14: PHILADELPHIA

 New York was louder and brighter than London. The buildings, though not of stone, seemed more robust. Although London had more than two million inhabitants, New York seemed larger despite having less than one-quarter of the population. Everyone moved faster and was in a more urgent state of mind. Jonathan mentioned all this to Evelyn and asked why she thought that was the case.

He was surprised by her answer. New York is new and alive, like a youth, full of vigour and strength. London and the Old World are not necessarily more sedate. Perhaps the Old World moves slower because it is old.

Their stay there was brief, and they boarded a train from the Camden and Amboy Railroad and Transportation Company. They shared one of the luxury carriages with half a dozen other travellers. They had hoped their journey would be uneventful, and for the most part, it was, except for a delay in transit due to several cows on the track in the area of the quaintly named town of Spotswood.

They were met at the train station and taken to their new residence on Delancey Street. 

She interrupted his narrative, sat up beside him, and looked out across the sea. For a moment, she had more vigour.

“Cows, I had forgotten about the cows. Such a strange first memory of America.” She said, slowly reaching up and brushing Jonathan’s face with her hand.

“My dear, indeed, it was an adventure. Then, with all that we did, my printing business and you tending to the house and working with the abolition movement.

We were two of the leading members of polite society for a short time; for others, that was an adventure. I believe that was when the mayor, who was it Swift… John Swift wished for me to enter politics. Our plan was for twenty years, but then came the war.”

“It was, as Collette said those years ago, that we do not start wars, but war finds us.”

“My dear, do not talk. Save your strength, and I will continue. 

Forcing her words, she looked back at the sea, “No, John. The story you told has, in a manner, revived me, although we talked of the past very often. I remember Philadelphia for the music; every park had a bandstand, and every neighbourhood had a theatre. The weather was wonderful, and I saw my first snowfall, a real snowfall with cold and ice. I loved that until I did not.”

She coughed with a hard, cracking sound as she tried to laugh. Jonathan wiped her face with two fingers, where a tear would be if she could cry.

“Evelyn, we did many things those first years. We did find so many new things in what you call the rebel colonies. A phrase you gained from your father’s father.

We spent fifteen or more years in America, witnessing the awakening of a new empire. With all the land, resources, and drive, America was the land of hope. Its size and weight were beyond anything the old Kingdoms of Europe could have envisioned.

The expansion of their railways into the west. A journey that would have taken many weeks or months was then done in days with those iron giants. The news of politics, war and victories, shared across the land by telegraph and the power of iron-clad ships driven by steam, drove their economy.

Then shortly thereafter, from sea to sea, Boston to San Francisco, almost equal to the distance from Paris to Moscow, could be travelled in five days. Napoleon could not have imagined such a wonder.

There were many Devi there, in America, A new life in a new land, able to blend in and move about in the expanding American nation. But we left just as another war began over slavery and money.

You tried to help, and you think you may have helped many. I recall the hugs and tears of those fugitive people who were finally free. You said you felt their warmth and energies, and I think that if they had known how their energies and joy affected you as they did, they would have granted you more.”

Another weak smile crossed her face, “Back then, you, Collette, and others had only mentioned the power of pain, but I felt so much of the power of joy of those people being set free.”

“We sailed off and left as the war between the states and between brothers began. I am glad you mostly remember the joy of that time and not the power of loss.”

Throughout her first few years in Philadelphia, Evelyn stayed busy aiding the Underground Railway, which moved runaway slaves to safety, organizing small private clothing drives, and raising funds. Working with Quakers and other white sympathizers, she found them a source of a great deal of positive and forceful energies.

Johnathan often found himself working late in the print shop. His primary sources of income were for Pennsylvanian political propaganda and anti-slave information, along with freedom articles and pamphlets of what the southern states called ‘inflammatory rhetoric.’ The money made from this endeavour was more than satisfactory in maintaining a standard of living that they both enjoyed. Any excess funds were sent off to Plymouth, Massachusetts, to the ‘American Collette’ to aid in transferring the identities of the Devi, both entering and leaving both the United States and British North America to the north.      

After 1850, the introduction, passage, and implementation of the Fugitive Slave Act allowed slave catchers to pursue their quarry into free states, and it removed other protections freed slaves had enjoyed, such as safety from arrest in states that had passed personal liberty laws, such as Pennsylvania. 

This new law increased their involvement as it required considerably more effort. The abolitionist movements railed harder against these injustices.

