Page:Jefferson's Germantown letters.djvu/22

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xvi
INTRODUCTION

tered at the home of Nathan Spencer, nearly a mile from the centre of the town, out what is now Church Lane.

Jefferson writing to Madison on November 17th says, "I have got good lodgings for Monroe and yourself, that is to say, a good room with a fire place and two beds, in a pleasant and con- venient position, with a quiet family. They will breakfast you, but you must mess in a tavern. There is a good one across the street. This is the way all must do, and all I think will not be able to get even half beds." It, of course, does not necessarily follow that this double room was in the same house where Jef- ferson was lodging. Indeed, the presumption is that it was not, but that it was near by.

With all the accumulated business to master, amidst the cramped quarters, the constant bustle and the coming and going of the saddened citizens, Jefferson worked away, not without some physical discomfort, for he was troubled with the toothache. On the 13th he paid Dr. Gilliams for drawing a tooth and