Tales Of Puritan Land. The Marriage Of Mount : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MARRIAGE OF MOUNT KATAHDIN An Indian girl gathering berries on the side of Mount Katahdin looked up at its peak, rosy in the afternoon light, and sighed, "I wish that I had a husband. If Katahdin were a man he might marry me...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. How : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HOW THE CRIME WAS REVEALED In 1853 a Hebrew peddler, whose pack was light and his purse was full, asked leave to pass the night at the house of Daniel Baker, near Lebanon, Missouri. The favor was granted, and that was the last...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Lord Percy's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LORD PERCY'S DREAM Leaving the dissipations of the English court, Lord Percy came to America to share the fortunes of his brethren in the contest then raging on our soil. His father had charged him with the delivery of a cert...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Blacksmith : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BLACKSMITH AT BRANDYWINE Terrible in the field at Brandywine was the figure of a man armed only with a hammer, who plunged into the ranks of the enemy, heedless of his own life, yet seeming to escape their shots and sabre...
Along The Rocky Range. The Lost Trail : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LOST TRAIL The canon of Oak Creek is choked by a mass of rock, shaped like a keystone, and wedged into the jaws of the defile. An elderly Ute tells this story of it. Acantow, one of the chiefs of his tribe, usually placed...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Home Of Thunder : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HOME OF THUNDER Some Indians believe that the Thunder Bird is the agent of storm; that the flashes of his eyes cause lightning and the flapping of his cloud-vast wings make thunder. Not so the Passamaquoddies, for they hold...
The White Mountains. General Moulton And The Devil : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], GENERAL MOULTON AND THE DEVIL Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, was a general of consequence in the colonial wars, but a man not always trusted in other than military matters. It was even hinted that his first wife died before her...
As To Buried Riches. Other Buried Wealth : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], OTHER BURIED WEALTH The wealth of the Astors hardly exceeds the treasure that is supposed to be secreted here and there about the country, and thousands of dollars have been expended in dredging rivers and shallow se...
The White Mountains. The May Pole Of Merrymount : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MAY-POLE OF MERRYMOUNT The people of Merrymount--unsanctified in the eyes of their Puritan neighbors, for were they not Episcopals, who had pancakes at Shrovetide and wassail at Christmas?--were dancing about their May-pole...
The White Mountains. The Loss Of Jacob Hurd : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LOSS OF JACOB HURD Jacob Hurd, stern witch-harrier of Ipswich, can abide nothing out of the ordinary course of things, whether it be flight on a broomstick or the wrong adding of figures; so his son gives him trouble, for he...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Miss Britton's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MISS BRITTON'S POKER The maids of Staten Island wrought havoc among the royal troops who were quartered among them during the Revolution. Near quarantine, in an old house,--the Austen mansion,--a soldier of King George hanged...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Haunted Mill : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HAUNTED MILL Among the settlers in the Adirondacks, forty or fifty years ago, was Henry Clymer, from Brooklyn, who went up to Little Black Creek and tried to make a farm out of the gnarly, stumpy land; but being a green h...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Schoolmaster Had : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SCHOOLMASTER HAD NOT REACHED ORRINGTON. The quiet town of Orrington, in Maine, was founded by Jesse Atwood, of Wellfleet, Cape Cod, in 1778, and has become known, since then, as a place where skilful farmers and brave...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Under Land : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE UNDER LAND When the Chatas looked into the still depths of Bayou Lacombe, Louisiana, they said that the reflection of the sky was the empyrean of the Under Land, whither all good souls were sure to go after death. Their...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Chief Croton : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CHIEF CROTON Between the island of Manhattoes and the Catskills the Hudson shores were plagued with spooks, and even as late as the nineteenth century Hans Anderson, a man who tilled a farm back of Peekskill, was worried...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Catskill Witch : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CATSKILL WITCH When the Dutch gave the name of Katzbergs to the mountains west of the Hudson, by reason of the wild-cats and panthers that ranged there, they obliterated the beautiful Indian Ontiora, "mountains of the sky."...