The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-08
THE PALISADES.
Prentice Mulford Writes Of His
Home on the Hudson.
Views from the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Drowning Seasonal Long Line
of WnGuess, Grandeur and
Solitude.
rsan Francisco Chronicle. l

ISan Francisco Chroniclel
am now living on the edge Of the Pail
sades, opposite Opkers and within sight
Of New lork city, up town. The quiet
and retirement, however, almost equals
that OF some remote recess of the 81 IRA.
In our front the Hudson, here q mile and
a half in width, separates US from Yonkers.
In our rear for two miles there stretches
an unbroken forest into the valley of the
hackensack. This extends north and
south for many miles. The land is too
rocky and poor for cultivation. The Pali-
sades commence opposite what is now the
center of the city of New York. About
Meehawken their beauty shas been quite
destroyed by quarries and stone crush
ers. At Fort Lee, opposite the
last North river ferry on Manhattan
island, they rise to height varying from
35O to $50 feet, and this heigh continues
for about twenty miles. suggesting the gen.
eral appearance of Table mountain in
Touiumne county. California. From Fort
Lee upward at the base and on the slopes
of these cliffs there stretches long line Of
natural wLldneoS, grandeur and solitude.
within half an hour of the whirl Of Wall
street, of which thousands Of New York.
ers are unaware and which thousands
travel far away to realize
We have not near us even the hustle
and franc of country road-not dozen
NeuICICo o. any ueSCEltIIOu pass tu6 uOuSO
during the day. Our six or seven neigho
bors are strung along for mile From
the road some of their houses are In sight.
others are hidden by the trees
below hoats the traffic of the Hudson.
Brick schoOners. wood schooners pro.
pellers. Scoops. oyster boats, yachts, steam
boats of all sizes, the Albany day boats.
the Albany night boats and professions Of
canal bouts in tow, dashed two and three
p,.nfnnatlU 0aSSinp and re.
passing. These clusters of canai-boats are
substantially floating villages. The "canal-
ers" family is seen on deck; the child is
in its sWi..g, flowers in pots adCrn the
cabin and the family washing waves to
the breeze. Often at midnight L hear tho
putting of the powerful tug as it slowly
labOrs down stream against wind
boats after it. and at times
hardly making perceptible Roadway.
After dark the red and green signal lights
OF the vessels CLEAN on the stream for
miles, like colored glow worms. Regularly
every morning Jay Gouid's big yacht, the
ATLANTA, bOOm5 down stream and up
again about o'clock in the afternoon,
Carrying this king of finance to and from
his riverside home. His casnship seems to
delight in speed and his vessel raises
swell which dIshes like an ocean surf
along the banks, and may be seen as 1t
reaches the shore white line of foam and
swash for full mile. There are also ex-
cursion steamboats, and excursion barges,
dashed in couples side by side in the rear
of the tug and black win humanity. OF
these during the summer one or more are
always in Sight, bound for some of tha
numerous "groves" which line the banks
! within forty miles of the city. The word
"grove" in this connection, properly means
beer garden.
On week days the Sunday-school excur-
sion preGominates, reveling in lemonade
and pie. On sundays the New York
hoOdlum is aaoat, having water below
him, but beer is the ruling element on
deck Of such are not the kingdom OF
Heaven-but the terror of all the villages
where they land. These are f1oaing
DRINKS, enlivened with music and banners.
The police-boat Patrol follows In their
wake, picking up those who fall or are
flung overheard and lying off and on at
the different landings, like b.ockadlng
man-of- war, so as to be within call of the
biggest row. But the unpleasaItness does
not ascend to our rocky height We gte
upon the many-coloied banners. We
hear the strains of music, subdued by tho
distance The yells, screeches and groanS
do not reach u.s. The sight suggest some
what of Swedenborg's theory that the
heavens are built on the hells Fort Lee
IS HOW q ElfGI-SluS UCCA S5oA0Ohs oA0 90
I Sundays one of the chief resorts of the
New \ DIRK cockney. who, after filling up
with lager, either drives off to the Pail:
sades in hired buggy or tumbles OH
afoOt, or capsizes in hired sail-boat.
The sea son for tumbling of the Pail.
sades at Ia point commences about the
LIST of July, but as the bodies when tum-
| BILE are limp with beer, the result is Sc dom
| fatal Perhaps the temperate or Total ab.
| stinent leader is not aware that Thor
| oughiy drunken man can fall down stairs
| or down a precipice far more a ely than
a sober one This is because the drank.
! ard lets himself alone and devOtes himself
| to tumbling, while the sober man makes
| Intellectual and dangerous efforts to stay
/ his progress with his arms and legs. The
result is fractured limbs or necks. On
! the caps d sail boats, however, the Sun
day beer celebrant generally browns.
Water is fatal to him. We are now at the
| height of the Sunday sail-boat drowning
season. The boAies generally get ashOTS
| the Tuesday following.
The Palisades. from their picturesque
ness and the beauty and extent OF view
from their SUBMITS, have been held as
desirable LOCALITY for summer residences
for many years. Yet above Fort Lee for
ten miles il is doubtful that there are more
residents than generation ago. Specuia.
+ tors have more than once taken hold or
! this property, improved it" and aban'
doned it. In this vicinity are vague traces
of wide streets, never built on, quite hid.
den in the forest growth and laid out
many year ago. The fox. coon and
squirrel I've here Eagles build their nests
on the more inaccessible clitfs less than
twenty miles from the city. 1t IS thiniy
settled partly because of the difficulty OK
access, partly because the women get tired
OF the qui while their husbands are in
the city. True, the scenery is magnificent.
But can a woman live on scenery? The
store nearest this point is but jersey
grocery. smelling of onions and kept by
! man in chronic state of shirt sleeves.
Always FaIaI-SOme Time.
[Excnan re.l