ng portraits of the General and his friends, though later
was added the familiar painting of Mrs. Jackson. Lavasseur, who as
private secretary of La Fayette visited the place in 1825, was greatly
surprised to find a person of Jackson's renown living in a structure
which in France would hardly suffice for the porter's lodge at the
chateau of a man of similar standing. But western Tennessee afforded
nothing finer, and Jackson considered himself palatially housed.

Life on the Hermitage estate had its full share of the charm of the
old South. After breakfasting at eight or nine, the proprietor spent
the day riding over his broad acres, giving instructions to his
workmen, keeping up his accounts, chatting with neighbors and
passers-by, and devouring the newspapers with a zeal born of
unremitting interest in public affairs. After the evening meal the
family gathered on the cool piazza in summer, or around the blazing
hearth of the great living room in winter, and spent the hours until
the early bedtime in telling stories, discussing local and national
happenings, or listening to the news of distant localities as retailed
by the casual visitor. The hospitality of the Jackson home was
proverbial. The General's army friends came often to see him.
Political leaders and advisers flocked to the place. Clergymen of all
denominations were received with special warmth by Mrs. Jackson.
Eastern men of distinction, when traveling to the West, came to pay
their respects. No foreigner who penetrated as far as the Mississippi
Valley would think of returning to his native land without calling
upon the picturesque figure at the Hermitage.

Chief among visitors from abroad was La Fayette. The two men met in
Washington in 1824 and formed an instant attachment for each other.
The great French patriot was greeted at Nashville the following year
with a public reception and banquet at which Jackson, as the first
citizen of the State, did the honors. Afterwards he spent some days in
the Jackson home, and one can imagine the avidity with which the two
men discussed the American and French revolutions, Napoleon, and the
late New Orleans campaign.

Jackson was first and last a democrat. He never lost touch with the
commonest people. Nevertheless there was always something of the grand
manner about him. On formal and ceremonial occasions he bore himself
with becoming dignity and even grace; in dress he was, as a rule,
punctilious. During his years a