the
Congressmen who were his fellow boarders.

Conrad's was conveniently near the Capitol, on the south side of the
hill, and commanded an extensive view. The slope of the hill, which
was a wild tangle of verdure in summer, debouched into a wide plain
extending to the Potomac. Through this lowland wandered a little stream,
once known as Goose Creek but now dignified by the name of Tiber. The
banks of the stream as well as of the Potomac were fringed with native
flowering shrubs and graceful trees, in which Mr. Jefferson took great
delight. The prospect from his drawing-room windows, indeed, quite as
much as anything else, attached him to Conrad's.

As was his wont, Mr. Jefferson withdrew to his study after breakfast and
doubtless ran over the pages of a manuscript which he had been preparing
with some care for this Fourth of March. It may be guessed, too, that
here, as at Monticello, he made his usual observations-noting in his
diary the temperature, jotting down in the garden-book which he kept
for thirty years an item or two about the planting of vegetables, and
recording, as he continued to do for eight years, the earliest and
latest appearance of each comestible in the Washington market. Perhaps
he made a few notes about the "seeds of the cymbling (cucurbita
vermeosa) and squash (cucurbita melopipo)" which he purposed to send to
his friend Philip Mazzei, with directions for planting; or even wrote a
letter full of reflections upon bigotry in politics and religion to
Dr. Joseph Priestley, whom he hoped soon to have as his guest in the
President's House.

Toward noon Mr. Jefferson stepped out of the house and walked over to
the Capitol--a tall, rather loose-jointed figure, with swinging stride,
symbolizing, one is tempted to think, the angularity of the American
character. "A tall, large-boned farmer," an unfriendly English observer
called him. His complexion was that of a man constantly exposed to the
sun--sandy or freckled, contemporaries called it--but his features were
clean-cut and strong and his expression was always kindly and benignant.

Aside from salvos of artillery at the hour of twelve, the inauguration
of Mr. Jefferson as President of the United States was marked by extreme
simplicity. In the Senate chamber of the unfinished Capitol, he was met
by Aaron Burr, who had already been installed as presiding officer, and
conducted to the Vice-President's chair, while that debonair man of the
world took a s