The funds derived from the admission fees are augmented by the sale of pictures, pamphlets and souvenirs. A few years ago an unusually severe storm blew down a number of century-old cedar trees that had been planted by General Jackson himself along the driveway; and from these fallen trees has been obtained a supply of wood from which may be supplied novelties for a long time to come. Naturally one of the first aims of the association was to acquire from Colonel Andrew Jackson, III, the furniture and the personal relics of General Jackson which he had inherited and which he still had in the house. This furniture constituted the original furnishing of the old house, placed there by General Jackson himself, and included the bed on which he died and the appurtenances of his room just as he had left them. All these furnishings and relics had been left to Colonel Jackson by his mother, and it was the desire of the association to preserve them intact and keep them in their original place. Colonel Jackson was agreeable to the sale, and gave the association a four-year option on them at a price of $17,500; but the finances of the organization were totally inadequate to handle a deal of such proportions at that time. Accordingly a compromise arrangement was made whereby Colonel Jackson and his wife were retained as custodians of the property, and the association agreed to pay them at the rate of 3% on the agreed value of the furniture and relics. The state had retained the tillable part of the farm, and Colonel Jackson could not look to that as a means of support; and although the struggling association could not keep up its payments to him with any degree of regularity, thereby working a hardship and inconvenience on him, he permitted the option to remain in force until July, 1893, hoping that the organization would be able to raise the necessary funds. An effort was made to get the state to appropriate $15,000 for this purpose, and the governor sent a special message to the General Assembly recommending the appropriation. But the watchdogs of the state treasury could not see any political juice to be squeezed out of such a measure, and they proceeded to make spread-eagle orations about the folly of spending a small fortune for relics when there was so much “practical good” that could be done with the money. So the appropriation was defeated, and upon the expiration of the option Colonel Jackson and his wife removed from the Hermitage, taking with them all its furnishings and leaving only the bare walls.