Slave-catchers now also enjoyed the blessings and assistance of the federal government. The law further stipulated that people caught housing, feeding, or helping freedom seekers faced fines of up to one thousand dollars or six months in jail. In Philadelphia, many of Evelyn’s friends and associates quit the movement. Johnathan had made it known that he would no longer be aiding the abolitionists to avoid any federal charges. However, he secretly printed the notices and an anti-slavery newsletter, as he had bought the building adjacent to his print shop. A dry goods store with a large secure stone cellar. The cellar was capable of holding a printing press. The pamphlets were moved out of the store in sacks of flour and sugar.

In further aid to the cause, Jonathan owned three large wagons that often transited to and from the store. The wagons had hollow spaces in the cargo decking planking that could accommodate a person hidden beneath the cargo.

  Fear grew among the free black communities that they could be arrested and sent into enslavement in situations of mistaken identity or even out of spite or revenge. In a cruel twist of irony, the federal government forces had rented out a floor of Independence Hall to use as a federal courtroom, jury room, clerk's office, and U.S. Marshal's office. The fugitive slaves often awaited their hearings, sometimes waiting for days, detained in the Marshal’s office. 

A year earlier, a Baptist preacher, Reverand William Jackson, upon hearing that one of his parishioners had been arrested and was being held in Independence Hall, organized a group of men who then stormed the Hall and rescued the man. The liberators were disguised as women and dressed in clothing provided by Evelyn. On the second night of his release, the parishioner spent the night in Jonathan’s secret workshop, waiting for the Marshalls’ office to assume that he had made his way out of the city. He eventually made his way safely to Canada.

Life for both had settled into an uneasy routine, not between themselves but with those around them. The political divisions and partisan nature of the issues of slavery and the direction of the national economy were beginning to divide not only the country but all the elements of higher Philadelphia society. At this time, Jonathan received a note from the American Collette in Plymouth.

His services were required for the interests of Devi, and just after the start of the new year, he was to leave for New York and embark on a three-week journey to Constantinople, where he would remain for several weeks before returning to Philadelphia.  

“Why Jonathan? Why now?  We are in America, far from the petty problems of Europe and even further from the issues of the Turks. Why now? It is so far.” Evelyn almost pleadingly was asking Jonathan.

“My love, why I must go there, I do not know. I only know that I have to go if the Devi need me to deal with the Ottomans.

Do you recall the day I met you, or as it was, when you met me in the church of Magnus the Martyr? I assisted the Crown by discussing Ottoman matters with Abraham Stoker.

I shall not be gone more than three months, and as I have been called, the matter must be vital for us all.”

“But what am I to do? You will not be here. I will be lonely.”

Jonathan walked to her, placing his arms around her. “You have wanted an opportunity to return to England; this may be a good time.?

“But what of my family there, my acquaintances there, I have not aged a day in fifteen years?

“Recall the evening of the day we met. I dined with your family. Your father wore a lapel pin with a distinctive red lion. It is the symbol for a group of men, a special and secluded group that dates back to Elizabeth in England. The group is called the ‘Orbis Terrarum Imperium Sub Deo’ or ‘World Empire Under God.’

They are facilitators, or perhaps you could call them a bridge between the Devi and the world. We assist them, and they help us. Your father is a member of this organization.”

“What are you saying? My father knows who we are.  What we are??”

“No, he likely does not, as he is only aware that the Devi are a group. He likely does not even know our name. But he does know that we are an old, powerful group, and in England, we are traced back to the great John Dee. The astronomer, researcher and by some accounts a great magician.”

“A magician? Do you want me to believe in magic? I am not a fool or a child.”

No, my love, you are a long-living person, perhaps an immortal, with gifted strengths and insights. You heal from wounds quickly, you never get ill, and you are immune from all manner of fevers. And you thrive on the fears and loves, the guilts and pleasures of others. So, of course, I do not think you should believe in magic.”

“Why have you never told me about the O.T.I.D. or whatever? Why did you not tell me about my father’s involvement? How many other secrets are you keeping from me?”

“I am not keeping secrets. The matter was never of any importance before now. There are many layers to the life of a Standard, and there are many, many more times when you are Devi.”    

Why a name like the ‘Orbis Terrarum Imperium Sub Deo’? World Empire Under God sounds like an unreasonable goal and impossible expectations.”

“I would assume that if the Devi were to appeal to influential people and those in power, the name would aid in their acceptance and participation the higher and loftier the goal.

Devi means goddess, a term used to describe a female deity in Hinduism. The motto does not define which god or goddess; people see whatever they want to in the inclusion of the word ‘god.’ As I may have mentioned earlier, Collette is a name of French origin that means "victory of the people."

So, as I said before, everything has a hidden meaning in terms of power and authority.

You should post a letter to your father about your visit. We do not have to leave for New York until Tuesday after next, so we have ten days of company for one another.”