everyone good-night and retired to rest, to rise again at four and renew
the same routine of labor and enjoyment.

Washington's last days, like those that preceded them in the course of a
long and well-spent life, were devoted to constant and careful
employment. His correspondence both at home and abroad was immense. Yet
no letter was unanswered. One of the best-bred men of his time,
Washington deemed it a grave offense against the rules of good manners
and propriety to leave letters unanswered. He wrote with great facility,
and it would be a difficult matter to find another who had written so
much, who had written so well. General Harry Lee once observed to him,
"We are amazed, sir, at the vast amount of work you get through."
Washington answered, "Sir, I rise at four o'clock, and a great deal of
my work is done while others sleep."

He was the most punctual of men, as we said. To this admirable quality
of rising at four and retiring to rest at nine at all seasons, this
great man owed his ability to accomplish mighty labors during his long
and illustrious life. He was punctual in everything, and made everyone
about him punctual. So careful a man delighted in always having about
him a good timekeeper. In Philadelphia the first President regularly
walked up to his watchmaker's to compare his watch with the regulator.
At Mount Vernon the active yet punctual farmer invariably consulted the
dial when returning from his morning ride, and before entering his
house.

The affairs of the household took order from the master's accurate and
methodical arrangement of time. Even the fisherman on the river watched
for the cook's signal when to pull in shore and deliver his catch in
time for dinner.