First impressions of the New World on two travellers from the Old, in the autumn of 1858

by Isabella Strange Trotter

We waited on in New York till Friday the 8th, vainly hoping to hear tidings of William; although by a letter received from him a day or two before, he said he should probably be at Baltimore on Saturday. With this uncertainty hanging over his plans, we determined on going there; and on Friday night got as far as Philadelphia by the Camden and Amboy Railway, through a country far from pretty, compared with what we have been accustomed to.

Philadelphia is situated between the Delaware and the Schuylkill, at about six miles above the junction of the two rivers. In order to reach the town we had to cross the Delaware, which we did in a steamer of huge proportions. It was getting dark when we landed at Philadelphia; and we were much struck with the large and broad streets and well-lighted shops. It is said of New York, that the winding lanes and streets in the old part of the town, originated in the projectors of the city having decided to build their first houses along paths which had been established by the cattle when turned into the woods. The projectors of Philadelphia have certainly avoided this error, if error it was; for there the streets throughout the city are as regular as the squares of a chess board, which a map of the city much resembles. The streets extend from one river to the other.

We got up next morning betimes; and as it is our intention to see the town more thoroughly hereafter, we took advantage of a lovely day (but what day is not here beautiful) to see a cemetery situated upon a bend of the Schuylkill. It is very extensive; for they have so much elbow room in this country that they can afford to have things on a large scale; and everything here partook of this feature. The plots of ground allotted to each family were capacious squares, ornamented with flowers, surrounded by white marble balustrades, and large enough to contain separate tombstones, often inside walks, and sometimes even iron arm-chairs and sofas. The monuments were all of white marble, of which material there seems here to be a great abundance, and none of them were offensive in their style, but on the contrary were in general in that good taste, which the Americans in some way or other, how we cannot make out, contrive to possess.

We went afterwards to see the famous Girard College, for the education of orphan boys. Mr. Girard bequeathed two millions of dollars to found it, and his executors have built a massive marble palace, quite unsuited, it struck us, to the purpose for which it was intended; and the education we are told, is unsuited likewise to the station in life of the boys who are brought up in it. As in most public institutions for the purposes of education in this country, no direct religious instruction is given. This does not seem in general to proceed from any want of appreciation of its importance, but is owing to the difficulty, where there is no predominant creed, of giving instruction in any: but in the case of the Girard institution, even this excuse for the omission cannot be made, for a stipulation was imposed by Mr. Girard in his will, that no minister of any denomination should ever enter its walls, even as a visitor, though this, we understand is not carried out. For the first time in America we met here with a most taciturn official, and could learn much less than we wished of the manner in which the institution is managed.

On Saturday the 9th, being the same afternoon, we went on to Baltimore, and were perplexed at not finding letters from William; but to our great relief he made his appearance in the evening, much pleased with his travels.

The country from Philadelphia to Baltimore, like that which we passed through on the preceding day, is much less interesting than the country to the north of New York; but a grand feature of the road we travelled was the Susquehanna River, which is here very broad, and which we crossed in a large steamer, leaving the train we were in, and joining another which was in readiness on the other side. The point at which we crossed the river, was at the spot where it falls into the Chesapeake. The shores of this beautiful bay are profusely indented with arms or estuaries, the heads of which, as well as the mouths of several tributary rivers, we repeatedly crossed on long bridges: this afforded a great variety in the scenery, and much enlivened the last part of our journey.

Next day being Sunday, we heard an admirable sermon from Dr. Cox. The church in which he preached was a large and handsome one, and the service was well performed. In describing the service at West Point, I mentioned that it differed in some respects from our own. We have now had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the American liturgy; and, as it will interest some of you at home, I may as well tell you a little in what those differences consist, with which we were most forcibly struck.

Some alterations were of course rendered necessary by the establishment of a republic, but these seem to have been confined as far as possible to what the occasion called for. I think, however, in spite of their republicanism, they might have retained the Scriptural expression, "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords," instead of changing it to the inflated, "High and Mighty Ruler of the Universe." This reminded us of the doubt raised by some, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, if the words ought not then to have been changed to "King of Queens." It is pleasing, however, to observe how small the variations in general are, if indeed there be any, which are at variance with either the doctrine or the discipline of the Church of England.

We are so much accustomed to the opening sentences of our own Liturgy, "When the wicked man turneth away from the wickedness that he hath committed," &c., that their opening words startled us at first; but their two or three initiatory sentences are well selected to begin the service; the first being, "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."

Some of the alterations are improvements rather than blemishes, for the constant repetitions in our service are avoided. The Lord's prayer is less frequently repeated, and the collect for the day, when it has to be read in the Communion Service, is omitted where it first occurs with us. A little more freedom of choice, too, is allowed to the minister in several parts of the service. For example: the Apostle's Creed or the Nicene Creed may be substituted for each other, as the latter is not used in the office for the Communion; and instead of reading the Psalter as divided into days in the daily service, some very good selections from the Psalms are made, which may be substituted either on the week days, or on Sundays. The daily Lessons are shortened, and yet all the portions read by us, out of the Canonical Scriptures, are retained, which is managed by omitting all the Lessons taken from the Apocrypha.