MD3PAD 394-396

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason later asked Dixon what he hoped to find when he went south
and Dixon told him that he hoped to be approached by agents of some
power that would reveal the secret forces motivating their employment.
But none came forward.

        Dixon goes through Maryland into Virginia, winding up in
Williamsburg,

vw#91: Flemish bond - A form of brickwork in which headers (end) and
stretchers (horizontal length) alternate.

        The Stamp Act has caused a great deal of political activity to
energize the city.  There is an immense amount of activity in a
multitude of directions. Dixon finds himself a place that seems to
bring it all into focus: Raleigh's Tavern.

        During conversations there people are expected to rise and make
toasts. Many denounce the king.  When it comes Dixon's turn he drinks
"To the pursuit of happiness."  Thomas Jefferson, described only as "a
tall red-headed youth at the next table" and later called Tom by the
landlord, asks Dixon if he may use that phrase sometime.

        Dixon agrees and Jefferson calls for a pencil and paper.  Dixon
loans him his pencil he uses at work and Jefferson recognizes it as a
surveyor's implement. He asks Dixon if he is Mason or Dixon.  The
Landlord says that Tom's father helped survey the western line of
Virginia's southern border.

        Jefferson gives a description of the making of the border line
and his father's part in it.  A Colonel Byrd was the main person,
writing all his impressions in a Field book that Jefferson hoes will be
published and issued to all prospective surveyors.

        They notice three women trying to be bold enough to enter the
room filled with men and tobacco smoke. Dixon asks if all the Virginia
women are so merry.  Jefferson say yes, except for Norfolk.

vw#92: Paronomasia - Word play; punning.

        Jefferson figures that the women are trying to get their
attention so that the men will dance with them.

Toby