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trees, and secluded behind high brick walls, stands like an isle of peace amid the rushing currents of down-town business and turmoil. The site was given by William Penn for a Quaker cemetery, and during a century and a half thousands of interments were made here, until the land became perceptibly higher than that around it. The house was built, in 1804, to receive the congregation from the ancient "Great Meeting House," in Market Street, then untenantable by reason of the street noises. There are eight other orthodox Friends' meeting-houses, and seven belonging to the Unitarian Friends. The most famous building in Philadelphia, beyond a doubt, is the ancient and venerable Independence Hall, which derives its name from the fact that within its

OLD LIBERTY BELL.

walls, July 2nd, 1776, the Congress of provincial delegates adopted the resolution of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia: "That these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; and that all political connection between us and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The building originally bore the name of the State-house, and was erected by the Provincial Assembly in 1732-5, for the Parliament-hall and public offices of Pennsylvania. The great bell in the tower came from London, in 1752, and bore this prophetic inscription:-"Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof "

-a mandate which was obeyed within a few years, for two days after the passage of the resolution quoted above, a Declaration of Independence was completed and adopted by Congress; and in the same week the great bell rang merry peals over the city, in token of the new-born freedom of a nation. In 1816 the State of Pennsylvania sold the building and square to the city, on condition that it should be used for public purposes only. The halls were then dedicated to civic uses, and the annual elections were held there, when thousands of excited citizens gathered around the polling-places at the windows, struggling for the success of principles whose histories are even now forgotten. Great public meetings, the results of political or military excitement, rejoicings or alarms, have gathered in front of Independence Hall, to listen to the orations of popular leaders. The Hall has been the scene of the receptions of Presidents Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Polk, Taylor, Pierce, and Lincoln; of General Scott, Henry Clay, the Marquis de Lafayette; and of many other eminent men. The last solemn receptions, also, which are given by the remnants of escaped souls-the lyings-in-state-have often been witnessed here, where Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and others have thus bade farewell to Philadelphia. During the Civil War, the remains of many an officer, being borne lifeless

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homeward from the murderous South, were laid in state in the birth-place of the Republic.

During the battle of Germantown the State-house was crowded with wounded soldiers of both parties, and American prisoners, and the women of Philadelphia vied with each other in attentions to their unfortunate countrymen. In the course of the next year, the Ambassador of France, the much-needed ally of America, was received here by Congress, with stately ceremonies. In 1781, the twenty-four standards captured with Lord Cornwallis's army at Yorktown were laid at the feet of Congress, amid salutes of artillery and great popular enthusiasm.

On one side of Independence Hall is the old Congress Hall, occupied by the American Congress from 1790 to 1800, and the scene of the inaugurations of Presidents Washington and Adams. It is now held by several law-courts. On the other side is the old City Hall, occupied for many years by the Supreme Court of the United States, under Chief Justices John Jay and Oliver Ellsworth. In front of Independence Hall stands a marble statue of Washington, erected by the school-children of the city. Behind the Hall is a large open square, shaded by many ancient trees, and worn smooth by the footsteps of myriads of people, and especially of the lawyers, whose habitat is in the vicinity. The individuality of the legal profession here is illustrated by a popular saying which is current throughout the Union. When any subject is more than usually intricate and confusing, it is said to be "enough to puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer."

The American Philosophical Society occupies a building fronting on Independence Square, built in 1787, on land given by the Commonwealth. This organisation was founded in 1743, by Benjamin Franklin, who became its first President-his successors being David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, and Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States. In this quaint old building are collections of antiquities and curiosities, and a library of 30,000 volumes.

