Part 10 (1/2)
According to Irving ”Sunnyside” was once the property of old Baltus Van Ta.s.sel, and here lived the fair Katrina, beloved by all the youths of the neighborhood, but more especially by Ichabod Crane, the country school-master, and a reckless youth by the name of Van Brunt. Irving tells us that he thought out the story one morning on London Bridge, and went home and completed it in thirty-six hours. The character of Ichabod Crane was a sketch of a young man whom he met at Kinderhook when writing his Knickerbocker history. It will be remembered that Ichabod Crane went to a quilting-bee at the home of Mynheer Van Ta.s.sel, and, after the repast, was regaled with various ghost stories peculiar to the locality. When the ”party” was over he lingered for a time with the fair Katrina, but sallied out soon after with an air quite desolate and chop-fallen. The night grew darker and darker. He had never before felt so lonesome and miserable. As he pa.s.sed the fatal tree where Arnold was captured, there started up before him the identical ”Headless Horseman” to whom he had been introduced by the story of Brom Bones. Nay, not entirely headless; for the head which ”should have rested upon his shoulders was carried before him on the pommel of the saddle. His terror rose to desperation. He rode for death and life. The strange horseman sped beside him at an equal pace.
He fell into a walk. The strange horseman did the same. He endeavored to sing a psalm-tune, but his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth.
If he could but reach the bridge Ichabod thought he would be safe.
Away then he flew in rapid flight. He reached the bridge, he thundered over the resounding planks. Then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of launching his head at him. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash. He was tumbled headlong into the dirt, and the black steed and the spectral rider pa.s.sed by like a whirlwind. The next day tracks of horses deeply dented in the road were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin.” All honor to him who fills this working-day world with humor, romance and beauty!
I beg you will have the kindness to let me know when Mr. Irving takes pen in hand again; for a.s.suredly I shall expect a very great treat which I may chance never to hear of but through your kindness.
_Walter Scott._
I want to visit Was.h.i.+ngton Irving, I want to see your stupendous scenery, I want to go to the grave of Was.h.i.+ngton.
_Lord Byron._
=Lyndehurst=, Helen M. Gould's residence. A short distance north of ”Sunnyside” is the home of Helen M. Gould, whose modest and liberal use of wealth in n.o.ble charities has endeared her to every American heart. The place was first known as the Paulding Manor House, where William Paulding, early mayor of New York, and nephew of one of the captors of Andre had his country home. It is a beautiful specimen of old time English architecture, with a suggestion, as some writers have noted, of Newstead Abbey. This part of the Hudson is particularly rich in beautiful residences, rising tier upon tier from the river to the horizon. Albert Bierstadt, the artist, had here a beautiful home, unfortunately burned many years ago.
=The Old Post Road= from New York to Albany is in many particulars the richest and greatest highway of our country.
=Tappan.=--Almost opposite Irvington about two miles southwest of Piermont, is old Tappantown, where Major Andre was executed October 2, 1780. The removal of his body from Tappan to Westminster was by a special British s.h.i.+p, and a singular incident was connected with it.
The roots of a cypress tree were found entwined about his skull and a scion from the tree was carried to England and planted in the garden adjoining Windsor Palace. It is a still more curious fact that the tree beneath which Andre was captured was struck by lightning on the day of Benedict Arnold's death in London. Further reference will be made to Andre in our description of Tarrytown, and also of Haverstraw, where Arnold and Andre met at the house of Joshua Hett Smith.
=Tarrytown=, 26 miles from New York. It was here on the Old Post Road, now called Broadway, a little north of the village, that Andre was captured and Arnold's treachery exposed. A monument erected on the spot by the people of Westchester County, October 7, 1853, bears the inscription:
ON THIS SPOT, THE 23D DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1780, THE SPY, MAJOR JOHN ANDRE, Adjutant-General of the British Army, was captured by JOHN PAULDING, DAVID WILLIAMS, AND ISAAC VAN WART.
ALL NATIVES OF THIS COUNTY.
History has told the rest.
The following quaint ballad-verses on the young hero give a realistic touch to one of the most providential occurrences in our history:
He with a scouting party Went down to Tarrytown, Where he met a British officer, A man of high renown, Who says unto these gentlemen, ”You're of the British cheer, I trust that you can tell me If there's any danger near?”
Then up stept this young hero, John Paulding was his name, ”Sir, tell us where you're going And also whence you came?”
”I bear the British flag, sir; I've a pa.s.s to go this way, I'm on an expedition, And have no time to stay.”
Young Paulding, however, thought that he had plenty of time to linger until he examined his boots, wherein he found the papers, and, when offered ten guineas by Andre, if he would allow him to pursue his journey, replied: ”If it were ten thousand guineas you could not stir one step.”
The centennial anniversary of the event was commemorated in 1880 by placing, through the generosity of John Anderson, on the original obelisk of 1853, a large statue representing John Paulding as a minute man.
That overruling Providence which has so often and so remarkably interposed in our favor, never manifested itself more conspicuously than in the timely discovery of Arnold's treachery.