Philadelphia, PA. October 26, 1853
My Dear Brother,
Unlike New York, I like this Phila amazingly, and the people in it. There is only one thing that gets my "dander" up-and that is the hands are always encouraging me: telling me-"it's no use to get discouraged-no use to be down-hearted, for there is more work here than you can do! Downhearted," the devil! I have not had a particle of such a feeling since I left Hannibal, more than four months ago. I fancy they'll have to wait some time till they see me downhearted or afraid of starving while I have the strength ot work and am in a city of 400,000 inhabitants. When I was in Hannibal; before I had scarcely stepped out of the town limits, nothing could have convinced me that I would starve as soon as I got a little way from home.
The grave of Franklin is in Christ Church-yard, cor. of Fifth and Arch street. They kept the gates locked, and one can only see the flat slab that lies over his remains and that of his wife; but you cannot see the inscription distinctly enough to read it. This Inscription, I believe, reads thus
"Benjamin
and Franklin"
Deborah
I counted 24 cannons (6 pounders) planted in the edge of the sidewalk in Water st. the other day. They are driven into the ground, about a foot, with the mouth end upwards. A ball is driven fast into the mouth of each, to exclude the water; they look like so many posts. They were put there during the war. I have also seen them planted in this manner, round the old churches, in N.Y.
The exchange is where the different omnibus lines have their starting or stopping place. That is, it is the headquarters; and from this they radiate to the different parts of the city. Well as I was going to say, I went to the stage, paid my sixpence, or "fip," as these heathen call it, and started. We rolled along till we began to get towards the outskirts of the cit, where the prettiest part of a large city always is.-We passed a large house, which looked like a public building. It was built entirely of great blocks of red granite. The pillars in front were all finished but one. These pillars were beautiful ornamented fluted columns, considerably larger than a hogshead at the base, and about as high as Caplinger's second story front windows. No marble pillar is as pretty as these somber red granite ones; and then to see some of the finished ones standing, and then the huge blocks lying about of which the other was to be built, it looks so massy. and carries one in imagination, to the ruined piles of ancient Babylon. I despise the infernal bogus brick columns, plastered over with mortar. Marble is the cheapest building-stone about Phila.-This marble is the most beautiful I ever saw. It takes a very high polish. Some of it is as black as Egypt, with thin streaks of white running though it, and some is a beautiful snowy white; while the most of it is magnificent black, clouded with white.
But I must go on with my trip. We soon passed long rows of house, (private dwellings) all the work about the doors, stoop, &c., of which, was composed of this pretty marble, glittering in the sun, like glass. We arrived at Fairmount. I got out of the stage, and prepared to look around. The hill, (Fairmount) is very high, and on top of it is the great reservoir. After leaving the stage, I passed up the road till I came to the wire bridge which stretches across the Schuylkill (or Delaware, darned if I know which!-the former, I believe,--but you know, for you are a better scholar than I am) This is the first bridge of the kind I ever saw. Here I saw, a little above, the fine dam, which holds back the water for the use of the Water Works. It forms quite a nice water-fall. Seeing a park at the foot of the hill, I entered-and found it one of the nicest little places about. Fat marble Cupid, in big marble vases, squirted water upward incessantly. Here stands in a kind of mausoleum, (is that proper?) a well executed piece of sculpture, with the inscription-"Erected by the City Council of Philadelphia, to the memory of Peter [i.e. Frederick] Graff, the founder and inventor of the Fairmount Water Works." The bust looks toward the dam. It is all of the purest white marble. I passed along the pavement by the pump-house (I don't know what else to coal it) and seeing a door left open by somebody, I went in. I saw immense water-wheels, &c., but if you will get a back-number of the Lady's Book, you will find a better description of the Works, than I can give you. I passed on further, and saw small steamboats, with their signs up-"For Wissahickon and Manayunk-25 cts." Geo. Lippard, in his "Legends of Washington and his Generals," has rendered the Wissahickon sacred in my eyes, and I shall make that trip,--as well as one to Germantown, soon.
But to proceed, again. Here was a long flight of stairs, leading to the summit of the hill. I went up-of course. But I forgot to say, that at the foot of this hill a pretty white marble Naiad stands on a projecting rock, and this, I must say is the prettiest fountain I have seen lately. A nice half -inch jet of water is thrown straight up ten or twelve feet, and descends in a shower all over the fair water spirit. Fountains also gush out of the rock at her feet in every direction. Well, arrived at the top of the hill, I see nothing but a respectable sized lake, which is rather out of place in its elevated situation. I can't say I saw nothing else, either:--for here I had a magnificent view of the city. Tired of this, I passed up Coates street, 5 or six squares from the hill, and came to the immense (distributing) branch of the works. It is built of a kind of dirty yellow stone, and in the style of an ancient feudal castle. Passing on, I took a squint at the "House of Refuge," (of which we used to read at Sunday School),--then I took a look at the marble Girard College, with its long rows of marble pillars-then jumped into a 'bus, and posted back to the Exchange.
There is one fine custom observed in Phila. A gentleman is always expected to hand up a lady's money for her. Yesterday, I sat in the front end of the 'bus, directly under the driver's box-a lady sat opposite me. She handed me her money, which was right. But, Lord! a St. Louis lady would think herself ruined, if she should be so familiar with a stranger. In St. Louis, a man will sit in the front end of the stage, and see a lady stagger from the far end, to pay her fare. The Phila. 'bus drivers cannot cheat. In the front end of the stage is a thing like an office clock, with figures from 0 to 40, marked on its face. When the stage starts, the hand of the clocked is turned toward the 0. When you get in and pay your fare, the driver strikes a bell, and the hand moves to the fig. I-that is, "one fare, and paid for," and there is your receipt, as good as if you had it in your pocket. When a passenger pays his fare and the driver does not strike the bell immediately, he is greeted "Strike that bell! will you?"
I must close now. I intend visiting the Navy Yard, Mint, &c before I write again. You must write often. You see I have nothing to write interesting to you, while you can write nothing that will not interest me. Don't say my letters are not long enough. Tell all the boys where I am, and to write. Jim Robinson, particularly. I wrote to him from N.Y. Tell me all that is going on in H-l.
Truly your brother
Sam