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Crosby, The Patriot Spy : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CROSBY, THE PATRIOT SPY It was at the Jay house, in Westchester, New York, that Enoch Crosby met Washington and offered his services to the patriot army. Crosby was a cobbler, and not a very thriving one, but after the outbreak...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Falls At Cohoes : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE FALLS AT COHOES When Occuna, a young Seneca, fell in love with a girl whose cabin was near the present town of Cohoes, he behaved very much as Americans of a later date have done. He picked wild flowers for her; he played...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Deformed Of Zoar : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEFORMED OF ZOAR The valley of Zoar, in western New York, is so surrounded by hills that its discoverers--a religious people, who gave it a name from Scripture said, "This is Zoar; it is impregnable. From her we will never...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Springs : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SPRINGS OF BLOOD AND WATER A great drought had fallen on Long Island, and the red men prayed for water. It is true that they could get it at Lake Ronkonkoma, but some of them were many miles from there, and, beside, they...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Dead Ship Of Harpswell : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEAD SHIP OF HARPSWELL At times the fisher-folk of Maine are startled to see the form of a ship, with gaunt timbers showing through the planks, like lean limbs through rents in a pauper's garb, float shoreward in the sunset...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Catskill Gnomes : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CATSKILL GNOMES Behind the New Grand Hotel, in the Catskills, is an amphitheatre of mountain that is held to be the place of which the Mohicans spoke when they told of people there who worked in metals, and had bushy beards...
Tales Of Puritan Land. Father Moody's Black Veil : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FATHER MOODY'S BLACK VEIL In 1770 the Reverend Joseph Moody died at York, Maine, where he had long held the pastorate of a church, and where in his later years his face was never seen by friend or relative. At home, when any one...
The White Mountains. Heartbreak Hill : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HEARTBREAK HILL The name of Heartbreak Hill pertains, in the earliest records of Ipswich, to an eminence in the middle of that town on which there was a large Indian settlement, called Agawam, before the white men settled there...
Storied Waters, Cliffs And Mountains. Lovers' : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LOVERS' LEAPS So few States in this country--and so few countries, if it comes to that--are without a lover's leap that the very name has come to be a by-word. In most of these places the disappointed ones seem to have gone...
Along The Rocky Range. Riders Of The Desert : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], RIDERS OF THE DESERT Among the sandstone columns of the Colorado foot-hills stood the lodge of Ta-in-ga-ro (First Falling Thunder). Though swift in the chase and brave in battle, he seldom went abroad with neighboring tribes...
The White Mountains. Howe's Masquerade : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HOWE'S MASQUERADE During the siege of Boston Sir William Howe undertook to show his contempt for the raw fellows who were disrespectfully tossing cannon-balls at him from the batteries in Cambridge and South Boston, by giving...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Two : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TWO REVENGES It is no more possible to predicate the conduct of an Indian than that of a woman. In Detroit lived Wasson, one of the warriors of the dreaded Pontiac, who had felt some tender movings of the spirit toward a girl...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Partridge Witch : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PARTRIDGE WITCH Two brothers, having hunted at the head of the Penobscot until their snow-shoes and moccasins gave out, looked at each other ruefully and cried, "Would that there was a woman to help us!" The younger brother...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Galloping Hessian : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GALLOPING HESSIAN In the flower-gemmed cemetery of Tarrytown, where gentle Irving sleeps, a Hessian soldier was interred after sustaining misfortune in the loss of his head in one of the Revolutionary battles. For a long...
The White Mountains. Skipper Ireson's Ride : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE Flood, Fluid, or Floyd Ireson (in some chronicles his name is Benjamin) was making for Marblehead in a furious gale, in the autumn of 1808, in the schooner Betsy. Off Cape Cod he fell in with the schooner...
On The Pacific Coast. The Devil And The Dalles : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEVIL AND THE DALLES In days when volcanoes were playing in the Northwest and the sternly beautiful valley of the Columbia was a hell of ash and lava, the fiend men of the land met at intervals on the heated rocks to guzzle...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 20 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE KILLING OF CLOUDY SKY In the Dakota camp on the bank of Spirit Lake, or Lake Calhoun, Iowa, lived Cloudy Sky, a medicine-man, who had been made repellent by age and accident, but who was feared because of his magic power...
