In April, 1905, after the adjournment of Congress, Theodore Roosevelt,
President of the United States, started on a tour of the country. On
Thursday, October 15, 1789, George Washington, President of the United
States, Congress having adjourned, started on a tour of the New England
States. The contrasts brought out by the two journeys are so striking
that it may be of interest to recall the earlier tour, and some of the
conditions under which it was made. President Roosevelt began his trip
in the cab of a locomotive. President Washington started in his private
coach, with much ceremony, attended by six servants. President Roosevelt
travelled thousands of miles to Colorado and Texas, visiting territory,
the existence of which was not even dreamed of in 1789. Washington went
as far from New York as Portsmouth, N. H., and required a month in which
to cover the distance between the two cities. But it is not so much the
outward changes in conditions as the attitude of the people which is,
after all, of the chief interest. The fiction of the “good old days” is
so strongly intrenched in our minds that it is very difficult to break
away from it, yet the absence of bitterness to-day in the spirit of the
public toward the chief magistrate is no less marked a change than the
revolution in physical conditions. President Roosevelt was followed on
his journey by the good will of all the people. There might be a sly
hit, now and then, at his strenuous bear-hunting, rough-riding
proclivities, but the attitude of the people as a whole was respectful
and sympathetic. How the different classes of the people felt toward
Washington, together with some descriptive hints about his journey, I
have endeavored to set forth in the following letters, all drawn from
historic sources, which I suppose to have been written by the following
imaginary personages:—
John Adams, a young Springfield lawyer, recently from Boston.
Dorothy Coolidge of Boston, a society girl, a friend and former
playmate of John Adams.
Enoch Day, keeper of a general store in West Springfield.
Peter Colton, farmer of Longmeadow.
The first letter is addressed to William Armstrong of Pittsfield, and is
written by Peter Colton.
LONGMEADOW, MASS., _10th mo., 24th day, 1789_.