The sloops which ply the Hudson, by the way, are remarkable for their picturesque beauty, and for the enormous quantity of sail they carry on in all weathers, and nothing is more beautiful than the little fleets of from six to a dozen,] all scudding or tacking together, like so many white sea birds on the wing. Up they come, with a dashing breeze, under Anthony's Nose, and the sugar loaf, and giving the rocky toe of West Point a wide berth, all down helm and round into the bay: when -- just as the peak of Crow Nest slides

The Passing' of the White Wings 117 its shadow over the mainsail -- slap comes the wind aback and the whole fleet is in a flutter. The channel is narrow and serpentine, the wind baffling, and small room to beat : but the craft are worked merrily and well ; and dodging about as if to escape some invisible imp of the air they gain point after point till at last they get the Dunderbarrck behind them and fall once more into the regular current of the wind.

There ha\'e been not a few of the old river captains whose activity led them into new fields when forced to abandon the occupation of their earlier days. Some of them may be found in directors' chairs in transportation companies and financial institutions. It took a large amount of hard horse sense to run a river schooner successfully in the old days of frequent crises and sharp competition, and the man who could cope with the shippers and the market men, keep the weather gage of rivals and more than hold his own with wind and tide, was very apt to be a valuable man in any active business. In most cases it was the old schooner and sloop skippers that became captains of steam craft, and afterw^ards were frequently counted among the magnates of the river.