Mrs. Lyon’s Diary.
Camp Harker, May 28.—A large party of us took a trip today to the Hermitage, General Jackson’s home. We had two ambulance loads, and nearly all our officers went on horseback, as a body-guard. We went through the garden to the tomb where General Jackson and his wife are buried. At the head of the tomb is a beautiful large magnolia tree in bloom, which filled the whole yard with perfume. There was a great variety of flowers in bloom and Lieut. Knilans bought me a beautiful bouquet of roses. Hickory canes cut on the plantation were also for sale, and I bought two for the two fathers.
We took our lunch, expecting to picnic, but the old servants offered us the use of the dining hall, a large, beautiful room, which they said was seldom opened. There was a very nice mahogany extension table, made in the old fashion, and they brought us the old family china, and gave us all the buttermilk we could drink. (Buttermilk is a great luxury with the Southern people.) We saw the old family carriage, made entirely from the old ship Constitution; but the gray-headed negroes were the greatest novelty about the plantation. Old Aunt Betty said she cooked for General Jackson forty years. They have numbers of visitors. We had a very pleasant day.
