The eastern clarion. [volume] (Paulding, Miss.) 1837-1863, 1860-04-25
GEN. JAcKsoN AT HOME


The following interesting picture Of do
uestic life at the Hermitage is from Par
on, Life of Jackson;
Soon we reached the Hermitage farm. a
thousand acres in extent four hundred
cleared and cultivated the rest forest
thick. lofty. luXuriant; only less so than
he forests of western New York or Ohio
| No mansion yet in sight, however. Whal
i this minute editice of brick. too small
| for a school-house, too desolate for a lodge
| That is the Presbyterian Church which
| General jackson built for the solace of his
wiie soon after She joined the Church
and a solace. indeed, it was to the GOOD
ady. and to her religious friends'in the
| neighborhood. 1t stands quite alone in a
| lane, out Of sight of the Hermitage.
Now we leave the turnpike and turn in
to a private road, straight, narrow. quar-
| ter of a mile long, the land on both sides a
dead level. We come to n low iron gate
in white wooden frame, which admits us
to an avenue Of young cedars, ending in a
| grove, through which guitar shaped lawn
is visible. But still no house Not till
the carriage begins to wind about the lawn
within a very few yards of the front-door
| does the mansion disclose itself to view. 50
level is the land, so dense the surrounding
evergreen foliage. We alight, at length.
on the stone steps of the piazza, and the
| Hermitage is before us.
| 1t is not a very spacions building. and
very far indeed from being an elegant one
A two story brick house, with double ri.
aza both in front and in the rear: the
| piazza wooden and painted white, support.
ed by thick grooved pillars of the same
material and color. The floors of the low.
er piazza are of stone, and each end ter
inmates in a wing of the house Just be
hind the edifice is a large garden. with
| pebbled paths, and beds bordered Will
bricks. The rooms are lofty. rather small
and plainly furnished. The parlors are
hung with portraits of the General anC
his friends, Coffee, Bronaugh, Gadsden, Ea
ton and Others. There is a portrait o
Mrs. jackson in white satin, topaz Jewel
| ry, low neck and short sleeves fat. forty
but not fair. In the hall are busts of Ed
ward Livingston, Mr.. Cass, and Lev
Woodbury..
One would have expected to have founc
the stables of such a lover of horses ex
tensive and commodious but they ar,
neither. One building of unhewn logs
with stalls for nine or ten horses. and an
other still smaller for the shelter of tn,
huge family coach, are all the out build
ings that now remain. the negro cabins
some of logs and few of brick, are scat
tered about the farm instead of forming
compact little street, as is often the cas-,
on large plantations.
General jackson, as we have mentione,
before, was vigilant and successful farm
and farmer-like, as those of southerner
generally. The visitor is constantly re
minded, in the southern States, that he j
in region where the ruling interest is az
riculture, where the elite of the people ar,
farmers. Cotton, the staple product, is ais,
the staple topic, and all life has the farm
house flavorand dtone. A certain primitive
simplicity pervades everything. To g
southward is TO make a journey in the past
Travel twenty-four hours in the southern
States and then get ten miles away from
the railroad. and you have arrived at six
| ~ wears ago. You are handling the i'm
/ elements. you are enjoying the usages, you
are contemplating the cast OF character,
| Won are eating the vlands, you are sitting
in the fire-places. You are snutfIng the
candles of 1890. Often, too, you will have
the heartfelt satisfaction of observing
particularly in North Carolina and Ten
nessee, that along with the primitive man.
ners and customs of another age, have
been preserved the primitive health feel
ings and virtues-a certain hearty honest
| hamely dignity of character which we
have heard our great grand-fathers pos.
,essed. Everything is done slowly at the
South, and people have time to live, to
grow fat, to grow old. Even General
Jackson, a marvelously active man for the
South, was not an early riser when at home
He sat down to breakfast between eight
and nine, and after dinner he and ms
wife took a leisurely and dignified pull al
their reed pipes.
Can we recall the group that used tC
gather round that ireside and listen Il
Aunt Racheps stories after dinner? There
sits the General in his rocking chair, tran
quilly smoking, TRANQUILITY listening, occa
sionally laughing at his wife's quaint mar
ranyes, and sometimes, when the tai,
threatened TO be too long, taking it out o
hermouth and givingita a summary graceful
finish. The 1.-TWO Andrews have ont
grown the possibility of sharing the Gen
erals chair Andrew, the adopted. is
stout boy of eleven, as much indulced a
ever Andrew jackson Donelson ha
graduated with honor at West Point, an,
is now fine young officer of the Enginee
corps. Lieut.. Donelson," says the Gen
} eral in one of his letters Of 1891, 81
} young, but trust you will find him mo
dest and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS as goo,
an education as any Of his age in America
. of good moral habits, and entirely clea
of all the designations too common to tn,
: youth Of the modern day,"