Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/43

Rh to me to belong to the same natural conformation, excepting that here it was broader and on a larger scale; and the dark clouds which hung between the hills in heavy draperies above the river, were in perfect harmony with the gloomily beautiful passes, through which we swung, and which presented at every new turn new and more magnificent pictures. The river was full of life. Wooden-roofed steamboats, brilliant, as ours, with gold and white, passed up and down the river. Other steamboats drew along with them flotillas of from twenty to thirty boats, laden with goods from the country to New York, whilst hundreds of smaller and larger craft were seen skimming along past the precipitous shores like white doves with red fluttering neck-ribbons. On the shores shone forth white country-houses and small farms. I observed a great variety in the style of building: many of the houses were in the gothic style, others like Grecian temples; and why not? The home ought to be a temple as well as a habitation and a storehouse. Also in our old North was the houseplace a sacred room in which the household gods were to be worshipped. I saw too that there was every variety of church on the shores: the prevailing colour being white. Many private houses, however, were of a soft grey and of a sepia tint. During the latter part of the journey, the clouds came down upon us, and we became perfectly wet. But with the agreeable Miss Lynch and Mr. Downing it was an easy thing to preserve sunshine in temper and in conversation.

After a sail of between three and four hours, we landed at the little town of Newburgh, where Mr. Downing's carriage awaited to convey us up the hills to a beautiful villa of sepia-coloured sandstone, with two small projecting towers, surrounded by a park: lying high and open it has a free view over the beautiful river and its shores. A delicate, pretty little woman met us at the