Part 15 (1/2)
Most people who visit our river, naturally desire a brilliant sunlit day for their journey, and with reason, but there are effects, in fog and rain and driving mist, only surpa.s.sed amid the Kyles of Bute, in Scotland. The traveler is fortunate, who sees the Hudson in many phases, and under various atmospheric conditions. A midnight view is peculiarly impressive when the mountain spirits of Rodman Drake answer to the call of his ”Culprit Fay.”
”'Tis the middle watch of a summer night, The earth is dark but the heavens are bright, The moon looks down on Old Cro' Nest-- She mellows the shade on his s.h.a.ggy breast, And seems his huge gray form to throw In a silver cone on the wave below.”
It is said that the ”Culprit Fay” was written by Drake in three days, and grew out of a discussion which took place during a stroll through this part of the Highlands between Irving, Halleck, Cooper and himself, as to the filling of a new country with old-time legends.
Drake died in 1820. Halleck's lines to his memory are among the sweetest in our language. It is said that Halleck, on hearing Drake read his poem, ”The American Flag,” sprang to his feet, and in a semi-poetic transport, concluded the lines with burning words, which Drake afterwards appended:
”Forever float that standard sheet, Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us.”
It floweth deep and strong and wide This river of romance Along whose banks on moonlight nights The Highland fairies dance.
_E. A. Lente._
Just opposite Old Cro' Nest is the village of Cold Spring, on the east bank, which receives its name naturally from a cold spring in the vicinity; and it is interesting to remember that the famous Parrott guns were made at this place, and many implements of warfare during our civil strife. The foundry was started by Gouverneur Kemble in 1828, and brought into wide renown by the inventive genius of Major Parrott. Cold Spring has a further distinction in having the first ground broken, about three miles from the river, for the greatest engineering enterprise of the age--”The Water Supply of the Catskills,” when Mayor McClellan, in June, 1907, began the work with his silver shovel. A short distance north of the village is
=Undercliff= (built by John C. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, but more particularly a.s.sociated with the memory of the poet, Col.
George P. Morris), lies, in fact, _under the cliff_ and shadow of Mount Taurus, and has a fine outlook upon the river and surrounding mountains. Standing on the piazza, we see directly in front of us Old Cro' Nest, and it was here that the poet wrote:
”Where Hudson's wave o'er silvery sands Winds through the hills afar, _Old Cro' Nest like a monarch stands Crowned with a single star_.”
Few writers were better known in their own day than the poet of Undercliff, who wrote ”My Mother's Bible,” and ”Woodman, Spare that Tree.” On one occasion, when Mr. Russell was singing it at Boulogne, an old gentleman in the audience, moved by the simple and touching beauty of the lines,
”Forgive the foolish tear, But let the old oak stand.”
rose and said: ”I beg your pardon, but was the tree really spared?”
”It was,” answered Mr. Russell, and the old gentleman resumed his seat, amid the plaudits of the whole a.s.sembly. Truly
”Its glory and renown Are spread o'er land and sea.”
When freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air, She tore the azure robe of night And set the stars of glory there.
_Joseph Rodman Drake._
The first European name given to Storm King was Klinkersberg (so called by Hendrick Hudson, from its glistening and broken rock). It was styled by the Dutch ”b.u.t.ter Hill,” from its shape, and, with Sugar Loaf on the eastern side below the point, helped to set out the tea-table for the Dunderberg goblins. It was christened by Willis, ”Storm King,” and may well be regarded the El Capitan of the Highlands. Breakneck is opposite, on the east side, where St.
Anthony's Face was blasted away. In this mountain solitude there was a shade of reason in giving that solemn countenance of stone the name of St. Anthony, as a good representative of monastic life; and, by a quiet sarcasm, the full-length nose below was probably suggested.
The mountain opposite Cro' Nest is ”Bull Hill,” or more cla.s.sically, ”Mt. Taurus.” It is said that there was formerly a wild bull in these mountains, which had failed to win the respect and confidence of the inhabitants, so the mountaineers organized a hunt and drove him over the hill, whose name stands a monument to his exit. The point at the foot of ”Mount Taurus” is known as ”Little Stony Point.”
The Highlands now trend off to the northeast, and we see North Beacon, or Grand Sachem Mountain, and Old Beacon about half a mile to the north. The mountains were relit with beacon-fires in 1883, in honor of the centennials of Fishkill and Newburgh, and were plainly seen sixty miles distant.