Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1873-03-20
From Lippincott's Magazine, for April.
Wilmington and its Indus-
tries.

Sleepy travellers on the great routes to Wash
ington, having passed Philadelphia and expect
ing Baltimore, are attracted, If II is way-train,
by phenomenon. The engine Is observed to
slacken, and little elderly man with lantern,
looking in the twilight like an Arabian Mig hts
phantom with one red eye in the middle Of its
body, places himself just in advance of the To-
connective. He trots nimbly along, defending
himself from incessant death by the sureness Of
his legs, and after long race guides up to the
station the Gathering train, which is ali the
time threatening TO catch him by the heel.
"Wilnington." shouts the brakeman Ev-
cry train into Wilmington is thus attended, as
the palfrey ofan Eastern pasha by the run
ming footman. The mans life is passed in a
perpetual race with destruction, and having
beaten innlmerable locomotives, he still sur
wives, contentediy wagging his crimson cye,and
hardly conscious that his existence is perpet-
ual escape.
Something quaint, peremplory, old-word and
feudal strikes the traveller as adhering in this
custom, by which Wilmington constantly pays
for the general safety of her promenaders with
the offering Of citizens life and limbs. Thi.
impression is right The city is the beside
fined spot OH the American map where the
South begins and the North ends. Whining
ton Is, for its own part, perfect crystal o
Yankee grit, run out and fixed in a countr
which in the highest degree, represents tn
per-.
We select 1t for our subject because it is s
complete terminal image There is no othe
instance in the country of such sharp, clos
contrast A man might step out 10 tho cit
limit, and stand with one leg in full Yankee
land, thrilling with enterprise aud emulation
and the other planted, as it were, in 1.-THE "Pa
triarchal Times" Elsewhere along the efface
line of Mason and Dixon the sections di
away into each other: here they stand face t
face and stare.
Wilmlngtons legend belongs to the Generf
story of the settlements along the Delaware
The discoveries of its site overapped each Other
the quakers discovering the Swedes, who ha
discovered the Dutch, who had discovered tn
Indians.
1t was first called UTling Town from set
tier, and then Wilmington, from the earl of tina
name in England, TO whom Thomson dedicat
ed his poem Of y inter. But the spirit of ell
terpfise-the spirit whose results we are abou
TO chronicie-came in onlv with William Ship
ley, for whose story we must refer the reader
Strange as it may seem, TO the latest move
OF the very first Twin. master of English fic
ton.
This introduces to our notice the most singt.
lar literary partnership that ever was or ever will
be. Dnmas used to be helped out in his splen.
did hctions by Maquet, but Dumas and Maquei
were frenchnen, and lad plenty of syupa.
thies in common. Charles Rcade, however, In
his romance Of the Wandering Heir, written to
minister to the Tichborne excitement, takes for
lis colleague III nature-a grave tranquil, i'll
tenseiy respectable Friend, writer Of colonial
histories in a far pastoral retreat by the Della
ware. Such wSrkmen were never matched be.
lore; yet the words Of Benjamin Ferris, the
Wilmington antiquarian, form part and tel
ling part OF the exciting romance signed by
Charles Reade
The words Of Ferris, Unexpectedly earning
renown III world of Imagination, trace tht
true tale OF the Quaker prophecies, Elizabeth
Shipley, who brought her practical husband /,
Wilmington through the influence of a briian
dream. The words ofFerlis, adopted and sol,
10 the publishers by Reade, describes the terrss
uai Paradise now known as WILMINGTON il
just those glowing terms We should hav
needed Tor the prologue To this article if W
mad not been so anticipated. Reads, so Ion
as he Keeps up his partnership with Ferris,
safe, sane and true. Ii would have been wei
If he had kept it up a little longer for the me
ment he lets go Ferris's coat-cuf be falls int
misunderstanding the Delaware hereabouts
"bay," and speaking of prickly pear hedg
on farm only sixty miles from philadel
phla.
The Reade-Fenis legend, plecludng an
necessity OF story from us, brings good Eliza
beth Shipley into Wilmington, which was the
at Ridley, which was then forest-clearing an
Is now garden, being In truth the site Of Rid
icy Park, the landscape-city which was describe
In this Magazine last September. The legen,
gives all proper emphasis to the location, endoy
ing 1t with beauty enough to attempt a celes
ual guide from heaven for the meek Quakeress'
benefit, and with practical advantages enoucl
to tempt the worldly-minded husband.
10 get a high idea Of the natural attraction
OF wilmington, therefore, read the 'Wanderin
heir, thus advertised gratuitousy.
wilmington lies,says the author of Peg Wol
gngton, "between the finger and the thumb {
Two rivers" and also uTon the broad palm ,
the Delaware. The Two minor streams vhic
embrace IT arc entirely different in characte
one IS picturesque torrent manned bv the Dutc
brand-wi1n tBrandywine,l from tho circun
stance OF ship loaded with brandy havir
Numbered at its mouth; the other, serene an
navigable, is the Christine, named by II
Swedes from Christina, their favorite princes
hereabouts, George Fox, the first Quake
breeches, 's''''
I'VE came TO Christian River" he saw
where we swan over our horses" The strear
IN that day, before the destruction of milan
forest, had about six times its present volume
out II Is still good for vessels of considerohl
burden. "''
Ihe thriving settlers made it carry down III
narvests OF the interior, and then made n
Brandywine grind them. The focus of III
rivers became rich milling centre, ana was a
50 a post for whalIngships. The O:aheita
prince stepped from the deck of the whaler
court with gifts of shells the demure Ouak,
maiaens OF Wilmington, and kanaka sailo
wsie almost as familiar Oh its wharyes as Il