Sarah Childress, the daughter of Captain Joel and Elizabeth Childress, was born near Murfreesboro, in Rutherford county, Tennessee, the 4th day of September, 1803. In that beautiful portion of the South, almost a wilderness then, passed the younger years of her life, and there is little to record of it save its contentment and tranquil happiness. Her father, a farmer in easy circumstances, and considered rich for those days, allowed his children every benefit to be derived from his fortunate circumstances, and she was early placed at school. The Moravian Institute at Salem, North Carolina, was chosen by Mr. Childress as the most suitable place for his little daughter, and she was placed in that strict and most thorough establishment. There she attained discipline and culture, and her school days with their varying shadows and sunshine passed quietly away. There was nothing to mar the influence of those happy school days, and each as it came, did its appointed duty in moulding her character. The April life fleeted by, clouds and sunshine, little griefs and joys, the studious hour, the frank companionship of girlhood, the animating walk, hand in hand with young friends and with nature, soon rolled away, and Sarah Childress returned home. Surrounded in her father’s house by all the comforts possible to obtain in that State in those days, and possessing a hopeful temperament and sunny heart, adorned with all the accomplishments that the attention of parents and teachers could bestow, she was a bright ornament in her home, and a pleasure to her friends and society.

At the early age of nineteen she was married to James Knox Polk, in Murfreesboro. The wedding was a festival of rejoicing, at which many friends of the bride and groom assisted, and was characterized by the abundance and merriment customary at that day.

Mr. Polk had recently entered public life, and was then a member of the Legislature of Tennessee. In the following year he was elected to Congress from the district, at that time composed of the counties of Giles, Maury, Lincoln, and Bedford. During fourteen sessions he continued the representative of that district. After having served on the most important committees in the House, he was, in 1836, elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, a position for which his studious and industrious habits, together with his constantly increasing popularity, peculiarly fitted him.

Mrs. Polk did not fail to accompany her husband to Washington every winter except in a single instance. She occupied there a conspicuous place in society, and by her polite manners and sound judgment made her companionship pleasant and inspiriting, not only to Mr. Polk, but to the friends by whom he was surrounded. Mrs. Polk was a highly cultivated without being a literary woman. Being interested in all that related to her husband, she took pains to inform herself fully in political affairs, and read all the news and discussions of the day relating to the well-being of the country, subjects which to most ladies of that day proved wearisome and hard to understand. Living in the atmosphere of politicians and surrounded by public men, she however avoided the maelstrom upon which ladies are often stranded, and never discussed a subject in relation to which her sex were expected to be entirely ignorant. Women were then as now, supposed to be too weak to understand the mighty problem of Government, and they evidenced their acquiescence in such a supposition by remaining entirely unacquainted with the politics of the country. Not so Mrs. Polk, who however was no politician, for her visitors were not aware of the depth of her understanding, nor were they offended by the recurrence to a subject deemed out of her sphere. There was an intuitive feeling in her heart of what was due to her delicacy, and she was wise enough to be consistent and appropriate in all her actions. Yet her mind was strengthened by careful reading and intimate intercourse with many of the finest minds in the country.

Mr. Polk’s residence was at Columbia, Tennessee, where the intervals between the sessions of Congress were spent among his relatives. In the year 1834, Mrs. Polk joined the Presbyterian Church of that place. Since that time her character has been entirely a Christian one. Faithful and devout, consistent in her conduct to every rule and requirement of her sect, she has exemplified in her life the punctual observance of a vow to serve her God through the acknowledged tenets of the Presbyterian faith.

On the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Polk from Washington, in 1839, Mrs. Polk received the graceful compliment of a copy of verses addressed to her by the eminent jurist, Hon. Joseph D. Story.

In the same year Mr. Polk was made the Governor of Tennessee, and removed his residence to Nashville, in order to fulfil the duties of his new position. Mrs. Polk, always amiable and animated by the truest fidelity to her husband’s interests, exerted a wide influence in the new circle into which her life had been cast. By the winning gentleness which ever accompanied her fine social qualities, she attracted even those members of the Legislature who were among the opponents of Mr. Polk. And this is saying a great deal when it is remembered that the political campaign of 1840 was the most fierce and exciting one in the history of the country. It is known as the “hard cider and log-cabin campaign.” Political rancor and animosity prevailed to an unprecedented degree. But the lady-like affability, and high and exalted virtues of Mrs. Polk, won universal admiration from friend and foe alike. She lived above the warring elements that surrounded her. The calm and charming bearing of the Governor’s wife was a source of constant praise.

