### May 17 On May 17, 1792, I had a rather eventful day. As the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, I was busy setting up the country's financial system and managing its debt. But on this particular day, something unexpected happened. As I was walking near the White House, I heard a loud noise coming from a nearby building. Curious, I went to investigate and found that it was a circus performance! Being the workaholic that I was, I initially thought about leaving, but my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to stay. Little did I know, I was in for quite a treat. The show featured acrobats, clowns, and even a group of dancing elephants. I couldn't help but laugh at their silly antics and tricks. But then, as the show was reaching its climax, one of the elephants suddenly broke free from its restraints and started running towards me! I tried to run away, but the elephant caught up to me and picked me up with its trunk! Luckily, the trainer was able to calm the elephant down and I was returned safely to the ground. It was quite a scary experience, but looking back on it now, I can't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. And fun fact, did you know that I was actually a fan of circus performances? I once wrote that "The circus is the only place where you can see death-defying acts performed without risk of life." Well, on May 17, 1792, I came pretty close to defying death myself!