Part 8 (2/2)

Pleasant it is to lie amid the gra.s.s, Under these shady locusts half the day, Watching the s.h.i.+ps reflected in the Bay, Topmast and shroud, as in a wizard's gla.s.s.

_Thomas Bailey Aldrich._

[Ill.u.s.tration: INDIAN HEAD, PALISADES]

The word Manhattan signifies also it is said: ”The People of the Islands,” and it was evidently used by the Indians as a generic term designating the inhabitants of the island itself, and also of Long Island and the Neversink. This is in accordance with the testimony of Van der Donck. With Irving we all recognize the music and poetry of the name and are proud that our river of beauty is so happily heralded.

=Spuyten Duyvil Creek.=--Above Was.h.i.+ngton Heights, on the east bank, the _Spuyten Duyvil_ meets the Hudson. This stream is the northern boundary of New York Island, and a short distance east of the Hudson bears the name of Harlem River. Its course is southeast and joins the East River at Randall's Island, just above h.e.l.l Gate. It is a curious fact that this modest stream should be bounded by such suggestive appellations as h.e.l.l Gate and Spuyten Duyvil. This is the first point of special legendary interest to one journeying up the Hudson and it takes its name according to the veracious Knickerbocker, from the following incident: It seems that the famous Antony Van Corlear was despatched one evening with an important message up the Hudson. When he arrived at this creek the wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no boatman at hand. ”For a short time,” it is said, ”he vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then, bethinking himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across _en spijt en Duyvil_ (in spite of the Devil), and daringly plunged into the stream. Scarce had he buffeted half way over 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.”

O legends full of life and health, That live when records fail and die, Ye are the Hudson's richest wealth, The frondage of her history!

_Wallace Bruce._

The main branch of the Hudson River Railroad, with its station at Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue, crosses the Harlem River at Mott Haven, and, following its northern bank, meets the Hudson at this point, where the 30th Street branch, following the river, joins the main line. The steamer now pa.s.ses Riverdale, with its beautiful residences and the Convent of Mount St. Vincent, one of the prominent landmarks of the Hudson, located on grounds bought of Edwin Forrest, the tragedian, whose ”Font Hill Castle” appears in the foreground, and we come to

=Yonkers=, on the east bank, seventeen miles from New York, at the mouth of the Nepperhan. West of the creek is a large rock, called A-mac-lea-sin, the great stone to which the Indians paid reverence as an evidence of the permanency and immutability of their deity. The Mahican Village at the mouth of the creek was called Nappechemak.

European settlements were made as early as 1639, as shown by deeds of purchase. Here are many important manufacturing industries: carpet, silk, and hat factories; mowers and reapers, gutta percha, rubber and pencil companies. Its ”Recreation Pavilion” on the pier was a n.o.ble thing for the city to build--costing $50,000. The structure is of steel and capable of accommodating 5,000 people.

It is said that Yonkers derived its name from Yonk-herr--the young heir, or young sir, of the Phillipse manor. Until after the middle of the seventeenth century the Phillipse family had their princ.i.p.al residence at Castle Phillipse, Sleepy Hollow, but having purchased ”property to the southward” from Adrian Van der Donck and obtained from the English king a patent creating the manor of Phillipsburgh, they moved from their old castle to the new ”Manor Hall,” which at this time was probably the finest mansion on the Hudson. This property was confiscated by act of Legislature in 1779, as Frederick Phillipse, third lord of the manor, was thought to lean toward royalty, and sold by the ”Commissioners of Forfeiture” in 1785. It was afterwards purchased by John Jacob Astor, then pa.s.sed to the Government, was bought by the village of Yonkers in 1868, and became the City Hall in 1872. The older portion of the house was built in 1682, the present front in 1745. The woodwork is very interesting, also the ceilings, the large hall and the wide fire-place. In the room still pointed out as Was.h.i.+ngton's, the fire-place retains the old tiles, ”ill.u.s.trating familiar pa.s.sages in Bible history,” fifty on each side, looking as clear as if they were made but yesterday.

Once more I walk in the dark old street Wearily to and fro:-- But I sit no more on the desolate pier Watching the river flow.

_Richard Henry Stoddard._

Mary Phillipse, belle of the neighborhood, and known in tradition as Was.h.i.+ngton's first love, was born in the ”Manor House” July 3, 1730.

Was.h.i.+ngton first met her on a visit to New York in 1756, after his return from Braddock's campaign, as guest of Beverly Robinson, who had married her elder sister.

It has been claimed by some writers that he proposed and was rejected, but it is doubtful whether he ever was serious in his attentions.

At least there is no evidence that he ever ”told his love,” and she finally married Col. Roger Morris, one of Was.h.i.+ngton's a.s.sociates on Braddock's staff. The best part of residential Yonkers lies to the northward, beautifully embowered in trees as seen from the Hudson. A line of electric street cars run north along Warburton Avenue. The street known as Broadway, is a continuation of Broadway, New York.

Many of the river towns still keep this name, probably prophetic as a part of the great Broadway which may extend some day from the Battery to Peekskill.

Almost opposite Yonkers a ravine or sort of step-ladder cleft, now known as Alpine Gorge, reaches up the precipitous sides of the Palisades. The landing here was formerly called Closter's, from which a road zigzags to the top of the cliff and thence to Closter Village.

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