Summer days on the Hudson : the story of a pleasure tour from Sandy Hook to the Saranac lakes, including incidents of travel, legends, historical anecdotes, sketches of scenery, etc

Prefatory Note

<2^

3TLN the following work the writer has aimed ^ to combine instruction with amusement. Its brief sketches of the unequaled scenery of the valley of our American Rhine, as the Hudson has not inaptly been named, and its outlines of the legends, traditions, historical and personal incidents, associated with its localities, are intended to direct the attention of young people to the only method by which traveling can be made a source of refined pleasure and intellectual improvement. Without such habits of observation and inquiry travel soon becomes the synonym of toil, and the fruitful mother of vexation and ennui. With them it is a text-book of information and a well-spring of delight — this is the lesson of our book. We trust our readers will find amusement enough in the story,

6 Prefatory Note.

which is but a slender frame-work for the lesson, to carry them pleasantly through its pages.

Our materials were derived from Schoolcrafts great work on the Indians, Botta's " History of the Revolutionary War," Irving's " Life of Washington " and other writings, Hunt's " Letters on the Hudson," Mrs. Grant's " Memoirs of an American Lady," " New York in the Olden Time," sundry guide-books to the Hudson, Lossing's magnificently illustrated and finely written work on "The Hudson from the Wilderness to the Sea," and from personal observations. Most of our illustrations are from Mr. Lossing's admirable pencil, and have previously appeared in his above-named work, to which we refer such of our readers as may desire a more complete description and a fuller illustration of this magnificent stream. Daniel Wise.

Englewood, New Jersey.

Chapter I. On And Under The Palisades

On the Piazza of the Mountain House — A Party of Six Described — The View from the Mountain House — The Ancient Nobility of the Hudson Valley — The Influence of the Concord Fight on those Noble Families — Jennie Stuart Rebuked — The Legend of Spuyten Duyvel Creek — A Boat Trip on the Hudson — Under the Palisades — The Country Behind the Palisades — Legend of the Phantom Ship — Back to the Mountain House Page 15

Chapter II. Yacht Excursion To Sandy Hook

On Board a Steam Yacht — Visit to Washington Heights — A Garden of Delights — The Defense of Fort Washington Described — Jeffrey's Hook — Washington in Tears — A Daring Deed — Fame a Capricious Mistress — Pleasant Valley — Wayne's Repulse at Bull's Ferry — Andre's Satire — A Tragic Coincidence — Weehawken Dueling Ground — Burr and Hamilton — An Indian Legend — The Battery — The Narrows — Fort Hamilton — Sandy PI 00k — A Hearty Lunch and a Pleasant Ramble — Hendrick Hudson's Mistake — Origin of the name Manhattan — The Return Trip — The Navy Yard — At the Mountain House Again 31

Chapter III. From The Mountain House To Tarrytown

A Secret Discovered — The Song of the Frog, Okogis — A Sail to Tarrytown Proposed — On the River — Yonkers and its Name — A

8 Contents.

Little Romance — Hastings and Dobb's Ferry — Narrow Escape of Washington-— Irvington — View from Irving Park Page 55

Chapter IV. Sunnyside

Edith's Morning Retreat — Off to Sunnyside — Paulding Manor — At Sunnyside — The Mysterious Spring — The Brook — The Site of living's Mediterranean Sea — Irving's Study and Dining Room — Lowell's Quaint Description of Irving — Irving's Betrothed — Legends of Sunnyside — The Truants — An Affair of Silly Sentiment Rebuked 66

Chapter V. From Sleepy Hollow To Rockland Lake

Sleepy Hollow Bridge and the Old Dutch Church — The Legend of Ichabod Crane — The Scene of Andre's Arrest — Andre and his Captors — The Colonel Talks with Arthur About Jennie — Origin of the Name, Tarrytown — A Yacht Trip to Rockland Lake — Impressions of the Lake — A Sail to Croton Bay — Van Cortlandt Manor House — Character Better than Ancestry 82

