from public service, with, I
trust, the approbation of God, his country, and his own heart. But shall
we forget him? No; rather let our hearts cease to beat than an
ungrateful forgetfulness shall sully the part any of us have taken in
the redemption of our country. On this day, the hero enters into the
fifty-third year of his age. Shall such a day pass unnoticed? No; let a
temperate manifestation of joy express the sense we have of the
blessings that arose upon America on that day which gave birth to
Washington. Let us call our children around us and tell them the many
blessings they owe to him and to those illustrious characters who have
assisted him in the great work of the emancipation of our country, and
urge them by such examples to transmit the delights of freedom and
independence to their posterity.'

"It is also interesting to know that New York City was not the only
place in the country remembering Washington's Birthday in this year
1784. The residents of Richmond, Virginia, were not forgetful of the
day, and in the evening an elegant entertainment and ball were given in
the Capitol Building, which, we are informed, were largely attended. So
late as 1796, Kentucky and Virginia persisted in preserving the Old
Style date. But we have documentary evidence that in 1790 the Tammany
Society of New York celebrated the day on February 22. The society had
been organized less than a year, and it is interesting to see that it
did not allow the first Washington's Birthday in its history to pass by
without fitting expressions of regard for the man who was then living in
the city as President of the United States. Washington, at that time,
lived in the lower part of Broadway, a few doors below Trinity Church.
Congress was in session in the old City Hall, on the corner of Wall and
Nassau Streets, now occupied by the Sub-Treasury. New York was the
capital of the country, but it was the last year that it enjoyed that
distinction, for before the close of 1790 the seat of government was
removed to Philadelphia, where it remained until 1800, when permanent
governmental quarters were taken up at Washington. It may be of interest
to know how the founders of this famous political organization
commemorated Washington's Birthday. Fortunately, the complete account of
this first Tammany celebration has been preserved. It was published in
a New York newspaper, a day or two after the event, as follows:

"'At a meeting of the Society of S