Sarah York selected papers for the Hermitage, but, as his letter of April 14, 1835, (Hermitage MSS. Collection) shows, President Jackson took a personal interest in the Telemachus paper.
“I rec’ a note from Mr. Toland,” he wrote, “after you left us, informing that Mr. South had forwarded the order to Paris for the Telamucus and the other would be detained until you arrived and made the selection for those rooms not selected for. As soon as you can attend to this and have the selection made and the paper shipped for New Orleans so that it may get up to Nashville before the Steam boats stop running. I have written Mr. Toland on this subject....”
Eighteen packages of furniture for the Hermitage were lost when the steamer John Randolph was burned at Nashville, May 16, 1836, but it is evident that they were replaced as quickly as possible. There was always, however, the delay of waiting for sufficiently high water, in addition to the long, tedious journey around the coast to New Orleans and up the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland to Nashville.
Another large bill of furnishings for the Hermitage was purchased of Barry and Krickbaum, of Philadelphia, in February, 1837. It included 1 Large Wardrobe, $75; 2 dressing Bureaus to match, $110; 2 Wardrobes, french pattern, $120; 1 Eliptic front Bureau, $5; 1 Secy and Bookcase complete, $50; 2 pier tables, marble tops, $120; 1 Work table Elegantly fitted up, $50; 1 Work Stand, marble tray top, $5; 2 Work Stands, marble tray top, $50; 1 Marble Slab, $10. Total $665.
About the same time a long list of smaller furnishings amounting to $481.93 was bought of Lewis Veron and Company, Philadelphia. There were fenders, and irons, screens and such, things. Among them were “2 Pair french And Irons $70; 1 Gallérie for fire place, $55; 1 Clock Shade and Stand, very large, $17; 1 Plated Egg Boiler, $19; and one Silver Mounted Butter Tub, $12.” (The list is given in full in Bassett’s Correspondence, Vol. V.)
The new furnishings, with such as were left from the fire, were assembled in a harmonious whole toward the end of General Jackson’s second term as President. Sarah York, after her arrival at the Hermitage in 1832 had bought carpets, linens, and various necessities. General Jackson had written his son at this time:
“Sarah writes me about a Carpet for the dining room and some table linnen and common furniture for the Table. There were abundant supply. of table linnen, etc. etc. when we left the Hermitage, but I suppose it must have gone the same way as the sheets. I have said in my letter to Sarah inclosed that a carpet must be bought for the dining room. There is always a supply of the carpets made by the Shakers, to be had at Mr. Nichols, and she must buy such furniture as the House wants, having an eye to proper economy. This you will have done agreeable to her directions. I have named domestic carpet, as it will be cheaper and better than an oil cloth or matt....”
Again he wrote: “View those East India matts or carpeting and see whether these recommended by Mr. Toland will answer better for the passage than oil cloth, and whether Sarah would prefer these to common carpets for the bedrooms....”
After all the delays and the characteristic confusion of moving the furnishings—old and new—were at last arranged. A weary old man—ill and hemorrhaging heavily from the lungs—turned his face eagerly to the spot which, in all the world, he loved best. To Nicholas P. Trist he wrote on March 2, 1837, “Your letter ... found me confined to my room, indeed, I might say to my bed, and I have been only four times down stairs since the 15th of Novb. last, altho I have been obliged to labour incessantly.... Tomorrow ends my official carier forever, on the 4th I hope to be able to go to the capitol to witness the glorious scene of Mr. Van Buren, once rejected by the Senate, sworn into office....”
Late in December, 1936, he had written Andrew Jackson Donelson, a letter of condolence—the spirited Emily, whom he loved deeply, but whom he, in high dudgeon, had sent home because she refused to receive the much-discussed Peggy O’Neal Timberlake Eaton, had succumbed to a lung trouble similar to that from which he was suffering.