The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1869-10-15
AN INTERVIEW WITH HIRAM
POWERS. =
Andrew Jackson's Idea of Bust Ma
king.

When first went to Washington I
had several letters to General Jackson
and called first upon the President
and asked him, after he had read my
letters, if he would sit to me. "Do
you daub any thing over the face?"
he. inquired, looking ut me under his
spectaclcs, with o very ominous slancc
OF inquiry; "bccansc, / rccolIcct poor
MIR. Jefferson got nearly smothcrcd
when they tried to take his bust.
The plaster hardened before they got
ready to release him, and they pound
cd it with mal!ets TIL they nearly
stunned him, and then almost tore Off
piece of his ear in their haste in pull
ing off q sticking fragment of the
mold. Ishould not like that" "Oh,
no." I said, "Mr. President, I don't
wish to do anything Of that sort.
only wish to look at you, for an hour
day, sitting in your chair, and will
engage to produce your likeness" :"
"Ah, then, he replied, sit will givo
me very great pleasure, Mr.. Powers,
to oblige you. But when can you
Gomez" "At any time, Mr. President,
it suits your convenience. I have per-
feet leisure, and am wholly at your
command" "Cou.d you come as car
ly as seven in the morning." Ger
tainly; the. earlier after light the bet
ter tor me-" In few days was IN
stalled ina room in tho White House
itself, 1t was room in which, every
morning, was thrown about q bushcl
OF newspapers from all PARTS Of the
country, directed to the President,
and marked to attract his attention to
the. favorable editorial notices Of his
administration which the editors had
so disintcrestcdly written and publish
cd. l am afraid they would have
been very much surprised and gricvcd
if they had known that. with tbe cx-
ccption of one or two papers from his
own district, the President never look
cd at any of these papers except as
they l1indlcl his morning fire.
found the President an excellent, most
kind and courteous sitter. lie invited
mo to dine with him, think, the first
day, telling me the names of his own
household, whom l should meet. We
had an excellent dinner, but, the Cen
eral, l observed, ate only large
bowl of bread and milk, not touchin. 9.
either bread or wine. In the course
of tho dinner, Major Donaldsop, 1
think, was talking very intercstin gly
upon some recent discoveries in as
tfonomy. After listening attentiveIy
awhile, the General raised his some
what thin voice rather highlY:"I tell
you, Major, that we don't really know
. anything about the weight and size
OF those distant heavenly bodies. It's
oil guess and prttence. It's non.
sencc, Sir, to talk about o little spark,
twinkling away upin the sky, as if we
knew just how far off it. was, and Just
how big it was" "But, General
returned the Major, "jf we did not
know the place and the disk Of some
ofthe distant planets and stars, how
could their positions . be calculated
and how could eclipses be predicted
years ahead, with perfect certainty
and exactness?" "That's all 4 very
easy, sir; very easy" replied tho Gen.
eral. "Itss done, by tradition, sir
The stars move in regular =sorbits
Their places ARE. observed, at certain n
times, and noted and when they come
again to the same places, it's observed
and" handed down, and SO, sir, We
know when they will be in those
plaoss again, it may be- q hundred
years hence. It's AN very simple
don't believe a'word Of what thos,
astronomers say abeut the immense
distance and size of the fixed stars. j
shouldn't wonder if the moon was as
big aS any pf isnH It; was hardly
j.. deemed j9ai6idus to- press s1hss conver
sation Oh astronomy any further.
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