n, in the enjoyment of magnificent health, slept quietly that
night in an humble inn, and awoke in the morning with all his
accustomed vigor. There were still fifty miles of land travel before
him, ere he could cross the forest covered plains of New Jersey to
Burlington, on the banks of the Delaware, which were seventeen miles
above Philadelphia. There was neither railroad, stage-coach nor cart
to convey him through the wilderness. Indeed it was thirty-three years
after this before the first line of stages across New Jersey was
established. There was a rude path, probably following an ancient
Indian trail, along which our solitary adventurer trudged on foot. It
rained; but still Benjamin found it necessary, having so slender a
purse, to press on regardless of discomfort.

Early in the afternoon he came to a hamlet, by the roadside, where he
found himself so exhausted by the unaccustomed toil of walking, and by
exposure to the rain and the miry roads, that he felt it necessary to
remain until the next morning. The aspect he presented was shabby and
dilapidated in the extreme; for he was in his working dress, which by
the wear and tear of travel had become greatly soiled and tattered. He
was not a little mortified to find that the inhabitants of the cabin,
while they treated him kindly, evidently regarded him with suspicion
as a runaway apprentice.

In the gloom of that night, poor Benjamin bitterly repented the step
he had taken, and earnestly wished himself back again in the home
which he had forsaken. Clouds and darkness had gathered around his
path and he could see but little bright beyond. Early the next morning
he resumed his travels, pressing vigorously along all day. When the
shades of night enveloped him he had reached a point within ten miles
of Burlington. He passed the night comfortably in a settler's cabin,
and early the next morning pressed on to the little village of
Burlington, from which he was informed that a boat started every
Saturday, to descend the still silent and almost unfrequented shores
of the Delaware to Philadelphia. Much to his disappointment he reached
Burlington just after the regular Saturday boat had gone, and was
informed that there was no other boat to leave until the next Tuesday.
He made his united breakfast and dinner upon gingerbread, which he
bought in the street of an old woman.

Burlington was on the east side of the river, Philadelphia was on the
west. There was no road betwe