The Philadelphia Library Company was founded by Benjamin Franklin and other gentlemen, in 1731, and received its first lot of books from London, in 1732. In 1790, the present building was occupied; and many thousand volumes are still retained here. Over the entrance stands a statue of Franklin, made at Carrara, and presented by an early Senator of Pennsylvania. There are over 100,000 volumes in the library, which is especially rich in American history, and has also many rare old books and MSS. Portraits and busts adorn the walls, and the tall old clocks of William Penn and Oliver Cromwell mark the flight of time. The Loganian Library, bequeathed to the people in 1751 by James Logan, Chief Justice of the Province, is also under the guardianship of the Company, members of the Logan family being its hereditary librarians. This collection is rich in classical works, many of them very rare and curious. The Mercantile Library, near the centre of the city, occupies a building very like a great railway station, but originally constructed for a market-house, and covering more than half an acre of land. The library exceeds 140,000 volumes, with 500 American and European periodicals in the readingroom, and comfortable chambers for conversation, correspondence, chess, and other purposes. The association was founded in 1820, and now has over 12,000 members. The Athenæum Library is farther down town, and occupies a handsome brown-stone building, in Palladian

architecture, owned by an association of young men of literary taste, which was founded in 1813. The Ridgway Library, in Broad Street, is a new building, the most costly and imposing of the kind in America, surrounded by wide grounds, and resembling an antique Grecian temple. The material is a light-coloured granite, and the style is purely classical. The cost was in excess of £300,000. The structure stands on a terrace of bevelled blocks of masonry, approached by broad stairways; and there is a central portico with a rich classic pediment, upheld by eight fluted Doric columns, flanked by wings, each of which has a portico supported by four columns. A broad Doric cornice surrounds the whole structure. The great cruciform library-hall in the centre is adorned with twenty-four Doric columns of polished marble; and the wings are commodiously arranged for reading-rooms. The mausoleum of Dr. Rush, the founder of this institution, is opposite the main entrance; and many of his personal effects are preserved in the Memorial Room. There is accommodation for 400,000 volumes in the building. The venerable Rush was an eccentric man, and left his great gift to the people entangled with many a quaint crotchet and restriction. But the Philadelphia Library Company was at last enabled to accept the conditions, and has entered into possession of the structure, where the larger part of its books are enshrined.

The Apprentices' Library, which was founded in 1820, "for the use of apprentices and other young persons, without charge of any kind for the use of books," is the only free library in the town. It occupies a quaint old building, erected for a Free Quaker meetinghouse, and contains 25,000 volumes and a comfortable reading-room. There are also two Quaker libraries in the city, containing about 16,000 volumes, most of which relate to the history and doctrines of the Society of Friends. Various other interests are in possession of libraries and reading-rooms; and as far back as 1870 there were three million books in the public and private collections of Philadelphia.

Carpenters' Hall, in a secluded court off Chestnut Street, is a quaint bit of colonial architecture, bearing the prim little ornaments and the air of unassuming respectability common to public buildings of the pre-Revolutionary era. It was erected for the ancient guild of carpenters, in 1770, for their halls and library, and the walls are of bricks imported from Europe, each alternate one being glazed and dark. Here the First Continental Congress met, in 1774, uniting delegates from all the provinces, and laying the foundations of the successful union of States. "Here, with the news of the cannonade of Boston bursting upon them, arose the first prayer in Congress. Washington was kneeling there, and Henry, and Rutledge, and Lee, and Jay, and by their side stood bowed in reverence the Puritan patriots of New England, who at that moment had reason to believe that an armed soldiery were wasting their humble households."

As Trumbull, a contemporary poet (whose patriotism was better than his verses), said:

"Now meet the fathers of this western clime,

Nor names more noble graced the roll of Fame,
When Spartan firmness braved the wrecks of time,
Or Rome's bold virtues fann'd the heroic flame."

For nearly a century the hall was occupied by a motley succession of tenants, but

Not very

now the carpenters have restored it to the ancient appearance and usage. far distant, in Market Street, is the house in which the great Virginian statesman, Thomas Jefferson, wrote the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by Congress on the 4th of July, 1776.

