be near 12 feet apart.  Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover, that apples will make pyes; and its a question, if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of Beef-steaks.  If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit to partake of it in plates, once Tin but now Iron—­(not become so by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them.”

Dinners were not the only form of entertaining.  In Cambridge, when Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Jack Custis were at head-quarters, a reception was held on the anniversary of Washington’s marriage, and at other times when there was anything to celebrate,—­the capitulation of Burgoyne, the alliance with France, the birth of a dauphin, etc.,—­parades, balls, receptions, “feux-de-joie,” or cold collations were given.  Perhaps the most ambitious attempt was a dinner given on September 21, 1782, in a large tent, to which ninety sat down, while a “band of American music” added to the “gaiety of the company.”

Whenever occasion called the General to attend on Congress there was much junketing.  “My time,” he wrote, “during my winter’s residence in Philadelphia, was unusually (for me) divided between parties of pleasure and parties of business.”  When Reed pressed him to pass the period of winter quarters in visiting him in Philadelphia, he replied, “were I to give in to private conveniency and amusement, I should not be able to resist the invitation of my friends to make Philadelphia, instead of a squeezed up room or two, my quarters for the winter.”

While President, a more elaborate hospitality was maintained.  Both in New York and Philadelphia the best houses procurable were rented as the Presidential home,—­for Washington “wholly declined living in any public building,”—­and a steward and fourteen lower servants attended to all details, though a watchful supervision was kept by the President over them, and in the midst of his public duties he found time to keep a minute account of the daily use of all supplies, with their cost.  His payments to his stewards for mere servants’ wages and food (exclusive of wine) were over six hundred dollars a month, and there can be little doubt that Washington, who had no expense paid by the public, more than spent his salary during his term of office.

It was the President’s custom to give a public dinner once a week “to as many as my table will hold,” and there was also a bi-weekly levee, to which any one might come, as well as evening receptions by Mrs. Washington, which were more distinctly social and far more exclusive.  Ashbel Green states that “Washington’s dining parties were entertained in a very handsome style.  His weekly dining day for company was Thursday, and his dining hour was always four o’clock in the afternoon.  His rule was to allow five minutes for the variations of clocks and watches, and then go to the table, be present or absent, whoever might.  He kept his