The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-09-11

Next to Rip Van Wrinkle THE Legend
of Sleepy Hollow is probably the best
known of Irving's short stories. The
|legend, like the history of the immortal
|Rir was set forth by the author as hav-
been found among the papers OF
at worthy old gentleman. Mr.. Died
III Knickerbocker; which old gentleman
rs to Irving what Jonathan Oldbuck
as to Scott In the legend the quiet
,naor of Irving overfows into every de-
of the story and there also Is ex-
plified his wonderful power of bring
= before people far removed by race,
,clations, traditions and time graphic
1res of the social state which existed
Z 2 The Hudson in the era just before
wrote. SO graphically does he pic
i lcolic life and character of the old
n, .bockers that even an educated
OF, having read THE Legend of
( v Hollow" would feel at home
he be transported back across the
and the oceans and continents to
read with farmer Van Tassel
Legend of Sleepy Hollow" like the
If Rip Van Wrinkle, illustrates the
II lsi Titles of the English language in
I,h nds of genius for the production
| / ,E''' '','.
~ az tIdNClCiS up tiiC iOiioiy IIudvcii
know that spacious cove which
indents the eastern shore of the
f. here, according to Irving, the
III Jutch mariners always used to
I'm sail and implore. the protection
Nicholas when they ventured across
1--WE which is known to this very day
rs the Tappan Zee. On the shore Of this
lies the village of larry Town.
1t was known as Greensburgh, but
genius which has touched so much
he region watered by the Hudson has
used its old name OF larry Town-a
| me given it by the Dutch housewives
the olden times because their husbands
b,re possessed of propensity for lin
ing about the village tavern on market
" vs-to be perpetuated as It's legal ap-
|.peHation All the world knows that
Sleepy Hollow lies adjacent to larry
Town.
This is the way Washington Irving
knew the place, and these are, to a great
extent, its characteristics and its charm
even unto this very day: There is lit
tie valley or rather lap of land, among
high hills. which is one of the quietest
places in the world. A small brook glides
Through lit with just murnnur enough to
lul to repose. A drowsy, dreamy in
fluence seems to pervade the very at
mosphere. Some say that the place was
bewitched by a High German doctor dur
others that an old Indian chief, the
prophet or wizard of bis tribe, held pow
vows there before the country was dis
covered by Henry Hudson. Certain 1t Is
that the place still continues under the
sway of some witching power that holds
a spell over the minds of the good peo-
nile. causing them to walk in a continual
reverie They are given to all kinds of
marvellous beliefs, are subject to frances
land visions and frequently see strange
sights and hear music and voices In the
dir The whole neighborhood abounds in
local tales, haunted spots and twilight
superstitions."
/ In Irving's time the dominant spirit
which haunted the place and seemed
70 he commander in chief of all the
mowers of the air was the apparition of
"a figure on horseback without head
zone legend had 1T that the apparition
was the ghost of a Hessian trooper
whose head had been taken off by a
cannon ball in some nameless battle
that time King George of England sent
over his German mercenaries to sub
due his rebellious colonies. Be that as
1T may, the ghostly, headless horse
man of Sleepy Hollow was well
known nocturnal figure on the larry
Town road in the early days of the
last century, and seemed to be seen
aoftenest near the little church at
Sleepy Hollow. Indeed. some said that
the headless Hessian had been buried
in the churchyard and that his ghost
rode forth from the graveyard every
night to the scene of the battle in
which the trooper fell searching for his
lost head
Now, in the remote dawn of history
that is to say about the year 1898
there lived, or, as he would say,
'tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, worthy
sch oolmaster named Ichabod Crane. He
came from Connecticut, a state which
In those early days did prosperous
business In the expectation of school
masters, and whose other export trade
had not yet been touched by the vile
SANDER Of the mythical Eastwood hams
and wooden nutmegs. Yes, in those
days., Connecticut sent out legions of
and sent forth also legions of coun-
try schoolmasters to till the minds OF
the rising generations. 81
L Fate had not been kind to Ichabod.
In the first place Ichabod Crane is
not name to conjure with and Sec
ondly his person was as ungainly as
his cognomen. He was tall and exceed
tngly lank, with narrow shoulders, long
arms and legs and hands which dan
gled mile out Of his sleeves. His feet
might have served for shovels and his
whole frame was most loosely chung
together. His head was small and flat
at the top. with huge ears, large, green,
CLASSY eyes and long snipe nose, SO
that it looked like wealth ercock
perched upon the top of his spindly
neck to tell which way the wind blew,
To see him striding along the profile
of some hill on a windy day with his
clothes bagging and fluttering about
him one might have taken him for the
genius of famine descending upon the
earth, or scarecrow elopedf from a
cornf1eld. ~
Schoolhouses were not palatial in
those days, nor were their text books