XXII
THE BATTLESHIP “OKLAHOMA” ON THE HUDSON
IT often seems more difficult to recognize beauty in things with which we are familiar than in those which are more foreign to us. The Hudson is, beyond question, as splendid a river as any of which European cities can boast, yet visitors to New York often seem to appreciate it more than do the New Yorkers themselves. Whether twinkling under myriad lights on a summer night, or storm lashed in January, the Hudson sweeps the whole west shore of Manhattan in lasting yet ever changing grandeur. Imagine yourself in an unknown, distant city, and watch the sun go gorgeously down behind the Palisades, while on the water its long reflection is ploughed to pieces by the river craft.
XXIII
HIGH BRIDGE
BOLDLY across the Harlem River at One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Street stands High Bridge. It differs remarkably from other New York bridges in that it is built entirely of masonry. No steel construction, no suspension cable, no huge rolling lift or counter-poise relate it to the present dynasty of bridges. One hundred and thirty-five feet of solid stone it rises gray and enduring amid the surrounding green. Surely it belongs to the Old World and to another time, and looking through its arches one half expects to see the towers and battlements of some old chateau, clear cut against the sky. One may even fancy,—but here a blunt-nosed tug rams puffing up against the tide, smoke belching from its stumpy funnel, the water churned to froth; and one has lost the wonders of the past in wonders of to-day.