[Illustration: THE MAN IN THE MOUNTAIN.]
* * *
And, sister, now my children come
To find the water just as cool,
To play about our grandsire's home,
To see our pictures in the pool.
_Wallace Bruce._
* * *
Alps of the Hudson, whose bold summits rise
Into the upper ether of the skies,
Cleaving with calm content
The cloudless crystal of the firmament.
_Joel Benton._
* * *
The Catskills were called by the Indians On-ti-o-ras, or mountains of
the sky, as they sometimes seem like clouds along the horizon. This
range of mountains was supposed by the Indians to have been originally
a monster who devoured all the children of the red men, until the
great spirit touched him when he was going down to the salt lake to
bathe, and here he remains. "Two little lakes upon the summit were
regarded the eyes of the monster, and these are open all the summer;
but in the winter they are covered with a thick crust or heavy film;
but whether sleeping or waking tears always trickle down his cheeks.
In these mountains, according to Indian belief, was kept the great
treasury of storm and sunshine, presided over by an old squaw spirit
who dwelt on the highest peak of the mountains.
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