nd to stand, therefore, its accepted inventor._

_In addition to the invention of Fulton who has contributed so much
to the business and brotherhood of mankind, the telegraph of Morse
occupies a prominent page of our Hudson history, and it is said that
Morse left unfinished a novel, the incidents of which were associated
with the Highlands, in order to work out his idea which gave the
Hudson a grander chapter._

_Fulton's and Morse's inventions are also happily associated in this,
that the steamboat was necessary before the Atlantic cable, born of
Morse's invention, could be laid, and, singularly enough, the laying
of the cable, largely promoted by Hudson River genius and capital,
by Field, Cooper, Morse and others on August 5, 1857, marks the very
middle of the centennial which we are now observing._

* * *

A cycle grand with wonders fraught
That triumph over time and space;
In woven steel its dreams are wrought,
The nations whisper face to face.

_Wallace Bruce._

* * *

[Illustration: _Hendrick Hudson's "Half Moon_."]

THE HUDSON

Among all the rivers of the world the Hudson is acknowledged queen,
decked with romance, jewelled with poetry, clad with history, and
crowned with beauty. More than this, the Hudson is a noble threshold
to a great continent and New York Bay a fitting portal. The traveler
who enters the Narrows for the first time is impressed with wonder,
and the charm abides even with those who pass daily to and fro amid
her beauties. No other river approaches the Hudson in varied grandeur
and sublimity, and no other city has so grand and commodious a harbor
as New York. It has been the privilege of the writer of this handbook
to see again and again most of the streams of the old world "renowned
in song and story," to behold sunrise on the Bay of Naples and sunset
at the Golden Gate of San Francisco, but the spell of the Hudson
remains unbroken, and the bright bay at her mouth reflects the
noontide without a rival. To pass a day in her company, rich with
the story and glory of three hundred years, is worth a trip across a
continent, and it is no wonder that the European traveler says again
and again: "to see the Hudson alone, is worth a voyage across the
Atlantic."

* * *

A very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see!

_Hendrick Hudson_

* * *

How like a great volume of history romance and poetry seem her bright