as to consume it the quicker. One of the prettiest sights about
the ice harvesting is the elevator in operation. When all works well,
there is an unbroken procession of the great crystal blocks slowly
ascending this incline. They go up in couples, arm in arm, as it were,
like friends up a stairway, glowing and changing in the sun, and
recalling the precious stones that adorned the walls of the celestial
city. When they reach the platform where they leave the elevator, they
seem to step off like things of life and volition; they are still in
pairs and separate only as they enter upon the 'runs.' But here they
have an ordeal to pass through, for they are subjected to a rapid
inspection and the black sheep are separated from the flock; every
square with a trace of sediment or earth-stain in it, whose texture
is not perfect and unclouded crystal, is rejected and sent hurling
down into the abyss; a man with a sharp eye in his head and a sharp
ice-hook in his hand picks out the impure and fragmentary ones as they
come along and sends them quickly overboard. Those that pass the
examination glide into the building along the gentle incline, and are
switched off here and there upon branch runs, and distributed to all
parts of the immense interior."

* * *

But when in the forest bare and old
The blast of December calls,
He builds in the starlight clear and cold
A palace of ice where his torrent falls.

_William Cullen Bryant._

* * *

Where the frost trees shoot with leaf and spray
And frost gems scatter a silver ray.

_William Cullen Bryant._

* * *

How fair the thronging pictures run,
What joy the vision fills--
The star-glow and the setting sun
Amid the northern hills.

_Benjamin F. Leggett._

* * *

Passing west of the Hudson Flats we see North Bay, crossed by the _New
York Central Railroad_. Kinderhook Creek meets the river about three
miles north of Hudson, directly above which is Stockport Station for
Columbiaville. Four Mile Light-house is now seen on the opposite bank.
Nutten Hook, or Coxsackie Station, is four miles above Stockport.
Opposite this point, and connected by a ferry, is the village of--

=Coxsackie= (name derived from Kaak-aki, or place of wild geese, "aki"
in Indian signifies place and it is singular to find the Indian word
"Kaak" so near to the English "cackle"). Two miles north Stuyvesant
Landing is seen on the east bank, t