From the sister States of Tennessee and Kentucky came the opposing Presidential candidates in 1844. Henry Clay, the idol of the Whig party, and the most popular public man in the Commonwealth, against the champion of Democracy, James K. Polk.

The election was keenly contested, and the result most damaging to the Whig party. March 4, 1845, Mr. Polk was inaugurated. The day was very disagreeable, rain and mud rendering much of a display out of the question. He was accompanied from the Capitol to the White House by the retiring President, who there took a kindly leave, wishing him prosperity and happiness in his new and exalted position. Mrs. Polk immediately assumed the agreeable duties of the lady of the White House, and having no children to occupy her time, she devoted herself entirely to the pleasures of her new station. She held weekly receptions, and it was customary for her to receive her company sitting. The extreme formality required now was not practised then. The crowds that attend the few levees held by the President’s family render everything like sociability out of the question. Farther and farther from the old landmarks we are drifting. In Mrs. Washington’s day the company were seated, and herself and the President passed among the company. Later in the history of the Chief Magistrates, President Adams dispensed cake and wine to the guests, and General Jackson cheese. As the throng grew more numerous, Mrs. Polk did away with refreshments, and now policemen are stationed in the Mansion during receptions to keep the crowds from crushing the President and family, who are compelled to stand and shake hands the entire evening. Verily we are a progressive people.

The reputation which Mrs. Polk had acquired was nobly sustained, even when subjected, as one might say, to the gaze of the whole world. Every circumstance, whether of embarrassment, perplexity or trial, added to the undiminished lustre of her name. She maintained the dignity of the President’s Mansion, which, in this country of republican freedom and simplicity, was often in danger of being lowered. Her parents were of the old school, high-toned in manners and principles, and she had imbibed from them what may be called the aristocracy of virtue; an idea that, whatever the mass of society might consider themselves at liberty to do, it was indispensably due to her station to preserve inviolate the strict laws of decorum and of the purest principles. Hence it will not be surprising that during her occupancy of the White House the practice which had formerly obtained, of dancing there, was discontinued; a practice which was evidently out of all harmony with the place, and more suitable anywhere else.

The return of Mrs. Polk to Washington was anticipated by her friends with the liveliest gratification. She was considered, by those who knew her, remarkably fitted to fill and adorn the high seat to which she was bidden. The following extracts will show the feeling which was rife. The Tennessee Democrat said:

“We have recently noticed in our exchange papers, of both political parties, the most respectful and flattering compliments paid to the amiable and accomplished lady who is shortly to take charge of the White House. We cannot refrain from copying the following complimentary tribute to Mrs. Polk, which is taken from the Southern (Miss.) Reformer, and we are sure that in this community, where Mrs. Polk is best known, the compliment will be duly appreciated.”—

“‘This lady is one of the most sensible, refined and accomplished of her sex, and will adorn the White House at Washington, over which she is destined to preside, with distinguished honor to her country. All who have mingled in her society know well how to appreciate the gracefulness of her disposition. We have seen few women that have developed more of the genuine republican characteristics of the American lady. She has had her admirers not only in the highest, but in the humblest walks of life. The poor know her for her benevolence; the rich for the plainness of her equipage; the church for her consistency; the unfortunate for her charities; and society itself for the veneration and respect which her virtues have everywhere awarded her. We feel proud that the southwest can boast of such a noble offspring.’”

“My Dear Sir:—The advent of our President-elect has concentrated everything to and about him. The prudence that he observed before he reached here in reference to the formation of his Cabinet still exists. He keeps his own counsels, and no tie of personal or political friendship, as far as we can learn, has been enabled to get from him a glimpse of the future. It is generally believed here that Mr. Polk will be influenced by no ultra party considerations; that he will look to the great interests of the country as a whole, and study, with the incentives of a statesman and a patriot, so to administer the government. Should he prescribe to himself this policy, those who know him best know that he has firmness of purpose commensurate to its fulfilment.

“Whatever the diversities of opinion that divide politicians, and whatever the asperities of feeling engendered by the conflicts to which they lead, they seem, by common consent, to be surrendered upon the altar that is reared in every chivalrous heart, to the meed most justly due to elegance and excellence of female character, in the person of the lady of the President-elect.

“All approach her with the tribute that is due to her exalted station, and all leave her with the pleasing impression that the refinement and blandishments of her manners, the gentleness of her disposition, and unostentatious bearing, fit her eminently for the place and part she is to occupy for the next four years. At home and abroad, the influence of her character will do honor to our country. These are the impressions of your friend.”

