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Home  »  An American Anthology, 1787–1900  »  1231 Madam Hickory

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By WilburLarremore

1231 Madam Hickory

FIT theme for song, the sylvan maid

Who, if she knew not fauns or satyrs,

Had conjured oft in mossy shade

Visions of savage pale-face haters;

I trow she dined on pork and maize

In cabin, single-roomed and sooted,

Quite innocent of frills and stays,

Warm-hearted and bare-footed.

Her beauty surely brought her note,—

Its praises fed her soul like manna;

Gossip o’er furtive tales did gloat,

Sacred to Venus not Diana;

But when the valiant lover came

He crushed the scandal pests like vermin;

A terror hedged the hero’s name

And she was white as ermine.

Thenceforth, a matron fair and fat,

She shared the doting warrior’s station.

Thais with Alexander sat

And heard the plaudits of a nation;

Though envious souls with poisoned leer

Offset her new life by the other,

The hero held her yet more dear,

Stainless as Mary Mother.

Weary of fortune’s smile and frown

She died without the White House portal,

But never wife wore richer crown,

A sacred troth and love immortal:

That love had made a queen of her

Whom haughty dames turned prudish backs on,

And History smiles but has no slur

For Mistress Andrew Jackson.