Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/33



June, 1833, General Jackson made a “presidential tour” from Washington by way of Philadelphia to New York and the New England States. His proclamation against the nullifiers was still fresh in men's minds, and the people received him everywhere with demonstrative and sincere enthusiasm. Clay was meanwhile at Ashland; and how he enjoyed his rural life is pleasingly portrayed in a letter to Brooke, in May, 1833: —

“Since my return from Washington, I have been principally occupied with the operations of my farm, which have more and more interest for me. There is a great difference, I think, between a farm employed in raising dead produce for market and one which is applied, as mine is, to the rearing of all kinds of live stock. I have the Maltese ass, the Arabian horse, the Merino and the Saxe-Merino sheep, the English Hereford and Durham cattle, the goat, the mule, and the hog. The progress of these animals from their infancy to maturity presents a constantly varying subject of interest, and I never go out of my house without meeting with some one of them to engage agreeably my attention. Then our fine green yard, our natural parks, our beautiful undulating country, everywhere exhibiting combinations of grass