“Not long since, in the Nashville Union, appeared a communication in which the writer very justly applauds the lady of the President of the United States in consequence of her dignified and exemplary deportment since her occupancy of the Presidential Mansion. Among other remarks, the following occur: ‘She is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, and therefore has abolished dancing and other light amusements in her house.’ Assuredly nothing more effectually commends the religion of the Bible than the holy and consistent conduct of those who profess to be governed by its precepts.

“A professor of religion, doubtless Mrs. Polk deeply realized the responsibility of her position. Exposed to the temptations of fashionable life in their most alluring forms, it required no trivial amount of gracious influence to enable her to abjure the maxims and customs of an ungodly world. The friends of religion anxiously looked forward in regard to the course she might think proper to adopt in that respect, and thanks to Providence and her own pious heart, their hopes and expectations have not been disappointed. By her consistent and exemplary conduct she has secured the gratitude and respect of the friends of religion of every name, yea, of all whose good opinion is most worth enjoying; while, in the meantime, the friends and advocates of the rejected pastimes, nolens volens, will even on that account feel constrained to accord to her the homage of their augmented respect.

“The example of Mrs. Polk can hardly fail of exerting, in various respects, a salutary influence. Especially does it rebuke the conduct of those ladies who, professing godliness, nevertheless dishonor its profession by their eager participation in the follies and amusements of the world. However politicians may differ in regard to the merits of Mr. Polk’s administration, there can be no difference as respects that of his lady, in her department of the Presidential Mansion. All will agree that by the exclusion of the frivolities spoken of, and her excellent deportment in other respects, she has conferred additional dignity upon the executive department of our government, and may well be considered a model worthy of imitation by the ladies who may hereafter occupy the elevated position from which she is about to retire. This excellent lady, ere long, it is presumed, will return to the society of kindred and friends, among whom, it is sincerely hoped, she may long live to receive and confer happiness upon all around, and as hitherto, continue to be an ornament to the religion and church her example has so signally honored.”

In her elevated and conspicuous situation, the stateliness of Mrs. Polk’s bearing was strikingly becoming and appropriate. With this an English lady was impressed, who averred that not one of the three queens whom she had seen could compare with the truly feminine yet distinguished and regal presence of Mrs. Polk. She says: “Mrs. Polk is a very handsome woman. Her hair is very black, and her dark eye and complexion remind one of the Spanish donnas. She is well read, has much talent for conversation, and is highly popular. Her excellent taste in dress preserves the subdued though elegant costume which characterizes the lady.”

The same feeling of admiration seemed to inspire the graceful writer, Mrs. Ann S. Stephens, in the following tribute:

The receptions of the President were always largely attended, and were made agreeable to everybody by the spirit of liveliness as well as of courtesy that prevailed. A visitor says: “Last evening I had an opportunity of seeing the members of the royal family, together with some choice specimens of the Democracy, in the ‘circle-room’ of the White House. It was reception night, and the latch-string, in the shape of a handsome negro, was ‘outside the door.’ On entering, I found the room full. Mr. Polk is so affable as to prevent one from feeling any awe that he is in direct communication with the concentrated majesty of the whole United States and Territories.

“The wife of the President was seated on the sofa, engaged with half a dozen ladies in lively conversation. Ill and clumsy as I am at millinery, yet for the sake of my fair readers, I will try to describe her toilet. A maroon colored velvet dress, with short sleeves and high in the neck, trimmed with very deep lace, and a handsome pink head-dress was all that struck the eye of the general observer. Mr. Willis would, no doubt, have noticed many other little accompaniments, interesting to ladies, but I never could indulge in any such familiarity. Who would think of plucking at an angel’s wing in order to give an analysis of its fibre? Mrs. Polk is a handsome, intelligent and sensible woman, better looking and better dressed than any of her numerous lady visitors present on the occasion.

“Among the guests of distinction were the Hon. Cave Johnson, Postmaster-General, who bears a strong resemblance about the head to Mr. Greeley, of the Tribune; Mr. Vinton, of Ohio, Commodore De Kay, Mr. Rockwell, of Connecticut, and a Wall Street financier, who can draw a larger draft on London than any other man in the country. There were two or three pairs of epaulettes; a couple of pretty deaf and dumb girls, who only talked with their fingers; and scores of others who talked with their eyes, while a whole regiment of the ‘raw material’ of the Democracy in frock coats, stood as straight as grenadiers around the outer circle of the room, gazing in silent astonishment at the President and the chandeliers.”

