Page:Lives of the presidents in words of one syllable (1903).djvu/81

 young daugh-ter, Miss Bet-ty, who had great charms, and made hosts of friends. One child, Sa-rah Knox, was, in time, the wife of Jef-fer-son Da-vis.

Pres-i-dent Tay-lor was 65 years old when he took the chair. He had great trust in those near him. Still, as one who from his first years had been where his work was to watch the state of the times, he held his ear to the ground and heard the tramp, tramp of the sad, sad march of men which was to come. His views, though he held slaves, were, that, come what might, the Un-ion must be kept.

Pres-i-dent Tay-lor held his post but six-teen months. His death was a great loss. No man could have had more love for the Un-ion, and, he, of all men, would have been the one who could so have steered the Ship of State that she might long have kept off the shoals and sands on which she struck.

Tay-lor died at Wash-ing-ton, July 9, 1850. There was woe then through the whole land, for a great man gone, gone, too, just at the time when his help was our keen need.

Tay-lor had one son, Rich-ard, born in 1826. This boy had all that schools in this land and oth-ers could give him. Then he went to his fa-ther's camp and saw great fights in the war with Mex-i-co. He took land in the South and had slaves to raise cane. This was his home till 1860, when the war broke out twixt the North and South. Then Tay-lor found men to make up troops, led them to the field to fight, and rose fast till he held a high post. At the close of the war, all his funds and land were gone. He died in New York in 1879.