Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/55

 wise laws of that part of the land had made, soon found the young boy in his place, books in hand. It is said that his quick mind did not find it hard to grasp facts and hold them with a firm grip. At home he had been taught to love his own land and this he did with zeal and all things in it; trees, plants, rocks, hills, birds and beasts. The child felt then, in his heart, the same thoughts which came out, years af-ter, in the sweet words of our "Na-tion-al Hymn," which Rev. S. F. Smith wrote in 1808:

"I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and tem-pled hills; My heart with rap-ture thrills   Like that above."

When but 7 years old, John Quin-cy Ad-ams and his moth-er took a climb up one of the high hills near their home and heard the sounds of the fight on Bun-ker Hill, and saw the flames of the ru-in of Charles-town. This made a mark on the boy, and more and more strong it grew as hours were spent on the same spot when the siege of Bos-ton took place.

When John Ad-ams went to Con-gress, at Phil-a-del-phi-a, and left his wife and child for twelve months, he said he felt that they both might meet their death in cold blood at the hands of the foe. This thought gave him great pain, but he knew he must go. When, at last, Wash-ing-ton had let the Brit-ish get out of Bos-ton, young John Quin-cy Ad-ams, not then quite nine years old, rode as post-boy back and forth, 11 miles each way, from Bos-ton to his moth-er at the farm, that she might get all the news.

In two years more, when near 11 years, John Quin-cy went to France with his fa-ther, who had been sent to help