The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-11-29
BOZ TN THE UNITED STATES.
Charles Dickens american
Notes."
THE LATEST EDITION.
What the Great Novelist Thought OF PHI
ladelphIa, New York, Boston, Pitts
burg, Washington, Cincinnati,
and st. Louis, Twenty
five Years Ago.
n.s, n.s. nts., n.s., n,s- n,..


..-r. rrg .1.4oC-..i.
..a [CoNTINUED,l
PhIIadslphIa and its Solitary Prison.
The Journey from New York to Philadelphia
Is made by railroad, and two ferries, and usually
occupies between five and six hours. II was
fne evening when we were passengers in the
tram; and watching the bright sunset from
little window near the door by which we sat,
my attention was attracted to remarkable ap-
pearance issuing from the windows of the gem
tlemep's car Immediately IN front OF US, which
/ supposed for some time was occasioned by a
number Of industrious persons inside rip
ping open featber-beds, and giving the
feathers to the wind At length 1t occurred
to me that they were only splitting, which
was indeed the case; though how any nun
Der of passengers which IL was possible for that
car to contain could have maintained such q
playful and incessant shower of expectora,ion,
am still at q loss to understand, notwithstaud-
ing the experience in all salivatory phenomena
which afterwards acquired. .t
made acquaintance, on this journey With
mild and modest young Quaker, who opened the
discourse by informing nae, a grave whisper,
that his grandfather was the inventor OF cold.
drawn castor-oil. j mention the circumstance
here, thinking 1t probable that this is the first
occasion on which the valuable medicine in
question was ever used as conversational
We reached the city late that night.
Looking out of my chamber window, before
going to bed, saw, on the opposite side
OF tho way, a handsome building of white
marble, which had mouTntul, ghostlke
aspect dreary to behold. | attributed this
to the sonbfe Influence of the night and on
rising In the morning looked out again, eX-
pectlng to see its steps and portico throngcd
with groups Of people passing in and out. The
door was still tight shut, however; the same
cold, cheerless air preyaied and the building
looked as If the marble statue of Don Guzman
could alone have any business to transact within
its gloomy walls. l hastened to inquire its
name and purpose, and then my surprise van
lshed. II was the tomb Of many fortunes; the
Great Catacomb of investments; the memorable
United States Bank.
ruinous consequences, had cast (as ! was told
on every side) a gloom on Philadelphia,
under the depressing effect of which it yet
labored. It certainly did seem rather dull and
1t is a handsome city, but distractingly regu-
lar. After walking about it for an hour or two,
felt that would have given the world for a.
Crooked street. The collar OF my coat appeared
to stiffen, and the brim of my hat to expand
beneath its Quakerly influence. My hair shrunk
into sleek short crop, my hands folded them
selves TpoSn, my breast Of tGsG own Ssl%
Lane over against the Market Place. and of
making large fortune by speculations in corn,
came over me involuntarily.
Philadelphia Is most bountifullY provided
with fresh water, which is showered and
jerked about, and turned on, and poured
off everywhere. The Waterworks, which are
on o height near the city, are no less orna-
q public garden, and kept in the best
and neatest order. The river is damned at this
point, and forced by its own power into
certain high tanks or reservoirs, whence the
supplied at very trihing expense.
There are various public institutions, Among
them q most excellent hospital-a Quaker
establishment, but not secteriAn in the great
beDe6ts it confers; quiet quaint old Library,
named after Franklin; handsome Exchange
and Post Office; and go forth. In connection
with the Quaker Hospital, there Is picture by
West, which is exhibited for the benefit OF the
funds Of the institution. The subject IL our
Saviour healing the sick, and 1t Is, perhaps,
IA favorable specimen of the master as can
be seen anywhere. whether this be high
In the same room there is very characteris-
tic and life-like portrait by Mr. Sully, a distin-
guished American artist, Ea.
NY stay in Philadelphia was very short; but
what I saw of Its society greatly liked. Treat
ing of its general characteristics, I should be
disposed to say that 1t Is more provincial than
Boston or New York, and that there is aaoat in
the fair city an assumption of taste aud crltl-
cIsm, saVoring rather of those genteel discus
sions upon the same themes, in connection with
Shakes peare and the musical glasses, of which
we read in the "Vicar of Wakefield Near
the city is most splendid unfinished marble
structure for the Gnsrd College, founded by
a deceased gentleman of that name and
OF enormous wealth, which, If completed
according TO the original design, will be per-
the bequest Is involved in legal disputes, and,
pending them, the work has stopped, 80 that,
like many other great undertakings in America,
even this is rather going to be done one OF these
days than doing now.
In the outskirts stands o great prison, called
the Eastern Penitentiary, conducted on plan
peculiar to the State of PennsylVania. The sys-
TEN here is rigid, strict, and hopeless solitary
confinement. l believe it, in its effects, to be
cruel and wrong,
limits intention, l am well convinced that it
s KIND, humane, aud meant for reformation;
but am persuaded that those who devised
khls system OF Prison Discipline, and those
benevolent gentlemen who carry il into eXecu-
HOn, 90 not know what it is that they are doing.
a.,i"aasS iTSnsSe that very few men are capable OF
agony, which this dreadful nunishment pro.
iOhReu lor years, tnficts upon the sufferers; and
~ kvSSslne WN myeelf, and In reasoning from
Mhes MLt nAIo Lev esen written upon their faces and
Mnas W Ssi "a knowledge they feel within,
am only the more convinced chat there il a
depth of terrible endurance in a. thIh sIote - 70
but the guherers themselves can fsthe. NOnS ~ !
which no man has right to inhict nno, Huo ~
ieloB-creature. hold this GLOW anS nSod a.I1 pis
tampering with the mysteries Of the brain to ~
immessurably worse than any tort1rs n ~ 70 ,S es
body; and because its ghastly signs and token,
are not so fpalpable to the eye and sensa ~
touch as scars upon the fesh,-because n
wounds are not upon the surface. and it extort
few cries that human ears can hear,-therefor
i the more denOunce II as secret punishment
which lumberlng humanity is not reused up t
stay. hesitated once, debating with mysel
whether, If ! had the power saying "Yesn Q
'No," would allow IL 10 be tried in certai
cases, where the term of imprisonment weT
short; but now / solemnly declare that with n
rewards or honors could | walk happ
man beneath the open sky by day, or lie n
down upon my bed at night, with the o0nsciou
ness that one human creature for any lengt