f
the most graceful and polite of gentlemen, seemed totally unconscious of
the homely bearing, the country manners, and awkward dress of his wife.
In all companies and on all occasions he showed her every possible mark
of respect. The ladies gathered about her and presented her with all
sorts of showy knick-knacks and jewelry, and one of them undertook the
task of selecting suitable clothes for her. She frankly confessed that
she knew nothing at all about such things, and was willing to wear any
thing the ladies thought proper. Much as she enjoyed her visit, she was
glad enough to return to her old home on the banks of the Cumberland,
and resume her oversight of the dairy and the plantation.

Soon after the peace, a remarkable change came over the spirit of this
excellent woman. Parson Blackburn, as the general always called him, was
a favorite preacher in that part of Tennessee, and his sermons made so
powerful an impression on Mrs. Jackson that she joined the Presbyterian
Church, and was ever after devotedly religious. The general himself was
almost persuaded to follow her example. He did not, however; but he
testified his sympathy with his wife's feelings by building a church for
her--a curious little brick edifice--on his own farm; the smallest
church, perhaps, in the United States. It looks like a very small
school-house; it has no steeple, no portico, and but one door; and the
interior, which contains forty little pews, is unpainted, and the floor
is of brick. On Sundays, the congregation consisted chiefly of the
general, his family, and half a dozen neighbors, with as many negroes as
the house would hold, and could see through the windows. It was just
after the completion of this church that General Jackson made his famous
reply to a young man who objected to the doctrine of future punishment.

"I thank God," said this youth, "I have too much good sense to believe
there is such a place as hell."

"Well, sir," said General Jackson, "_I_ thank God there _is_ such a
place."

"Why, general," asked the young man, "what do you want with such a place
of torment as hell?"

To which the general replied, as quick as lightning: "To put such
rascals as you are in, that oppose and vilify the Christian religion."'

The young man said no more, and soon after found it convenient to take
his leave.

Mrs. Jackson did not live to see her husband President of the United
States, though she lived long enough to know that he wa