, 1869-11-13
Old Hickorx.

Win me tnls AFTERNOON, anQ talked
just as variously and Interestingly as
if be had not been pouring himself
out for week to one person.
When l first went to Washington,
said Mr.. Powers. l had several let,
ters to General Jackson, and called
first upon the President, and asked
him, after he had read my letters, if
be would sit to me.
"DO you daub anything over the
face 2" be inquired, looking at me
under his spectacles, with a very
ominous look of inquiry. "because 1
recollect that poor Mr.. Jefferson got
nearly smothered when they tried to
get his bust. The plaster hardened
before they got to release him, and
they pounded it with mallets till they
nearly stunned him, and then they
nearly tore off a piece of his ear 10
their haste 10 pulling off a sticking
fragment of the mould. Ishould not
like that"
30, no." I said, "Mr. President, 1
don't wish 10 do anything of that
sort. 1 only wish to look at you for
an hour a day, sitting in your chair,
and will engage to produce your
likeness" "Ab, then," he replied,
sit will give me very great pleasure,
Mr. Powers, to oblige you. But
when can you come ?" "At any
time, Mr.. President, it suits your
convenience. 1 have perfect leisure,
and am wholly at your command"
"Could you como as early as seven
in the morning 2" "Certainly, the
earlier after light the better for me-"
In few days 1 was regularly instalI>
ed in a room in the White House it.
self. 1t was room in which every
morning was thrown about a busheI
of newspapers from all parts of the
country, directed to the President,
marked to attract his attention to
the favorable editorial notices of his
administration which the editors had
so disinterestedly written and pub
lished.
l am afraid they would have been
very much surprised and grieved if
they had known that, with the ex-
ception of one or two papers from his
own district, the President never
looked at any of these papers except
as they kindled his morning fire. 1
found the President an excellent,
most kind and courteous sitter. He
invited me to dine with him, think,
the first dav, telling me the names
of his own household whom l should
meet. We had an excellent dinner,
but the General, l observed, ate only
a bowl of bread and milk, not touch'
ing either meat or wine. In the
course of the dinner Major Donald.
son, think, was talking very inter-
estingly upon some recent discover
les 10 astronomy After listening
awhile, the General raised his some.
what thin voice rather highly. 81
tell you. Major, that we don't really
know any thing about the weight and
size Of those distant heavenly bodies.
It's all a guess and a pretense.
"It's nonsense, sir, to talk about
little spark, twiukling away up in the
sky, as if we knew just how far off
it was" "But, General" returned
the Major, ''if we did not know the
place and the disc of some of the
distant planets and stars, how could
eclipses be predicted years ahead
with perfect certainty and exactness.
"That's all very easy, sir, very easy"
replied the General "it's done by
tradition, sir. The stars move in
their very orbits. Their places are
observed at certain times, and noted
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 places again ; it may be
a hundred years hence. It's all very
simple. l don't believe a word of
what these astronomers say about the
immense distance and size of the fixed
stars. l shouldn't wonder if the
moon was as big as any of EN-"
1t was hardly deemed judiciOus to
press the conversation on astronomy
any further.-Dr. Bdllou