On one of the reception nights a distinguished gentleman from South Carolina remarked in a loud tone of voice to Mrs. Polk, “Madam, there is a woe pronounced against you in the Bible.” Every one ceased conversing for a moment, when Mrs. Polk inquired what he meant. “Well, the Bible says, ‘Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.’” A general laugh followed, and the remark was considered very appropriate.

During President Polk’s administration, the war with Mexico was inaugurated by a difficulty about the boundary line of Texas. The country is acquainted with the brilliant successes of the American troops in Mexico, and of General Scott’s glorious successes, whereby he reached and revelled in the halls of the Montezumas. The war ended in 1848, the year before Mr. Polk’s retirement. President Polk’s easy, courteous manners, went far toward allaying the opposition which is ever apparent in times of national trouble, and the affable manners of Mrs. Polk rendered his efforts the more successful. With the exception of the summer of 1847, spent in Tennessee, Mrs. Polk remained uninterruptedly at the White House; the visits of members of her family cheering the otherwise monotonous routine of her life there.

A gentleman who called at the White House one evening in the fall of 1846, writes in the following terms of his visit: “We were met by Mr. Walker, the Private Secretary, with much politeness, the President being absent, and were received by Mrs. Polk in the kindest, and at the same time most graceful, manner. It may be said with truth, she is a lady of commanding dignity at all times; and her conversation, generally of the most agreeable character, is always happily directed. In my judgment, at no period in our history have we seen the hospitalities and ceremonies of the White House more handsomely dispensed, or displayed with greater republican simplicity than at the present time. If my observation be correct, no invidious or improper distinction seems to be made in the circle of visitors. There is no imposing movement or extra formality exhibited when a Secretary or some other high officer of Government presents himself. The quiet and unheralded citizen receives a polite and cordial salutation, as well as the haughty millionnaire, or some proud minister of state. And this is precisely as it should be, a just and beautiful commentary, alike upon our noble institutions, and the charming social qualities of the President and his family.

“I was struck not only with the easy and fascinating manners of Mrs. Polk, but equally with her patriotic sentiments and feelings. A gallant Lieutenant just from the bloody but glorious conflict at Monterey, was there also; and as Mrs. Polk gracefully carried back his thoughts to the distant field of his early fame, he caught the inspiration at once, and dwelt briefly for her entertainment upon some of the thrilling incidents of those scenes. In the course of this animated conversation to which I was a favored listener, the modest young officer remarked, in a playful manner, that something which I do not now recollect was rather too democratic; to which Mrs. Polk replied, that ‘whatever sustained the honor, and advanced the interests of the country, whether regarded as democratic or not, she admired and applauded.’ The sentiment was a truly noble one.”

A correspondent of the New York Journal of Commerce has also given to the public a sketch of a visit to the Presidential Mansion, which is interesting. “These the musings were soon interrupted by the entrance of Mrs. Polk who, with an easy smile and a graceful simplicity of manner, bid me welcome as an American citizen, and partaker of a common faith. She bears her honors meekly, and surely it is no mean elevation to be the wife of an American President; an elevation to which many fond and ambitious aspirations are doubtless secretly cherished in the bosoms of high-minded American women, but which only one, now and then, can enjoy. And this one, probably, was among the last to expect it, till the news came to disturb the quietude of her happy domestic life in Tennessee.

“Mrs. Polk may be considered a felicitous specimen of the intelligent, refined American lady, who, without artificial airs, without any assumption of stateliness of manners, without any ambitious ornaments of dress, exchanges the courtesies of social life, and demeans herself in public, with a sincerity somewhat rare in the current circles of fashion.

“I cannot but think that the basis of her style of character is laid in a true and unaffected piety. She is regular in her attendance on divine worship and on the communion of the Lord’s supper. In our conversation, she expressed her great delight, among similar things, in having recently witnessed and welcomed the admission of three or four interesting youths to the communion of the Presbyterian Church, of which she is a member. Unlike some of her predecessors, Mrs. Polk has no taste for the gay amusements of the lovers of pleasure.”

In the early fall of 1847, the illness of Mrs. Polk threw a cloud of sorrow and apprehension over many hearts; but it was only a cloud, and the recovery of this beloved and honored lady was hailed with delight and thanksgiving. Some one writing to the Baltimore Sun says: “This fall we have a peculiar sorrow, in the dangerous illness of the honored lady of President Polk. She came among us almost a stranger, respected on account of her station, but unknown to most of us; she is now the pride of society, as well as the object of our tender affection. The social circles of Washington gratefully acknowledge the happiness she has diffused through them; the needy and suffering bless God for such a friend. All admire her character, all revere her virtues, and all with one consent join in supplicating the Father of mercies to spare her long, very long to her distinguished husband and the friends to whom she is so dear.”

