Atlantic States -- Description and travel; Kemble, Fanny, 1809-1893; United States -- Social life and customs -- 1783-1865
I am sorry to leave Philadelphia. I like the town, and the little I have
seen of its inhabitants, very much; I mean in private, for they are
intolerable audiences. There is an air of stability, of well-to-do, and
occasionally of age, in the town, that reminds me of England. Then, as
far as my yesterday's dinner will allow me to judge, I should say, that
not only the style of living but the society was superior to that which
I saw in New York. Certainly, both the entertainment itself, and the
guests, were irreproachable; the first was in very good taste, the
latter appeared to me well-informed, and very agreeable. The morning, in
spite of all ----'s persuasive prophecies, was beautiful beyond
description. The river like the smoothest glass. The sky was bright and
cloudless, and along the shores, the distinctness with which each
smallest variation of form, or shade of colour, was reflected in the
clear mirror of the Delaware was singularly beautiful and fairy-like.
The tints of the woods were what no words can convey the slightest idea
of. Now, a whole tract of withered oaks, of a red brick hue, like a
forest scorched with fire; now, a fresh thicket of cedars of the
brightest green; then, wide screens of mingled trees, where the foliage
was one gorgeous mixture of vermilion, dark maroon, tender green, golden
yellow, and deep geranium. The whole land at a distance appearing to lie
under an atmosphere of glowing colour, richer than any crimson mantle
that ever clothed the emperors of the olden world; all this illuminated
by a sun, which we should have thought too hot for June. It was very
beautiful. I did not, however, see much of it, for I was overcome with
fatigue, and slept both in the steam-boat and in the stage-coach. When
we embarked on the Raritan, I had intended lying down in the cabin, and
taking my sleep fairly out, but the jolting of those bitter roads had
made every one of the women sick, and the cabin was horrible beyond
expression. Came up on deck, and worked till within a quarter of a mile
of New York, when I went on the upper deck, and walked about with
Colonel ----. I asked Captain Seymour how often the engine would strike
in a minute; he told me, thirty-six times. By the by, we had a race,
coming down the Raritan, with the Union steam-boat. The Water Witch beat
her hollow; but she came so near as to make our water rough, and so
impede our progress, that I thought we should have had a concussion;
there is something very exciting in emulation, certainly. The sun went
down in a watery gloomy sky, though the day had been so fine; and when
we got sight of the Narrows, sky, and sea, and land, were all of a dark
leaden hue. Our second landing at New York was rather melancholy: shall
I ever forget the first? Came up to our comfortless quarters at the
American; dressed, and dined, and began finishing my letter to dear
----, when they brought me in another from her, by the packet that has
just come in.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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