s I
esteem, it would fill the measure and add zest to my enjoyments; but if
ever this happens, it must be under my own vine and fig-tree."

Washington was not unsocial, yet he loved to be away from the great
gathering-places of men and the tumults of public life. He loved his
friends warmly; and those for whom he had a thorough esteem--a
friendship based upon the perception of genuine qualities of head and
heart that made them trustworthy--were always most welcome to his
retreat on the banks of the Potomac. With such friends he kept up a
cordial correspondence; and in many of his letters, immediately after
his retirement, he spoke of his domestic employments and pleasures.
"Retired from noise myself," he wrote to General Heath, "and the
responsibility attached to public employment, my hours will glide
smoothly on. My best wishes, however, for the prosperity of our country,
will always have the first place in my thoughts; while to repair
buildings, and to cultivate my farms, which require close attention,
will occupy the few years, perhaps days, I may be a sojourner here, as I
am now in the sixty-sixth year of my peregrinations through life."

To Secretary M'Henry he wrote, in joyous mood, at the close of May: "I
am indebted to you for several unacknowledged letters; but never mind
that: go on as if you had answers. You are at the source of information,
and can find many things to relate; while I have nothing to say that
would either inform or amuse a secretary of war in Philadelphia.

"I might tell that I begin my diurnal course with the sun; that, if my
hirelings are not in their places at that time, I send them messages of
sorrow for their indisposition; that, having put these wheels in motion,
I examine the state of things further; that, the more they are probed,
the deeper I find the wounds which my buildings have sustained by an
absence and neglect of eight years; that, by the time I have
accomplished these matters, breakfast (a little after seven o'clock,
about the time I suppose you are taking leave of Mrs. M'Henry) is ready;
that, this being over, I mount my horse and ride round my farms, which
employ me until it is time to dress for dinner, at which I rarely miss
seeing strange faces--come, as they say, out of respect for me. Pray,
would not the word curiosity answer as well? And how different this from
having a few social friends at a cheerful board! The usual time of
sitting at table, a walk, and tea, bring