took up the law.