HER CHRISTMAS AT THE HERMITAGE A Tale about Rachel and Andrew Jackson BY HELEN TOPPING MILLER LONGMANS, GREEN AND COMPANY NEW YORK · LONDON · TORONTO 1955 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC. 55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 3 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. Ltd. 6 & 7 CLIFFORD STREET, LONDON W 1 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 20 CRANFIELD ROAD, TORONTO 16 HER CHRISTMAS AT THE HERMITAGE COPYRIGHT · 1955 BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IN ANY FORM PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., TORONTO FIRST EDITION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 55-9896 Printed in the United States of America HER CHRISTMAS AT THE HERMITAGE 1 Hannah was fat and her knees were getting stiff. When she had a chance to rest on the well-polished stool before the fireplace, it was a groaning misery for her to get up again. Her head, wrapped in a starched white turban, thrust forward followed by a lunge of her shoulders till finally her legs could be persuaded to lift her erect. But once on foot she glared at the black women who giggled in corners, and at toothless old Moll. Moll had come all the way from Virginia. She remembered the long terrifying journey down the river to the Cumberland, the Indians, the hardships. She was privileged. She had no work to do now. “You black trash better stir your stumps,” Hannah snapped, “Heap of company comin’. You, Betty, you put more sage in that dressin’. I raised them turkeys. Ain’t goin’ to have ’em ruint. Mis’ Jackson, she like her turkey seasoned high.”