Honeymoon in Mexico was a grand success, mostly thanks to the H1N1 virus. Happy pandemic panic, everybody.

Hey! If you have photos to share from VE Day, would you maybe email them to fitzfab@yahoo.com please ? As soon as I’m done fighting with Flickr photo storage, I’ll post a link of all things nuptial and extravaganza.

Reminder that the Holiday Inn deadline for a room guaranteed at the wedding rate is Friday, April 24. Book accordingly with help from Accommodations.

All you out-of–towners may expect to receive upon arrival a charming printed book about the Iladelph to help you figure out where to learn about America, where to drink a beer, how to get around and the like.

And details for the provided transportation between Center City hotels and the church are being finalized as we speak.

And the suburban Doubletree in nearby Plymouth Meeting, about 30 minutes from Center City by car, and a less expensive option for anyone driving in will guarantee rooms through April 16 — Thursday!

Deadline at the Holiday Inn not for another good week — April 24.

Book accordingly. All details available on the Accommodations page.

The Public Ledger was all over the centennial in 1876.

“Patriotism had full possession of Philadelphia yesterday.”

Thus begins the Public Ledger’s editorial as chronicled here by Villanova University.

“Never in the history of our city has there been so brilliant a scene, such an assemblage of distinguished and illustrious visitors, such as a unanimous outpouring of the people.”

“We have had memorable days in Philadelphia, when the population has been strongly moved, when all the principle streets have been thronged, when the highest manifestations of popular favor and respect have been paid to living presidents, soldier and statesmen, when profound homage has been paid to the memory of the patriotic dead, when the city has been gaily decorated and the people have surged through the throughfares, Impelled by all manner of motives, from mere curiosity to the most intense feeling; but never have we had such a day as yesterday.

“Notable days were those which witnessed the ovation to Lafayette, the centenary celebration of Washington’s birthday in 1832, the reception of General Jackson, the welcome home of our soldiers after the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion, the funeral solemnities of General Meade, the incoming of New Year’s Day of the present year, and the observance of the last 22d of February- but none of those (rivalled) yesterday , and the 10th of May; 1878, will now stand as the great day in Philadelphia until equalled, if not surpassed by the Centennial Fourth of July, now so near at hand.”

The thing goes on and on. And this is only one piece reacting to the first day of celebration. Look at the words spilled on the weather alone:

“The day, beginning with an unfavorable sky, followed by lowering clouds and occasional chilling showers and then bursting into bright sunshine, remaining clear and pleasant until the inaugural ceremonies were over, was perfectly typical of the fortunes of the Centennial undertaking itself. It had its inception under quite discouraging conditions, followed by many adverse events threatening its discomfiture and defeat, all of which were eventually cleared away, the sunlight of success coming out clear, cheery and invigorating.

“This similitude between the gradually brightening aspect of the skies yesterday, after the preceding rainstorms must have come to the minds of many of those participating in the ceremonies, who had been among the laborers during the unpromising and gloomy days, which have since been crowned by glorious success. When the sun dud break through the clouds yesterday, and, dispersing them, lit up the bright colors of the brilliant and profuse and universal display of (bunting) and decorations, the city was just one glory over all.

“Nearly every house was ornamented in some way, and the ornamentation ranged through the whole scale of patriotism, from the tiny specimens of the Stars and Stripes on very humble dwellings , to the costly and elaborate displays of the opulent, and upon the more conspicuous private and public buildings. The almost universal decoration of the humbler classes of dwellings in the small side streets and up the little narrow courts was remarkable, and was one of the most pleasing characteristics of this memorable time.”

Tons more articles listed here.

I can readily recommend One Lesson of the Centennial, which highlights one of the paper’s favorite topics: Labor.

Funny: Large Meeting in Opposition of Opening the Centennial Exhibition on Sunday with such lines as “Whereas, the government of the United States was originally founded on the principles of the Christian religion which form the only sound basis of good government.”

The Catholic university just outside Philadelphia also collected stories from other sources about the Centennial, all of which may be found here.

Transportation between Center City and the ceremony in Roxborough on May 9 will be provided. Stay tuned.

If you’re driving to the Downtown Club, free parking is available all day at a garage at 7th & Ranstead Streets (between Market & Chestnut Streets). So feel free to head down after the ceremony, stick the car in the garage and enjoy a walk around on what we hope will be a beautiful May afternoon. Click here for driving directions to the reception from other points.

For all of you staying downtown, you have a few options for navigating the city.

Center City — especially the historic part where the hotels and reception are — is very walkable.

The PhillyPhlash bus is a purple shuttle on a loop that stops at the major cultural attractions. The $2 fare is the same as taking a SEPTA bus, but a $5 daylong pass is a good deal if you plan to run around a lot.

1. Penn’s Landing (CLOSE TO HYATT HOTEL)
2. 3rd and Market Streets (CLOSEST STOP TO HOLIDAY INN HOTEL)
3. 6th and Market Streets
4. 8th and Market Streets
5. 12th and Market Streets (READING TERMINAL MARKET)
6. Juniper and Market Streets
7. 16th Street and JFK Boulevard
8. Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 16th Street
9. Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 20th Street
10. 22nd Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
11. Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenues (PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART)
12. 26th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
13. Logan Square
14. Logan Square, 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway
15. 17th and Arch Street
16. 17th Street between Market and Chestnut Streets
17. Broad and Chestnut Streets
18. 12th and Market Streets (READING TERMINAL MARKET)
19. 8th and Market Streets
20. 6th and Market Streets
21. 2nd and Market Streets

Naturally our morbid little eyes eyes went straight past the ads to the story of a dual suicide in the Schuylkill River. Two ladies of very different classes, the story took great pains to point out, had drowned themselves one afternoon and left letters bidding adieu to a very cruel world.

