The Newtown bee., 1904-05-20
TOWN TOPICS. LETTER TO THE CHILDREN. FROM E. l.. JOHNSON.

FROM E. L. JOHNSON.
 How any one who has been familiar with the child life of any country town, as your correspondent has been as teacher, school viSi tor or friend for 50 years or more and not feel an at tachment to all who dwell in the town is more than I can comprehend. l knew before I left home for an extend ed trip, that 1 could not forget my towns people and their families if l would, nor would if could, and as THE BEE kindly allows the space, the pleasure comes of reaching so many to all of whom l could not write, is the only apology offered for writing home letters, and not because of any literary merit of themselves. Perhaps it will not come amiss if this letter is ad- dressed particularly to the children who are now more or less busy with the study of geography and history, in which will be given an outline of the trip we took. to bring us to the golden state, California, and as the letter is not intended to interest the grown up people, they need not feel obliged to read 1t.
 Now, children, if with the reading of this, you will follow the route along your maps it may help you in your 1n- terest. Taking for granted you all know how to get from NewtOwn to New York, we will make New York City where we bought our tickets, the starting point. None of you can have forgotten yet, what dreadfully cold winter you have just passed through, and how closely you hugged the stove of ha c0h0n1hnp1co nf tho cold. est days. We left home the 18th day of February and because of the cold we decided to go by the Southern Pa citic, thus avoiding the extreme cold and deep snows of the more northerly route. AS you follow me along, you will see what circuitous course we went, but it is an old saying, "speak well of the bridge that carries you safely over." To take the train that was to bear us our way, we had first to cross the Hudson river on ferryboat to Jersey City. The river was crowd ed full of floating ice, so thick at times as to cause the boat to slow up, but we were soon across, and snugly aboard the train that was to bear us to Wash ipgton, the capital of the United States, and our historic trip was final ly under way. We soon reach Newark, a prosperous city on the Passaic, and the line passes through the town tat grade." We are on the Congressional limited, 6nd make but few stops Further on we cross the Raritan river and whizz through the manufacturing city of New Brunswick the site of Rutgers college. Further along we reach Princeton, now the home of Ex- President Cleveland, also where the Continental Congress sat from June l6, to November 4, 1783, and here | Washington received the nation thanks for his successful conduct of the Revolution, also where the battle of: Princeton was fought January 5 1777, in which Washington defeated of New Jersey, situated on the Dela ware river, we are reminded that or December 26, 1776, Washington cross ed the Delaware and surprised and routed the British and followed uI this success by the battle of January 2, TIT, in which he maintained his ground against Lord CornwalliS. The river when we crossed it was frozen solid and as 1 looked from the car win dow, comfortably clad, and riding in luxurious ease as it were, my thoughts at once went back to that dreadful ex perience of which we read in our His tories of Washington, with his half clad, half-starved, footSore, soldiers, crossing the Delaware in the dead o1 winter. The river crossed and we en tered the Keystone State" of Penn sylvania, and traverse rich farming country.
 AS we approach Philadelphia WI leave the Delaware river and as we en ter the city we cross and recross the Schuylkill, where we find the "Quake City" lying upon broad plain be tween the Delaware and Schuylkil
 rivers. Some of you children vii sometime go to Philadelphia and whel you do don't fail to go to 1ndepend 1 ence Hall, whatever else you may fai to see, for in some respects it is tn most interesting building in the Unit } ed States. It was there the Continen tai Congress met during the America
 Revolution and there the DeclaratiO
 of Independence was adopted, as wer
 we leave Philadelphia the train agail
 crosses the Schuylkill and runs nea
 the west bank of the Delaware. Abou
 20 miles are run when we cross tn
 state line and enter the state of Delt
 ware. soon we cross the BrandyWin
 and pass through Wilmington an
 further on cross the Susquehanna ri'
 CT and we are not long in reachin
 Baltimore, 96 miles from Philadelphi;
 Now we are passing through the Moi IT umehtal City, so called from the grea N number of monuments or historical Il
 terest. It's history up to the time this years great fire has been an a
 most unbroken chronicle of peace an
 prosperity. During the war of Ind pendence it was threatened but nc h. attacked. In the war with Gres
 Britain in 1874 it successfully resiste
 a combined attack by water and lam
 and in the war between the states = lay outside the area of actual cOmba
 pr Holmes has remarked that thr' l, short American poems, each the be!
 of it's kind, were all written at Bait
 more, viz., Poe's Raven, Maryland, n
 Maryland and Keys Star Spangl'
 Banner. Here we are 43 miles fro T. Washington, to reach which we trav
 over a fiat and uninteresting 'countr = reaching Washington late in the eve
 ing, where we made three days sto
 to learn something of the city of SUI lIsd great national importance. Of t H. many public buildings to be seen, no
 are more important than the Capit where Congress meets to enact la
 for the carving on of this gOvernme