OCR Text |
Show 28 STAY AT BETHLEHEM--NAZARETH. very agreeably in the society of well-informed men and fellow-countrymen, and our residence at the extremity of the place, close to the woods and fields, afforded us the most favourable opportunity for our researches and labours; and our landlord, Mr. Wohler, from Westphalia, did everything in his power to assist us in our occupations. This, in some degree, indemnified me for the deplorable loss of time occasioned by the delay in the arrival of our baggage. I should have reached the Western States long before, if I had not been obliged to wait for those indispensable articles. During our stay here, we often saw German emigrants arrive, almost all of whom were from Wiirtemberg, Baden, or Rhenish Bavaria. In the most lamentable condition, without money, without the slightest knowledge of the country or the language, they were going to meet their precarious fate. They were generally refused admittance at the English inns, and then Wohler, not without considerable expense, took on him to forward them on their journey. We received news from Philadelphia that the cholera had rather abated; it had entirely spared Bethlehem and its vicinity. The canal colliers gave me an opportunity of sending my collections to New York, which I did in the beginning of September. The Flora of the country had then produced its white, yellow, or purple autumnal flowers; the golden rod, sunflower, Eupato-rium, and some kinds of Aster were in blossom, and the white flowers of the Clematis Virginiana. The weather now remained very uniformly hot during the whole of July and August, with occasional thunder-storms; and if the summers in the United States are usually of this temperature, as we were assured, they are more equally hot, and for a longer time, than that season is in Germany. In order to make myself acquainted with Nazareth, the other settlement of the Moravian brethren, I drove there in company of the Rev. Mr. Seidel. It is ten miles from Bethlehem. On the road to it lies Alton a, consisting of some scattered habitations, and afterwards, on approaching the Monocasa, Hecktown. Nazareth is a pleasant place, with some unpaved streets, and has a gymnasium for the education of young clergymen. All the masters are Germans, but their instructions are given in the English language. The building seems to be old, and not very spacious. From the roof there is a fine, extensive prospect to the blue hills on the banks of the Delaware, and to the verdant, wooded banks of the Lecha. The gymnasium has a small cabinet of natural history. The church is not so large as that at Bethlehem, but can be easily warmed in the winter. A little beyond the garden, which has many shady walks, is the churchyard, where the flat, square tombstones, with short inscriptions, lie in regular rows, near to each other. The names of the brethren interred here show that most of them were Germans. There is a very fine prospect from the higher part of this churchyard. The greensward is here thickly covered with European thyme. Nazareth has about 350 inhabitants,, and sixty youths in the gymnasium. There ar"e in the place a good inn, shops of various kinds, &c. Mr. Herrman, the present director of the establishment, had the kindness to show us everything worthy of notice, and we had only to regret that we could not enjoy longer the pleasure of his company, as W3 were |