Notes on a Tour Made in 1835

NOTES ON A TOUR5 the consultant can usually tell at a glance whether a given reference in a comprehensive listing is pertinent to the particular research in which he is engaged. FOLLOWING the successful precedent of last year, the Association held a midwinter dinner on the evening of February 24, 1944, at the Whittier, Fifteenth and Cherry Streets, Philadelphia , attended by 145 members and their friends. The entertainment , in addition to that derived from chat with old friends, was provided by the President, acting as Toastmaster ; and four headmasters of Quaker schools: Barclay L. Jones, of Friends Central School; John F. Gummere, of William Penn Charter School; James M. Walker, of Westtown School; and George A. Walton, of George School. The addresses, salty with many a reminiscence of schoolboy pranks and friendly with personal allusions and the personality of the speakers themselves, must have convinced many of those present that Quaker education in the environs of Philadelphia is in good hands; though if there were parents present with children about to be sent to one or another of the schools, they would have been troubled to make a choice on the basis of the showing made by the headmasters. NOTES ON A TOUR MADE IN 1835 By James Kite HPHE following section concludes the account which was begun in the preceding issue (Bulletin 32:80-86). The first installment covered the dates from June S to June 10, 1835, and carried the traveler from Philadelphia through Bordentown, Amboy, New York, Poughkeepsie, Nine Partners, Dover Valley, Poughkeepsie, and Albany, to Schenectady, where he was about to embark on a packet boat on the Erie Canal. He now goes along the Canal (at 2}4 miles an hour) through Little Falls, Utica, and Syracuse, to Montezuma (a few miles north of the outlet of Cayuga Lake), and proceeds by boat along this lake to Ithaca, by railroad to Owego, and on foot and by hired carriage across the State line to Friendsville , ¡in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where he apparently visits for two or three days. He then starts for home, proceeding through Montrose to Tunkhannock on the Susquehanna, and following the course of the river down through Wilkesbarre, Northumberland, Juniata, Liverpool , and Harrisburg, to Columbia, where he takes a railroad to Lampeter Vol. 33, Spring 1944 6 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (a few miles southeast of Lancaster), and another railroad from there to Philadelphia. In this ¡installment, as in the preceding, the spelling of the original has been preserved, including such forms as merchantdise, birth (for berth), passinger, mainger, droped (for dropped), Missippi, profernery (for profanity ?), Ithica, vallies (for valleys), leisurly, Juniatta, Capital (for Capitol), and stupendious (or perhaps stupendrous). Argiment and splain (for explain), in the conversation of the "pugnacious disputants" whom he met on the first of the days designated June 11, are presumably so written in order to reflect the pronunciation of the speaker. The punctuation, however, has not been so exactly reproduced, for James Kite used a multitude of commas, or marks which may have resulted from a careless habit of touching his pen to paper without the intention of making a comma, which would interfere with easy reading. Another feature of the manuscript that has not been reproduced is a series of marginal notations giving the number of miles between places mentioned in the text, or the number of miles traveled in a day. He regards Friendsville as his real destination, arriving there June 13, and making the notation of 617 miles traveled on the journey out. At the end is the notation "290 miles in" and the final summation "907 miles in all." Perhaps a conscientious editor should add that the heading which James Kite gave his account was simply "Notes of a tour &c." IHAD understood that a packet boat left Sehn, every evening on the arrival of the cars, but I found that it had departed some hours before. This I understand was a scheme of the hotel keepers, who wished to have the passengers take tea and lodge with them. Not feeling disposed to patronize these gentry I sought a Line boat, that is one that carries merchantdise as well as passengers. This...