the rent of the house in its
original state, for the two years that I am to hold it? If the solution
of these questions is in the negative, wherein lies the difficulty of
determining that the houses and lots, when finished according to the
proposed plan, ought to rent for so much? When all is done that can be
done," he added, "the residence will not be so commodious as that I left
in New York, for there (and the want of it will be found a real
inconvenience at Mr. Morris's) my office was in the front room below,
where persons on business immediately entered; whereas, in the present
case, they will have to ascend two pairs of stairs, and to pass by the
public rooms as well as the private chambers, to get to it."[29]

It must be remembered that Washington refused to receive a salary for
his services as president of the United States, but stipulated that the
amount of his expenses should be paid by the government. In regulating
these expenses, he was as careful to avoid extravagance as if his
private purse had to be drawn upon to pay. In New York he lived
frugally,[30] and he resolved to continue, in Philadelphia, the same
unostentatious way of living, not only on his own account, but for the
benefit of those connected with the government who could not afford to
spend more than their salaries. His example had a most salutary effect.
An illustrative case may be cited. When Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut,
was appointed first auditor of the treasury, he, like a prudent man,
would not accept the office until he could visit New York, and ascertain
whether he could live upon the salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year.
He came to the conclusion that he could live upon one thousand, and he
wrote to his wife, saying: "The example of the president and his family
will render parade and expense improper and disreputable." What a
significant commentary!

The rent of Morris's house was at last fixed at three thousand dollars
a year; and on the twenty-second of November Washington set out for
Philadelphia, accompanied by his family, in a chariot drawn by four
horses. They were allowed to travel without parade, and on reaching
Philadelphia, on the twenty-eighth, they found their house ready for
their reception. Yet it was nearly a month before they were prepared to
receive company. Mrs. Washington's first _levee_ or reception in
Philadelphia was on Friday, the twenty-fifth of December, where,
according to eye-witnesses, there was an as