TURGY.--RETURN TO
PHILADELPHIA.--PENITENTIARY.--RETURN TO NEW YORK.

New York, 12th Oct. 1858.

We have seen comparatively so little since I last wrote to you, that I
have hesitated about sending by this mail any account of our travels;
but I believe, upon the whole, it may be as well to give you an account
of our movements up to this time.

My last letter would tell you of our arrival at this place. The evening
was so fine, that papa and I were induced to go to the Crystal Palace.
Although very inferior to ours at Sydenham, it was interesting as being
filled with an immense variety of farming implements, which had been
brought together for the great annual agricultural show. There were also
large collections of sewing machines, hydraulic presses, and steam
engines, besides collections of smaller articles, watches, jewellery,
&c.; and a great many statues, including the original models of
Thorwaldsen's colossal group of our Saviour and the Apostles. The place
was brilliantly lighted up, and the effect was very striking.

Next day papa was returning home and saw a dense cloud of smoke hanging
over the town; and on approaching the spot, found the poor palace and
all its contents a thing of the past; one minaret only being left of the
building. The whole had been consumed by fire in _ten minutes_; so rapid
was the progress of the flames from the time of their first bursting
out, that in that short space of time the dome had fallen in; and
wonderful to say, though there were more than 2000 people, chiefly women
and children, in the building when the alarm was given, the whole of
them escaped uninjured.

We waited on in New York till Friday the 8th, vainly hoping to hear
tidings of William; although by a letter received from him a day or two
before, he said he should probably be at Baltimore on Saturday. With
this uncertainty hanging over his plans, we determined on going there;
and on Friday night got as far as Philadelphia by the Camden and Amboy
Railway, through a country far from pretty, compared with what we have
been accustomed to.

Philadelphia is situated between the Delaware and the Schuylkill, at
about six miles above the junction of the two rivers. In order to reach
the town we had to cross the Delaware, which we did in a steamer of huge
proportions. It was getting dark when we landed at Philadelphia; and we
were much struck with the large and broad streets a