Helen Topping Miller

“ It would be exciting, Emily was thinking, to live in that new president’s palace in Washington. The British had burned it in retaliation for the sack of Toronto by the American forces, but it had been rebuilt, finer than ever, she had heard, and now it was as important as Buckingham Palace. Aunt Rachel had no wish to be a queen in a palace. Only too well Emily knew that aunt Rachel would be an unhappy queen. ”

“ Charles Dickinson had been so young! Rachel ached now with remembering the anguish of dread for her own beloved and for the young wife and baby of the youth Andrew Jackson had set out across the Kentucky line that May morning to kill, if he could—if he were not himself slain by a youth known to be one of the most famous shots in Tennessee. ”

“ Hadn’t he been trained by uncle Jackson, who had never known any other mode of life except to be master in his house? Jack would expect his wife to be a gracious copy of aunt Rachel—with a bit more style perhaps, and more ease in company, Emily amended, with no disloyalty. Aunt Rachel was good. She did not need a flair for clever conversation or the sly, pretty arts by which some women kept men enthralled, but as Mary had said, times were changing. Women even went to colleges now and read deep books. ”

“ Jack went to her quickly, put his hands on her quivering shoulders. “We’ll make you a queen, aunt Rachel. We’ll make you the grandest lady in the land!”
“And I’ll have to live in Washington—when I want to stay at home!” she protested. “I don’t want to be a queen. Jack, wash yourself and come and eat your dinner. Mr. Jackson, do serve the children! Hannah, pass the vegetables. All of you, eat your dinner—your Christmas dinner.”
Obediently, Andrew Jackson made wooden motions of slicing at the turkey. John Eaton took the knife from his hand. ”

“ Headless chickens flopped on the ground, prodded by shrieking little Negroes with sticks. Emily wrapped a heavy cloak around her aunt’s shoulders, pulled her own shawl tighter as they watched the line of people file by to receive their portion of Christmas cheer. Even the small ones got a tot, weakened with water, and as each child passed Andrew Jackson tweaked a lock of kinky hair or pulled an ear, sending the small black person off into a hysteria of shrieks and giggles. ”

“ Jackson, the 13 woman he honored, adored, had fought for and would defend fiercely till her last breath.
“Here, Husband!” She hurried out into the hall where the two men were handing their damp cloaks to a servant. “Mr. Eaton, you are welcome as always here. Come in to the fire.”
“Feels like snow.” John Eaton slapped his gloves against his knee, shook moisture from his high-crowned hat. “Misting now, but it’s getting colder. Miss Emily,”—he made a courtly bow as they entered the warm parlor—“you grow more beautiful every day. How any young man can stay away from you is a puzzle in my mind.” ”

“ Rachel snatched up a shawl, wrapped her head and shoulders in it and went out to stand and listen.
“Christmas is a-comin’, the goose is getting fat.
“Please to put a penny in the ole man’s hat,” caroled the slaves.
She saw her husband standing bareheaded near the fire, his hair blowing in the winter wind, the firelight casting deep shadows under his eyes. He had a hand on Andy’s shoulder, an 59 arm around Emily. No one heeded the mist that blew on the wind. Some of the older women were already picking their chickens on the lee side of the smokehouse. ”

“ I won’t let her refuse,” 73 argued Emily. “We’ll buy her some beautiful clothes. She can be a fine lady.”
“She’s already a fine lady,” he sighed, “but she’d rather go on here dosing the bellyache of the most worthless hand I own than to be invited to dinner in the proudest house in the country. I love her for her simplicity, and I want her to enjoy peace as long as she can, so say nothing about any plans, Emily.”
“Yes, uncle Jackson, but you could be wrong about aunt Rachel. The thing she wants more than anything is to be with you.” ”

“ I will tell you this much, Emily, and you will keep it to yourself. In spite of all I can do, I have friends determined to push me into the forefront again. Now, they are talking about running me for the highest office in this land.”
“But that would be a great honor, uncle Jackson. Why must we keep it a secret?”
“I don’t want to spoil her Christmas. Some women would be elated at a chance to spend a winter in Washington, move in important circles, perhaps be elevated to the highest position in this land. But not your aunt Rachel. ”

