. Our Philadelphia. and churches; whyshould they not be as careful of their Assembly, since ithas as historic a background and as fine Colonial andRevolutionary traditions ? They are proud of having theirnames among those who signed the Declaration of Inde-pendence; why should they not take equal—or greater—pride in figuring among the McCalls and Willings andShippens and Sims and any number of others on the firstAssembly lists, since these are earlier in date? Besides,to such an extremity have the changes of the last quarterof a century driven the Philadelphian that he must makea good fight fo
. Our Philadelphia. and churches; whyshould they not be as careful of their Assembly, since ithas as historic a background and as fine Colonial andRevolutionary traditions ? They are proud of having theirnames among those who signed the Declaration of Inde-pendence; why should they not take equal—or greater—pride in figuring among the McCalls and Willings andShippens and Sims and any number of others on the firstAssembly lists, since these are earlier in date? Besides,to such an extremity have the changes of the last quarterof a century driven the Philadelphian that he must makea good fight for survival in his own town. When I thinkof how mere wealth is taking possession of Chestnut,Walnut, Spruce and Pine, how uptown is marrying intoit, how the Jew and the alien are forcing their way in, Isee in loyalty to the traditions of the Assembly of Phila-delphians strongest defence of the social rights which arehis by inheritance. Should he let go, what would there befor him to catch on to again? j^%:^|^-^,. PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF THE SOCIAL ADVENTURE: THE ASSEMBLY 161 It would be diiFerent if what Philadelphia was gettingin exchange were finer, or as fine. But it is not. Theold exclusiveness, with its follies, was better, more amus-ing, than the new tendency to do away with everythingthat gave Philadelphia society its character. It was thecharm and the strength of Philadelphia society that it hada character of its own and was not just like Boston or NewYork or Baltimore society. Nobody, however remote wastheir mission from social matters, could visit Philadelphiawithout being impressed by this difference, whether it wasto discover, with John Adams, that Philadelphians hadtheir particular way of being a happy, elegant, tranquil,polite people, or, with so unlikely an observer as MatthewArnold, that the leading families in Philadelphia weremuch thought of, and that Philadelphia names sayingnothing to an Englishman said ev
Size: 1383px × 1807px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu3192403249, bookyear1914