Chapter VI. From Tarrytown To Stony Point

A Dull Day — The Legend of the Wonderful Shingebis — Sunday Service at the Old Dutch Church — Sing Sing and its Prison — The Colonel's Plan for Punishing Confirmed Criminals — Croton Point and the Origin of its Name — The Beauties of Croton Bay — The Croton Dam — Scene of Andre and Arnold's Meeting near Haverstraw — Mental Pictures — Stony Point — Plendrick Hudson and the Indians — The Capture of Stony Point by " Mad Anthony "—Edith's Dislike of War — The Colonel's Opinion 97

Contents. 9

chapter vii. THROUGH THE HIGHLANDS

The Scenery of the Highlands — The Hudson Formerly a Lake — Peekskill — Origin of its Name — The Beautiful Lady Spy — Fishing in Peekskill Bay — Ice Boats— Donderberg Point and the Horse-race — Legend of the Phantom Ship — The Fiend Exorcised by Dominie Von Geisen — Ignorance and Superstition — Anthony's Nose and its Legend — Lake Sinnipink and its Tragedy — Montgomery Creek — What some Germans said of the Hudson — Beverly Dock — Arnold's Escape — Cozzen's Landing — Vexation of Arthur — His Sensible Conclusion Page 115

Chapter VIII. At West Point

The Parade Ground — The Big Chain — The Cadet's Cemetery — Ruins of Fort Putnam — Washington's Narrow Escape from a Traitor's Snare — Baseness — Trip to Cold Spring — Indian Brook — Edith's Meekness — A Picturesque View up the River 140

Chapter IX. From West Point To Newburgh

Adieu to West Point — Highland Entrance to Newburgh Bay — Turk's Face Destroyed by a Laborer — Scene of Drake's " Culprit Fay" — Upper Entrance to the Highlands — Indian Superstitions — Dutch Legends of Spirits and Fireflies — Fishkill Landing — Newburgh — Trip to Idlewild — Washington's Head-quarters — How Washington Quelled a Mutiny — Visit to Fishkill — On the Steamer Again 157

Chapter X. From Newburgh To The Katzbergs

The Devil's Dance Chamber — An Indian Powwow — Wappingi's Creek — Poughkeepsie — Legend of the Pequod Maiden and her io Contents.

Lover — Rondout — The Dutchman's Fright — Rhinebeck — The Brave Montgomery — Saugerties — Vaughan's Raiders at Clermont — Livingston and the "Clermont" — Hendrick Hudson at Katzkill — Katzkill Landing Page 172

CHAPTER XL

AMONG THE KATZKILLS.

Ascending the Katzbergs — The Rip Van Winkle Legend — A Compliment with a Sting in It — Indian Legends of the Katzkills — Rip Van Winkle's Cabin — A Disappointment — The View from the Mountain House — At Katerskill Falls — Palensville and its Vicinity — Excursions — Edith's Sentimentality — Arthur Grows Poetical — Stage Ready 1S5

Chapter XII. From The Katzkills To Albany

A Break-neck Drive — View of the City of Hudson — Story of the Lebanon Shakers — The River between Hudson and Albany — What the Colonel told them about Albany — At the Delavan House — Mrs- Grant's Picture of Life in Albany in its Early Days — General Schuyler's Mansion — Anecdotes — Adieu to Albany 200

Chapter XIII. From Troy To The Falls Of The Battenkill

On Mount Ida — The Arsenal at West Troy — Lansingburgh — Cohoes' Cataract — At Stillwater — The Story of Burgoyne's Capture briefly Told — Anecdote of General Fraser — At Schuylerville — Scene of a Massacre Instigated by a Priest — Fish Creek — Beautiful Scenery of the Battenkill 215

Chapter XIV. From The Battenkill To Lake George

The Rapids at Fort Miller — "Old Put's" Adventure on the Rapids — At Fort Edward — Putnam's Bravery when the Fort was on

Contents. ii

Fire— Baker's Falls— The Story of the Unfortunate Jane M'Crea and her Military Lover — Glen's Falls described by Hawk-Eye — Anecdote of Wing and Glen — Jessup's Great Falls — Confluence of the Hudson and Sacandaga — Lake Luzerne — Off to Lake George. Page 232

