Washington was endeavoring to reduce to paper the calculations of the day.
Gallatin, hearing the statement, came at once to the conclusion, and, after waiting some time, he himself gave the answer, which drew from Washington such a look as he never experienced before or since.

On arriving by a slow process at his conclusion, Washington turned to Gallatin and said, 'You are right, young man.'" The points of difference between the two accounts of this interview are of little importance.

The look which Washington is said to have given Mr.Gallatin has its counterpart in that with which he is also said to have turned upon Gouverneur Morris, when accosted by him familiarly with a touch on the shoulder.

Bartlett, in his recollection of the anecdote, adds that Washington, about this period, inquired after the forward young man, and urged him to become his land agent,--an offer which Gallatin declined.
The winter of 1784-85 was passed in Richmond, in the society of which town Mr.Gallatin began to find a relief and pleasure he had not yet experienced in America.

At this period the Virginia capital was the gayest city in the Union, and famous for its abundant hospitality, rather facile manners, and the liberal tendency of its religious thought.