Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-11-10
Through the Bridges.
HACKENsACK RIVER,
SCHOONER EMMA s. BRIGGS,


| pense, | never parted from place so re.
luctantly. Here | have found pleassn,
faces, sunshine, flowers and fruit in sbuud
ance. Who could not be happy here? A,
this season when the leaves are falling and
the fruit decaying we must consequently
| find great deal Of litter about the streets
| but in some localities we see cleanly swep,
pavements and lawns as fresh and green
and free from all dirt as the eve could
| wish.
The people here must be of Dutch de.
scent to quite degree. for their names In.
dicate that such Is the case. Oft you see
one leaning by the fence or sitting on the
piazza smoking, as perfect a picture of
| an old Dutch settler as ever have seen in
print or colors. Nobody seems to hurry
there. and no one is known to worry there. "
There are babies in arms and babies In car
risges, babies with parents and babies
with nurses; some of the prettiest,
healthiest,sweetest babies l have ever seen,
and in the eight days have been there
have not heard child cry There Is no
quarreling or squabblng among the little
ones on the street. No ssucy replies to the
salutation OF stranger. If speak with
some of the little boys for few minutes,
they will almost always say polite good
bye on leaving me, and such fine looking
boys have never seen in any part of the
country. The little girls too are very
pretty aud neatly dressed. Several of
them called on board of our schooner.
Some of the finest families allowed their
children to visit us, and we feel this quite
an honor, for they do of course put conf
dence In our own goodness or they could
not send their children to visit Us.
Our vessel is the largest that ever came
into Hackensack, we are told, and the fact
that We were from Sunday morning early
TIL Wednesday noon in getting from New
York to our wharf, seems to substantiase
the truth Of this. This was not on ac
count of the fourteen bridges for we passed
every one without touching, neither was 1t
!,
but the heavy squalls blew the tide down to
such a low ebb that we were aground twice
before we reached III. There was no dam
age to the vessel for the bed of the stream
is very level and only full of soft mud.
had rather make mud pies in the Hacken-
sack than pound rocks on the coast of
Maine
The inadequacy OF the tow boat force
or rather the distressing indifference of the
firm at New York who had charge of the
tow-boat, has been the cause of our delay
here. Their inattention to duty has caused
US weeks needless expense. Our con
sgnees at IL, the Westervelt Bros, have
done all in their power to speed our cause
and we feel that in dealing with them we
are dealing with gentlemen.
There are fine horses in II. and plenty
OF them. but like everything else they are
driven slowly. There Is no danger Of he
Ing run over there. The noisiest, dirticst
feature there is the railroad but that, YOU
know, Is one OF the necessary evils, and as
the cars nearly all pass through the place
there is none of the troublesome confusion
and space occupied by cars Of all sorts
which marks railroad terminus
There is fine large brick opera house
at II. and saw four churches a bank and
several fine printing Offices We pur-
chased two little papers while there, the
Hackenslck Republican and the Bergen H.
der. cannot say how many other papers
are printed there, but these two were
rather better, we thought, than some of
our small local papers in Maine. But as We
are apt to have liking for new things,
and are never in any way putfed up with
the fact that we are natives OF Maine We
Will leave you to examine the papers your
selves, and IL you lind Us in error you can
attribute our opinions to our fckleness.
Our vessel lay at pleasant and cleanly
part of the place ald we passed large
public square with fountain playing when
ever We went up to the main street. We
attended prayer meeting at the chapel
of the First Reformed Dutch church, and
received kindly welcome from the pastor.
Rev. Mr.. Vanderwart. They sang many
hymns from No. 5, gospel songs, and the
music of the piano was very refreshing to
US. II seemed very nice to visit the COM
Portable room, well-lighted by electric
lights and filed with a welldressed and
devout congregation. Whatever these
people are slow about, they are not slow
or long winded with their prayers. Clean
and wel-spoken words seem to come spon-
taneously from their mouths, and, at The
close, reverend looking gentleman with
long white whiskers and hair pronounced
the benediction. His face was one shall
remember and should have been glad to
have remembered his name One hymn in
particular the pastor spoke of as one (not
in gospel songs which he thought most
appropriate for prayer meeting and urged
them to learn it. | can only remember
\ the chorus:
81 live for Him who died for me-
How happy then my life shall be
live for Him who died for me-"