Save where the oars the stillness break ; Nor do the breezes dare to rise,
To mar thy beauty, Croton Lake.
The purest joys that friendship yields.
We here in rich profusion taste, • . .
While busy thought roams o'er the fields
Of memory, brightening from the past ; Sweet recollections crowd the mind,
With former scenes of purest bliss ; While now, a sweet delight we find . . ■ -
In musing o'er past happiness.
Now is the hour of tranquil peace,
While gliding o'er thy fair expanse ; - -
All fierce, tumultuous passions cease,
And heavenly joys the soul entrance; ■
The hallowed fellowship of friends
We here with rich delight partake. Nor e'er, till this existence ends, ■
Shall we its memory dear forsake. ■
» Disturnell's Gazetteer, N. Y. b Ibid.
COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. "^' ' 397
But list ! the hour sounds to depart,
And thy bright shores we leave with pain ; Thou ever shalt be near my heart,
While life or thought or hope remain ; The friends I here have found, shall be
Dear to my heart till life forsake ; - .
And often shall I think of thee,
Thou mildly beauteous Croton Lake.
" The supplies of the Croton are derived exclusively from the elevated region of the Highlands, in Westchester county and Putnam, being furnished by the pure springs which so remarkably characterize the granitic formation of this region. Many of the ponds and lakes from which it is maintained, are, three or four hundred acres in extent, and as large as 1000 acres : all these ponds are surrounded by clear upland shores, which furnish soft and clear water. Half a gallon of water taken from the Croton at Wood^s bridge, yielded by evaporation, 2,333 grains residuum, in the following pro[)ortions :