Chapter XV. From Lake George To The Peak Of Tahawus

At Lake George — Idle Days — Recalling Historic Events — Off to the Wilderness — Confluence of the Hudson and Scarron — An Aristocrat at Scarron Lake — Rough Travel — Adirondack Village — Change of Attire — Calamity Pond — A Tragic Anecdote — Camping Out — The Opalescent Valley — Climbing Tahawus — Magnificent View — A Night in a Bark Camp 246

Chapter XVI. From Tahawus To The End Of The Tour

A Sabbath in Camp — Lake Colden — The Iron Dam — The Indian and the Ore — A Tough Ride — Boating on Harris's Lake — Elephant Island — A Clearing on the Upper Hudson — Catlin Lake — Fountain Lake — Through a Swamp — Hudson's Spring — Linden Sea — Raquette River — The Saranac Lakes — Back to Englewood Cliffs 264

Illustrations.

Pack

Manhattanville, from Clermont 2

Spuyten Duyvel Creek 22

Under the Palisades 27

View on Washington Heights 32

Jeffrey's Hook 35

Bull's Ferry ■ 38

Dueling Ground at Weehawken 41

Battery and Castle Garden 45

Fort Hamilton 47

Sandy Hook, from the Light-house 50

Navy Yard, Brooklyn 53

Van Wart's Monument 59

View near Hastings 62

Distant View at Tarrytown 64

View on the Pocanteco, from Irving Park 67

Paulding Manor 69

The Brook at Sunnyside 73

The Pond, or Mediterranean Sea, as it was formerly 75

Irving's Study 77

Sleepy Hollow Bridge 83

Spot on which Andre was Arrested 86

Andre Arrested 89

Rockland Lake 94

Van Cortlandt Manor House 95

State Prison at Sing Sing 102

Croton Point from Sing Sing 104

Mouth of the Croton 105

High Bridge over the Croton 107

Croton Dam 108

Grassy Point and Torn Mountain 109

Verplanck's Point, from Stony Point Light-house.... hi

Illustrations. 13

Page

Anthony Wayne 113

The* Peekskill by Moonlight in Winter 117

Paulding's Monument 117

Winter Fishing 120

Ice-boat and Skaters on Peekskill Bay 122

Donderberg Point . . 123

The Brocken Kill 128

Anthony's Nose and the Sugar Loaf 130

Lake Sinnipink 131

Falls in Montgomery Creek 133

Beverly Dock 134

Upper Cascades, Buttermilk Falls 136

The Road from Cozzen's Dock 138

The Parade at West Point 140

The Great Chain and the Captured Mortars 143

Cold Spring, from the Cemetery 144

Fort Putnam, from the West 146

Indian Brook 153

View from Rossiter's Mansion 155

Highland Entrance to Newburgh Bay 158

Turk's Face, Breakneck Mountain 159

Scene off the Storm King Valley 161

Upper Entrance to the Highlands 162

Fishkill Landing and Newburgh , 164

Idlewild, from the Brook 165

In the Glen at Idlewild 166

Washington's Head-quarters 168

Head-quarters of General Knox 170

Mouth of Wappingi's Creek 174

Highlands, from Poughkeepsie 175

Rondout Creek 178

The Katzbergs, from Montgomery Place 180

Mouth of Esopus Creek, Saugerties 181

View at De Koven's Bay 183

Entrance to the Katzbergs 186

Katers-kill Falls 194

The Fawn's Leap 196

Scene near Palensville 197

View from the Promenade, Hudson 200

View near the Overslaugh 202

Dudley Observatory 204 i4 Illustrations.

