The Hermitage, Home of Old HickoryHorn, Stanley F.
History
The Hermitage, Home of Old Hickory
Horn, Stanley F.
Hermitage (Hermitage, Tenn.); Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845 -- Homes and haunts -- Tennessee -- Hermitage
“I send you enclosed a note addressed to me by the Messrs. Yeatman after
a conversation I had with them this morning. They have always been ready
and willing to do all in their power to get back the paper from those
who purchased it. When I called on Campbell I expected to get the paper;
that night he cut it and put it on the walls. Williams is not at home. I
saw Shelly, who will do nothing. He is not disposed to restore it.
Williams dare not, as his wife claims it; so I called on the Messrs
Yeatman and stated the facts, who willingly proposed to purchase another
set. I did not present Andrew’s note to them enclosed to Colonel Love,
but suggested in their letter to draw on them for the amount. My dear
sir, when you have this whole matter explained it will give you a pain
to find men so lost to all honorable feelings as to retain that which
does not belong to them. It is a theft. The person who you got the other
set from will draw on Messrs. Yeatman or myself on sight and the draft
will be paid. Send it out as soon as possible, so that we may complete
the house. Major Eaton will be with you in a few days and will explain
this unpleasant affair and the treatment received. Yeatman will sue for
the real value of the paper. He thinks he has been badly treated by
Williams and Campbell. He offered them any profit in advance if that was
their object. Let me request you to send out the other without delay, as
I want to see the house complete before Mrs. Jackson and yourself get
out.”
Colonel Armstrong’s letter is tantalizingly incomplete in details, and
there is no other written reference to this “unpleasant affair;” nor is
there any inkling as to the identity of the Williams and Shelly
mentioned.
Be that as it may, the paper was hung on the walls of the Campbell
parlor and is there today, although it is now covered with two layers of
modern wall paper put on to satisfy the taste of modern tenants of the
old Campbell homestead who objected to the faded grandeur of the old
hand-painted paper imported from Paris and wanted something bright and
new.
Promptly upon receipt of news of the original paper’s fate, General
Jackson wrote to his friend Henry Toland in Philadelphia and ordered a
duplicate set. This paper, manufactured by Dufour in France and imported
by Toland, is the paper that is on the walls of the downstairs hall
today, attracting the admiring glances of all visitors.
This paper depicts the familiar story from mythology of the adventures
of Telemachus on the island of Calypso while on his journey in search of
Ulysses. There are four scenes in the paper: No. 1, the landing of
Telemachus on the island, showing the queen advancing to meet him; No.
2, Telemachus, with Mentor beside him, relating to Calypso the story of
his travels; No. 3, the fete given by Calypso in honor of the visitor;
No. 4, Telemachus leaping from the cliff after the maidens of the island
had burned his boat upon learning of his resolution to escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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