th them
during the conferences. This invitation, however, he declined, and
provision was then, at his request, made for serving his meals at a
separate table but in the same dining room and at the same hour as the
others were served.

The reasons for Banneker's refusal to accept this invitation, however,
are not so clear. Various of his biographers have attributed his
action on this occasion to what they seemed pleased to term his
"native modesty." Judging it at this distance from the time of its
occurrence, it is perhaps difficult to understand fully his motive.
But if we view it in the light of the consistent wisdom and
high-mindedness that seemed to guide his whole life we can hope that
his reasons for the self-imposed coventry on that occasion were
sufficient unto himself, and that they fully excluded every element of
servility.

Banneker's work with this commission was undertaken while he was still
engaged in astronomical investigation, and after his services in
Washington were concluded he returned to his home and resumed his work
on his almanacs, which regularly appeared until 1802. He was now
living alone in the home left him by his parents, and performed for
himself nearly all the domestic services required for his health and
comfort. Still obliged to rely mainly upon his farm for his
livelihood, he tried various expedients with different tenants to rid
himself of the necessity for giving so much of his time to the farm.
In these efforts he was wholly unsuccessful. He finally decided,
therefore, to enter into such an arrangement in the disposition of his
effects as would provide him an annuity, relieving himself of all
anxiety for his maintenance and at the same time affording him the
leisure he wanted for study. This he was enabled to do through a
contract with one of the Ellicotts, by the terms of which his friend
was to take the title to Banneker's property, making the latter an
annual allowance of 12 pounds for a given period of time calculated by
Banneker to be the span of years he could reasonably be expected to
live. Banneker was to continue to occupy and use the property during
his life, after which the possession was to go to Ellicott.[173]
Banneker lived, however, eight years longer than he thought he would,
but Ellicott faithfully lived up to this contract. This miscalculation
is said to have been the only mistake in mathematics Banneker ever
made. With his domestic affairs settled to his satisfac