Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-08-29

ride through Sleepy Hollow, with the author who
made it classic ground, and given it, if we may
presume to read the future, quaint and sweetim inn
mortality:
Correspondence of the Home Journal.l
IDLEwIED, Aug. 10, 1857.
DEAR NORRIS IL am go on, believe, with
! the account of my privileged day passed with Mr.
Irvng-or rather with the description of the drive
| in the afternoon through Sleepy Hollow. Like the
gay horses we did It with, however, must be in
dulged in preamble before coming down to the
plain trot of my narrative--enterng my individual
protest, that is to say, against the Sketch Books
rather sweeping theory as to the Influence oil the
| air."
| mean to state nothing but WHIT soberly occur
red, and / dreamed no "dreams"-(except while
looking into Mr.. Irving's dark eyes as I oppo-
site him the carriage, and those dreams of inter-
course with gifted spirit could record only in
| Verse)-yet you remember what he writes, Of even
| stray visitors to sleepy Hollow :-"HOWeVer wide
awake they may have been before they entered that
sleepy region sthey sure il a little time, to in
hale the witehing influence of the air, and begin to
grow ina enative-to dream dreams and sppa-
| -itous." To which, as | said before, | enter my
protest in the proper Latin of the laws non est is-
cent as Qet as l',Oent nothing.)
| We wound out from the smooth grayeled and cir
cling avenues of "Woerts dell, ," and took to the
rougher turnpike leading to Tarrytown-following
| It, however, only for mile So and then turning
abruptly of to the right, at what seemed neglec-
ted by-road to the hills. OF the irregular semicir-
Gle OF Sleepy Hollow, this is the Sunnyside end,
the other opening towards TarrytOwn, which lies
three miles farther up the river.
Our road presently grew very much like what in
England is called green lane" the undisturbed
grass growing to the very edge of the single wheel
track and Il is lovely csrpeting, which observed
all through Sleepy Hollow, Is, you know, unusu-
al feature for our cOuntry-the "sprng work on the
Highways ordinarily (under the direction Of the
pathmaster,O consisting mainy in ploughing up
the Toadsides and mating up the roots with the
aSs-Ass-inated green sward. For the example OF
this charming difference am ready bless the be-
witcbment of the ''hgh German Doctor" or even
to thank the ghost of the sold Indian chief who
held his pOw-wows there before the country was
discovered"
With what attention I could take off from Mr.
IrVipgs conversation and his busy pointings out of
the localities and beauties OF the valley, was of
course the look out for the ''Sleepy Hollow
Boys" along the road but, oddly enough, did not
see a living soul in the entire distance. For the
"Headless Horsemen," it was, doubtless, too early
in the afternoon. We had, neither of u.s. any ex-
pectation OF being honOred with an introduction to
him But did hope for look at Hans Van
Ripper" katrina Van Tassel"-certainly at
the very least, for a specimen two of the young
Mynheers, ''n their square-skirted coats with stu
pendOus brass buttons and their hair queued up in
eel skin" MIR. Irving pointed out old tumble
! down farm house, still occupied, he said by the
Dutch family who additionally "keep the keys TO
| Sleepy Hollow, but there was not soul to be
hanging the gate, or stirring around porch or
| cOw-yard. There were several other and newer
| hOuS, =, though still of the same model-(or, to
quote exactly Mr. Iryings words, in reply TO my
mark upon it, ''alWays built crOuchng low, and al
ways overlooking little fat meadow") but they
were equally without sign OF lively inhabant. Yet
again what Mr.. Irving says of the negotiating
eternity of the inhabitants, in his account of
[ Sleepy Hollow, and see how reasonable were my
disappointed expectations in this particulars
One thing impressed HE very strOngly-the evil
dence there was, III Mr., lrviDg's manner, from
first entrance into Sleepy Hollow, that the charm
of the locality to him fiction. There was
5 even boyish eagerness in his delight at looking
around him, and naming, we drove along the
localities and their associations. He did not seem
TO remember that he had written about il, but en-
