He exclaimed, "But why not stay on this side, instead of crossing
the river to cross back again to take the cars?" It was altogether a
ludicrous state of confusion that poor Papa was in; but it ended, not
only in our crossing the river, but in our traversing the whole town of
Philadelphia, at its very centre, in the railway cars, going through
beautiful streets and squares; and, as we went at a slow pace, we had a
capital view of the shops and of the town, which was looking very clean
and brilliant, the day being fine and frosty.
We made no stay at Philadelphia, but at length taking the cars on the
east side of the Delaware, we proceeded in them to South Amboy; where,
embarking again, we had a fine run of twenty-four miles between Staten
Island and the coast of New Jersey, and reached this place in time for
dinner. We regretted thus turning our backs on Philadelphia, and
Baltimore, and Washington, without seeing more of them; but the time we
have spent in the west has exceeded what we had counted on this part of
our journey occupying, and we are anxious to get home to you all.
On our railway and on the steamer, we had with us a body of the firemen
of Philadelphia, who were on their way to pay to their brother-firemen
here one of those complimentary visits we have spoken of.
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