And consummated the redemption of his pledge. 
On the fourth of July, 1826,
He was summoned
To the Independence of Immortality
And to the judgement of his god
This House will bear witness to his Piety. 
This Town, his Birth-place, to his Munificence: 
History to his Patriotism;
Posterity to the Depth and Compass of his Mind. 
At his side
Sleeps till the Trump shall sound,
Abigail,
His beloved and only Wife,
Daughter of William and Elizabeth (Quincy) Smith. 
In every relation of Life, a pattern
Of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal, and Social Virtue. 
Born 11-22 November, 1744. 
Deceased 28 October, 1818,
Aged 74.
----------
Married 25 October, 1764. 
During a union of more than half a century,
They survived, in Harmony of Sentiment, Principle and Affection,
The Tempests of Civil Commotion;
Meeting undaunted, and surmounting
The Terrors and Trials of that Revolution
Which secured the Freedom of their Country;
Improved the Condition of their Times;
And brightened the Prospects of Futurity
To the Race of Man upon Earth.
-----------
Pilgrim: 
From lives thus spent thy earthly Duties learn;
From Fancy’s Dreams to active Virtue turn: 
Let Freedom, Friendship, Faith thy Soul engage,
And serve, like them, thy Country and thy Age.”

Mr. Adams had remained in the retirement of Quincy but little more than a single year, when the following paragraph appeared in the public prints throughout the country:—­

“Mr. Adams, late President of the United States, is named as a candidate for Congress, from the district of Massachusetts now represented by Mr. Richardson, who declines a re-election.”

It would be difficult to describe the surprise created by this announcement, in every quarter of the Union.  Speculation was at fault.  Would he accept or reject such a nomination?  By a large class it was deemed impossible that one who had occupied positions so elevated—­who had received the highest honors the nation could bestow upon him—­would consent to serve the people of a single district, in a capacity so humble, comparatively, as a Representative in Congress.  Such a thing was totally unheard of.  The people, however, of the Plymouth congressional district in which he resided, met and duly nominated him for the proposed office.  All doubts as to his acceptance of the nomination were speedily dispelled by the appearance of a letter from Mr. Adams, in the Columbian Sentinel, Oct., 15, 1830, in which he says:—­

“If my fellow-citizens of the district should think proper to call for such services as it may be in my power to render them, by representing them in the twenty-second Congress, I am not aware of any bound principle which would justify me in withholding them.  To the manifestations of confidence on the part of those portions of the people who, at two several meetings, have seen fit to present my name for the suffrages of the district, I am duly and deeply sensible.”