The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-08-11
-corro.,onscnce Of the Richmond Dispatch.

August 4, 1857.
During your travels you make two ac-
Quaintances with whom you are particu-
Iarly pleased. The first is man not with
out attractions OF person and OF mind, but
OF few words and fewer ideas. A mourn
iul interest attaches 10 his earlier and his
later history, but the poverty OF his
thoughts and the plainness Of his speech
are such that, despite his efforts TO please,
he soon wearies YOU. How different the
other acquaintance A brilliant talker, his
conversation Is a succession OF sparkling
pictures, as vivid as original. BY turns he
Is poet, painter, sculptor, historian, wit,
bumorist. and man OF the world. His in-
Vulnerable ideas are clothed In flowing and
varied words, which fascinate and instruct
but never sadden you. His career from
beginning 10 end has been grand success,
and his future promises such fortune as has
seldom fallen to the lot Of man. You can
but be delighted, and IL fatigue comes much
sooner than you expected, ii is the f,tigue
that attends Sheridan's plays-the safety
OF overabundant good things.
THE JAMES AND THE HUDSON C0NTRAsrED.
That was the contrast that entered my
mind as | sat on the upper deck OF the
Mary Powell (swiitest Of the North-river
steamers) and drank in the pure, cold
breeze of the highlands. The first ac-
ouaintance is the James river; the second
the Hudson. How mournful the success
sion OF sliphtly.elevatcd shores, clad with
mines or left i'm open cold fields" on the
James. Here and there the gold OF low
lands burthened with wheat-shocks shows
of the emerald of the Understanding corn;
but the historic homes are miles apart, and
from Richmond to Norfolk as far almost
AS from New York TO Albany-tlere is but
n solitary hamlet OF perhaps hundred
souls at City Point and the city-in-the-egg
at NewDort News. On the Hudson how
crowded, how varied, how gay. From the
wharf at Twenty-second street to the land
ing at Cranston's there is tumult OF
sights on land and on the water that pro-
duces kind OF distraction, very bcarable
after the monctony of the James. Anxious
to lose none OF the beautiful scenes on
either shore, your face Involuntary turns
this way and that until you are in danger
OF sharing the fate OF the owl who twisted
hi. head off by following the man who
walked around him.
Take the lower James, or better still the
York river, prolonged $50 miles, thrust it
up into the heart OF the Alleghanies, fill 1t
with craft Of every kind, from the majestic
Albany steamer down to the smallest
sloop; SOW its shores thick with towns,
villages, country-seats, cottages, &C.. let
railroad run close TO the waters edge on
both sides Gor the Western Shore road on
the Hudson is rapidly being pushed to
completiOn), and you have some concep-
ton Of that great river. which is Justly the
pride OF the greatest American State. But
even in the Alleghanies there is nothing
70 fbof (ivcInnaap wall of on.
lumnar basalt, the Palisades, which, be-
ginning short distance above New York,
stretches for fifteen miles, presenting an
unaroken precipice from 800 to 500 feet
high, crowned with forests and here and
there a hotel or villa. We have nothing
like this in the South, nor have we in the
South, not even upon the James, quite such
WEALTH OF HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
as the Hudson presents, beginning with its
discoverer Hendrick Hudson and contnu-
ing through the Revolution down to the
present time. Least OF all have we the
charm that literature has thrown upon this
noble stream. To the lustre given it by
the names of Washington. Sir Henry Gin
ton, Arnold, Andre. and Anthony Wayne,
is added the romantic interest with which
the pen OF Washington Irving has invested
river made illustrious by native genius!
1t was Saturday afternoon. The week
had been one OF intense heat, the Mary
Powell on all her decks was crowded with
fagged-out souls flying to the mountains for
relief, other steamers equally laden with
human beings were hurrying towards the
Highlands, but our good boat, steady as
die and swift as swallow, Outstripping
them all, in little more than two hours
made her first landing at CranstOn's wharf,
one mile below
WEST POINT.
A very pretty little house in the Queen
Anne style, recently built by MIR. CranstOn,
receives the crowd Of passengers and their
luggage, and the Mary Powell is off again
Ike race-horse. Standing on the wharf,
q mass of granite $50 feet high. smooth and
sheer almost as II it had been hewn and
polished by human hands, confrOnts you.
How to surmount it is puzzle. But be-
hold road of easy grade cut years ago by
General Vogdes, shaded by trees and
adorned by trailing vines. Midway the
ascent q pretty spring bubbles out from the
very heart OF the rock, tempting you to
leave the carriage and quench your thirst,
but you hasten on TO the hotel, an imposing
brick edilice, situated upon the brow of the
precipice, with park of forty acres be-
hind it, abundantly shaded by forest trees
and adorned with gay partelres Of foliage
plants and rare flowers. The situation is
most inviting, the hotel being so placed
that every room in it commands beautiful
view. You cannot stop to enjoy it, but
hasten 10 your room for bath and change
OF clothes.
You have ample time, il you choose, to
"a arr.ia mud no ff, ha kno do. 80
witness the dress-parade The drive is q
delightful one, shaded most of the way,
with glimpses on the right OF the river far
below you, and on the left the mountain,
rising sleeper and sleeper to its summit,
1000 or 1000 feet high, with tempting
acknowledgement roads leading into fan
seclusions. But you may prefer, as / did
not to take the drive, but to seek the little
octagonal pavilion on the crest of the hill
there to feast your eyes ON
ENCHANTING SCENERY
as varied and beautiful as this wonderful
rVer anywhere affords. Fancy the Ma
ttifai Bridge nifty feet higher than il is, the
streaniet below river nearly mile wide.
the wall on this side naked and perpen.
oicuiar, but on the other sloping boldly
upward $40 or 300 feet. robed in forests.
WIN openings adorned by country-seats OF
iarm-houses. and on the left, far ilp on the
mountain side, pretty little gothic chapel.
built, 1t Is said, by wealthy parents in
memory OF their son, who lost his life in
the river Few years ago. Fortunately for
me, during none OF my repeated visits 10
this little pavilion was l interrupted by
any one. Scenery, like music. must
be enjoyed alone. Rapt In silent |
worship l watched the rosy tints of
sunset die away, and fastening from the |
O'Clock supper, which was, in fact. a s,,. |