V

Page

Sleigh Riding on the Hudson 207

General Schuyler's Mansion, Albany 212

Street View in Ancient Albany 213

View of Troy, from Mount Ida 215

Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad Bridge 218

Waterford and Lansingburgh Bridge 219

Burgoyne's Encampment at Wilbur's Basin * 222

Scene of Burgoyne's Surrender 223

Rope Ferry 226

Rapids of the Fish Creek, at Schuylerville 227

Confluence of the Hudson and Battenkill 229

Dl-ON-ON-DEH-O-WA, OR GREAT FALLS OF THE BaTTENKILL 230

View at Fort Edward . . . • 234

Baker's Falls .... 236

Glen's Falls 239

Kah-che-bon-cook, or Jesup's Great Falls 242

Confluence of the Hudson and Sacandaga 244

Luzerne Lake 245

Confluence of the Hudson and Scarron 249

Adirondack Village 252

First Bridge over the Hudson 254

Bark Cabin at Calamity Pond 255

Fall in the Opalescent River 258

Climbing Mount Tahawus 260

Hospice on the Peak of Mount Tahawus 262;

Lake Colden 265

The Iron Dam 267

Rapids at the Head of II arris's Lake 269

Elephant Island -. 270

First Saw-mill on the Hudson 272

First Clearing on the Hudson 273

Catlin Lake 274

Swamp Travel 277

Raquette River 280

Tenants of Upper Hudson Forests 281

A Log-house in the Forest 283

SUMMER DAYS ON THE HUDSON.

Chapter I. On And Under The Palisades

Oil

TOiAGINE a bright, bland morning in June. A <^ party of six is seated on the spacious piazza of the Mountain House, which stands on the Palisades of our noble Hudson, near the beautiful village of Englewood. The seniors of this little coterie are Colonel Charles Macintosh, a rich bachelor, on the shady side of fifty, and his sister, Mrs. Ida Stuart, a widow somewhat older. The colonel is a man of commanding height, aspect, and manner. His air is military. His oval face is well covered with beard, mustache, and whiskers, all which, like his hair, are iron-gray. His clear, dark eyes, though restless and penetrating, have in them a softened light, which proclaims the presence of a kindly spirit, as does the smile which is constantly playing, like rays of sunshine, from his thin, finely chiseled lips. A distant view of the colonel might repel the advances of a stranger. A nearer approach would

The tourists described.

both command his respect and invite his confidence. Moreover, the colonel is a Christian gentleman.

Mrs. Stuart is unlike her brother in form and manner. She is short, stout, round as a dumpling, with no stateliness in her manner ; but she has the same kindly expression beaming from her blue eyes and playing on her lips. In her prime she was a blonde, and was regarded as a beauty. Even now she is a matronly lady who attracts attention, and favorably impresses all who behold her.

The young ladies of the party are Edith and Jennie Stuart, the widow's pretty daughters. The former is small — a blonde — the reproduction of Mrs. Stuart as she was when of Edith's age, " sweet seventeen;" the latter, who is approaching sixteen, is somewhat tall, has dark hair and eyes, finely cut features, and is as lively and capricious as her sister is demure and steadfast.

Two lads, the sons of a dear deceased friend of the colonel, complete the six. They have been adopted by him, have taken his name, and call him father. They are about the same ages as the young misses, whom they call their, cousins, are quite good looking, and are, like them, enjoying their summer vacation. The elder is named Arthur, the younger, Clarence.

Having thus introduced our party to the reader,

A very attractive view.

we invite him to listen awhile to their conversation. The colonel is just saying to his sister: —

" I never tire of this glorious view. Its extent is so great, its objects so numerous and varied, one always finds something, not observed before, to interest him. At our feet we have the noblest of rivers, not inaptly called by some the Rhine of America. To the south lies New York, with its steepled churches, and its outline marked by a narrow forest of masts. Sweeping along to the eastward is Long Island, dotted with countless pretty villages, and with the glittering waters of its noble Sound, whitened by many a sail, stretched at its feet. Between us and that fine body of water we have the wooded hills of Westchester, crowned with beautiful cottages and stately mansions, the homes of honest toil, thrifty enterprise, and cultivated tastes. Looking north-eastward we see Connecticut in the distance, and nearer to us we have our river bank, on which sits Yonkers, like a princess in some vast drawing-room. But for the green woods which crown these rude rocks we might see far to the north and west across the thrifty State of New Jersey. As it is, the hoary tops of the Ramapo hills look down upon us when we look to the west. Positively I never saw a more attractive view, even in Europe."

