After arriving at the new White House - becoming the first president to make it his residence - on November 1, 1800, John Adams wrote Abigail:
Presidents house, Washington City, Nov. 2. 1800
My dearest friend
We arrived here last night, or rather yesterday, at one o Clock and here we dined and Slept. The Building is in a State to be habitable. And now we wish for your Company...
I shall say nothing of public affairs. I am very glad you consented to come on, for you would have been more anxious at Quincy than here, and I, to all my other Solicitudines Mordaces1 as Horace calls them i.e. "biting Cares" should have added a great deal on your Account. Besides it is fit and proper that you and I should retire together and not one before the other.
Before I end my Letter I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.
Weird that he didn't mention anything about bathrooms.
Selah.
1 - Reference to Horace's Ode XVIII (The Praise of Wine, and the ill effects of intemperance): neque mordaces aliter diffugiunt sollicitudines = "nor do biting cares disperse any otherwise [than by the use of wine]."
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