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to see them again in this world? Such thoughts occupied his mind when alone, and filled his soul with intense agony, and a dark cloud overshadowed him.

Sitting one evening in the parlor with Katrina and her parents, the subaltern, summoning courage sufficient, took the opportunity to ask them for their daughter in marriage. In doing this he betrayed considerable emotion, and Katrina perceiving it, was herself tearfully agitated, and when he put the question to her parents her whole frame shook with tremor. Her parents gave their consent readily, and Depeyster turned to the subaltern and said:

"If my daughter makes you half as good a wife as she has been to me a dutiful and loving daughter, she will be worth to you more than all the diamond mines of Peru. Perfect happiness is not to be found in this world; it remains inaccessible to humanity. Calm and temperate enjoyment is all that is allotted to men while sojourning here below." If any one in the world came near reaching that summit of joy, it was the subaltern, and when he took a retrospective view of his life for the past two years; how he had been left in an enemy's country, friendless and unprotected, expecting nothing but imprisonment and death, the tears he shed when thinking of his mother and sisters, his happy deliverance afterward, and the kind treatment that he received from Depeyster, and now a union with his daughter, which could only be separated by death, overwhelmed his soul with gratitude unutterable.

The dawn of the day of our country's deliverance had now arrived. Cornwallis had surrendered, and

peace, blessed peace, once more smiled on our beloved country, which for seven long years had been drenched with blood and bedewed with the tears of widows and orphans. The joy throughout Fishkill at this event was unbounded, for now the inhabitants could beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and cultivate their wasted farms, which had been so long neglected and impoverished during the war. But ere the joy had subsided, the marriage of Katrina and the subaltern took place in the Depeyster mansion, in the presence of the family, a few friends and the negro slaves. After peace, Katrina bid adieu to her parents, sisters and brother, and with her husband left for his native land, and here I will leave them, for what I have seen of the mutability of human affairs, of life's deceitful hopes and its fleeting and chimerical joys, I should fear, were I to follow them through life, and add to this narrative, I might be obliged to inscribe a misfortune there. But the Depeyster family, which then was so influential and wealthy, long since became extinct in the town of Fishkill.

VAN HORN.

A TALE OF HENRY HUDSON'S RIVER AND THE

FISHKILL INDIANS.

The Hudson river was discovered by Henry Hudson, from whence it derives its name. He was an Englishman by birth, and was employed by a London Company to make discoveries. A ship was fitted out by this company, and given in command of Hudson, to discover a northwest passage to the East Indies. This voyage, and another for the same purpose, proved unsuccessful, and the company suspended their patronage. Hudson then went to Holland and entered into the service of the celebrated Dutch East India Company. This company fitted out a small ship called the Half Moon, under the command of Hudson, with a crew of some twenty men. Hudson left Amsterdam on the 4th, and the Texel on the 6th of April, and arrived on the American coast on the 18th day of July, 1609, near Portland, in the State of Maine.

After this he sailed southward along the coast, making remarks on the soundings and currents, until he came to the entrance of Chesapeake Bay, about the 24th of August. From this point he returned northward along the coast, discovering Delaware Bay, and on the 3d of September, 1609, he anchored within

Sandy Hook. the natives.

Here he spent ten days trafficing with The tradition is that his men first landed on Coney Island, which lies near Long Island, and now makes a part of Kings county. On the 11th of September he sailed through the Narrows, and on the 12th he entered the river which bears his name, and sailed up about two leagues. There the Indians visited the ship in great numbers, bringing with them corn, beans, tobacco and oysters in abundance, and exchanging them for such trifles as the ship's company were disposed to barter. Although they were civil, Hudson did not think proper to trust them, for he had lost one of his men before entering the Narrows by an arrow discharged by an Indian, which struck him in the throat, and by no means would he suffer any of them to remain on board during the night. From the 12th to the 22d of September, Hudson was employed in ascending the river, and when he arrived where the city of Hudson is now located, he considered it unsafe to proceed further. He sent a boat, however, with five hands, the mate, who had command of the expedition, being one, to explore the river higher up. They proceeded to where the city of Albany now stands, and returned, reporting to Hudson that the river in some places was not more than seven feet deep and the soundings very irregular, and deemed it unadvisable to attempt any farther progress. Hudson remained here several days, and his men frequently went on shore. The natives appeared very hospitable. An old Sachem took the mate to his wigwam, and entertained him with good cheer, and the savages flocked on board the ship in considerable numbers, bringing

with them corn, tobacco, pumpkins and grapes, and some beaver and other skins, which they exchanged for hatchets, knives, beads and other trifles. Hudson and his men, for the purpose of making an experiment on the temper of the Indians, attempted to make a number of them drunk. They only succeeded in making one completely intoxicated. This phenomenon

excited great surprise and alarm among them, for they knew not what to make of it, many supposing that he would die, but when he became sober, he expressed himself to his companions that he never felt better. This is the first instance recorded of intoxication by ardent spirits among the Indians on the American continent.

On the 23d of September, Hudson began to descend the river. On his way down his men went frequently on shore, and had several very friendly intercourses with the natives, who expressed a desire that they might remain among them. The ship anchored in the river off where the village of Fishkill Landing is now located, and a number of the crew went on shore there, and the previous kind treatment they had received from the natives, induced them to be very intimate with them. They visited them in their wigwams, and several of the crew ventured some distance in the country, following the Fishkill creek up to where Glenham now stands, plucking the wild flowers that grew on its banks and gathering grapes that hung in clusters on vines that had entwined themselves around the giant arms of the aged forest trees. While thus amusing themselves, they were suddenly surprised by a shower of arrows shot by a party of Indians who were ambush

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