Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-14
TRAVELS IN PHILADELPHIA
BY ROY HELTON
Germantown Road

| highway is not important merely as the street
| of Gilbert Stuart Louisa Alcott and George
Washington, but it is dynamic and vibrant
today with a struggle more important than
hundred pitched battles, and just as thrill
| ing to gaze at.
| OF all the old fashioned sections of Amer
ica this one is, perhaps. the last that pre-
serves unimpaircd all of its fighting spirit.
Elsewhere, as in lower New York or down
town Philadelphia, the eviction of the past
| has been achieved without any memorable
struggle. Old families have declined and old
homesteads been reluctantly but firmly aban-
doned before the relentless advances of ware
| house and tenement.
In Germantown this is not true. The
| great houses of King Georges time are still
the great houses of Woodrow Wilson's time
Their old brown chimney pots are still smok-
ing. their silver knockers still rafting at the
| touch of delicate hands the old clean dainti-
ness of the past is still starchy in the point
lace behind those violet windows; and yet,
! up and down by those tranquil doors, charge
| and scream and grind endless professions OF
motortrucks and saffron trolley cars, and
| when the wind comes up briskly from the
| southward the tall chimneys of Midvac lend
| the tang Of their hot breath to the cool Colo
NAL air.
| N
4 lane he is conscious at once of the clash
| of warning traditions All about one on each
| side of the little street stand the quiet door
ways of a country town tall trees rise every
where. half hiding, even in midwinter, the
| broken lines of yellow chimneys and the
broad. gray, rough cast of old walls veined
| with ivy. Back of the houses are glimpses
of long yards with cvcrgrecns. spikes of yucca
sharp above the snow and little straw stacks
| piled up about precious biennials. The milk
man drives by with lively jingle of sleigh
bells, and as two neighbors come out to look
at the weather there is hearty talking across
the street from doorway to doorway.
Ahead of me looms up the old Wister house
LAT the end of the lane. On the left looms
| Trinity Church, with its graceful white
| wooden spire and its calm hedged graveyard
| where a score of small American flags flutter
| over the bodies of old soldiers. Across the
street extend the long signs of brisk garage,
and on the boarding beside it the posters of
nearby theatre with pleasing detail of
| fashion show on living models-bathing suits,
| laces, lingerie
All this so close to the house of John
| Watson could not but bring up a smile.
The ladies'" says that excellent chroni
cler, writing of the Cape May of 1910, 1.-THE
| ladies at appointed hours go into the surf,
| at which times gentlemen do not walk on the
| banks. The ladies wear flannel and other
woolen .dresses-none go out above half their
depth"
T,HE sbops and nicture shows Of German
i ~ - -. :.., :.,,
%.ue 60. ~ ~ W." ~
a.sIa 49, ,;o nso.e .h,.i I,,.,no ano
,to;s no;o, ~ ,oh o,Ioos ta.o tha, .oo,,,
.n.n - '..I .. NY my EN- nt.nI
opu ,s saah " '' u''"o'' e>'ie''''' Vi s''''ei
'"a a. &c o,ho,.,. ,, ,a Mt,
s.-ao. ~ aaa.,t al ttn ,st aoa, "u ~ L"I:a
S.rte. s 'ne preseh. % anu sne pas. seem 70 nave
. -. - IL. S..
!uuisous elosslhs prou'sa. VI sii. le.'el ti
s .a auu .to I;nt m,ra a,1a ". s 'n VI .ne
"a ,an'e anu Va. ne. az " 'no
~ u" va. p'on -. ~ "Ne VI ~
;ahh.a,, -. ae so,,,;. ';e,,, ,;u aoI 81 =:
pm VI e 4n S.sn' WI pee' y" ~
l.'t VIM a.,,i u. .,n e '.ied ~ nei
li.antnM ~ S'in nne o'u iVuSeo up
,, %nu Wv. ~ -"'n ''-'''' anu '0' Va" Oe' '"'S
NNo" ''
CROSS cbe,ten svenua &c ono rIo+ of
~ p
srounu wnere i supposed ."e past was
triuihpnant-t Oroau' pieaSant' Tree grown
aVres vi ceh'er ''qua'e' 'i''' I.se @ III spntie
slope 10 tnc MUSEUM ol 'he olte ana nenc
society: inreg nt,ie grammar r. scnooI glrls
were tripping aheau oi me up 1ne PAIN ana
followed them into the building 1t was
very entertaining piace' craiemed TO the
doors WIN an immense w variety OF curious
old -1ashloheu tnings. Inc long, gallericd
nan nus III i,Se'i a chai.ii an" p'auty tnat Is
almost "noii! absent from the e%hlolts 1t
houses' nut the pace mas atmosphere 1T
seems TO mean business "heh went in
the caretaker gave me nasty greeting and
pointeu 10 .ne register Set my name down.
Ihe three httie glr,s also desired to set their
names down. Dut @ ,he pen was brushed from
their nhgers. We uoh register ch'ldren
here cried the ola gentleman
| AT that l. oeRan 10 perceive mat hite
| had been performed by my lrreverent hands.
| regretted that had so aoomlhabIy scrawled
| my name Tor am atraid tnat posterity will
| never nhd me 'here. AS walked around
the aisies' gaZed lhtO the packed cases of
| heard