Sir: I receive, with emotions of the deepest gratitude, the sword you are pleased to present me as a testimonial of the regard which a portion of my friends, in Philadelphia, entertain of my services at New Orleans, this day twenty years ago. In memory of the troops that coöperated with me on that occasion, and to whose patriotism and courage more than to the skill of their commanding general, the country is indebted for the signal repulse of the enemy on the 8th of January, I accept it with a pleasure which I cannot express. I pray to you, sir, to convey to the gentlemen who have united with you in the presentation of this sword, my sincere thanks for the honor due me personally, and the assurances that it shall be preserved as a memento, valuable as a specimen of manufacture, and useful to those who will come after us, as a proof that the public service of the soldier will always find in the approbation of a free people the fullest reward. Allow me, sir, to tender to you personally my acknowledgments for the eloquent and complimentary terms you have employed in the execution of the trust assigned to you on this occasion. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ANDREW JACKSON. Col. A. L. Rumfort. _The Artist, Ralph E. W. Earl, “Court Painter.”_—Most of the portraits in the Hermitage collection are the work of Ralph Eleazar Whitesides Earl, who was born in New York City about 1788. He was a son of the eminent American artist, Ralph Earl, and his second wife, Anne Whitesides. Little is known of his early life, but information supplied the author in 1936 by Ralph E. W. Prime, Jr., of Yonkers and New York City, New York, indicates that he went abroad prior to the War of 1812, painted numerous portraits in England and France, and returned to the United States some time between the summer of 1815 and the early part of 1817. His long residence in the Hermitage household and his numerous portraits of General Jackson’s kinsmen and friends caused him to be dubbed “The Court Painter.” The correct spelling of the branch of the family to which he belongs is “Earl,” although historians frequently add a final “e” to his name. _The Garden._—It seems appropriate to add to that which has already been written about the garden an important letter written to the late Miss Louise Grundy Lindsley, charter member, former regent, and member of the board of directors, of the Ladies’ Hermitage Association, by Mrs. Rachel Jackson Lawrence, about a year before the latter’s death. The letter states: