Really one would have thought an angelic being had descended from heaven, to have heard and seen the commotion.

The whole village was in an uproar.

Here was a mother after her children to go and gaze upon the great man, and there was a teacher rushing with one child by the hand and half a dozen running after.

Where was I?
Why I, by mustering a little self-government, concluded to remain at home and suffer the President to pass along in peace.

He was to dine at Washington Irving's, at Tarrytown, and then proceed to the Capitol.
Her extreme animosity is explained in a subsequent letter to Aaron McLean: I regret to hear that the people of Battenville are possessed of so little sound sense as to go 20 miles to shake hands with the President at Saratoga Springs; merely to look at a human being who is possessed of nothing more than ordinary men and therefore should not be worshipped more than any mortal being, nor even so much as many in the humble walks of life who are devoted to their God.