A few days before the close of his administration, a splendid dinner party was given by the President to General Taylor. At the levee, the same evening, a great concourse of persons—acquaintances, admirers, and friends—assembled to pay their last respects and take their last adieu of the President and his wife.

On Sunday afternoon, in the first Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Polk participated for the last time in the solemn services of the communion. The Rev. Mr. Ballentyne addressed the distinguished lady in a most appropriate manner; and on the conclusion of the ceremonies, the pastor and a large number of the communicants approached and bade her an affectionate farewell.

The following morceau appears in the Washington Union:

The departure from Washington and return to Nashville was a continued scene of ovation and triumph. Everywhere along the route, demonstrations of respect and esteem greeted the distinguished travellers. Arriving at home, the citizens of Nashville showed them every possible mark of regard.

Before the expiration of Mr. Polk’s Presidential term, he had purchased a house in Nashville, from the Hon. Felix Grundy, in the most commanding position in the city. It was enlarged and ornamented and put in the most complete and elegant order. Ever since it has been known as “Polk Place.” The surrounding grounds are tastefully and elaborately arranged and adorned with flowers and shrubbery. They extend from Vine street on the east, to Spruce street on the west; and from Union street on the north, to Polk avenue, which leads from the mansion to Church street, on the south. The dwelling, is large and imposing, and the grounds ample, forming one of the most attractive places in the city. This was the chosen spot for the declining days of the recent occupants of the White House.

Soon after their return from Washington, the ex-President and his wife contemplated a tour in Europe; then a much more serious undertaking than at the present day. He even engaged a courier who could speak and write French and German, to obviate many difficulties of the journey. But ill-health and the speedy termination of the statesman’s life, put an end to the pleasant scheme.

After the death of Mr. Polk, a small but beautiful temple, of native marble, was erected on the grounds on the eastern front, beneath which lie the remains of the distinguished statesman. On three sides of a monument within the temple, there are full and lengthy inscriptions, recording the principal events of a useful and honored life. The death of her husband was the only affliction of Mrs. Polk’s life. It had been invariably calm, cheerful, and happy. “In this great trial and deep draught of the waters of bitterness, she was sustained and consoled by the divine principles and precious promises of her religion. She was enabled by faith to look forward to a reunion in the better land, with him on whose strong arm she had so long leaned, and to whom her attachment and companionship had been so dear. She had removed her membership from the church in Washington, and had become connected with the First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, of which the lamented Dr. John T. Edgar was so long the beloved pastor.” The sympathizing attention paid to Mrs. Polk in her grief was universal. From every lady and gentleman of her wide acquaintance she received letters of condolence and consolation.

The study of the President, a large room in the second story, commanding a view of the Capitol, is kept by Mrs. Polk just as he left it. Here are his books, his papers, his pen and all the little articles that betoken an apartment in daily use; as if he had just stepped out and would soon return. It is kept in order by her own hands.

Such public marks of respect have been shown to Mrs. Polk as it has been no other American lady’s fortune to receive. Prominent men of all classes and callings rarely visit the city without paying their respects to her. It was for years the habit of the Legislature to call upon her, in a body, on New Year’s Day. Large delegations of Masons, of Odd Fellows, and of Sons of Temperance, at the various meetings of their societies, have done themselves the honor to be presented to her. Numbers of the members of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church have, at different times, visited Polk Place to evince their sincere respect for her whose life has been so pure and blameless, and whose Christian character is so shining an example.

During the Confederate days of Nashville, Mrs. Polk received the kind attentions of the supreme officers; among others of Gen. Beauregard, of Gen. Breckenridge, and of Gen. Preston. Afterward, Gen. Buell, Gen. Thomas, Gen. Nelson, Gen. Mitchell, Gen. Crittenden, Gen. McCook, Gen. Sherman, Gen. Wood, and many others, and staff officers innumerable, called to pay their duty to the distinguished mistress of Polk Place.