The Commercial Exchange, or Chamber of Commerce, near the Delaware front, is the head-quarters of the merchants, and the scene of large transactions in grain and other commodities. In the same vicinity stands the fine old building of the Merchants' Exchange,

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fronted with a semi-circular colonnade of Corinthian columns, and crowned with a beautiful circular tower, modelled after the so-called Lantern of Demosthenes, at Athens. Elsewhere are the Coal, Tobacco, Drug, Produce, Maritime, and other Exchanges. The coal trade is concentrated at Port Richmond, where twenty-three parallel piers run out into the stream, with railways on each of them. Three hundred vessels can lie here at one time, and 40,000 tons of coal can be loaded into them. The network of railways at this point includes more than thirty miles of track. One alone of the great lines converging here has brought down upwards of 3,200,000 tons of coal in a single year. The petroleum trade centres at the southern part of the city, where there are many wharves and vast tankage accommodation ; and here is the chief gathering of foreign ships at this port. The exportation of petroleum exceeds 75,000,000 gallons annually. The grain business has attained to great dimensions at Philadelphia. The elevator on the property of the Red Star line of steamships (to

Antwerp) covers 20,000 square feet, with a height of 124 feet, and six large vessels can be loaded from it at once, lying in the docks on either side.

There are upwards of forty banks here, with a capital exceeding £4,000,000, and many handsome buildings of marble and granite, most of which are in the lower part of Chestnut Street, near the river, and in Third Street, which has often been called "The Wall Street of Philadelphia." One of the most interesting of these is the Girard Bank, occupying a beautiful marble building, with a Corinthian portico, columns, and a fine pediment. This edifice was built in 1798 for the Bank of the United States, and fourteen years later it became Stephen Girard's private banking-house. There are also five safe-deposit companies, where facilities are afforded for the storage of bonds, stocks, plate, jewellery, and other valuable personal property, in buildings specially constructed for the purpose, with enormously thick walls and vaultings of masonry, plated with iron, and continually watched, night and day, by armed guards. Institutions of this character have been established in all the chief American cities, and meet with an amazing success. There are upwards of forty insurance companies located in the city, with agencies of four times as many outside companies. As the Bank of North America, founded in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, is the oldest bank in the country, so the Contributionship, incorporated at the same place in 1752, is the oldest fire insurance company. The best building used for the purpose is that which was erected by the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company-a great Renaissance palace of granite, in Chestnut Street, 97 feet high, 176 feet long, and rich in pillars, pavilions, cornices, and other ornaments; it is quite fireproof, and cost over £200,000.

A great and massive structure of white marble, with porticos at either end approached by wide stone stairways, and supported by colonnades of fluted Doric pillars-ostensibly an imitation of the Parthenon, yet, like La Madeleine at Paris, lacking the rhythmic symmetry of the Athenian curved lines, and so, with all its grandeur and simplicity, appearing a little hard in outline-such is the building, in the heart of the financial quarter, which was erected for the United States Bank, in 1824. The annals of this bank form a romance of fiscal history, down to the time when President Andrew Jackson removed the national funds from its vaults, not heeding the wild execrations of the people; and the panic of disaster in 1837, when the bank closed its doors, and became, as Dickens wrote, "the Tomb of many Fortunes, the Great Catacomb of Investment." The building is now owned by the National Government, and occupied by the Customs Department and the Assistant Treasurer of the United States the former attending to the collection of revenues upon imported goods and luggage from abroad; the latter receiving funds due to the Government, making disbursements, and paying interest on bonds. The Post Office is a stately building of granite, with a front in French Renaissance architecture, several hundred feet long, surmounted by an iron dome 184 feet high. It occupies the site of the University of Pennsylvania, and was begun some years ago, the expenditure being limited by Congress to £800,000.

The United States Mint, in Chestnut Street, is the chief coining institution in the country, and occupies a low and spacious marble building, with a handsome Ionic portico. The Mint was founded in 1792, since which time it has coined fully £300,000,000,

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