Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/54

Rh become either a St. Theresa, or have gone mad, or—I dare not say what.

In company with the amiable B. family I visited the beautiful Philadelphia churchyard. Laurel Hill, on the banks of the Schuylkill, which last people say is a name descended from the times of the Scandinavians here, from the Danish Skjulto Kilder, Hidden Fountains. I also visited in company with the T's. some of the beautiful environs of the town, and amongst these the rocky and picturesque banks of the Schuylkill. The land is fertile on all sides, one sees fields of Indian corn (maize) and wheat, and beautiful meadows; everything testifies of care and industry. Chesnut and walnut trees, the ash, the oak of many kinds, the elm, the maple, and the lime, are very general. One sees commonly the beautiful little Virginian pine, a pyramidal, dark little tree with pine-tree leaves, besides a great variety of shrubs; plantations of fruit-trees, mostly peach-trees ornament the fields. The country round Philadelphia is a pleasing alternation of hill and dale, and iyllian landscape; the trees are large and branching. No tree, however, equals the magnolia and the live-oak of the South. I have also seen the tulip-tree here. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State, I suppose from its central position among the first States of the Union. Pennsylvania takes the second place among the States of the Union as regards population and wealth. It has immense beds of coal in its soil, and great natural beauty in the interior of the country; Susquehanna River, and the Valley of the Wyoming are celebrated for their romantic beauty. Philadelphia is second to New York in size and population, the population of Philadelphia being about 300,000. The disorders in the city may, in great measure, arise from the vastly increasing population upon which no educational influences have yet operated. Latterly, however, the Quaker State, has aroused itself to a sense of this neglect, and, following