Mrs. Jackson

“ The "gal," who obeyed the summons, proved to be the sylph-like child that had guided the traveller to the house. To the expression of listlessness and desolation which he had previously noticed, there was now added a look of bewilderment and fear. He thought she might, perhaps, be a step-daughter of Mrs. Jackson; but how could so coarse a man as his host be the father of such gentleness and grace?
While supper was being prepared, Mr. Jackson entered into conversation with his guest about the usual topics in that region,--the prices of cotton and "niggers." ”

“ Supper we must have in some other house than our own, let it cost what it may. “Well,” said Mrs Balderstone, “there are the Jacksons! They live not far from this—suppose we drop in upon them. I’m sure we have had enough of invitations to their house. The very last time I met Mrs Jackson on the street, she told me she was never going to ask us again—we had refused so long—she was going, she said, just to let us come if we liked, and when we liked.” ”

“ It was on December 22, 1809, that the wife of Severn Donelson, Mrs. Jackson’s brother, gave birth to twin boys. The news reached the General and his wife as they sat at the breakfast table in the old Hermitage. Mrs. Jackson, upon receiving the message, looked across the table at the General and said: “I’m afraid brother’s wife will be unable to raise both the little fellows with all those other children—she isn’t very strong, you know. ”

“ Jackson well and long, recorded his opinion of her in the following forcible language:
"A more exemplary woman in all the relations of life--wife, friend, neighbor, mistress of slaves--never lived, and never presented a more quiet, cheerful, and admirable management of her household. She had the general's own warm heart, frank manners, and admirable temper; and no two persons could have been better suited to each other, lived more happily together, or made a house more attractive to visitors. ”

“ Jackson was already up, and breakfast was soon served.
“Make yourselves at home,” was Mr. Jackson’s remark, as he left the house to go to the office where he was employed.
21 Mrs. Dexter insisted on helping Mrs. Jackson with the housework, and, while the two women were engaged Mary and James went down to the street to see what, to them, were many wonderful sights. Lucy, whose spine hurt her very much because of the long journey, remained in bed, and Larry made himself useful by going to the store for Mrs. Jackson, after receiving many cautions from his mother not to get lost in New York. ”

“ She asked what was the matter with me, in a tone so peremptory that I dared not refuse to answer; and with many tears I confessed, that Mrs Jackson was displeased with me, and I knew not for what.
"But I shall know," said my lady, pulling the bell with violence—" Jackson cannot be angry without a cause."
Jackson appeared; and without hesitation denied the charge. "Me angry with the poor child!" said she; "how could she think me angry with her? Am not I her best friend? But it is evident what the matter is, my lady: the poor young creature is broken-hearted from confinement ”

“ The nieces were, of course, nieces of Mrs. Jackson—part of that bevy of charming Donelson girls which throughout the history of the Hermitage household lent grace and gayety to its social affairs. Many of them married young men who were closely associated with the General in his military and political activities, and in this way strengthened by ties of kinship the relationship which common public interest had created. 34 General Jackson had no kin of his own in Tennessee, but he took Mrs. Jackson’s family to his heart as if it were his own. ”

“ On telling Jackson what had happened, she was at first thrown into a mighty passion, and would have cast the blame on me if it had been possible; but though always unreasonable while her anger lasted, she was too good a woman not to be shocked at the thoughts of making up a deliberate and wicked lie, in order to deceive her mistress, We were still in consultation, when my lady rung her bell for Jackson, who returned in a moment, to tell me that I must immediately go up and answer for myself ”

“ Jackson gave a knowing wink at his guest, and remarked, "Women-folks are ginerally glad enough to have niggers to wait on 'em; but ever sence that gal come into the house, my old woman's been in a desperate hurry to have me sell her. ”

