Bertie Haigh’s Diary April 27, 1882

“Dawsey is a good fellow, but his father is mean to him…”

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Bertie looked up at Father. “I like him Father. I think that we will be good friends.”

“I am sure that you will be the best of friends,” smiled Father. “Well, you can sit with him in the carriage that they brought for us.”

“That will be great! I want to know all about Philadelphia. Do you know if we are staying here tonight? I want to hear what Dawsey can tell me about this big city.”

“I am sure that Dawsey will tell you all about Philadelphia…” just then Father was interrupted.

“Look over there! Our carriage awaits,” Dawsey pointed at a white carriage that looked freshly painted. It was drawn by two large, brown horses and was big enough for everybody and their luggage.

Father gasped. “That is a magnificent carriage, Mr. Binns. I am sure that I will owe you a lot for it.” Father looked a little embarrassed by the generosity of Mr. Binns’ hospitality.

“Think nothing of it. Thee are our guests whilst thee stays here in Philadelphia.” Mr. Binns smiled at Father and Dawsey smiled at Bertie. Mr. Binns then looked at Bertie’s family, “Please get in the carriage so that we can go to my cousin’s house.”

Everyone gave their bags to the driver who put them on the back of the carriage. Bertie then scrambled up into the seat behind the driver and sat next to Dawsey. Arthur sat next to Bertie. Everyone else sat in the back seat facing forward. They closed the doors and the carriage started moving.

Bertie and Dawsey promptly turned around to see where they were going. “Look at all of the people walking around. There are so many that I can hardly count them all. What do you suppose that they are doing,” asked Bertie.

Dawsey was just about to answer when his father said, “Dawsey, thee should turn around and pay more attention to thine guests.”

“Yes, Papa” Dawsey turned around and stared at the bottom of the coach.

Bertie turned around too. He looked at the bottom of the coach too. He could not help himself and was soon looking out at the sights to the side of the coach. He could see houses and small parks and lots of people. “Where do all of these people live? There are so many. Do they work here?”

“Many of these people work and live here. Most are merchants of some sort,” Mr. Binns pointed out. “Why my cousin is a printer…”

“You mean like Ben Franklin?” asked Bertie.

“You have heard of Ben Franklin? I am surprised, I would not have expected that someone from England would remember him.”

“My great-grandfather went to a lecture by Dr. Franklin. He spoke about the wave theory of light. They laughed at Dr. Franklin. Then my grandfather went to a lecture by Dr. Thomas Young who described an experiment that proved that Dr. Franklin was right.” Bertie was very proud of his ancestors.

Mr. Binns looked at Bertie with admiration. “I am impressed that thee should know about Dr. Franklin and Dr. Young. Do you know why they mocked Dr. Franklin?”

“Yes, I do. It was a common belief of the time to think of light as consisting of tiny little particles. Dr. Franklin felt that light was a wave and not a particle. He felt that if light was a particle, we would all be gone.”

“All be gone? What do you mean by that,” asked Mr. Binns?

“The momentum of the tiny little particles would be too strong. Light travels very fast; approximately 671,000 miles per hour. Even very small particles would hit with a lot of energy at that speed. Light would be a constant rain of tiny bullets coming from the sun, killing everything on earth. At least, that is what Dr. Franklin thought.”

“Right, Dr. Franklin said that we would ‘die from a shower of tiny little bullets’,” mocked Arthur.

Mr. Binns looked sternly at Arthur, “It would be best to listen to thine brother on this score. He is correct about Dr. Franklin’s objection to the particle theory of light.” Mr. Binns then turned to Bertie and smiled, “Does thee know what Dr. Young did to prove the wave theory of light?”

“I know that the proof involved slits, but I do not understand how he did the experiment.”

“I do.” Everyone turned to Kate with their eyes wide open in amazement. “What!?! I can read too.” Kate turned to Mr. Binns. “First he made a box and on one end of the box there were two thin slits that were close to each other. On that same end he made an observation hole. He passed sunlight through the two thin slits. He then looked through the observation hole to the other end of the box where the sunlight made an interference pattern that can only be made if sunlight is a wave.”

“Does thee know what that interference pattern looks like? Can you describe it to me?

Before Kate was able to answer, Dawsey chimed in, “Yes, it looks like a bright white dot, next to that are two white dots with some color around the edges, and next to that are many dots of single colors.”

“Yes Dawsey, that is correct. But thee should not interrupt. I was asking Friend Kate if she could describe the pattern.”

“Dawsey is correct.” Kate smiled at Dawsey who looked a little embarrassed. “That is a good description of what the interference pattern looks like.” Dawsey smiled back at Kate.

Kate turned back to Mr. Binns, “I saw the pattern when we took a trip to the museum back in Leeds. Dawsey described it perfectly.”

“Does Thee know what the dots mean.” asked Mr. Binns.

“Yes, I do…”

Before Kate could answer, Arthur interrupted, “They mean that Kate will never find a husband that will tolerate her toffee-nosed attitude.”

Kate punched Arthur in the arm. Father told Arthur, “Just because you do not like science does not mean that you should be rude to your sister. Apologize to her now.”

“I am sorry Kate,” Arthur said half-heartedly.

Mr. Binns looked at Arthur, “So what does Thee like?”

“He likes girls,” Bertie blurted out.

Arthur glared at Bertie. Mr. Binns said, “Now let Arthur talk. I want to hear from him.”

“I like making cloth like my father. I like the new large-scale looms that are becoming popular and taking over the industry.”

“Yes, Arthur would like to put me out of business. He knows that I weave on a manual eight shaft loom.”

