a shower to make the roads the better
for the sprinkling. All nature had taken the veil, and there was
little to see beyond the adjoining fields, and these, lacking the
magic touch of the sun, were but dull companions. The towns, however,
kept jogging past at frequent intervals, Red Hook being first on the
list, the first mention of which is in 1751, when certain baptisms are
recorded as occurring in Roode Hoek. The place is said to have its
name from the fact that a marsh covered with ripe cranberries was the
first thing that caught the Dutch eye in this spot. As one passes
through the town he sees a guide-board pointing to Barrytown on the
river, some three or four miles away, where that Gen. John Armstrong
once lived, the author of those celebrated addresses published to the
army at Newburg, which might have resulted in trouble among the troops
had it not been for Washington's level head.

There are some old buildings in Red Hook, but none of historic
interest. It was here that I passed the last of the old brown
sandstone mile-stones; above here they are of some white stone that
looks like coarse marble, and from their general illegibility are
evidently not as well fitted to stand the rigorous northern climate as
are their brown brothers from the south.

Upper Red Hook: The recorded history of most of these towns begins
with the early church records. When the population grew dense enough
to warrant it, a new church organization would be formed to
accommodate those living in a neighborhood distant from the nearest
house of worship, and as soon as this happened the good dominie or the
scribe of the church would begin to record history; so of Upper Red
Hook--all we know of its early beginnings, starting with a record of
baptisms in December, 1785, comes from this source.

The road now passes into Columbia County, where everything is, was,
and ever shall be, Livingston. The family manor is on the river bank,
six miles away, but the family, like the locusts for number, has
spread up and down the river for a hundred miles or more.

In this county the Township of Livingston contains the villages of
Claremont, after the manor on the river; Johnstown, after John
Livingston; and Linlithgow, after the old home in Scotland. Dutchess
County knows them and knows them well, likewise Westchester, while
Rensselaer, on the north, counts them among her prominent citizens.

[Sidenote: _ROBERT LIVINGSTON._]

It appears that human