The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-10-28

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he narade were walking home. they
had come about half way from the
Canitol when a gentleman came up pe-
hind them and asked permission 10
along with them. They turned
around and discovered II was FRANK
lin Pierce going home on foot from
the inauguration Of his successor To
the presidency. AS to MS
papers are in the hands OF the rem
Historical Society ano are
now in Philadelphia. They ought &c
be here"
In looking over the paper or the
Mr.. Hunt showed me some
interesting letters. I saw papers or
Andrew jackson relating to his duels
and as to how he. raced horses. There
is one memorandum made by Andfe~
jackson as a boy which gives full de-
tails Of "how to feed a cock before you
it." This says hat Q should
give the chicken some picked beer
cut fine, three times a day, ana let
him have sweet milk instead OF water
to drink. Give him dry Indian corr
and a little white bread soaked IN
sweet influx. Feed him as much as
he IAN eat for eight days, and he will
then be ready to fight" l saw also
receipts signed by Jackson showing
tina he was a good churchgoer VIE
he was President. He rented peWs IN
three different churches n probably
took the whole family with him. MI
Hunt tells me-, however, that Andrew
jackson did not stop racing horses
when he became President. He merely
raced them under another name. The
last thing he did as President was to
make a .het about Van Buren's cleo
ton. He never composed a single
state paper that wen out under his
own name. Such things were writ
ten for him by Edward Livingston,
Amos Kendall, James K. Polk, and
others. They wrote more strongly
than they would AVE written for
themselves, but Jackson was
afraid to take the responsibility. Mr..
Hunt says that jackson believed in the
duel and that he tried when possible
to be the challenged party. He US
ually selected pistols and chose the
distance Of from six to nine PAGES.
Such a distance he said put both men
on equal terms, the good shot having
no advantage yer the bad one.
Important Undertaking.
The Library of Congress has under
way a most important undertaking in
collecting the material for colo
NAL history. This is the having CO.
pied everything in the European ar
chives which pertains to the American
colonies. For some years men have
been at work in the government
archives of Great Britain, France,
Spain and Mexico. They are copying
government documents, letters anC
papers OF all kinds relating to the
story of America and to the American
colonies. The most Of the English
transcripts have already been made
They begin with the discovery OF
America and extend to the peace OF
1888. They number more than 200.
600 folios and the copying has beer
all done by hand on a handsome pa.
per manufactured especially for The
purpose. The writing is like copper
plate, and as the papers are chrome
logically arranged any period is easily
accessible. These papers are in grea
ledgerlike volumes, beautifully bound
and s. made that they will last for
ever.
Mr.. Hunt tells me tina the collec
ton from the British archives is prac
tfcally complete. Similar work is go
Ing on in Paris, where the copyist
are collecting everything up to tn
time Of the Louisiana purchase, il
1868. and similar copies will be mad
OF the archives Of Mexico up to tn
) year 1S47, when Texas and othe
states became American. The work 4
Spain will continue up to 1919, whel
Florida was bought, SO that the col
lection will form a complete transcript
of all the important documents Der
tanning to the American colonies nov
hidden away in the archives of for
: elgn governments. AS it is now, tn
man who wants to write about colonia
America has to go to Europe for
part OF his material. Within q ver
snort time a copy Of everything i
Europe will be accessible in the ma
tiOnal Library.
How Copying is Done.
l asked Mr.. Hunt if all this wor
: had to be copied by hand. He r.
. piled:
THE manuscripts which have com
: from the British archives have a
= been made in hat way, and the a,
I rangement for the French archives
the same. The Mexican papers ";
be copied in typewriter, and a gree
: many Of the other archives have bee
photographed and sem on in 70,
, smile. There is considerable do,ht :,