FLORIAN - The Most Traveled Man on Earth

We crossed the state of New Jersey which looks very much like the environs of New
York, that is, rough and savage, with rocks, swamps and no pleasant cultivation. We
passed through several little towns, pretty enough, especially Newark, Brunswick, and
Elisabethtown. We slept at Princeton, and had lunch ____________, the next morning
(yesterday, Saturday) at Trenton. After Princeton, the countryside began to lose its
harshness. One sees fewer woods, and more planted fields. Finally, after having crossed
the Delaware at Trenton, on a wooden bridge suspended by arches instead of being raised
from beneath, as is usual, we met a countryside more fertile, more laughing. Soon the
road follows the banks of that superb Delaware, larger than the Thames at Wollwick, and
whose pure waters bathe a beach of sand and pebbles scattered here and there with pines,
with weeping willows, poplars and sycamores.
You go through Bristol, a quite pretty place, and then begin to see small buildings
climbing up the river banks. <strong>The</strong>n in two hours, we arrived in Philadelphia. Several
miles before entering it, everything announces the approach of a big city: country houses,
villages huddled together, carriages, vehicles, bell towers, and masts of vessels which one
can make out in the distance. You enter on the north side, which is the oldest and dirtiest
part of the city. But as soon as you get on the High Street and move southwards on the
road, you are astounded at the beauty of the buildings, at the regularity of the streets, and
the air of opulence which exists everywhere. New York is a city of little shopkeepers in
comparison to this one. <strong>The</strong> population, they say, is about the same in both cities, about
90 to 100 thousand souls. But whatever the number of people, it [p 3] appears ten times
greater in Philadelphia than in New York. Almost all the houses which I saw along the
roadside had lightning rods, which seems to say that storms cause frequent accidents.
<strong>The</strong>y pointed out to us on the descent of the narrow hill where four horses which were
pulling a coach from New York, two or three years ago, were killed by a lightning bolt.
<strong>The</strong> women of Philadelphia appear more robust and healthier than those of New York.
<strong>The</strong>y are larger and stouter. One finds some of the prettiest and many of the ugliest. In
this regard, Philadelphia is more like towns in England. I passed the entrance of two or
three churches, where society strolled in great numbers, and that is where I made my
judgment. <strong>The</strong> theater doesn’t open until next Wednesday and by then I will be on the
road to Pittsburgh.
What most strikes the voyager from England is the beauty of the season. We are
touching the month of November, and during the 17 days I have been in this country I
have seen it rain only two times, and that wasn’t but for a few hours. <strong>The</strong> weather is
perfectly serene. <strong>The</strong> sun sparkles in a clear sky without a cloud wisp to diminish the
clearness. <strong>The</strong> nights are cold and you can see a bit of frost in the morning, but the days
after 8 o’clock in the morning until 5 or 6 are most agreeable. Also, the people don’t get
up early. At eight o’clock the businessmen have breakfasted and go to their offices.
<strong>The</strong>y eat dinner generally at 2 o’clock ______ at the latest. <strong>The</strong>y don’t stay up much.
Americans up to now don’t turn the day into night and the night into day as in London.
<strong>The</strong> more I see of this country the more I am convinced that only the most prejudiced
would prefer England, or even most of France. As for the climate, sun and produce, one
has here all the abundance that man can desire – fruit of the finest perfection, at least a
hundred different kinds of pears, each one better than the other. Further, there is the
31