“ He kissed her, then pushed her away, his mouth set firmly. “Flattery will get you nothing, young woman! I am not going to let Jack Donelson come home for Christmas. A long trip for a few days’ visit. He spends too much now, the young rascal. All these youngsters,” he told Eaton, “think the old man is made of money. Thirteen-cent cotton and shippers take more than half of that. Sell a fine colt and you get less than the worth of the hay to raise him.”
“You shouldn’t have bought all that expensive furniture, Mr. Jackson,” worried Rachel. ”

“ If I had a boy in love with me, I’d have him, no matter if every Donelson alive croaked themselves to death.”
“Mary, for Heavens’ sake, hush! Things are going to be bad enough—I’m just holding my breath.”
“I think it’s wonderful!” Mary’s eyes were full of stars. “Let me tell you something though—don’t you start out being a dutiful wife like aunt Rachel. A woman can get herself simply 79 subjugated by being so worshipful. I mean to keep my spirit and my personality, whoever I marry. Aunt Rachel’s kind of wife is going out of fashion.”
Emily bent her brows together. ”

“ Upstairs and in her own big bedroom below were the fine French beds the General had bought in New Orleans. Seven crates of beautiful furniture on which the freight bill alone had been two hundred and seventy-three dollars. Her own bed was elegantly fluted, of mahogany, with high posts, a mosquito canopy of the finest muslin and a knotted Marseilles counterpane. ”

“ Rachel let her breath out slowly. There was that little pain again, that came sometimes. She used Magic Sanitive Salve faithfully as her husband directed but it didn’t seem to do much good.
“When you get a husband he’ll go where duty calls him and you won’t be able to hold him back any more than any other woman. But it does look as though duty called Andrew Jackson more than most men and into more dangerous places. I declare I still like these old plates best of all. Maybe it’s because they were the first nice things ever I owned.”
“Uncle Jackson likes the dangerous places,” Emily said. ”

“ Emily told a group of women. “The house must be bright when they sing.”
“You go, Emily,” Rachel said. “I ought to stay here. Becky and Dilsey both wanted that white rooster and they’re sure to get into a fight.”
“Let Mr. Field attend to it. It’s his business to keep the people in order, aunt Rachel. You are a hostess with a houseful of guests, you have enough to worry you.” ”

“ Brother Samuel went all the way up into Kentucky some place with the wagon to meet the boat and bring the goods to Nashville to your uncle Jackson’s store. Indians were everywhere too, those days. I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep till Brother Sam got back and my husband too—he was away off to Philadelphia. Sam was gone forty six days and my husband gone for two months.”
“You’ve been alone so much, aunt Rachel. If ever I get a husband I won’t let him leave me for even one day.” ”

“ Smooth and shiny as a new colt. Got a nice long nose too.”
“We’ve all got long noses. It’s the Donelson curse. Mine’s longest of all. All of us but aunt 42 Rachel. Somehow it passed her by,” sighed Emily, threading a needle.
“Ain’t flat like mine, anyhow,” ’Relia echoed the sigh. “If the good Lord was to give me my dearest wish it would be to have a nice long nose like you got, Miss Emily.”
“Ain’t nobody satisfy,” stated Becky, the other maid. “White folks all wantin’ hair be curly. Colored folks all putting grease on they hair, make it straight. ”

“ It’s going to be a gloomy night.”
“George is getting his fire going,” Andy looked from the window. “I suppose I’ll have to go out and help Papa dole out the Christmas Eve gifts all around. Looky yonder, the people are coming out with their cups and mugs and sacks already! You’ll have to light the candles, Emily. I’ve got to go out and be Young Marse Jackson.”
“It’s an honor, Andy. There are a lot of Donelson boys. You were the one chosen.”
“I know. It’s hard to live up to sometimes, ’specially when Jack’s around. ”

“ Rachel always spoke of her numerous nieces and nephews who considered the Hermitage their part-time home as “the children.”
“They just think they need it. Including you, 22 my spoiled pet.” He gave Emily a pinch, ignoring her downcast face. “All spoiled, the whole pack of you. Young Andy worst of all. Where is that scalawag, anyway? And where’s supper? Are we supposed to fast till Christmas? I’ve smelled cakes baking around this place for days and get set down to boiled meat and hominy. Right now I could eat a hog, tail, squeal, and all.”
“I’ll see if it’s ready, Uncle.” Emily hurried out. ”