“ The young lovers who, during his last years, laughed and danced through the pleasant rooms and hallways of the old mansion and wandered in the moonlight to the magnolia-shaded tomb in the garden caught something of his immortal love story.
Both he and Rachel loved young people. They had no children, but in 1809 they adopted a baby—a nephew of Mrs. Jackson’s—and down through the years the Hermitage was enlivened by the happy laughter of children and of young people: sons and daughters of neighbors, of Mrs. Jackson’s kin, and of the General’s friends and associates. ”

“ The mistress of the Hermitage—Rachel, the beloved and adored—was the raison d’être of the whole establishment. She was, to Andrew Jackson, the center of the universe—the one fixed thing around which all of x the affairs of his life revolved. Her happiness was his greatest concern and, in building a home, her comfort and pleasure were his first consideration. She was not the kind of a woman, however, to accept such adoration without repaying it in thought and in deed. She was an excellent housekeeper, a gracious hostess, and an efficient manager of the whole plantation. ”

“ Jackson soon after the inauguration of his adopted father, and made her entrée at the White House as a bride. Necessarily the object of remark and criticism, which has not generally a tendency to promote ease of manner, she yet managed to win sincere admiration from all who came in contact with her. Seldom has any one in so conspicuous a position exhibited so much of the perfect self-possession which distinguishes the lady “to the manor born.” She combined the opposite qualities of dignity and affability, 330and secured thereby a lasting influence over those with whom she was associated. ”

“ Bransome. But Jackson was not in the factory. I guessed, however, where he was; and sure enough I found him in his accustomed haunt at the end of the Point. The moment he saw me he tried to hide himself among the brushwood, but I was too quick for him, and spied him as he crouched behind a dwarf palm.
“I know, I know,” he cried, as I ran up to him; “I saw you come along the beach. Bury them, bury them out of sight.”
“Come, Mr. Jackson,” I replied, “it isn’t fair to put all the trouble on to me. ”

“ Supper was soon ready, and the travelers, except Mrs. Dexter, ate with good appetites. Then, after she had told something of her troubles it was decided that the two younger children should sleep in a bed with their mother. Lucy shared Mrs. Jackson’s room, and Larry and Mr. Jackson had beds made up on the floor in the parlor.
“We’ll pretend we’re camping out,” said Mr. Jackson. “Did you ever camp, Larry?”
“Sometimes, with the boys in Campton,” was the reply. “But we never stayed out all night.”
“I have when I was a young man,” said Mr. Jackson. “I used to be quite fond of hunting.” ”

“ Jackson never wastes a candle to drink or sleep by, and at this time of the year there will be no fire. If he speaks to his wife he does not expect her, from her wooden deafness, to answer him. Do you begin to perceive my drift? ”

“ James George Jackson tottered to the side of Jessica in the corridor of the Hotel D'Albany and addressed her, wiping his brow as he did so.
"It's the old lady," he said—"Aunt Nancy Wheeler, you know. She asked me to ask you two ladies if you wouldn't like to join us in a drive this evening. She wants to see how Paris looks at night, an' I've got to show her." ”

“ Mrs. Donelson was a niece of Mrs. Jackson’s, the major having 113 married his own first cousin, Emily, daughter of Captain John Donelson; and Jackson felt for her a very real avuncular affection when he installed her as mistress of the White House. Red-headed Miss Emily, however, was a spunky individual with a spirit of her own; and, although she reluctantly consented to receive Peggy Eaton coldly but courteously as an official guest at the White House, she flatly refused to visit Mrs. Eaton or to have any other social contacts with her. ”

“ Jackson? What do you mean?"
"In going on as we are going on we're doing nothing wrong, running no unwise risks, or that kind of thing?" As I had been putting a similar inquiry to myself I was without an answer. When I turned away he broke out, in agitated accents, "Short, I've come to warn you!"
"To warn me, Jackson?"
"Whatever you do, don't ride in a cab drawn by a white horse."
"Why?"
"Don't ask me, but don't! Don't walk under a ladder when there's a red-haired woman looking on." ”

