ousehold when he was
president of the United States. "We are happy to inform our readers,"
said Fenno's _Gazette_, "that the president is determined to pursue that
system of regularity and economy in his household which has always
marked his public and private life. As a proof of this, we learn that
the steward is obliged, by his articles of agreement, to exhibit weekly
a fair statement of the receipts and expenditures of moneys by him, for
and on account of the president's household, to such person as the
president may appoint to inspect the same; together with the several
bills and receipts of payment for those articles which may be purchased
by him, when such bills and receipts can be obtained. And it is likewise
strongly inculcated on the steward to guard against any waste or
extravagance that might be committed by the servants of the family."[152]

The late Reverend Ashbel Green has left on record the following
personal reminiscences of Washington during his residence in
Philadelphia as chief magistrate of the nation: "After a great deal of
talking, and writing, and controversy, about the permanent seat of
Congress, under the present constitution, it was determined that
Philadelphia should be honored with its presence for ten years, and that
afterward its permanent location should be in the city of Washington,
where it now is. In the meantime, the federal city was in building; and
the legislature of Pennsylvania voted a sum of money to build a house
for the president--perhaps with some hope that this might help to keep
the seat of the general government in the capital, for Philadelphia was
then considered as the capital of the state. What was lately the
University of Pennsylvania, was the structure erected for this purpose.
But as soon as General Washington saw its dimensions, and a good while
before it was finished, he let it be known that he would not occupy
it--that he should certainly not go to the expense of purchasing
suitable furniture for such a dwelling; for it is to be understood, in
those days of stern republicanism, nobody thought of Congress
_furnishing_ the president's house; or, if perchance such a thought did
enter into some aristocratic head, it was too unpopular to be uttered.

"President Washington, therefore, rented a house of Mr. Robert Morris,
in Market street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, on the south side,
and furnished it handsomely, but not gorgeously. There he lived, with
Mrs. Washin