The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1883-09-14
GREYsToNE' GARNIrUKE.

GREYSTONE' G%ARNIrUKE.
The Gorgeous Retreat in which the Aged
Samuel Awaits the Setting of His Earthly
Sun, Surrounded by Lavish Luxury and
Attended by u Ministering Angel at SO
Much Per Month.
HASTINGS ON THE HUDSON, Special Corres-
pondence, Aug, 23.-Nyack, or the Place of
Elms, as it was named by the Indians, succeeds
the little towns of Tappan and Piermont,
Strange old stories of an Indian maiden's curse
rest upon its olm-fringed heights, 'summcr's
drought and winters cold" the terrible pen
atty the town must pay because its old Dutch
settlers raised hue and cry when
An Indian maid was borne away
In her lovers arm at twilight gray.
From Nyack We wandered northward to Haver-
straw, noted for its brick kilns, then to Stony
Point, where gallant old Antony Wayne penned
the iaconio message: ''The American flag
waves here" at 2 O'Clock one morning to
Gen. Washington. This Western Point, with
Ferplanck's Point on the east shore, forms the
southern pass of the Highlands, while old
"Cro'nest," 30 called from a depression near
the summit of the mountain, and Storm King,
above West Point, form, with Breakneck
mountain opposite, the northern gate of the
Highlands. Before invading this stronghold
Of military science, fashion and deliciously de-
lightful scenery, we crossed to the eastern
shore and descended the river to that portion
of the country over which tho genius
OF Washington Irving has cast .
legendary spell. Down through the
Sleepy Hollow woodlands we came one
golden afternoon, quietly thinking over the
scene suggested by the Paulding monument we
had passed, on tho spot where England's sec
ord Sidney, the scholarly gentleman and sol
der Andre, was taken. We were on our way
to Graystone, cx- Gov. Tilden's superb coun-
try seat, between Hastings and Yonkers.
Dow past Ardsley, a summer home OF Cyrus
W. Fields, and the Jay Gould palace at Irving
ton, we invaded-as gnest, be it understood
several Of the less world-renowned and per-
haps more rurally beautiful mansions and
baronial parks of this glorious Hudson shore.
Nowhere in the world il hospitality SO thor
oughly charming and unostentatious as among
old Westchester county families, nowhere does
one meet more delightful people, nowhere do
people go quickly find their own
level. If that level rise with the
fingers of q Jay Gould on the pulse, of the
stock markets, you will doubtless become a
guest upon the exquisite yacht Atlanta, a de-
cidedly more graceful residence than the I'M
wieldy white marble chateau rising from r.
vington's locust woodlands. If you have dabbled
in the literature Of our country and belong to .
that peaceful old school of seml-poets aud
demi- journalists who have dwelt in the Idle
wilds and Underclifs along this marvellous old
river, then the gates of the far-famea Sunny
side admit you to the pe~rfectpeace of its Gull
tured repose. If, however, the mo ey markets
of the present and book knowledge of the
past have no charms for you, then,
perhaps, politics may lead you to seek
the genial, gentlemanly OK ex-governor
in the castled heights of Graystone. Ten to
enc II you see him. He believes in the dolce
far Monte of a quiet life, not strictly q home
life, for, since his elegant and womanly sister
has elected to retire to o home Of her own in
New York, the good ex-governor has wisely
yielded to the advice Of his distinguished
physician and resigned himself to the tenderly
thoughtful care of q most stimable party,
one whom tho Germans would call, etalte gouver-
nante"-a person neither Inferior enough for
housekeeper nor high-born enough for com
panion, but something of q return to first
principles devoted ~infantile department
chief, q very competent nursery gOvsrness.
CASTLE TILDEN. 81
1t would be qoite impossible to describe the
architectural grandeur of Graystone. A
medI@val castle, with crenelated battiements
a commanding hill, which slopes down through
orchards and chestnut groves to the great
river. Tho central tower rises above a porch
approached by three colossal stone staircases.
The front is for carriages. You step at once
upon tho granite pavement three feet above
the ground, and ascend to the broad porch
like veranda, while semi circular steps lead
up from either side. The vesribule with tes-
salated pavement, blue, buff and white,
is exquisitaly carved in walnut, paneled
in porcelain and painted in Egyptian
design above the deliberately carved panel
frames. A low-roiced valet admits yon to a
a superb hall, nearly forty feet wide. and
running the whole length Of the mansion to
the river view piazza in the rear. The splendor
of Eastern looms gives portieres of exquisite
workmanship to the grand salons and recep-
ton rooms opening off from this huge hall,
carpesed with rings Of princely price, and
and Vatican treasures. On the right is .
small study, library or Office. the daily
abode of the ex-governor's private secretary.
Books, bells, telephone. and we believe
New York and the rest Of the
world. A door leads into the private
retiring rooms of the ex-governor. where he
rests from over arduous labors, and where he
takes his afternoon nap, soothed to slumber by
the voice of his lady reader. Then the great
staircase leads up to the apartments or guests,
as there is no family to enjoy them. Beyond
this staircase, still on the left, is the dining
room, a charming apartment furnished in
black walnut and green i~eaIner, great glass
closed etagercs OF rare porcesains aud silver,
tall ferps and palms and epergnes of exquisite
exotics on every ride. views OF the river
and northern pleasure grounds from tho broad
stone muilioned windows of this room are
grand in the extreme. Crossing the nail we
pause for q moment on The broad
yeranda to look down on the green clover
fields, orchards. and that wondrous tree,
another Charter oak, but known in all the
country round as the Tilden oak--a tree which
80 fascinated the governor a few years ago that
he had a solid enbankment, sixteen feet high,
shoveled down, so that he could SEQ the oak
from this veranda. A tastefully furnished.
bondoir, opposite the dining-room, adioins the
draw g-room, which, in its furniture of blu
aud gold, is hot unlike the blue room at tho
Waite House. Superb vases of Sevres, Dros-
den aud Limoges, marvellous tables and cab
inets of Indian and Abyssinian Workmanship,
q few maeter- pieces of French aid
Spanish art grace this princely room.
Then almost wearied at looking at the numer-
GUS art-objects aud the elaborate embroideries
of tables, nantes and sofas, we enter q fasci-
mating little bondoir in Indian. red shades of
damask and satin. Here are portraits on the