n years are but as one tick of the time-piece of the Lord;
yet even _it_ was a juvenile compared with some of the rocks and
mountains which the Hudson of to-day mirrors. The Highlands date
from the earliest geological race--the primary; the river--the old
river--from the latest, the tertiary; and what that difference
means in terrestrial years hath not entered into the mind of man to
conceive. Yet how the venerable mountains open their ranks for the
stripling to pass through. Of course, the river did not force its way
through this barrier, but has doubtless found an opening there of
which it has availed itself, and which it has enlarged. In thinking
of these things, one only has to allow time enough, and the most
stupendous changes in the topography of the country are as easy
and natural as the going out or the coming in of spring or summer.
According to the authority above referred to, that part of our coast
that flanks the mouth of the Hudson is still sinking at the rate of a
few inches per century, so that in the twinkling of a hundred thousand
years or so, the sea will completely submerge the city of New York,
the top of Trinity Church steeple alone standing above the flood. We
who live so far inland, and sigh for the salt water, need only to have
a little patience, and we shall wake up some fine morning and find the
surf beating upon our door-steps."

* * *

A sloop, loitering in the distance, dropped slowly
with the tide, her sail hanging loosely against the
mast; and as the reflection of the sky gleamed along
the still water, it seemed as if the vessel was suspended
in the air.

_Washington Irving._

* * *

How strange it seems in these brief years since 1880 to read of
"Trinity Church steeple standing alone above the flood" as the rising
tide of New York skyscrapers has long since overtopped the old
landmark and is sweeping higher and higher day by day.

The Frothingham residence and Frothingham dock are south of the
Burroughs cottage. The late General Butterfield's house immediately to
the north. The old Astor place (once known as Waldorf), is also near
at hand. In our analysis of the Hudson we refer to the hills above and
below Poughkeepsie as "The Picturesque." Any one walking or driving
from Highland Village to West Park will feel that this is a proper
distinction. The Palisades are distinguished for "grandeur" which
might be defined as "horizontal sublimity." T