Saturday, October 15, 2016

It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by everyone who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure , in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow imaginative-to dream dreams and see apparitions.         I mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud; for it is in such little retired Dutch valleys, found here and there embosomed in the great State of New York, that population , manners and customs remain fixed; while the great torrent of migration and improvement, which is making such incessant changes in other parts of this restless country,sweeps by them unobserved. they are like those little nooks of still water which border a rapid stream, where we may see the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly in their mimic harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. Though many years have elapsed since I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its sheltered bosom.

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