wn country, he changed his course, and went off
to visit Mr. Jefferson at his estate of Poplar Forest in Virginia, upon
which the Natural Bridge is situated. Passing through Nashville on his
way, he saw General Andrew Jackson at a horse race. He describes the
hero of New Orleans as an elderly man, "lean and lank, bronzed in
complexion, deep marked countenance, grisly-gray hair, and a restless,
fiery eye." He adds:--

"Jackson had a horse on the course which was beaten that day. The
recklessness of his bets, his violent gesticulations and imprecations,
outdid all competition. If I had been told that he was to be a future
President of the United States, I should have thought it a very strange
thing."

There are still a few old men, I believe, at Nashville who remember
General Jackson's demeanor on the race ground, and they confirm the
record of Mr. Flower. After a ride of a thousand miles or so, he
presented his letter of introduction to Mr. Jefferson at Poplar Forest,
and had a cordial reception. The traveler describes the house as
resembling a French chateau, with octagon rooms, doors of polished oak,
lofty ceilings, and large mirrors. The ex-President's form, he says, was
of somewhat majestic proportions, more than six feet in height; his
manners simple, kind, and polite; his dress a dark pepper-and-salt coat,
cut in the old Quaker fashion, with one row of large metal buttons,
knee-breeches, gray worsted stockings, and shoes fastened by large metal
buckles, all quite in the old style. His two grand-daughters, Misses
Randolph, were living with him then. Mr. Jefferson soon after returned
to his usual abode, Monticello, and there Mr. Flower spent the greater
part of the winter, enjoying most keenly the evening conversations of
the ex-President, who delighted to talk of the historic scenes in which
he was for fifty years a conspicuous actor.

George Flower and his party would have settled near Monticello,
perhaps, but for the system of slavery, which perpetuated a wasteful
mode of farming, and disfigured the beautiful land with dilapidation.

He had, meanwhile, sent home word that prairies existed in America, and
in the spring of 1817 his partner in the enterprise, Morris Birkbeck,
and his family of nine, came out from England, and they all started
westward in search of the prairies. They went by stage to Pittsburg,
where they bought horses, mounted them and continued their journey, men,
ladies, and boys, a dozen peopl