jOyed it all a scene of childhood, then for the
- first time revisited shall forget the sudd
earnestness with which he leaned forward, as we
passed close under. side bill heavily wooded and
exclaimed, "There are the trees where shot nv
first squirrels when boyI' And till the turn OF
the road put that hill side out of sight, he kept his
eyes fixed with absorbed earnestness upon it, evil
IDENTIFY forgetful OF all around him but the past ran
bes and boy dreams which the scene had vividy
recalled. You will understand, dear Norris how
this little point was wonderfully charming to me
being such literal verificatons, as it were of ore
of the passages of his description of the spot, and
one of tnose too, (which the music fingers longest
2 in the earl II recoect," says he, ''that when a
stripping, my first plot in squirrel shooting was
in a grove of tall walnut trees that shade one side
u
when all Nature peculiarly quiet and startled
by the roar OF my own gun, it broke the Sabbath
stiffness around, and was prolonged and reVerber-
ated by the angry echoes If ever l should wish
for a retreat whittier might steal from the world
, and its distractions, and dream quietly away the
remnant of troubled life; know OF none more
f promising than this little valley" And to drive
through this little valley" with the man who had
so written OF it, and have him point out "the tall
0 walnut trees" with such OutbuTst of boYSh re
= collection why, it like entering with Thomp-
son under the very porcullis of the "Caste OF u-
e dolencel"
: should mention, by the way, that we pulled
= up for moment, opposite the monument OF Major
i Andre, marble shaft standing at the side of the
road and designating the spot mentioned in ''Slee
) Ply Hollow where that unfortunate man ap-
e | tured. / could not read the whole inscription in
Il tue single minute that our inpatient horses stood
before il, but the concluding sentence, in large
letters, stood out boldly-"Hs DRY tells the rest
and it was thrilling TO read that reference to
more enduring record than marble. and turn ones
5 eyes upon the hand by which the mPerishabe
Il words had been just wnttenl
/ We ratified along with very daylight disregard
= of "appartons, past the "bridge of logs" which is
such haunted spot to the school boys and VIII ere
It the mounted lchabod first felt the full terror o
i his pokerish ride; but, though looked right and
left for some trace OF what frightened old "Gun-
e powder, il not il seemed TO me, even scarey
looking spot-not only foot prints visible Of the
Il steed OF the "headess hoTseman," but posteTity
/, OF pumpkins such as would spring naturally from
j. the seed OF BrOm BOnes's missile. OF course have
d no manner OF doubt of the entire veracity Of the
j. story; bu would not look better, dear Mr. Irviag
s assisting thus the trembling, hesitang faith Of
7. world so unbeli viug) to broider the brook sides
al around with visible sign twO-soWing the fer
z tile spot. l mean TO say, with a supposttous
!" family Of haunted pumpkins!
A beautiful intricacy Of hill and dale than
that winding road through Sleepy Hollow l never
sfw. Every thing in il seemed so precisely of the
e joyable sizs-woOds, meadows, slopes, thickets,
u and corH-6elds all in the come.at-abe and coy
( quantity that looks just what you want though toe
little for care. To have such valley within horse
q back distances labyrinth to disappear into. when
one wishes to be lost sight OF by the world and by
ones own troubled thoughts-is iDdee6 luxury
OF neighborbood. Dir. Irving sighed judciousiy
for it when young; % the sweet wOrds quoted
above, and be has enviaby made bis home so near
il now. Beautiful Sunnyside is upon the bank
Of the wide-awake Hudson, it has Sleepy Hollow
with its tangled scenery, for fy net TO troubled
thoughts, just behind it. Aud that he enjoys it, as
all readers OF the Sketch BOok-miiliOns OF them
on both sides OF the water-Would ferventIy pray
that he might do, there evidence, that sfter
noon, in the tranquil heart-smile so Indian-sum.
mered on his eouutenanee.
e After resaining the turnpike at the other end o
= Sleepy Hollow, made cali on Mr.. Bartlett, Al
a. his famous country seat which is allowed to be tis
most successful combination Of taste aud luxury il