You get from New York to Philadelphia in about a day – the City has many large squares the largest is Franklins Square which has a splendid jet de eau2 in its centre. I have now given you all the news which my scanty means can afford and trust it will be of some use to you in your sojournings.3 May God bless and prosper you in all your undertakings is my earnest prayer and I trust that the time will arrive when we will meet in the land of promise and live over old times with new zest where we may live and have our being free and untrammelled and lift our heads into the day with as lordly an air as the best in the land mix in the best society. It is the only place for white men but they make the niggers jump Jim Crow.4 John F.5 will be glad to see you. Remember me to Latimer. I was sorry to hear that McGowen and others had to offer their necks to the yoke at the footstool of Tyranny,6 but some are born to cringe and others to soar – You will have stirring times of it – If you call on my brother7 in Liverpool he might assist you in your choice of a vessel. Write to me before you leave, if you have time, if not farewell and blessing on thy way where’er thou goest. You and Latimer will be pleasant company. I should not like to go alone. All here are well. Mary8 joins me in best wishes for your success. You ought indeed to be glad to get out of this wretched country which is becoming the mere sink of humanity. I must now conclude, if you write to me you will hear from me again, if not I may bid you farewell forever or the opposite according as fortunes wheel revolves; but under every phase of our acquaintance I shall cherish your memory as that of one whom I will always consider the most recherché9 acquaintance I ever possessed and to whom I would now bid farewell with more regret did not hope whisper to me in a far land and far time that atom of humanity John Tyndall will again become your associate through good and ill. So now my dear fellow I must conclude, reiterating my wishes for your good fortune (le bon temps viendra)10 take that for your motto and charge boldly.
I am most sincerely | your old Chum | J.Chadwick
RI MS JT/1/TYP/11-3507
LT Transcript Only
[1844]: Louisa Tyndall annotation: ‘Must be early in 1844 | First half missing’.
jet de eau: jet of water (French).
your sojournings: Tyndall had planned to emigrate to America with George Latimer in the spring of 1844; see letters 0237, 0269, 0291, 0295, 0296, 0299, 0304, 0307, 0313, and 0324 for further information regarding these plans and their outcome.
jump Jim Crow: a song and dance from 1828 performed in blackface.
John F.: John Fudge, an acquaintance of Tyndall and John Chadwick who lived in Cincinnati. See also letters 0268 and 0307.
McGowen and others had to offer their necks to the yoke at the footstool of Tyranny: Louisa Tyndall annotation: ‘McGowan returned to the Survey on [old] terms’.
my brother: not identified.
Mary: probably Chadwick’s wife.
recherché: sought after (French).
le bon temps viendra: good times will come (French).
Please cite as “Tyndall0306,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 30 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0306