Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/179
It soon became apparent, however, that particular rules must be established for receiving visitors and entertaining company. The first step taken was a public intimation, two or three days after the inauguration, that he would receive visits on Tuesdays and Fridays, between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, and that visits of compliment on other days, and particularly on Sundays, would not be agreeable to him. He at the same time consulted several of his more immediate friends on the subject, intimating
Washington's confidence in Fraunces's judgment had been illustrated in 1785, when he wrote to him from Mount Vernon:
"As no person can judge better of the qualifications necessary to constitute a good housekeeper, or household steward, than yourself, for a family which has a good deal of company, and wishes to entertain them in a plain but genteel style, I take the liberty of asking you if there is any such one in your reach, whom you think could be induced to come to me on reasonable wages. I would rather have a man than a woman; but either will do, if they can be recommended for honesty, sobriety, and knowledge in their profession; which, in one word, is to relieve Mrs. Washington from the drudgery of ordering, and seeing the table properly covered, and things economically used. ... The wages I now give to a man, who is about to leave me in order to get married, (under which circumstances he would not suit me,) is about one hundred dollars per annum; but for one who understands the business perfectly, and stands fair in all other respects, I would go as far as one hundred and fifty dollars."
The first public appearance of Fraunces in his new capacity was in the following advertisement, published in the newspapers:
"Whereas, all servants and others appointed to procure provisions or supplies for the household of the President of the United States will be furnished with monies for these purposes: Notice is therefore given, That no accounts, for the payment of which the public might be considered as responsible, are to be opened with any of them.
"May 4th, 1789. Samuel Fraunces, Steward of the Household."
"We are happy to inform our readers, in addition to the preceding notification," says 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, where 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."
An anecdote illustrative of the President's personal economy refers to the following winter. Fraunces, it is related, was always anxious to provide the first dainties of the season for his table. On one occasion, making his purchases at the old Vly Market, he observed a fine shad, the first of the season. He was not long in making a bargain, and the fish was sent home with his other provisions. The next morning it was duly served, in the best style, for breakfast, on sitting down to which Washington observed the fragrant delicacy, and asked what it was; the steward replied, that it was "a fine shad." "It is very early in the season for shad: how much did you pay for it?" "Two dollars." "Two dollars! I can never encourage this extravagance at my table, take it away — I will not touch it." The shad was accordingly removed, and Fraunces, who had no such economical scruples, made a hearty meal upon it in his own room.