alley of the Hudson, extending for miles and miles, is gradually
unfolded; while the river itself, like a ribbon of silver glistening
in the sun, and the Berkshire Hills in the distance seem to rise to
the view of the passenger. At the summit of the incline passengers for
the Laurel House, Haines Corners, Ontiora, Sunset, Twilight, Santa
Cruz, Elka Park, and Tannersville, take the trains of the _Kaaterskill
Railroad_, which connect with the _Otis Elevating Railway_."

* * *

The din of toil comes faintly swelling up
From green fields far below, and all around
The forest sea sends up its ceaseless roar
Like the ocean's everlasting chime.

_Bayard Taylor._

* * *

Two miles from the summit landing are the Kaaterskill Falls. The upper
fall 175 feet, lower fall 85 feet. The amphitheatre behind the cascade
is the scene of one of Bryant's finest poems:

"From greens and shades where the Kaaterskill leaps
From cliffs where the wood flowers cling;"

and we recall the lines which express so beautifully the well-nigh
fatal dream

"Of that dreaming one
By the base of that icy steep,
When over his stiffening limbs begun
The deadly slumber of frost to creep."

About half-way up the old mountain carriage road, is the place said to
be the dreamland of Rip Van Winkle--the greatest character of American
mythology, more real than the heroes of Homer or the massive gods
of Olympus. The railway, however, has rather dispensed with Rip Van
Winkle's resting-place. The old stage drivers had so long pointed out
the identical spot where he slept that they had come to believe in it,
but his spirit still haunts the entire locality, and we can get along
without his "open air bed chamber." It will not be necessary to quote
from a recent guide-book that "no intelligent person probably believes
that such a character ever really existed or had such an experience."
The explanation is almost as humorous as the legend.

=The Hotel Kaaterskill=, whose name and fame went over a continent
even before it was fairly completed, is located on the summit of the
Kaaterskill Mountain, three miles by carriage or one by path from the
Catskill Mountain House. It is the largest mountain hotel at this
time in the world, accommodating 1,200 guests, and the Catskills have
reason to feel proud of this distinction. They have for many years had
the best-known legend--the wonderful and immortal Rip Van Winkle. They
have