178

    To Sarah Savage Thatcher

    Philadelphia        23 June 1798

    My dear—

    It may be to you, as it is to me, a little consoling to hear and talk about an adjournment whether it takes place or not—Tho I have so many times mentioned our adjourning by the last or middle of a certain month, all which have proved erroneous, I will once more assure you that I percieve a general disposition in most members to get out of Philadelphia as soon as possible—There being now no prospect of an accommodation with France, what measures as may be necessary for defence will be passed immediately,1 & we think by the tenth of July at the farthest, to set our faces homeward2—

    To day a public dinner is given by the members of both Houses to General [John] Marshall, the Envoy who has lately returned from France—I shall join the company—tho the weather is too hot to eat, drink or do any thing else.3 But my health is about as usual when at home.

    Inclosed is a ten dollar Bill—I hope when I get to the [Congress] Hall to find a Letter informing that your fear about Philips & Lucys having the whooping cough were premature—I feel distressed on this subject—

    If it were not for seeing Lucy [Savage Bigelow] & meeting the Doctor at Boston, for which interview he has wrote & insists on my tarrying a few days there,4 I would take the mail Stage here, & not leave it till I got to Biddeford—which would be only seven days—

    I have not had a line from Nancy [Bigelow] since she left Biddeford—Why did you not charge her to write me—I wonder her Mother does not remind her of it—Perhaps, however, they are daily expecting me—

    Last evening was the last drawing-room for the Summer—Mrs. [Abigail] Adams expressed to me her warmest wishes for a speedy adjournment—she is anxious to breath some clear new-England air—Every body begins to be weary of Philadelphia—

    Yours affectionately

    * * *

    ALS, TFP