White Sulphur papers; or, Life at the springs of Western Virginia

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SCENERY. 47
has not some military title—General, is very high
only the real militia men take that—Colonel predominates—and
any one who kills a rattlesnake is
made a major on the spot.
We here met the President who had rode over
on horseback accompanied by one of his sons, to
breakfast.
Several travellers in the house, on learning
that he was the chief magistrate, came in and
made themselves known to him and were courteously
received.
Chateaubriand, in describing Ir's visit to the first
president of the United States, remarks on the simpleness
of his retired manner—and the plainness of
every thing around him, and wonders how long
such beauties of republicanism will last.
We fell into a similar train of thought for a moment,
and were consoled with the grateful reflection,
that the purity of our institutions, in one particular
at least, had existed, for half a century.
For here was the eighth president of the United
States, after the lapse of nearly fifty years since the
time mentioned by the great French writer, travelling
in a wild part of the country, several hundred
miles from the seat of government, without retinue,
or even an attendant.
Colonel Crow, has a large garden attached to his
establishment, where we gathered a bouquet of jessamines
and went on to the Sweet