The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-09-17
THE VALLEY OF THE HUDSON.
Fort Ticonderoga-Jose Cooks
Summer Home-vassar College.

Z
valley of the Hudson River, beginning at Ii
conderoga Ti''-the people call it for short.
This famous fort of the old Colonial times is
out of the way of the great current of sum
mer travel, consequently but few people visit
it. Its walls are now in state of deplorable
dilapidation, having fallen down for want of
a suitable mortar to hold the stones togeth-
er, or having been demolished by people who
venerate nothing, simply because it is old,
and care nothing for historic associations.
The old fort stood on a promontory jutting
into Lake Champlain so as to command the
passageway between it and Lake George.
The fortress was very strong for those days
and was in fact impregnable against the style
of warfare of that time, to wit the tomahawk
and scalping knife and bows and arrows
and the old flint lock musket
There was a great gathering of people
present on the day of my visit; they came
by steamer and by rail, and in all sorts of
carriages and carts from all the country
round-men, women and children--a grand
picnic field day. A procession was formed
at the steamboats, landing, with banners
and bands, under the marShalship of Gen.
Riley himself, a relic of the old time, sitting
his handsome horse as finely and jauntily,
now numbering eighty-seven years. as in the
old time when beat of drum, shrek of fife,
bray of trumpet, and perhaps: the whistle of
musket balls were sweet music in his ears
The procession was led by the same path
taken by Ethan Allen, the morning, when,
before the day break, he went, in the name
of 1.-THE Almighty and the Continental Con-
gress" to summon the surprised garrison of
George LII. to surrender There is agreat camp
ground formedlln grove of noble trees in
full view OF the ruins OF TIP where people
invited from all parts of the country for this
purpose, hold forth to admiring, applauding
or wearied crowds-upon all the topics of
the day, scientific, literary. historical, politi-
cal and the rest of it.
Joseph Cook was there. He presided ut
the meeting, and after it was over / was his
guest at his beautiful summer house, recent
ly built upon the spot where he was born
where he picked berries in their season, wad
ed barefoot in shallow brooks, seeking speck-
led trout and oftener, with aching back fol-
lowed after the hoe picking up potatoes
There he lives in the leisure months among
his books, preparing for the time when, in
the coming shorter, cooler days, vast audi
ences will again crowd delighted to listen to
the thoughts and words he has prepared for
them at his Green Mountain home.
All the country about Ticonderoga is his
tor1c, and has been the scene of many bloody
conflicts between the English and the Colo
nists, and the French and Indians in old CO.
lonial times. One battlefield is known as
Lord Howe,s Field to this day; he fell there
in the ante-Rey olutionary days in a fight with
the French and Indians, being only thirty
years old. A little cenotaph of white marble
has been erected to his memory ON the spot
where ne fell On another field not far away
Abercrombie with twenty thousand men
suffered a humlliating defeat by Montcalm
with only four thousand French and Indians
Montcalm in this fight showed far more gem
eralshlp than he did in the defense of Que
bee, where in his conflict with Wolf he aban-
doned all the great advantages of his strong
ly fortified position, and meeting the English
general in the open field he lost his life and
at the same time Canada was lost to the
French crown.
In the fight with Abercrombie Montcalm
had covered his entire front with a strong
abatls OF trees, the tops of which turned
towards the enemy were so Topped" and so
trimmed that every branch was sharp lance
projected toward the English as they ap-
preached, thus exposing them to a deadly
fire, while they were detained within easy
musket range, in the attempt to make way
through this formidable defense, or in cut
ting the branches off the tree trunks, or in
pulling them bodily out of the way. The
French in this affair suffered hardly at all,
while they inflicted upon the English loss
nearly or quite equal to their own numbers.
Abercrombie lost this battle by over con-
tldence In his superior numbers, and by neg
lect OF the commonest rules of warfare,
which he was led into, propably, by contempt
OF the small force of the enemy. Instead of
turning Montcalm's TANKS, which he. could
easily have done with his vastly superior
force, he concentrated it upon Montcalm's
front, intending to carry his position by
coup de main instead of which his soldiers
were kept at bay by the formidable abatis,
and were shot down in crowds, being hardly
able to ire shot in return. Afterwards at
Quebec Montcalm seemed to have forgotten
the immense advantage which troops behind
strong defenses have in fighting an enemy in
the open plain.
From ''Ti'' drifted down the valley Of the
Hudson and found out where the bluestone
tagging comes from, which makes the best
possible pavement for sidewalks. 1t is OBJ
tanned in the river towns in great quantities,
the strata lying horizontally, or nearly so,
being overlain by ten, twenty, even thirty,
feet of earth or other rock. The strata are
IN thickness from an inch and half to six
or eight inches, and come from the quarry
smooth enough for sidewalks and similar
purposes. 1t is susceptible of high polish,
and is used sometimes for architectural pur-
poses. Roof slate is also found in the river
towns, and is sold from two and half dol
lars the square toEthree and a half. A beau
tlful slate of bright red color is sold at ten
dollars the square.
Poughkeepsie is one of the very pretty riv-
er towns which. lie on either shore. 1t is
well known as the seat of Vassar College, a
very grand establishment built by Vassar
the brewer. He was bachelor NOW dead,
and thought to perpetuate his name by this
college called after him, and located on the
eastern bank of the Hudson in campus lar
ger and finer than any other / have seen in
this country or in Europe. The Vassar
brothers (surviving) have built also Vas
sar Hospital, Vassar Home for Old Men
and Vassar Institute. The funds for all
these great establishments came penny by
penny from those who drank the Vassar
beer, and what these poor creatures had in
exchange for their pennies-so much needed
by wives and children-all the world knows.
Some people may exclaim-there is "some
good in beer after ALL while others will
say-what poverty, pAuperism, suffering,
wretchedness and crime came from the floods
OF beer, the profits on which are represented
in these costly establishments. Thousands
of heart broken women, thousands of miser-
able, ragged, starving children, thousands of
good citizens changed to bad ones, thousands
of wretched homes, which but for Vassar's
beer would have hppn nnapnfIl nroc narnuc