in a Nashville paper, concerning the Christian character of Mr. Polk, and to settle some unnecessary controversy on that subject. In this In this paper Mr.

McFerrin says:

"Of Mr. Polk's morality many commendatory things have been said, and said truly. A more just, upright, and honest man in all his dealings with his fellow-men our beloved country could never boast.

Nothing profane, vulgar, nor unseemly fell from his lips; no mark or sign of dissipation ever blotted or stained his character, but temperance and moderation were exhibited in all his public and private walks. So discreet, grave, and uniform was his deportment, that it has often been remarked that he had more the appearance of a staid clergyman than that of the politician. Indeed, the writer has often in Mr. Polk's younger days heard him denominated 'parson,' because of the gravity of his manners. Mr. Polk was a firm believer in the Christian religion, and a constant reader of the Holy Scriptures, which he fully believed were of divine origin.

"The Sabbath-day he regarded as holy, and was a regular attendant at the house of worship, where he always demeaned himself more in the character of a devout worshiper than as one who merely listened attentively to the ministrations of the pulpit.

"He was purely evangelical in his sentiments, as the writer believes, and strongly Methodistic in his views, and here was the point on which his preference for the Methodist Church turned. Not that he esteemed lightly Christians of other Churches, or doubted their true piety, but because he had those strong and peculiar views of the spirituality of religion taken by the Wesleyans.

He was thoroughly satisfied that to be a Christian he must be one in experience and practice, as well as in theory; hence he lamented in his last sickness that he had not given

himself wholly to the work of his salvation, so that he might, in his eventful life, have honored the institutions of the Christian religion.

"For more than twenty years he had entertained the fixed purpose of uniting himself with the Church, and all the preliminaries had been settled previous to his last sickness.

"The idea of a 'death-bed repentance' was, to use his own language, ' most humiliating to his mind.' It seemed to say to the world that he had not been willing to honor the institutions of the Gospel in his best and strongest days.

"After several days of private meditation and prayer, and full and unreserved conversation with his pious wife, he determined to avail himself of the counsel and special prayers of the ministers of the Gospel. He accordingly sent for three of the ministers of the city, his old acquaintances and personal friends, and to two of them, one being absent, he unreservedly opened his mind; and finally, after mature deliberation and much preparation, he was admitted into the Church of his choice, by baptism, and received the holy Eucharist.

"A short time previous to baptism he called his brother, Major William H. Polk, to his bedside, and in the presence of the ministers said: 'My brother, you are my only surviving brother, and I now wish to state to you what is the wish of my heart. For more than twenty years I have entertained the determination to unite with the Church of God, and of consecrating myself to his service; but this I have strangely, and by a course of folly, neglected; but I am now resolved to consummate my purpose, and have therefore requested my reverend friend, Mr. McFerrin, to administer to me the sacraments of the Church; and this I do after much thought and mature deliberation, and proceed with self-distrust, but firmly relying upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Soon after he received the sacraments of the Church, he expressed peculiar satisfaction in what he had done. "This occurred eight days before his death. "A few hours before he died, his wife said to him, 'We will meet in Eternity.' 'Yes,' said he, 'a happy Eternity.' These are the last words he uttered in reference to his future hopes. He soon after began rapidly to sink, and without a struggle he fell asleep, as a weary man would resign himself to sleep after the toils of a summer day.

"He was a Methodist in faith and feeling, and had determined to be one in name and by actual membership. Hence his friends and enemies, if enemies he had, may rest quietly and calmly on the matter of his religious opinions, or cease to ask the question, 'Why he joined the Methodist Church.' He was a Methodist from solemn convictions of the truth of the doctrines of that Church, and of the beauty and efficiency of its government."

Thus died James Knox Polk, a President of the United States, having neglected till his dying hour what he had been on the point of doing for nearly half his short life. It was humiliating to this conscientious, just, and sensible man to think that now at the last hour, when weak and helpless, and hopeless, he was compelled to seek the friendship, without which he felt himself lost, and unable to pass through the "valley and the shadow," when in the days of his manly vigor he did not feel its need, and shrank from proclaiming such relationship. In private he had been more careful in preserving his purity and the teachings of Christianity than his public life ever indicated. He had always searched the Scriptures, and actually felt that in them was

the way to eternal life. But he put off acknowledging this fact before men, until he himself was an object of pity, and the force of a brave, manly example was lost to the world.

At last he could say no more than others had done, "Here I am." But what might that avail, and how unwise! The whitened sepulcher could say that much. And who could tell that the natural answer would not be, "I know you not." Well might this dying President be ashamed of his late hour. It was not wise, not safe, not reputable. But this one thing was his crime. Virtually in his character, where Christianity only dwells, he had been a Christian, and it was really, perhaps, not presumption or over-enthusiasm on his part which induced him to say toward the last, "I am ready for dissolution." Death-bed religion alone is the poorest and most deplorably mean and worthless thing that has ever been invented in this world. If there is anything in the friendship of Heaven, it would not take much of a philosopher to see that it should be early, old, and permanent. It would have been better for this earth, perhaps, if the good old poet had never sung that unreasonable, unnatural, unphilosophical, and extremely doubtful sentiment:

"While the lamp of life holds out to burn,

The vilest sinner may return."

CHAPTER XXIX.

A WONDERFUL WILL-RESIDENCE AND TOMB IN THE HEART OF NASHVILLE-MR. POLK AN EMANCIPATIONIST THE POLKS IN THE WHITE HOUSEPORTRAITS-GENERAL JACKSON AND AUNT RACHEL-A PLEASING STUDY.

THE extracts are

HE following extracts are taken from Mr. Polk's will, one of the most remarkable documents ever written by an American lawyer:

"And as my beloved wife, Sarah Polk, and myself have mutually agreed with each other, that at our respective deaths, it is desired by us, that our bodies may be interred on the said premises, which I have denominated the Polk Place, and as it is also our desire that the said house, lot, and premises, shall never pass into the hands of strangers, who are not related to me by consanguinity, I do hereby, with a view to prevent such contingency, devise, bequeath, and give, the said house, lots, and premises and all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, or appertaining, from and after the death of my said wife, to the State of Tennessee, but to be held by the said State of Tennessee in trust, for the following uses, objects, and purposes, and none other, that is to say the said State of Tennessee, through its Governor for the time being, or if he should decline to assume the obligation of the trust, then through such other person as the Legislature of the said State may from time to time empower and authorize for the purpose, shall permit the