Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-12-21
NO. 800
AUGUSTA. 2,

fence, beyond which wild wood-path leads
into the recesses of the glen. One has only
to follow this path few yards to find himself
amid the loveliest and loneliest OF sylvan
scenes The deep forest surrounds him;
hemlocks rise above; the Pocantico rippses
over mossv boulders at his feet; gloomy
sorges open up from its path; dripping preci-
pices overhang it, and the rabbit and ground
squirrel peep timidly at him from their GOV.
erts One could scarcely feel more isolated
and remote in the wiids of Oregon.
NV quest was the tomb of Irving, anu
soon returned to the churchyard. Quite nat
urally l expected to find his dust beneath one
of the marble temples on the hilltop, but was
disappointed, for the Irving plot is situated
on the western declivity of the hill, and 10
marked only by a low hedge of evergreens
The ten or twelve tombstones it contains are
all of severe and classical simplicity. trv-
inv's is on the south side of the enclosure,
small plain slab of marble, bearing only his
name and the date of his birth and death.
Whether this severe simplicity is in good
taste is n question; it certainly 10 something
of a shock TO the devotee to find one whom
the world reveres SO lowly laid. We can
scarcely complain of it, however, since 1t con-
forms to the sleeper's own request. The stone
bears one mark Of public interest that all the
grand monuments on the hilltop have escaped.
for each of its three faces has been Clipped
and cut away by relic hunters, who have
borne of the fragments as mementoes OF their
pilgrimage.
l left the churchyard and strolled through
the main street of Tarrytown, which Is lined
with gray stone castles and modern villas,
and thronged of an autumn afternoon with
blooming maids and matrons, and rosy-cheek-
ed nurse girls with pretty dimpled babies in
arms. walk of two miles and a half over
its pavements brings us to a road turning
from it at right angles and leading down to
the banks Of the Hudson. II one follows 1t
for half mile, he will be lost in a maze Of
wildwood. beauty and greenery in little
gorge formed by a hillside brook. Fine
houses. with lawn, and copse, and hedge, and
rustic bridge, and grand old forest trees, are
on either side, and continue as he descends,
until they reach plateau, separated from
the river only by the black lines of the rail-
way.
On this plateau, sheltered by noble trees,
stands Sunnyside cottage, the home Of Irving
1t is what its builder intended. "a quaint, pic
turesque little pile 1t is built in old Dutch
style and of stone, with crow step gables and
an l., and a multiplicity of hooks. crannics
and angles. The ivy, Of famous Melrose
Abbey stock. the honeysuckle, the rose vines,
and the eglantine so cover it that you are
reminded of some old wasted castle, and peer
curiously about for the ruins of moat or
donjon keep. The main entrance is on the
SOUTH but there is a porch on the west facing
the river, where the family were wont to
gather in the long summer evenings. North
and west of the cottage are the grounds Of
the estate beautifully laid out with walks,
drives, lawns. and shaded hooks of forest
trees. The view from the piazza of the broad
Tappan Zee, with the Palisades beyond, is
one of the finest bits of river scenery
imaginable.
The antique style Of the cottage and its
clambering vines convey the impression of
age, though il was rebuilt or remodelled no
longer ago than 1895. Quite history at
taches to the original structure. 1t was the
original Wolfert's Roost, and from 1t the
partisan stole out with his great goose gun for
the attack on the marauders Of the Tappan
Zee. Later it became the property Of the
Van Tassels, and within its walls, il was said
was held the merry making from which Ichs-
bod Crane departed for his terrible encounter
with the Headless iorseman Of Sleepy Hol-
low. After 1t became Irving's home its i'm
pOrtance was, Of course, vastly increased.
Nearly all of his later works were written
here, and his earlier ones revised. and we
owe to it those charming tales and sketches
that have made the locality classic. The
homelikeness of the cottage Is very notice
able; quiet, unpretentious, cosey-what
scholar has gazed on it and not envied the
gentle dreamer whose lot was cast beneath its
roof Cor. Ner FORK erening Post.