Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 01 (of 15), American (1)Morris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 01 (of 15), American (1)
Morris, Charles
United States -- History
"It rained very hard all the day; I was thoroughly soaked,
and by noon a good deal tired; so I stopped at a poor inn,
where I stayed all night, beginning now to wish I had never
left home. I made so miserable a figure, too, that I found,
by the questions asked me, I was suspected to be some
runaway indentured servant, and in danger of being taken up
on that suspicion. However, I proceeded next day, and in the
evening got to an inn, within eight or ten miles of
Burlington, kept by one Dr. Brown. He entered into
conversation with me while I took some refreshment, and,
finding I had read a little, became very obliging and
friendly. Our acquaintance continued all the rest of his
life. He had been, I imagine, an ambulatory quack doctor,
for there was no town in England, nor any country in Europe,
of which he could not give a very particular account. He had
some letters, and was ingenious, but he was an infidel, and
wickedly undertook, some years after, to turn the Bible into
doggerel verse, as Cotton had formerly done with Virgil. By
this means he set many facts in a ridiculous light, and
might have done mischief with weak minds if his work had
been published, but it never was.
"At his house I lay that night, and arrived the next morning
at Burlington, but had the mortification to find that the
regular boats were gone a little before, and no other
expected to go before Tuesday, this being Saturday,
wherefore I returned to an old woman in the town, of whom I
had bought some gingerbread to eat on the water, and asked
her advice. She proposed to lodge me till a passage by some
other boat occurred. I accepted her offer, being much
fatigued by travelling on foot. Understanding I was a
printer, she would have had me remain in that town and
follow my business, being ignorant what stock was necessary
to begin with. She was very hospitable, gave me a dinner of
ox-cheek with great good-will, accepting only of a pot of
ale in return; and I thought myself fixed till Tuesday
should come.
"However, walking in the evening by the side of the river, a
boat came by which I found was going towards Philadelphia,
with several people in her. They took me in, and, as there
was no wind, we rowed all the way; and about midnight, not
having yet seen the city, some of the company were confident
we must have passed it, and would row no farther; the others
knew not where we were; so we put towards the shore, got
into a creek, landed near an old fence, with the rails of
which we made a fire, the night being cold, in October, and
there we remained till daylight. Then one of the company
knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above
Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the
creek, and arrived there about eight or nine o'clock on the
Sunday morning, and landed at Market Street wharf."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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