Of course conditions were much worse in all parts of the country, except the longest and most thickly settled sections.
[14] Parton: _Life of Thomas Jefferson_, 622.
[15] Plumer to his wife, Jan. 25, 1807, Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.
[16] _Memoirs of John Quincy Adams_: Adams, IV, 74; and see Quincy: _Life of Josiah Quincy_, 186.
Bayard wrote to Rodney: "four months [in Washington] almost killed me." (Bayard to Rodney, Feb. 24, 1804, N. Y. Library Bulletin, IV, 230.)
[17] Margaret Smith to Susan Smith, Dec. 26, 1802, Hunt, 33; also Mrs. Smith to her husband, July 8, 1803, _ib._ 41; and Gallatin to his wife, Aug. 17, 1802, Adams: _Gallatin_, 304-05.
[18] King to Gore, Aug. 20, 1803, _Life and Correspondence of Rufus King_: King, IV, 294; and see Adams: _History of the United States_, IV, 31.
[19] Gallatin to his wife, Jan. 15, 1801, Adams: _Gallatin_, 253.
[22] Plumer to Lowndes, Dec. 30, 1805, Plumer: _Life of William Plumer_, 244.
"The wilderness, alias the federal city." (Plumer to Tracy, May 2, 1805, Plumer MSS. Lib. Cong.)
[23] Story to Fay, Feb. 16, 1808, _Life and Letters of Joseph Story_: Story, I, 161.
[24] This was a little Presbyterian church building, which was abandoned after 1800. (Bryan, I, 232; and see Hunt, 13-14.)
[25] _Memoirs of Lieut.-General Scott_, 9-10. Among the masses of the people, however, a profound religious movement was beginning. (See Semple: _History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia_; and Cleveland: _Great Revival in the West_.)
A year or two later, religious services were held every Sunday afternoon in the hall of the House of Representatives, which always was crowded on these occasions. The throng did not come to worship, it appears; seemingly, the legislative hall was considered to be a convenient meeting-place for gossip, flirtation, and social gayety. The plan was soon abandoned and the hall left entirely to profane usages. (Bryan, I, 606-07.)
[26] Gallatin to his wife, Jan. 15, 1801, Adams: _Gallatin_, 253.
[29] See Merry to Hammond, Dec. 7, 1803, as quoted in Adams: _U.S._ II, 362.
Public men seldom brought their wives to Washington because of the absence of decent accommodations. (Mrs. Smith to Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Dec. 6, 1805, Hunt, 48.)