The patroons of the Hudson River lands.

" And positively I never heard my uncle talk so eloquently," said Miss Jennie, looking archly at the colonel, and laughing.

"Jennie!" exclaimed her sister, looking very gravely, " how can you speak so to Uncle Charles?"

The colonel gave no attention to his nieces, but continued gazing in rapt attention on the magnificent landscape. His sister, after shaking her head reprovingly at the vivacious Jennie, remarked,

" Yes, the view is fine, incomparably so in some respects. I do not wonder that, in earlier times, many nobles from Holland, France, and England, divided yonder broad acres sloping back from this glorious river into great estates ; nor that they sought to rule, like ancient barons, over the poorer emigrants from their native land."

" Nobles, mamma ! Do you mean to say — do you believe, I mean — that noble men and titled ladies from Europe were ever settled along the banks of the Hudson?"

To this question, put by the merry-minded Jennie, Mrs. Stuart replied : —

" Certainly, my child. The De Lanceys, Kips, Van Burggs, Stuyvesants, Van Rensselaers, De Peysters, Phillipses, and many others, were people of rank in Europe. They became patroons, and ruled their tenants like barons on yonder lands. They

On and Under the Palisades. ig

Courtly style of the Hudson River gentry.

lived in courtly style, dressed in gold-laced velvet coats, wore big wigs, ruffles, and wide sleeves. They carried rapiers, and were ' the gentry of the country, to whom the country, without a rebellious thought, took off its hat.' Their tenants gathered at times by hundreds and by thousands, like the ancient clansmen in Scotland at the call of their chiefs. They were people of real dignity, too. Joseph Bonaparte, who, in later times, like Louis Philippe, Lafayette, and other notables, visited the Livingston manor, once said to a daughter of this family, ' Your mother should have been a queen.' "

" What you say reminds me, aunt, of a stanza in a poem by Holmes," observed Arthur, who, by the way, was much given to reading. "Shall I repeat it?"

" By all means," replied Mrs. Stuart with an approving smile.

Arthur then recited the following lines, descriptive of the effect produced by a gentleman's turnout in the olden time : —

"And all the midland counties through,

The plowman stopp'd to gaze, Where'er his chariot swept in view

Behind the shining bays, With mute obeisance, grave and slow

Repaid by bow polite — For such the way, with high and low.

Till after Concord 's Jig lit '."

Effect of the Concord fight. Jennie's anger.

"Ah ! that Concord fight was a wonderful event ! " exclaimed the colonel. " It began a new epoch in the world's history. But for that barons might still have lived in slothful pomp, and vassals toiled in hopeless poverty, all over yonder beautiful hills, and through large portions of this country."

" Then I wish that Concord fight had never taken place," replied Jennie, drawing herself up proudly. " I think it would be very nice to live in a baronial castle, with crowds of vassals to serve you and to do you reverence when you rode out on your palfrey, followed by a troop of gay young knights."

" Nice for whom, Cousin Jennie, the barons and their families, or the poor cringing vassals?" asked Clarence in a bantering tone.

Jennie's dark eyes flashed with resentful feeling as she retorted, in an offended tone,

" For the barons, of course, Mr. Macintosh ! You don't suppose that I should have been a churl's daughter, do you?"

Poor Clarence, who was anxious to keep on good terms with his lively cousin, shrank before this outburst of girlish anger and pride, and looked appealingly to the colonel, who came to his relief by saying,

" Tut, tut, Miss Jennie. You might have been a vassal's daughter, and yet the superior of your

The Colonel rebukes Jennie. Spuyten Duyvel.

mistress in every thing that constitutes true nobility. Remember, my dear, that a poor maiden adorned with Christian virtues is more noble than baroness or princess whose soul is corrupted by pride, vanity, and selfishness."

