Morning journal and courier., 1890-06-19
THE HUDSON RIVER.

The Remarkable Fart 1e Has Rl4ye0
 In History ana Literature. lGeorge William Curtis Address at Vassar Col
 lege Commencement
 We stand upon the banks of the Hudson and the Hudson is our most historic river. It's charm is blended of natural beauty, of patriotic story, of literature and legend. It was the channel by which Hendriok Hudson sought shorter route to Cathsy. It was the wsrpath of France and Great Britain contending for continental dominion. It's possession was the tactical object of the war of our independence. Upon it's shores the controversy eliminated in the decisive sur- render of British arms and the open French alliance. Upon these shores, also, Washing ton put aside the crown, and at the mouth of the Hudson he saw retiring England furl her flag and sail away. At Kingston on the Hudson sat the convention that adopted the state constitution. At Fishkill the apm- memorative Cincinnati was organized. Here in Poughkeepsie, beneath the watchful eyes of George Clinton, like the contending gods in the Homerio legend, Alexander Hamilton and Melanchthon Smith strove in the great debate upon the constitution of the United States, and here New York consented to the constitution; and once more, upon the Hud- | son, the career of Washington reached its crowniDg glory as he entered upon the presi- 1 deney of the United States.
 What memorable events have consecrated l this river and these shores! What voices have thrilled the air of this prolific and l prosperous valIeyt What noble figures have 1 peopled this majestic scenel But it's story does not end with the revolution. With the golden age of peace the vast manorial estates of the Hudson gave to the river a singular social distinction, and it's shores were the re- nowned seat of magnificent hospitality
 Towns and cities clustering beside 1t marked
 the advance of American prosperity. Foi lowing the Half Moon of Hendrick Hudson
 after just two hundred years. the Clermon
 of Robert Fulton moved sailless against ths
 course were emancipated from dependence
 upon the coy and itful wind. A little later with simple republican pomp and amid thu
 happy truce of parties, the water of Lake
 Erie was borne down the Hudson to the sea
 and smooth and unobstructed way to th'
 markets of the world was opened to tn
 mighty northwest. But still the benefcen
 river lacked one leaf in its chaplet. It
 stately course through storied scenes, 1t
 shores teening with prosperous content. it
 landscape of undulating and endless beaut! from the Palisades to the Catskills and thu
 softer rural reaches beyond, yet wanted thu
 spell which holds the travellers foot at everl
 step in the lesser landscape of other lands
 the spell of the genius which lifts them int,
 literature, and so gives to every cultivated l mind in the world an indefeasible estate il
 the local landscape.
 In large sense the experiment. of Ameri can independence was associated with tn
 river, British dominion fell and the republi was formally inaugurated upon its banks
 Upon the Hudson Fulton's genius and Clin tons enterprise had given the quickenin g impulse to American invention and indus 3 try, and, at last, American creative .liters l turs was born under its spell. The shore { |. Tarrytown stretching backward to Sleep Hollow, the broad water of the Tappan Ze the airy heights of the summer Catskill l were at last suffused with the rosy light . literature by the kindly genius of Washin n ton Irving. Burns and Scott have mat
 their Scotland che Scotland of all the worl !, Every hill and stream and bird and flower II the beloved land is reflected individually al g fondly in Scottish. tale and song. II Y Scotchman with his deep and strong nation 'r sentiment, feeling which survives U 'r touched by all acts of -union vi
 the British empire, murmurs wherever a goes the legendary music of the Ayr and = Doon, of the laverock and the mavis, t D Scottish landscape and the Scottish legend. d It Is curious that our literature shou st have been born of reactionary sentimer r. 1t was all sermon until Bryant's "Thanato
 sis," and Bryants muse was essentially Pul 8, tanic. But as the boy Irving used to esca Id from the severity of religious discipline D. dropping out of the window and stealing k, the play, so in his gentle genius our nasce It literature at last escaped the sermon 8
 came laughing into life. No less striking the fact that the first distinct creation of tl ss literature should have been 8 charaoteris ,, cally un-American figure. Irving's geni
 was what in the old English phrase wou 7ep have been called sauntering. It cast s. and busy American life. Rip Van Wink
 the indolent and kindly vagabond, asse the charm of day dream and lettering agail A' all the expressing hurry of lucrative acti I ty. At first he and the grotesque Knick ve booker heroes were solitary figures in C 'o' letters. But 30 strong is the magic. of o' Hudson that Rip Van Wrinkle on the we )" ern shore.w was soon joined by Cooper's
 upon the eastern, and presently Leat ne Stocking, until long since Rip is but one ( ee goodly company. Yet still he holds n't pulse, greater genius and figures moro co lie mauding and elaborate appear. But vi he one lurid Scarlet Letter spells Puritan, be the keen laughter of Hosea Biglow nails '- the counterfeit American, still Rip Van te- kle lounges idly by, and the vagabond of op Hudson 1s an unwasting figure of the i'm w, nation, the earliest, constant, gentlest sa he ist of American life.
 Ter These are but glimpses of the aasociati
 of the Hudson river. But they show
 peculiarly identified it .is with our hist
 and literature, with our patriotism and
 tional life. It is surely singular felicit, is fortune that 1t should be also as intima nts associated with the great step of advane
 civilization which we celebrate to day,