widow, and sketches of her own life represent
her as on the crest of the wave of fortune and
fashion. For my own part I find more inter-
esting, as well as more credible, the witnesses
who picture her in a humbler sphere, as going
back with her little boy to live with her mother,
and like the faithful, devoted daughter she was,
to help her in the occupation of keeping board-
ers which John Payne's loss of property had
made necessary for this Virginia lady as a
means of support.

The seat of Government was now established
in Philadelphia, and as the distance of the re-
moter parts of the country from the capital,
combined with the difficulty of travel, kept the
families of many public men at home, Repre-
sentatives, Senators, and other officials were
scattered about at taverns, more pretentious
hotels, or boarding-houses. Very uncomfortable
residences, for the most part, they were. John
Adams, then Vice-President of the United
States, writes to his wife from one of these
abiding places: "What do you say? Shall I
resign my office when I am three-score, or will
you come with me in a stage-wagon, and lodge
at a tavern in Fourth Street? I must contrive
something new against next winter."

Fisher Ames wrote even more despairingly
to his friend, Jeremiah Smith, begging him to

-48-