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.