Jennie's eyes fell beneath this pointed rebuke. She pouted and moved uneasily in her chair, when . Arthur very good-naturedly came to her relief by touching the colonel's arm, pointing across the river to a small stream flowing beneath a railway bridge, and asking,

" Is that little stream the creek of which Irving speaks in his Diedrich Knickerbocker's famous History of New York, as the place where Anthony, the Dutch trumpeter, was carried down by the Evil One?"

" Yes, Arthur, that is the Spuyten Duyvel Creek. Suppose you give us the legend."

Arthur said he had Diedrich's famous history in his room and would read it, which he did, after getting the volume, as follows: —

" The wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no Charon could be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For a short time he vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself of the urgency of his errand, (which was to rouse the

The legend of the Dutch trumpeter.

people beyond the creek to arm and defend themselves against the English, who had come to demand possession of the city and province of New

SPUYTEN DUYVEL CREEK.

Amsterdam,) he took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across in spite of the devil, (en spyt den duyvel,) and daringly plunged into the stream. Luckless Anthony ! Scarcely had he buffeted half way over

The fish that pulled Anthony down.

when he was observed to struggle violently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters. Instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast, sank forever to the bottom ! The clangor of his trumpet, like that of the ivory horn of the renowned paladin, Orlando, when expiring on the glorious field of Roncesvalles, rang far and wide through the country, alarming the neighbors round, who hurried in amazement to the spot. Here an old Dutch burgher, famed for his veracity, and who had been a witness of the fact, related to them the melancholy affair ; with the fearful addition, [to which I am slow in giving belief,] that he saw the duyvel, in the shape of a huge moss-bunker, (a species of inferior fish,) seize the sturdy Anthony by the leg and drag him beneath the waves. Certain it is, the place, with the adjoining promontory which projects into the Hudson, has been called Spyt den. Duyvel ever since."

"How funny!" exclaimed the vivacious Jennie, who had by this time recovered from the effects of her uncle's reproof.

" But it is not true," observed Edith gravely.

" Not wholly," replied the colonel. " It is possible that, when the English landed to attack the burghers of New Amsterdam, as New York was then named, a messenger, sent to alarm the colo-

Ghostly fears of the Dutch colonists. A boat trip proposed.

nists, was drowned in an attempt to swim the creek. All beyond this is legendary, a mingling of much superstitious belief with a little fact. The old Dutch colonists were very much given to ghostly fears. Do you remember Washington Irving's story of Dolph Heyliger, Arthur?"

Arthur laughed, and replied that he had read it more than once, and was very much delighted, with Dolph's adventures in the Haunted House and on the Hudson, especially with his success in winning the pretty Marie Vander Heyden for his bride. He hoped, he said laughingly, that he should be as fortunate when he himself should be old enough to win some fair maiden.

This last sentence was accompanied with a mischievous glance at Miss Jennie, who blushed, tittered, and said to her sister,

" How silly Cousin Arthur can talk when he tries, can't he, Edith?"

But Edith's attention was diverted to Clarence, who was proposing a boat trip up the river for the younger members of the party.

" I should like it very much indeed," she said. Then turning to Jennie, who was pouting in her prettiest way over her sister's inattention to her question, she added,

"What do you say to that, Jennie?"

A knightly pledge. Beautiful nonsense.

"To what?"

" To a row up the river."

" I should like it much if we only had some one to row whom we could trust."

As Jennie said this she cast a scornful glance on her cousins, on Arthur especially. But Clarence, unmindful of her scorn, insisted that he and Arthur were counted the best rowers in the freshman crew at their college, and were eminently worthy of being trusted with the safety of the young ladies, to whom, he said playfully, he would pledge his knightly honor that " they should be returned to their lady mother without a wrinkle."

"Without a wrinkle!" exclaimed Jennie, with flashing eyes, " what impudence ! One w r ould imagine we weie a couple of* ancient maidens of uncertain age to hear him talk. I have a great mind not to stir a step with him."

Clarence explained his remark by saying that he only intended to pledge himself that no weird influence should lull the young ladies into a sleep like that which overtook the famous Rip Van Winkle higher up the river ; but that they should be duly returned in two or three hours in all the beautiful freshness of their youth and beauty.

