Irving, out of his abounding good nature and hking for young folks, to visit the school occasionally at "commencement" time and give out the prizes. This, of course, made it necessary to keep us acquainted with Irving's writings, and there were some of us who found this no ungrateful task. TJic History of Xcw York and The Sketch Book we knew by heart. Mr. Irving first heard the story of the headless horseman from his brother-in-law, Mr. Van Wart, in Birmingham, at the time of his visit to England in 1819. The two homesick friends fell to talking about old times and scenes, and among the stories that Mr. Van Wart recalled was this one, which so tickled Irving's fancy that he sat down at once -- such was his happy, offhand way -- and rapidly sketched the outline of his story, which he afterward finished in London and sent home to America, to be published, with other stories, as the sixth number of The Sketch Book.

Chapter XVI The Literary Associations of the Hudson

the NO review of the literary associations of Hudson would be complete that did not have written large at the very head of it the name of Washington Irving. We might copy a fashion much in vogue among art publishers of a generation ago and style our picture Irving and his Friends; for it is certain that the names that present themselves most prominently in this connection are those of his intimate associates. Irving may almost be said to have discovered the Hudson. He found a stream that was wonderful in beauty and already rich in material for history, but the beauty was uncelebrated and the history unrecorded. It is princii)ally to his pen that we owe the romantic interest of "the river that he loved and