The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-01-13
A VISIT TO MRS. POLK
The WIDOW OF THE EN-PREsIDENT IN HER
HOME LIFE NEAR NASHVILLE
Correspondents Philadelphia Times

Correspondence Philadelphia Times.
There are many elegant residences on th,
hills about the capitol, but one paiatia
home within square of the public ground.
cannot fail To attract the special attention
OF the sojOurner. A wide lawn extend,
back some fifty yards from the street, wher,
stands an old-time Southern mansion. with
the colossal pillar that is the pride of the
| plantation architect, and the wide halls and
| capaclous rooms so common in the best
residences of the South. The walls and
/ doors and shades bear unmistable evidence
OF age, with here and there the unsightly
/ prints OF decay, but the easy chairs on the
| portlco, the cordial welcome extended bv
the servant, and the profusion OF well-worn
sofas and rockers located with the irregular.
| ity that unconventional comfort dictates
tell how freely the gates open to the visitor.
his Is the home of Mrs. Polk, widow OF
the ex-PresIdent of the United States. who
has survived her honored husband more
| than three decades, and has seen all Of his
contemporaries pass away. Although the
storms OF tour-Score years have fallen upou
her, she Is yet cheerful rs a lass of twenty
and her smile is as natural and as free as il
could have been when it was lavished upon
the generation that is now forgotten. The
brown curls of her youth are yet faultlesslv
initiated on her finely cast forehead and her
turban crown of black, with the widows
silver lining, gives her the appearance of a
genial and well-preserved dame of sixty
summers. Her step is firm; her ewes are
scarcely dimmed by the long lape of more
than patriarchal years, and her memory is
unabated She does not tolerate in a CON
Yentional way the many trespassers upon
her time, but she greets all with queenlv
dignity, and yet with that generous welcome
that makes the visitor f,,.rl-
of the fadeless memories of life. She is glad
to have the stranger, even as her guest. and
she talks of both the past and present with
a degree of interest, intelligence and free
dom from the common weaknesses of age
which charm every class of listeners. | had
never met either her or her husband and
feared that my visit would be an intrusion
upon the retirement of feeble woman har-
assed by the calls of our curious, but she
met with the expression: 81 saw by the
morning papers that you were in the city.
and hoped you would not pass me by" a
visit that was intended to be only the brief
est OF calls was thus prolonged into hours, !
and then reluctantly terminated only be-
cause other and imperative engagements
could not be further encrOached upon. She /
Is constant reader of the leading news /
papers, and is as we'll informed about the /
events of the present as she was of the |
politics and conflicts of the days of CLAY. /
when her husband triumphed over the most
ldollzed political leader of our history, and /
her discussion of Clay and his galaxy of
brilliant contemporaries is wonderfully in !
teresting and instructive. She realizes that /
times and customs have greatly changed /
both in the nation and its capital and she
speaks of it with ell her natural devotion
for the customs of the past, but with a deli
cacy and liberality which forbid offence to
the most positive convictions She is so
beloved by all parties and
classes in Tennessee that her little fortune
in State bonds--all she possesses in the
been by unbroken consent, ex-
empted from the food-tide of reputation
that has detaulted in the interest due to
other creditors. Republican or Democrat,
white or black, high-tax and w-tax-all
agree that the interest shall be paid prompt
Iy on the debt held by her, and in all the
of public credit in Tennessee
there has been no default to the widow OIL
James X. Polk. She spoke freely of the
honors she had enjoyed, but her eve bright
ened with all the lustre of youth when she
named the oyations given to her husband
when retiring from power, and the kindness
shown to her by her own State and by
strangers from every section, as the most
cherished of all the distinctions of her life
The worship of the setting sun" she said,
lis the common homage of the .-s-lI, s>r4d
1t outweIghs all the Halter of pomp and !
power" In the sloping lawn, midway
between the house and street, the dust of |
The ex-president is preserved, and a modest
granite monument, sheltered by an open !
temple, marks the resting-place.