I’d do anything to have a copy of said story, and while looking on the Internets, I found this text by Mark Twain, who took great enjoyment in ripping the saccharine prose of Phila’s one-time most popular paper (parent of the People’s Paper, perhaps? Or the Bright One?).

In Philadelphia they have a custom which it would be pleasant to see adopted throughout the land. It is that of appending to published death-notices a little verse or two of comforting poetry. Any one who is in the habit of reading the daily Philadelphia “Ledger,” must frequently be touched by these plaintive tributes to extinguished worth. In Philadelphia, the departure of a child is a circumstance which is not more surely followed by a burial than by the accustomed solacing poesy in the “Public Ledger.” In that city death loses half its terror because the knowledge of its presence comes thus disguised in the sweet drapery of verse. For instance, in a late “Ledger” I find the following (I change the surname):

DIED.

HAWKS. — On the l7th inst., CLARA, the daughter of Ephraim and Laura Hawks, aged 21 months and 2 days.

That merry shout no more I hear,
No laughing child I see,
No little arms are round my neck,
No feet upon my knee;
No kisses drop upon my cheek,
These lips are sealed to me.
Dear Lord, how could I give Clara up
To any but to Thee?

A child thus mourned could not die wholly discontented. From the “Ledger” of the same date I make the following extract, merely changing the surname, as before:

BECKET. — On Sunday morning, 19th inst., JOHN P., infant son of George and Julia Becket, aged 1 year, 6 months, and 15 days.

That merry shout no more I hear,
No laughing child I see,
No little arms are round my neck,
No feet upon my knee;
No kisses drop upon my cheek,
These lips are sealed to me.
Dear Lord, how could I give Johnnie up
To any but to Thee?

The similarity of the emotions produced in the mourners in these two instances is remarkably evidenced by the singular similarity of thought which they experienced, and the surprising coincidence of language used by them to give it expression.

Read the rest here.

Kindly reply by April 17 whether or not you are able to attend the Happy Day. Of course, you can learn about hotel suggestions and all by clicking on the Accommodations tab above.

And please, please don’t tell Miss Manners we included a postcard for ease in responding.

The reception takes place on the 11th floor of the Public Ledger Building, in what was once the executive club for Philadelphia’s first penny newspaper. Said club was so exclusive, it was men only. The building at 600-606 Chestnut Street dates to 1921 and was designed in the Georgian Revival style by Horace Trumbauer.

The Philadelphia Public Ledger newspaper was published from March 25, 1836 to January 1942. For a time, it was Philadelphia’s most popular newspaper, but its circulation declined in the mid-1930s. The Philadelphia Inquirer took over the paper in 1934, renaming it the Evening Public Ledger. It ceased publication in 1942.

The Ledger was co-founded by A.S. Abell, born Arunah Shepardson Abell, on August 10, 1806, in East Providence, R.I. He died April 19, 1888, in Baltimore, Md. He spend his life as a newspaper editor and publisher, and he founded with two other investors, both the Philadelphia Public Ledger and the Baltimore Sun, according to this Encyclopedia Britannica entry:

Abell left school at the age of 14 to become a clerk in a store dealing in West Indian wares. He had hoped to become a printer, and in 1822 he was taken on as an apprentice by the Providence Patriot. He set up shop as a printer in Boston and then in New York. He came to the conclusion that Philadelphia was a likely market for a new penny paper. He and his partners, William M. Swain and Azariah H. Simmons, founded the Public Ledger in 1836. Within two years the paper had absorbed the rival Philadelphia Transcript.

Meanwhile, in 1837, Abell founded the Baltimore Sun, which had 12,000 subscribers after a year. Both the Public Ledger and the Sun were oriented to the workingman, but, whereas the Ledger dealt freely in scandal and sensation, the Sun did not. As manager of the Sun, Abell, in cooperation with the publishers of the New Orleans Daily Picayune, established a “pony express” of relay riders between Baltimore and New Orleans to speed the transmission of news. In a historic “news beat,” the express delivered in Baltimore the news of the U.S. Army victory at Vera Cruz, Mexico, before the U.S. government had learned of it.

Abell then sent word of the victory by telegram to President James K. Polk. He had encouraged Samuel F.B. Morse in developing the telegraph and was one of its most enthusiastic pioneer users.

An innovator who stressed technical progress, Abell used telegraph machines and carrier pigeons to speed news transmission. Under his direction, the Baltimore Sun became the first American newspaper to install a rotary press. In 1861, when the Civil War began, the Sun had a circulation estimated at 30,000. Abell directed the Sun until his death.

W.M. Swain, the paper’s first editor, also is credited with its founding.

Here’s his obit, as published here in the New York Times.

The newspaper advocated a free press and independent voting, it voiced its opposition to the Bank of the United States. After it was sold to G. W. Childs and Anthony J. Drexel in 1864, it was known for its attacks on war profiteering, monopolies and debased currency, and its editorials on political and moral corruption.

All details are available by clicking on “Accommodations“.

Just added! A little farther away, on the Delaware River, is the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia-Penn’s Landing at 201 S. Columbus Boulevard, where rooms are reserved for Friday and Saturday night at the wedding rate of $179.00 for a single or double, $204.00 for a triple and $229.00 for a quadruple. Ask for FitzPatrick-Byrne wedding when making your reservation by calling 215-928-1234 or 800-233-1234. Rooms are guaranteed until April 10. Parking is $21/night.

For the full story, check out “Accomodations.”