I
rode off some two hundred yards, to a turn in the path, and looked
back--she was still standing at the fence and wiping her eyes. I never
saw her after that." Those who knew him best will testify to his
fidelity to this last promise made his mother.
The strong common sense and unbending will of Jackson soon made him
conspicuous in his new home, and very soon he was in active practice as
a lawyer. His prominence was such, that during the last year of the
last term of General Washington's Administration, a vacancy occurring
in the United States Senate from Tennessee, General Jackson was
appointed to fill it. He was occupying this seat when General
Washington retired from the Presidency, and, with William B. Giles, of
Virginia, voted against a resolution of thanks tendered by Congress to
Washington, for his services to the country. For this vote he gave no
reason at the time; and if he ever did, it has escaped my knowledge.
The career of General Jackson, as a public man, is so well known, that
it is not my purpose to review it in this place; but many incidents of
his private history have come to my knowledge from an association with
those who were intimate with him, from his first arrival in Tennessee.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302