After arriving, Harriet was introduced to the Rev. Jeremiah Durham, who said that Harriet could stay with him for a few days before she was able to get to New York. Fanny was placed with another family. Mrs. Durham was an extremely pleasant and solicitous woman and made Harriet feel very welcome.
Harriet was awed by the bustle and diversity of Philadelphia. It was very different from her home in the south; that evening when the bells signaling a fire were heard, Harriet assumed the whole town had to get up and respond. She considered herself "an ignorant child, just beginning to learn how things went on in great cities."
After five days one of Mrs. Durham's friends decided to accompany Harriet and Fanny to New York. In their travels Harriet observed that the North was in some ways no better than the south, for colored people were treated quite differently.