“I did not know that Thee is a weaver Mr. Haigh. Dawsey did you know that Mr. Haigh is a weaver?”

“No Papa, I did not.”

Just then, Vicky stared at Mr. Binns, grabbed Father’s trouser, and pulled it, “Father, he is saying it wrong. The people here do not know how to talk.”

“No, we do not speak with an English accent over here. We have developed our own way of speaking in Philadelphia.” Mr. Binns smiled at Vicky. Vicky rolled her eyes with some exasperation.

“No Mr. Binns, she is referring to how you say our last name. There is no ‘g’ at the end. My name sounds more like ‘Hay’,” pointed out Father.

“My apologies. I did not know that you did not use the ‘g’. Other people who have that name use the ‘g’.”

“That is quite alright Mr. Binns, think nothing of it. It does not bother me,” said Father.

Vicky gave another exasperated gasp. “But it bothers me. Why cannot people get it right”

Father looked hard at Vicky. “Say nothing more of it Vicky. Mr. Binns did not know any better. Besides, he has never been to Leeds. So, he does not know how we say it over there.” Father looked at Mr. Binns. “You never have been to Leeds, have you?”

Mr. Binns chuckled. “No, I have not been to Leeds. But I did make it to London when I was young.”

Dawsey perked up. “You went to London Papa? I did not know that. Why did you go to London? I want to go there some day.”

“I went there with your grandfather on some business. Plus, I went to worship with Friends and family. Your grandfather’s parents were still living in London; they had not been read out of Meeting.”

“Read out of Meeting, what does that mean?” Bertie asked Mr. Binns.

“It means that my grandfather did something that the London Meeting did not like. Probably he looked cross-eyed at some important and weighty friend. Or worse, called him fat,” chuckled Dawsey.

“Now stop that right now Dawsey! Thee are not to be rude when talking about thine grandfather. He would never have done what Thee suggested.” Mr. Binns turned to Bertie. “Dawsey is correct that if one does something wrong in the eyes of the Meeting, that person could be told to leave the Meeting, but generally, it is a heinous reason. My father was wrongly accused. He came here to the United States to reclaim his good name, which he did easily and thoroughly.” Mr. Binns said proudly, then looked sternly at Dawsey. He paused. Then looked at Bertie again and changed the subject. “Did Dawsey tell thee that Dr. Young is my second cousin, once removed”

“You know Dr. Young?” Bertie was amazed. “My grandfather told me about his light experiment. Did you ever meet Dr. Young? Did you talk to him about the light experiment?”

“I never specifically talked to him about that experiment. I was more interested in his work with the eye.” Mr. Binns turned to Dawsey. “Dawsey, you did not tell me that your friend is a man of science.”

“Bertie is not a man of science. He is not yet a man,” Arthur blurted out.

“Arthur, that was rude. You know that Bertie has a curious mind.”

“I am sorry, Father”

“It is not me that you should apologize to, but Bertie.”

Arthur looked at the floor, “I am sorry Bertie.”

“That is better. But in the future, you need to be nicer to your brother.” Father then looked at Mr. Binns, “What about Dr. Young’s work on the eye interested you?”

“I was young and interested in all things pertaining to the body. I wanted to be a doctor. But sadly, that did not work out”

“So, what do you do out in the west of Philadelphia? If it is permitted that I can ask you that.”

“Yes, of course Thee can ask me that Friend Kate. I sell tinctures, tonics, herbs. and other remedies for whatever ails Thee.”

“Oh, that is interesting. Do you have anything for sleeplessness? I had a hard time sleeping on the ship ride,” said Kate.

Father chuckled. “I think that we all had a difficult time sleeping. Except for Arthur. He could have slept soundly down in the engine room.”

“I do not think that Arthur heard you father. I think that he was looking at the women over there in the brightly colored dresses.” Bertie motioned to some women standing on the street corner.

“What? Perish the thought, I was not looking at those women over there.” Arthur sounded a little flustered.

“Then who were you looking at?” asked Kate as she rolled her eyes.

“I was looking at that big building over there and wondering what went on in that building,” said Arthur evasively.

“Everybody knows what goes on in that building. That is Independence Hall,” said Dawsey.

“Dawsey, our friends are from England and may not know of our important buildings.” Mr. Binns glared at Dawsey.

“I am sorry Arthur. I did not mean to insult thee. I just thought that everybody knew what that building was to Americans. I forgot that thee is not an American,” said Dawsey.

“Think nothing of it Dawsey. Besides, I will be living in Texas soon enough and need to know a few bits of American lore,” said Arthur.

Kate impishly looked at Arthur. “So, tell me what went on in Independence Hall?” She rolled her eyes.

Arthur looked hard at the building.

“Go ahead, take your time. I can wait while you figure it out,” said Kate as she winked at Bertie.

“I can give you a hint if you like,” said Bertie.

“What? No, I do not need a hint from you. I can figure it out on my own,” snapped Arthur.

Just then, Vicky grabbed Arthur’s shoulder and whispered in Arthur’s ear. Arthur perked up.

“That is where they keep the bell that cracked,” Arthur said proudly.

Kate looked at Vicky. “Thank you, Vicky.” Kate looked back at Arthur. “But why is that bell important and what did they do in that big building?”

Arthur stared at the building again.

“Okay Dawsey, you tell my brother, the future American, what happened in that building,” laughed Kate.

“That is where they signed the Declaration of Independence.”

“I was just going to say that,” asserted Arthur.

“Sure you were,” said Kate. …