The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1881-01-13
A VISITTO MRS. POLK.
The widow of the EN-PreSident in
Her Home Life near Nashville.


There are many elegant residences
on the hills about the capitol, but one
palatial home within square of the
public grounds cannot fail to attract the
special attention of the sojourner. A
wide lawn extends back some fifty
yards from the street, where stands an
Old-tlme 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 I'M
mistkable evidence ofage, with here and
! there the unsi ghtly prints of decay, but
| the easy chairs on the portico, the cord
ial welcome extended by the servant,
and the profusion Of well-worn sofas
and rockers located with the irregular
ity that unconventional comfort die
tates, tell how freely the gates open to
the visitor. This is the home of Mrs.
Polk, widow of the ex-president of the
| United States, who has survived her
honored husband more than three de-
cades, and has seen all Of his contem-
poraries pass away. Although the
storms Of fOur-score years have fallen
upon her she is yet cheerful as lass
of twenty, and her smile is as natural
and free as it could have been when it
was lavished upon the generation
that is now forgotten. The brown
curls of her youth are yet faultlessly
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-pre-
served dame Of sixty summers. Her
step is firm; her eyes are scarcely dim
med by the long lapse of more than
patriarchal years, and her memory is
undated. she does not tolerate in a
conventional way the many trespassers
upon her time, but she greets all with
queenly dignity and yet with that gen.
erous welcome that makes the visitor
mark his visit as one of the fadeless
memorie, of life. She is glad to have
the stranger. even as her guest, and
she talks of both the past and present
with Il degree of interest, intelligence,
and freedom from the common weak
nesses of age, which charm every class
of listeners. l had never met either
her or her husband and l feared that
my visit would be an intrusion upon
the retirem ent of feeble woman
harassed by the calls of the curious,
but she met me with the expression:
Il 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 briefest
of calls was thus prolonged into hours
and then reluctantly terminated only
because other and imperative engage
ments could not be further encroach-
ed upon. She is constant reader of
the leading newspapers, and is as well
| informed about the events of the pres
ent as she was of the politics and con-
flicts Of the days Of Clay, when her
husband triumphed over the most
idolized political leader of our history,
and her discussion of Clay and his
galaxy brilliant contemporaries is Won
derfully interesting and instructive.
| She realizes that times and customs
| have greatly changed, both in the ma
ton and in its capital, and she speaks
of it with all her natural devotion for
the customs of the past, but with deli
cacy and liberality which forbid offense
w VIZ i1AOoG poSllINC SollS Cllc
is so universally beloved by all parties
and classes in Tennessee that her little
fortune in state bonds-all she possesses
in the world-has been, by unbroken
consent, exempted from the f1ood-tide of
Reputation that has defaulted in the
interest due to other creditors. Re
publican or democrat, white or black;
high-tax and low-tax-all agree that
the interest shall be paid promptly on
the debt held by her, and in all the
mutations of public credit in Tennes-
see, there has been no default to the
widow of James K. Polk. She spoke
freely of the honors she had enjoyed,
but her eye frightened with all the
lustre of youth when she named the
ovations 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
sum-" she said, sis not the common
homage of the world, and it outweighs
all the flattery of pomp and power"
In the sloping lawn. midway between
the house and street. the dust of the
ex-president is preserved, and mod
est granite monument, sheltered by an
,,1o rI>, %I,o 10 ~,