“ So she has to mother a whole tribe and suffer every small disappointment with them. These lads—Andrew Jackson Donelson, young Andy and Andrew Hutchings are sons to her—to me too. The problem is that I have to hurt her with my firmness to make men out of them. Too much softness in the Donelson strain. I have been blessed by it, but now I must fight against it and defeat it in those 24 boys. It’s not easy to do, John, not for a man who loves his wife as I love Rachel Jackson.”
“You did not tell all your news, General.”
Andrew Jackson shook his head. “Let her enjoy her Christmas. ”

“ She opened the dining room door and slipped inside quickly.
Rachel Jackson, with a Negro woman helping and a half-grown boy up on a stool, was getting china down from a high corner cupboard.
Aunt Rachel was getting heavy, Emily noted, 5 and her breath quick and short. She gasped occasionally as she bent over the table, counting the plates the Negress set down, laughing a little as she straightened and drew a long breath.
“Law, I must be getting old, Emily. I get so short-winded every time I exert myself the least bit. I declare these china plates are still the prettiest ones I’ve got. ”

“ I am singularly blessed. It troubles me now that I grow old that the people will not let me rest.”
“You could say no. You could refuse when they thrust these responsibilities upon you,” she reminded him, grave beyond her years. ”

“ Emily hurried along the bricked way that set the kitchen apart from the big house. The wind was fresh and keen off the Tennessee hills and she drew her shawl close around her slender shoulders. In the house huge wood fires burned in three fireplaces but the hall where the curving stairs came down was chilly. ”

“ A dangerous man, Mrs. Jackson. He licked the Creeks and the Cherokee and made this southwest safe to live in. And there are some people who are talking around among themselves that Andrew Jackson ought to be President of the United States.”
“Well, he can’t be!” said Rachel firmly. “I 20 won’t hear of it. He’s not strong nor well, you know that, John Eaton. He can’t even eat plain victuals half the time, and he coughs at night no matter how much salve I rub on his chest. Besides,”—she got to her feet, smoothing out her black silk skirt—“I don’t want to live in any palace—anywhere! ”

“ Now every time I speak to Philip about it he says it’s not old enough to break yet. A two-year-old colt ought to be old enough to break to the saddle. You know that, Mama.”
Rachel looked harassed. “Son, Philip knows about the horses more than I. Your Papa has every confidence in Philip’s judgment. You have horses to ride. Good safe horses too. And that new saddle and bridle and everything. Goodness knows they cost plenty.”
“You’re too young to ride a stallion colt, Andy,” put in one of his Donelson aunts. ”

“ Rachel said. “And you get it too and so does Andy.”
“Let him get toughened up then,” growled the General. “You spoil all these young ones, 31 my dear. Andy will have heavy responsibilities when I’m gone. He has to be trained to meet them. I’ve done fairly well with Andrew Jackson Donelson for all you women trying continually to soften him up. He’ll make a man.”
Emily’s heart was a bit happier. Uncle Jackson did need someone to help him, as Jack had written. She hoped that when Jack arrived, when the storm of her uncle’s ire had subsided, that the General would welcome young Jack’s assistance. ”

“ It wouldn’t be Christmas if you people didn’t build a big fire out there behind the smokehouse and all gather round and sing.”
“Look a little like snow,” said Becky, peering out the window. Becky hated the cold. She 43 burned more wood in her cabin than any other servant on the place, Emily had heard her aunt complain. From the window now she could see the wagon coming down the lane loaded with firewood, George walking beside the team, cracking his whip and shouting. Great fires would roar in every fireplace in the house, over the holidays. Rachel Jackson was nervous about fire. ”

“ Hannah, you come along with me while I ask aunt Rachel to unlock the press. We’ll need all the long tablecloths and they’ll have to be pressed. I’ll need four more spoons. These are those lovely French ones uncle Jackson brought from New Orleans. You tell Simmy to be mighty careful with them, Dilsey. Come along, Hannah. People may begin coming in today. ”

“ You’ll have to sleep with Andy tonight. We’ve got a houseful already and more coming. And Ralph, don’t you let the General get notions about rushing off to be somebody important. It’s time he took care of himself.”
“I’ll tell him, aunt Rachel. But you know Andrew Jackson. If any call came from the people to serve anywhere, no one could hold him.” ”