“ We have just returned from the Hermitage, ... The General called upon us in town on the evening of 63 our arrival and he is one of the most hospitable men in the state. Mrs. Jackson is not a woman of cultivation, but has seen a great many people, has fine spirits, entertains well, and is benevolent. She is short in her person and quite fat. The General is lean and has been in ill health but is now invigorated and promises to live out his three-score and ten. He has built him a good brick house within the last two years and has finished it handsomely. ”

“ She will not be discontented."
"Husband, I'm doubtin' if we've done the right thing by the child, after a'," said the mother, tearfully, to the father, at the end of the first evening after Bel's return. "She's got the ways o' the city on her, an' she carries herself as if she'd be teachin' the minister his own self. I doubt but she'll feel herself strange i' the house."
"Never you fash yourself," replied John. "The girl's got her head, that's a'; but her heart's i' the right place. Ye'll see she'll put her strength to whatever there's to be done. ”

“ The oath quite dazed me for a moment, although I had been warned that she would use language on occasion. "What I do care about," she went on briskly, "is that I won't have this girl pestered by Jackson or by you or by any man that wears hair! Why, Jackson talks so silly about her sometimes you'd think she was a bad woman—and he keeps hinting about something he's going to put over till I can hardly keep my hands off him. I just know some day he'll make me forget I'm a lady. ”

“ Jackson leaned towards me in his desire to hold my full attention, “he went from that room with every reason to fear that the will to be destroyed was the one favoring himself, and the one to be retained that which made you chief heir and the probable husband of Orpha. Have we heard of anything having occurred between then and early morning to reverse the conclusions of that moment? No. Then why should he resort to crime in order to shorten the few remaining days of his uncle’s life when he had every reason to believe that his death would only hasten the triumph of his rival?” ”

“ Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died the 22nd of December, 1828, aged sixty-one years. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, her heart kind. She delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow creatures and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending methods. To the poor she was a benefactor; to the rich an example ”

“ Belding ran on, when the cook and one of the maids tried to go to the serenata in the plaza. On the strength of the extra two dollars the cook had bought a new rebozo and wanted to wear it, and as there was no reason on earth why they shouldn’t go to the serenata, they were mystified and angry at Mrs. Jackson’s serenely declaring “No, no,” and locking them in.{215} But the great seal of the Jacksons’ fate was definitely affixed the next morning when Mrs. Jackson, up bright and early, with kind firmness, refused to let them make their coffee. ”

“ Mrs. Jackson had not been confined entirely, however, to her own family circles and the log Hermitage. After the victory at New Orleans she went south to join her husband. In the same year she accompanied him on a visit to Washington and to Virginia, and at all places she shared with him the honors showered upon him by an adoring populace. She accompanied him, too, when he went to Pensacola to assume the office of Governor of the Floridas, and from these trips returned laden with gifts and purchases which were somewhat out of place in the humble quarters to which they were brought. ”

“ Jackson—an example of piety, benevolence, and every Christian virtue. ‘The only amaranthine flower on earth is virtue.’”
318In Nashville, Captain Parrish presented this—“The memory of Mrs. Jackson.”
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at the celebration of the members of the Legislature, the following toast was drunk:—“The memory of Mrs. Jackson—the amiable wife of the slandered hero. The grave now shrouds her mortal remains, but her virtues will shine in brilliant purity, when her unprincipled slanderers are lost to the memory of man.” ”

“ When the tray was ready, she wrote and sealed these words:
"God bless you, Hobart; God reward you! You have made me feel to-night that earth is too poor, and only heaven rich enough to reward you.
"HELEN." CHAPTER XI MR. KEMBLE'S APPEAL It often happens that the wife's disposition is an antidote to her husband: and this was fortunately true of Mrs. Jackson. She was neither curious nor gossiping, and with a quick instinct that privacy was desired by Martine, gave at an early hour her orders to close the house for the night. ”