ruddy sun- lit morning and the purple-mantled evening. But the people of Yonkers and its vicinity love the Palisades, and were aroused to effective action against the van- dalism that has attempted their demolition. In the case of No- Point the offence is greater, if pos- sible, because the harm done is greater, and the loss more irreparable. Without seeking to condone the wrong done at the Palisades, it may be pointed out that in the course of years the foliage, springing up in the fissures and valleys that have been made, will cover the site of the blasting. But this palliative can never be applied to the conduct of those who are denuding the headland of No-Point. Its curving contours, from any point of view, are so nearly perfect that it is in- conceivable that the work now going on can result in anything but permanent injury. No one can tell how long this outrage is to continue if the people of the State do not take measures to protect themselves ; but as there seems to be no limit to the gravel market, it is reasonable to suppose that a future generation may find a low and barren stone heap on the site of this ancient landmark. The offence to the eye, to the artistic sense, to our innate love for beauty, is not the Digitized by Microsoft® 224 The Hudson River only nor the greatest wrong done by the defacement of Point-no-Point. The offence to the ear, the injury done to the nervous system is a ground on which to base pubhc action. A population of several thousand people in several towns and villages on the east bank of the river is continually disturbed by the heavy blasting, that is like the discharge of great parks of artillery. Curiously, the jarring and the noise are much more severely apparent to the people of Ossin- ing, Croton, Scarborough, and Tarrytown than at Nyack or New City, or Haverstraw. Even as far away as Tarrytown, which is eight or ten miles distant across the river, windows are shaken, and the sick often seri- ously disturbed by the heavy detonations, while at Ossining, more nearly opposite the Point, invalids and the aged are particularly distressed by the rattling and shaking, the shock and the uproar. It is time that there should be a general under- standing of the rights of the public in such matters. Already, in numberless ways, the right of public pro- tection is admitted. In the erection of buildings, the establishment of unsavoury enterprises, the storage of dangerous explosives, or the traffic in infected goods, the right of communal defence against individual ag- gression is enforced. The property-holder is enjoined that he must hold his property subject to the well- being of the community. Why has not the commu- nity a right to the pleasure of the eye and the rest of the ear and the peace of the nerves, as well as to Digitized by Microsoft® Spectres of the Tappan Zee 225 immunity from noxious odours and unwholesome vapours? Do we not admit that diseases of the nerves are among the most prevalent, the most varied, the most stubborn, and the most dangerous of any with which medical science has to cope? There is no reason why the population of the towns upon the Hudson should sit down supinely. If the aesthetic basis is asserted by a community, it will be recognised by the law. Let people understand that a landscape is a public possession, that beauty in nature, the curve of hill and colour of foliage, is educational, and that the loss of these things is a serious one to them and to their children. Digitized by Microsoft® Chapter XV In the Land of Irving ONE of the first settlers on Philipse's patent was a Swede named Jeremiah Dobbs, who took up land at the place variously spelled, in old records, Wacquesquick, Wisquaqua, and Weeck- quaesguck. Algonquin names, after passing through various phonetic arrangements, have a varied orthog- raphy. The name here quoted is translated to mean the Place of the Bark Kettle. What the tradition may have been that associated such a name with the little brook that enters the river here, and afterwards applied it to quite an extensive territory, no antiquary has discovered. y Dobbs had a shanty on Willow Point and eked out his modest living by ferrying chance passengers over the river in his periauger, or dugout. His name was easier to pronounce than Weeckquaesguck, and being, moreover, associated with a ferry, it was perpetuated as a place name, while that of the bark kettle fell into disuse. But Dobbs is a thorn-in-the-side to the residents near his ferry, who have made several very serious 226 Digitized by Microsoft® In