Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-09
telling how the President used to sit

0hAAhS INV Cuc 4I0SiucuO uSou W OIL
gossipping on a ''split-bottemed'' chair,
is a curious commentary upon the
changes times and customs have under
gone. Yet MIR. Evans says no nan pos
sessed more grandeur of manner or
more poll he'd address than Jackson
when he chose to assume it-simple to
primitiveness as his habits ordinarily
were. He remembers. too, that in all
the conversations he heard between his
father-in-law and jackson, he never
heard him use al oath. Another peculi-
arity ascribed to him was his disregard
to religious observance. Yet MIR. Evans
says the minister who was at that time
pa tor of the Foundry Church told him
that when the President CHANGED to
reach the church during prayer, he stood
with uncovered head in the We thule un-
til it ended, while others came heedless-
~ in at once. By the way, strangers in
Washington speculate as to the origin
of the Foundry Church. The present
building is a spruce new structure, upon
the old site. The original church, which
was torn away about eight years ago
was erected and named as q thank oil
ering by the owner of a large foundry
in Georgetown, which the British spared
when burning the town in 1914.
An amusing anecdote is related by
MI. Evans in giving the history of the
old Foundry Church. Those were
slavery days, it will be remembered,
and, as was customary, the colored
members occupied the gallery. At
length they threatened to overflow it,
and it vas decided by the white mem
bers to purchase a lot and build them a
church to themselves. A little meet
ing-house was consequently erected and
given them upon a lot at the corner Of
Eleventh and X. An old deacon, who
superintendent the selection of the site,
saying this location was $50 fur out--so
distant from any white people, that no
one would be annoyed by the noise the
darties would make IN shouting" This
city and the church has grown to such
proportions that an admission fee is
charged the white people who flock
there to hear the music.
Illustrative of the changes the, vast
growth of governmental machinery
Mr.. Evans relates that soon after he
came to Washington he had occasion to
call upon Richard Harris IN, the First
Auditor of the Treasury, who had been
appointed by General Washington. He
found the Auditor, the personal friend
Of Washington, surrounded by none Of
the luxury and ceremony which doth
he'd &c about the Government official to-
day. The old mans office was a small
room with a brick floor, q fragment Of
carpet spread under the pine table to
rest his feet on, and a few wooden
chairs. Then the old gentleman, whose
feeble voice was visibV failing, told of
his last meeting withAndrew jackson.
The rugged old soldiers health had
been giving away before a lung affection
for some months previous, and when
Mr.. Evans inquired for him he was told
to go to his bedroom, that he was too
i'll to rise. Fancy a visitor being di-
reeted by a lacky of the present regime
to walk into the Presidents bed.
room before he has risen!
1t was on the morning of the inaugu.
ration of Jackson's SUI ecessor, Van
Buren,, and was a bluste--y, cold day,
and showing heavily-March 4, 1887
just forty-seven years ago. General
jackson was in his bed, and on a little
stand beside him lay the portrait OF his
wife. 1T was a small oval painting
upon ivory, attached to a chain which
he habitually wore round his neck. The
visitor had never seen Mrs. jackson,
who died before he came to Washing
ton, but had heard the story of this por-
trait, and for that reason possibly the
incident made a more lasting impress
sion than it would otherwise have done.
No allusion was made to the portrait by
either Of them. But the visitor re-
monstrated with the President when he
expressed his intention of being present
at the Inauguration, calling his atten-
ton to the weather and his own health.
Il shall attend the Inauguration,
sir,' said Old Hickory. in his uncom-
promising way, "if it's the last act of
my life"
That vas the last time Mr.. Evans saw
him, as, in consequence of failing
health, he went South almost immedi-
ately, and died a few years later
Washington Cor. N. Y. World.