In a letter from a visitor at Melrose, the residence of Mrs. Gov. A. V. Brown, in the vicinity of Nashville, is the following pleasant description: “Among the pleasures that we most value and trust never to lose, was meeting and becoming acquainted, while at Melrose, with one of Nashville’s most valued residents—Mrs. President Polk. By far the most interesting spot in that city is Polk Place, this lady’s home, an elegant and stately erection, the portico of the noblest architecture, exquisite in design and proportion. The house has large, lofty rooms, a noble hall, rich in presents received by Mrs. Polk during the Presidential career of her husband. Among them is a beautiful drawing of Niagara, a fine oil painting of De Soto, and walking sticks in curious shapes and of precious-looking wood. Besides these, the walls are hung with portraits of illustrious men, and fine likenesses of the President, repeated at different ages. In this cherished retirement, enlivened by the presence of a sweet little relative, an adopted daughter of Mrs. Polk’s, men of all parties meet, forgetting their political differences in social enjoyment.

“But the house, noble as it is, is not the goal of the visitor’s pilgrimage. As at the Hermitage, the true shrine is to be found in the shade, the verdure, the fragrance of a sloping garden, amid dazzling masses of verbena, geraniums, heliotrope and jessamine. In the centre of this lovely mosaic is a fine monument, erected over the remains of him whose brief and bright career was cut suddenly short, enriched by an elegant inscription from Mrs. Polk’s pen; a true and noble record, honorable alike to the departed and to the survivor. Here, amid the song of birds and the odor of flowers, we paid willing homage to all that remained of one who died lamented by his countrymen of every sect and party.

“His mourners were two parts, his friends and foes. He had kept the whiteness of his soul, and thus men o’er him wept.

“Meeting Mrs. Polk was like seeing the original of a familiar picture, and in a few moments after seeing her, we were surprised to find ourself forgetting, in a confiding feeling, that we were conversing with a lady who had presided at the Executive Mansion with a wider popularity than has since been attained by any of her successors. She seems to have a warm and unenvying sympathy in the success of others, and in her conversation there is an expression of those affectionate sympathies which made her beloved in a more elevated sphere. She has a pleasing figure, what we call lady-like, delicate, erect and graceful, with a great deal of manner, in the last respect resembling the late Mrs. Madison. Mrs. Polk’s mental endowments, as well as her personal qualities, combine to render her a general favorite, while her manners and character give a permanence to her social success by converting admirers into friends.”

In a pecuniary point of view, Mrs. Polk’s life has passed in ease and affluence. Her father was comparatively wealthy, and Mr. Polk’s circumstances were always good. In addition to his property in Tennessee, he owned a large and flourishing plantation in Mississippi. Chief-Justice Catron, Major Daniel Graham and other distinguished personal friends, have attended to Mrs. Polk’s financial affairs during her widowhood, and have thus relieved her from all care.

Mrs. Polk, though ever willing to converse, and always enriching the conversation from her ready store of information and observation, is remarkably reticent in regard to her own life. Her most familiar friends fail to persuade an account of incidents relating purely to herself. She is never seen in public except at church. The visits of chosen friends are grateful to her, but she does not return them, and no attraction is sufficient to draw her far away from the home where cluster so many dear and sacred memories. Occasionally she spends a few days with her relatives in other counties.

Having no children, Mrs. Polk, some time after the death of her husband, adopted a niece, who has ever since been an inmate of her house. No employment could have served better to console the many lonely hours that must be the inevitable heritage of a widowed heart, than the charge of a daughter.

Mrs. Polk was born in the dawn of the nineteenth century, and is a pure type of a class which is rapidly becoming extinct. With her will pass away many of the excellences and not a few of the foibles of a class modelled after the aristocracy of the old world on their graftings in the new. Her life has been spent in an age and country where chivalric honor to woman is a matter of national pride, yet in a land of slaves and slavery. The young and middle-aged of to-day will never know the opportunities of time and means which she, half a century ago, enjoyed; for the South is changed, and verily old things have passed away and all are new. The present generation, thrown more upon their own resources, and passing through the perplexities of change and misfortune, will grow away from the old regime, and may perhaps lose many of their virtues with too few of their faults.

During the late civil war, she suffered in common with the people of the South, losing much of her valuable property, but was fortunately left with sufficient means to enable her to live in her usual style of comfort. Her sympathies were with the section of country in which she was reared, but her conduct was throughout befitting her station, and no expression or action of hers is a reflection of aught save refined bearing and high-toned sensibility.

Surrounded with comforts and luxuries, and enjoying the companionship of her relatives and friends, Mrs. Polk glides calmly down the vale of years, with the memory of a past all brightness, and the hopes of a future all peace. The lifetime imitation of a pure and useful standard of excellence has rewarded her with a glorious fame, and she dwells among the friends of her youth, honored and respected, trusted and beloved.