ng to the house for a
guide and a lantern, just as the family were going to bed.

In 1856 Mrs. Morehouse sold Woodside to the Hon. Joseph L. White, whose
family entertained generously and delightfully. White was a
distinguished lawyer of New York, and one of the most famous stump
orators of his time. He became identified with the early days of the
Nicaragua Canal project. While at work on the isthmus he was killed by
the bullet of an assassin.

After the death of White, the place was bought by John F. Scott, whose
family were among the earliest settlers in Springfield at the head of
the lake.

In 1895 Woodside was purchased by Walter C. Stokes of New York. Mr. and
Mrs. Stokes, occupying Woodside as a summer home, gave it new
embellishment, and revived the traditions of its hospitality.

[Illustration: SWANSWICK]

At the extreme northwest margin of the lake there is a little cove, with
a landing, near which one ascends from the shore by means of a swaying
board walk over swampy ground, where flags and forget-me-nots bloom
luxuriantly during summer days, and fireflies hold carnival at night. At
the top of the slope stands "Swanswick," a cottage-like and rambling
house whose rear windows look down the lake, while the low veranda in
front opens upon a lawn and quiet lily-padded pond, a mill-pond
originally, for near at hand are the falls that operated Low's mills, in
the days of the pioneers. Swanswick stands upon the site of a house
erected in 1762, the first ever inhabited by a white man on the shore of
Otsego Lake. The present house was built after the Revolution by Colonel
Richard Cary, one of Washington's aides, and the place was called Rose
Lawn. General Washington was a guest here when he made his visit in
Otsego in 1783, and a ball was given in his honor. The daughter of the
house was Anne Low Cary who married Richard Cooper, and after his death
became the wife of George Hyde Clarke, who built Hyde Hall. She
inherited Rose Lawn from her mother, and gave it to her son, Alfred
Cooper Clarke. The latter was childless, and left the place to his
nephew, Leslie Pell, who belonged to the well known Pell family of New
York and Newport, and who assumed legally the name of Clarke.

Leslie Pell-Clarke married the charming Henrietta Temple, a cousin of
Henry James the novelist, and of William James, the psychologist. He
changed the name of the place to Swanswick, and lived there from the
early 'seventies until his death