The people of the United States--May their dignity and happiness be perpetual, and may the gratitude of the Nation be ever commensurate with their privileges.
The President of the United States--May the evening of his life be attended with felicity equal to the utility and glory of its meridian.
The Fair Daughters of America--May the purity, the rectitude, and the virtues of their mind ever continue equal to their beauty and external accomplishments.
The Republic of France--Wisdom and stability to her councils, success to her armies and navies, and may her enemies be compensated for their defeats by the speedy and general diffusion of that liberty which they are vainly attempting to suppress.
May Columbia be ever able to boast a Jefferson in council, a Hamilton in finance, and, when necessary, a Washington to lead her armies to conquest and glory.
The Day--May such auspicious periods not cease to recur till every day in the year shall have smiled on Columbia with the birth of a Washington.
Our Unfortunate Friend the Marquis de Lafayette--May America become shortly his asylum from indignity and wrong, and may the noon and evening of his life be yet honorable and happy in the bosom of that country where its morning shone with such unclouded splendor.
"In conclusion, the newspaper account of this celebration states that 'the afternoon and evening were agreeably spent in social pleasures and convivial mirth, and the conduct of the whole company was marked by that politeness, harmony, and friendship which ought ever to characterize the intercourse of fellow-citizens and gentlemen.'
"Balls and banquets, it will be seen, were the chief methods employed in celebrating the day, and there was hardly a town so small that it could not manage to have at least one of these functions in honor of George Washington. The early newspapers for a month, and often longer, after the 22d of February, were filled with brief accounts of these celebrations from different localities. Many of them are very interesting, showing, as they do, the patriotism of the people, as well as their customs and habits in their social entertainments. For instance, when Washington's Birthday was celebrated in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1791, the _Baltimore Advertiser_ gives us the following amusing account of a ball held at Wise's tavern: