THE WELCOME to GEORGE WASHINGTON
Now that New York was the seat of the national government, the old City
Hall in Wall Street was made larger and fitted up in grand style and was
called Federal Hall.
In April George Washington came to this city from his home at Mount
Vernon. Every step of his way, by carriage and on horseback, was a march
of triumph. The people in towns and villages and countryside greeted him
with shouts and signs of affection. But it was in New York that the
greatest welcome was given him.
The city had taken on a most picturesque appearance. Every house was
decorated with colors, and when Washington landed from a barge at the
foot of Wall Street, he walked up a stairway strewn with flowers. The
streets were so thronged that way could scarcely be made. Not only were
the streets filled, but every window and every house-top. The people
waited for hours, and when Washington arrived a wild hubbub commenced
that kept up all the day long.
[Illustration: View of Federal Hall and Part of Broad Street, 1796.]
Washington was escorted to the house that had been prepared for him, a
little way out of town at the top of a hill.
If in the days that you read this you walk along Pearl Street until you
come to the East River bridge at Franklin Square, a part of the city
crowded with tenements and factories, you will stand close by where the
house was. On the abutment of the bridge you will find a tablet that has
been riveted to the stone, so that all who pass may know that Washington
once lived there. The house was built by Walter Franklin, a rich
merchant, and was therefore called the Franklin House. The square,
however, does not take its name from this man, but from the renowned
Benjamin Franklin.
Very soon, on a bright, sunshiny day, Washington stood on the balcony of
Federal Hall, surrounded by the members of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, with the citizens thronging every inch of the nearby
streets. And there he took the oath of office, and having taken it the
cry was raised, "Long Live George Washington, First President of the
United States," a cry that was echoed from street to street, and went on
echoing out into the country beyond.
[Illustration: The John Street Theatre, 1781.]
The life of the First President was a simple and a busy one. He rose at
four o'clock each morning and went to bed at nine in the evening. Many
hours a day he worked at matters of state, receiving all who called, so
that there was quite a stream of people going to and from the Franklin
House at all times. Sometimes during the day he took a long drive with
Mrs. Washington, which he called the "Fourteen Miles 'round," going up
one side of the island above the city and coming down the other.
Sometimes of an evening he attended a performance at the little John
Street Theatre. Always on Sunday he and all his family went to St.
Paul's Chapel. And the pew in which they sat you can sit in if you go
to that old chapel, for it has been preserved all these years.
By this time the fort by the Bowling Green, which had stood since the
days of the Dutch, was torn down to make room for a mansion that was
to be called the Government House and be occupied by the President.
The mansion was built, but you shall see presently why no President ever
occupied it.