Jennie muttered something about " beautiful nonsense," but went with her sister for her straw flat

A romantic foot-path. Clarence's fancy.

and parasol. A few minutes later the four were seen descending the steep, romantic foot-path which winds from near the " Mountain House" through yawning ravines, past huge masses of trap-rock, down to the steamboat dock, some four hundred feet or more below. Here they hired a boat, which the young men rowed up the river two or three miles, keeping near the western shore so as to gain a near view of those remarkable masses of trap known as the Palisades of the Hudson River.

" What horrid rocks those are ! " exclaimed Jennie, as Arthur rowed close in shore where the range reached to nearly its loftiest height ; " they look as if there might be a desert filled with wild beasts behind them."

Edith thought, that though they were rude and wild there was a savage grandeur about them which awed her spirit.

Arthur agreed with Edith, as indeed he generally did in his opinions, though Jennie was his favorite. Clarence sided with the latter, and said : —

" That remarkable ledge excites my wonder, not my admiration. I try to fancy sometimes the wild tumult of the hour in which this trap came burning hot from beneath the sandstone, along a narrow line not over a mile in width, and reaching all the

On and Under the Palisades.

What Clarence wished.

UNIM-.K THE PALISADES.

way from Piermont to Hoboken, rising in some places to the height of four or five hundred feet, in others to between two and three hundred. That

The country behind the Palisades. Englewood.

was a grand movement of old Mother Nature. O that I had been here to see it!"

" You would have been alone in your glory, then," replied Arthur, " for this trap was upheaved before our unfortunate father, Adam, saw the light."

" I 'wonder if there are any bears or wolves on the top!" exclaimed Jennie, shuddering slightly as if she fancied the possibility of being seized and carried off by some imaginary wild beast.

" Why Jennie, don't you know better?" asked Edith in a half rebukeful tone. " Haven't we driven to Tenafly, Cresskill, and Alpine, which lie right' back of these mighty rocks ?"

Jennie had forgotten this ; and Edith proceeded to express her admiration of the beautiful slope and valley which lie in rare and quiet beauty behind the Palisades.

Clarence was surprised, he said, that this valley had been so long neglected by New Yorkers, especially in view of its remarkable healthfulness. "Think of it!" he exclaimed. " There is Englewood township, with its four thousand inhabitants, and only forty deaths in a year. One death to one hundred and twenty-five people ! Why, if the whole valley is like" Englewood it is a perfect sanitarium, one of the healthiest places in the land."

Arthur suggested laughingly that if he didn't

Arthur's fancy. Legend of the Storm Ship.

know his brother to be as poor as Job's turkey, he should take him to be a speculator in real estate, with "lots" beautifully mapped out, and waiting for buyers at fancy prices. Then, resting on his oar, he pointed to a top-sail schooner which was sailing toward them, and said,

" I could easily fancy yonder vessel sailing so close to the bluff to be the Storm Ship which, according to the old Dutch colonists, once haunted this grand old river."

" Tell us about it, Arthur," pleaded Edith.

Arthur, whose head was a library of legends, gave the oars to his brother, who rowed slowly down the river while Arthur told the legend of the Storm Ship, as related by Irving in his veritable story of Dolph Heyliger. How she came across the ocean freighted with ghostly Dutchmen, wearing highcrowned hats with feathers. How she frightened the portly old mynheers of New Amsterdam. How the redoubtable old Captain Hans Van Pelt vainly sought to board her, how she sailed far up the river, no one knew whither, and how she appeared and disappeared at different times and various places, to the terror of the Dutch skippers and their crews, whose vessels sailed on these haunted waters. This weird story, the sleepy air, which seemed to be wooing the still, sunlit water to its embraces, and

3C Summer Days on the Hudson.

The return to the Mountain House.

the steady motion of the skiff so beguiled the fleeting hours, that when the boat touched her landing-place they were all surprised to find, on looking at their watches, that the afternoon was fast wearing away.

" We shall have barely time to get rested and dress for dinner," said Jennie as she skipped across the beach to the rustic foot-path leading up to the " Mountain House."