Washington City
Jan 14, 1844
Mary I cannot attempt to give you
a journal of all my proceedings since I
left home but I will state to you the or-
dinary proceedings of a day. Fire is made
in my chamber in such season that I am
able to rise shave & dress & read my chapter
in good season, before breakfast, which we finish
about nine o clock. By ten o clock, three days
in a week, I go on committee at the committee
room at the Capitol. I there attend to business
until twelve when session commences in the
house & where we stay until four o clock, at
which time the house generally adjourns. Four
o clock is our dinner hour so that it is at this
season of the year near sun down when we
have some dinner. We spend the twilight
in the parlor & between five & six o clock tea
is there served round. It is in the evening
between seven & nine that members call on
each other & make short visits, never over an
hour. The rest of the evening we spend in
our own rooms, alone & this is all the time
being after eight, or nine o clock in which I
have to read, write letters, prepare reports &c.
I have considerable business sent me from
various parts of my district which requires me
to go to the departments at the other end of the
city, the General Post Office, the Treasury, the
War or Navy Department or the Patent Office.
In relation to those cases, I take the mornings I
am not on committees. Saturday evening, I go
to the congressional prayer meeting. This is entirely
composed of members of congress of the different sects
of the Evangelical church, and in all does not amount
to [our] 25 - & of those not over 15 are ever present
at a time. We pray for ourselves, in our present
condition, for our families & our country. It is
attended by me with pleasure & I trust with benefit.
And now, as to others. Six members at
this hour have, at present, their wives here & five
have not. Three of those gentlemen whose ladies are
here live in this vicinity, that is, within seventy
miles. One of these ladies has two children with her
& another has three all under five years old. These
are ladies of all gentlemen of wealth, but, they are
plain sensible ladies of no ostentations. Three of
them are members of the church. They spend most
of their time in their chambers. They are in the par-
lor just before & after meals & in the evening
about nine o clock. They seem to have very
little visitings. Member ladies call on each
other but have little intercourse, so far as I
can learn. They go shopping some & occasionally
visit the Capitol & stay an hour or two as there
are ladies galleries in both the house & Senate.
Gentlemen are occasionally invited to dine
out & they go & even go to evening parties and
dance without their wives, especially the younger
men. Much of all the visiting here is
done by pasteboard, that is, by card. The
members board in , that is, in companies
of from two to twelve, in all parts of the
city and their intercourse with the [map of]
has not thus for been much, this session.
The weather continues mild & the inhabitants
say it is an unusually mild winter here.
My health is now pretty good, for me &
better much than ten days since.
I wrote last week to William to call on
Mr. Wright and if he his sons health was
sufficiently firmly established he might come on
& take the place of private instructor & I send
inclosed a letter to E. Wright & requested our
immediate [Word]. I mention this that if
my former letter has not come to hand this
may be immediately attended to.
I have Ellens letter and it was very
interesting to me & she has much improved in
her hand. It will be best that she write
often to me. It will do her good. I wish she
would write me every week & tell me all
the domestic incidents in the village & family
I inclose you a draft, which has
been delivered and, as part of my , for
$120. Hand it to Mr Johnson & he
will give you the money for it.
I have received a letter from Edward
Give my love to our children
Affectionately Yours,
J. Collamer
Mary inquires if she must put
M.C. to my name on a letter, in
order to save postage. I say she
need not do it.