The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-01-28

sake | am glad of it, but for myself L am
not
esHer death occurred in December, 1929.
She was attending her domestic duties as
usual, apparentlyin tolerable health, when she
suddenly uttered a loud Shrek, placed her
hands upon her bosom and unk fanting and
struggling for breath into a chair. The
general, who was in an adjoining field, I
was summoned and servants were dispatch
ed for medical assistance. He had long APP
pretended such an attack and was greatly
agitated. Until her death, -four days after
ward, he was constantly at her bedside. On
the evening Of the second day of her i'll
ness she appeared to be better, and insisted
that the general should lie down, but he re-
fused. Two mere days of suffering and
anxiety succeeded, and he remaining with her
still, her watchful and agonized attendant.
A further change for the better and her ten
der protestations that he should take a little
rest at length induced him to retire to an ed
joining room. He had only partially dis
robed when he heard her utter a long. mar
~ticulate cry, and Immediately rushed to her.
She was dead He could not believe it. He
ordered the doctor, who had constantly re-
manned with her, TO bleed her, but it was use
less. When all signs of returning life were
lost and preparations were making for her
burial, he requested in Il choking voice that
four blankets should be spread on the table
upon which she was to be laid out. "If she
does come to-" he pitifully exclaimed, "she
would lie so hard upon it." He sat all night
long by the corpse, with his face i'm his hands,
inconsolable, and in the room all the next
day the picture of despair.
"When visiting the Hermitage, in the sum-
mer of 1878, / copied verbatim, from the
/ ,,ar11o slab v-hroh oor-orc tho ropaaip1 .f Mrc
Jackson, the following memorial:
HERE LIES THE REMAINS or
MRS. RACHEL KS
Wife OF President Jackson
Who died the 22nd Deer 1928
Aged 81.
Her face was fair; her person pleas
ing: her temper amiable and her
heart kiEd; She delighted in reliev
ing the wants of her fellow-creatures
and cultivated the divine pleas
IRE by the most liberal and unpre
tending methods; to the poor She
was a benefactOr, to the rich sn ex
Bmple, to the wretched a comfott,
to the prosperous an ornament; her
Piety was hand in hand with her
benevolsnee and she thanked her
Creator for being permitted 10 DO
Good. A being 50 gentle and
virtuous Islander might wound
hut could not dishOnor. Even death
when be tore her from the armes
of her husband, could but transport
her to the bosom Of her god.
'This inscription is believed to be the COM
position of Major Eaten. The stone-cutter
anne as near spelling it as he could.
Mrs. Jackson's portrait hangs in the par
lor of the Hermitage. 1t was painted by
Earl, and presents a fair, buxOm female of
middle age, rather Enthusiastically attired, but
very goOdly and pleasant withal. There is
nothing in history or romance comparable
to Jackson's devotion to this plain little wo-
man. She was my life and stay he was
accustomed to say in speaking of her after
her death. In making a disposition of his
estate he one day remarked to a friend with
whom he was consulting, and was advised by
him in certain matters that must have met
the approval of his judgment, but after some
moments reflection he sadly remarked: No,
it cannot be. She (pointing toward the
garden) would not be pleased with it, and,
dead though she is, her wishes to me are
law
Mr.. n. p. Trist, who was for a while the
private secretary to the General when presi-
dent, relates the following:
One evening after l parted with him for
the night, revolving over the directions he
had given about some letters l was to pre-
pare, one point occurred on which | was not
perfectly satisfied as to what those directions
had been. As the letters were to be sent off
early next morning, | returned to his cham
Der door, and, tapping gently, in order not
to awake him if he had got to sleep, my tap
was anwsered by "come in" He was un-
dressed, but not yet in bed. as 1 had sup
posed he must be by that time. He was
sitting at the little table, with his wife's
m%iniature--a very large one, then for the
first time seen by me--before him proped up
against some books, and between him and the
picture lay an open book, which bore the
marks of long use. This book, as / after
wards learned, was her prayer-book. The
miniature he always wore next to his heart,
suspended round his neck by a strong black
cord. The last thing he did every night be.
fore lying down to rest was. to read in that
book with that picture under his eyes.