I found it, however, after a little use, very eatable, and supper soon became my best meal. The table company consisted of the master of the house, Mr. Jacob Suydam, an old bachelor; a young man, a shoemaker of the name of Rem Hegeman, married to Jacob's niece, who with a mewling infant in her arms never failed to appear. A black boy, too, was generally in the room; not as a waiter, but as a sort of _enfant de maison_, who walked about and took post in the chimney corner with his hat on, and occasionally joined in the conversation. Rem Hegeman and Yonichy, his wife, gave themselves no airs, nor was harmony with Uncle Jacob ever interrupted but once, when soured a little he made a show of knocking down Lieutenant Forrest with a pair of yarn stockings he had just drawn from his legs, as he sat in the chimney corner one evening preparing for bed; but moments of peevishness were allowable to our host, for we had been consuming his provisions while he had never seen a penny of our money. The religion of the Dutch, like their other habits, was unostentatious and plain; a simple silent grace before meat prevailed at the table of Jacob Suydam. When we were all seated, he suddenly clapped his hands together, threw his head on one side, closed his eyes, and remained mute and motionless for about a minute. His niece and nephew followed his example, but with such an eager solicitude that the copied attitude should be prompt and simultaneous as to give an air of absurdity to what otherwise might have been very decent."[60] Graydon refers to the peculiarities of the Dutch in their habits, customs, and manners. One which seemed to strike him with considerable force was the custom of never asking people to "sit down to the table, but to sit 'by.'" Judging from the Colonel's narrative, the American prisoners must have had a good time at Flatbush. Although at times the enforced inactivity was irksome, the prisoners were favored with the presence of many estimable ladies who did much to render their forced stay agreeable. Meanwhile, the Convention of Representatives held short sessions on the 5th and 6th of December, 1776, and again on the 11th of February, 1777, when they resolved to adjourn to Kingston, which at once became the capital of the State. On the 6th of March, a state constitution was framed, and provision made for a temporary form of government by electing a council of safety. Abraham Ten Broeck, of Albany, was president of the Convention at the time of the passage of these important measures. Theodorus Polhemus was the only member from Kings County at this convention. In accordance with the resolution passed April 20, 1777, providing for an _ad interim_ government, a council of safety was appointed, and the Convention of Representatives was dissolved on the 13th of May, 1777. Owing doubtless to the disturbed condition of affairs in Kings County, that county was not represented in the committee.