The White Mountains. The Skeleton In Armor : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SKELETON IN ARMOR The skeleton of a man wearing a breastplate of brass, a belt made of tubes of the same metal, and lying near some copper arrow-heads, was exhumed at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1834. The body had been...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Roistering : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ROISTERING DIRCK VAN DARA In the days when most of New York stood below Grand Street, a roistering fellow used to make the rounds of the taverns nightly, accompanied by a friend named Rooney. This brave drinker was Dirck V...
The White Mountains. The Vision On Mount Adams : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE VISION ON MOUNT ADAMS There are many traditions connected with Mount Adams that have faded out of memory. Old people remember that in their childhood there was talk of the discovery of a magic stone; of an Indian's skelet...
On The Pacific Coast. The Wrath Of Manitou : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WRATH OF MANITOU The county called Kern, in California, lies mostly in a circular valley, and long, long before the evil one had created the pale face it was the home of a nation advanced in arts, who worshipped the Gre...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Wraith : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WRAITH RINGER OF ATLANTA A man was killed in Elliott Street, Atlanta, Georgia, by a cowardly stroke from a stiletto. The assassin escaped. Strange what a humming there was in the belfry of St. Michael's Church that night...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Rogers's Slide : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ROGERS'S SLIDE The shores of Lakes George and Champlain were ravaged by war. Up and down those lovely waters swept the barges of French and English, and the green hills rang to the shrill of bugles, the boom of cann...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Retreat From Mahopac : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE RETREAT FROM MAHOPAC After the English had secured the city of New Amsterdam and had begun to extend their settlements along the Hudson, the Indians congregated in large numbers about Lake Mahopac, and rejected all overtures...
The White Mountains. The Old Mill At Somerville : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE OLD MILL AT SOMERVILLE The "old powder-house," as the round stone tower is called that stands on a gravel ridge in Somerville, Massachusetts, is so named because at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War it was used...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Divisi : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DIVISION OF THE SARANACS In the middle of the last century a large body of Saranac Indians occupied the forests of the Upper Saranac through which ran the Indian carrying-place, called by them the Eagle Nest Trail. Whenever...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Vanderdecken : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE VANDERDECKEN OF TAPPAN ZEE It is Saturday night; the swell of the Hudson lazily heaves against the shores of Tappan Zee, the cliff above Tarrytown where the white lady cries on winter nights is pale in starlight...
The White Mountains. Salem And Other Witchcraft : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SALEM AND OTHER WITCHCRAFT The extraordinary delusion recorded as Salem witchcraft was but a reflection of a kindred insanity in the Old World that was not extirpated until its victims had been counted by thousands. That hum...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Dunderberg : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], DUNDERBERG Dunderberg, "Thunder Mountain," at the southern gate of the Hudson Highlands, is a wooded eminence, chiefly populated by a crew of imps of stout circumference, whose leader, the Heer, is a bulbous goblin clad...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 21 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE VIRGINS' FEAST A game of lacrosse was played by Indian girls on the ice near the present Fort Snelling, one winter day, and the victorious trophies were awarded to Wenonah, sister of the chief, to the discomfiture...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Storm Ship Of The Hudson : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], STORM SHIP OF THE HUDSON It was noised about New Amsterdam, two hundred years ago, that a round and bulky ship flying Dutch colors from her lofty quarter was careering up the harbor in the teeth of a north wind, through...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Moodua Creek : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MOODUA CREEK Moodua is an evolution, through Murdy's and Moodna, from Murderer's Creek, its present inexpressive name having been given to it by N. P. Willis. One Murdock lived on its shore with his wife, two sons...
On The Pacific Coast. The Death Of Umatilla : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEATH OF UMATILLA Umatilla, chief of the Indians at the Cascades of the Columbia, was one of the few red men of his time who favored peace with the white settlers and lent no countenance to the fierce revels of the "potlatch...
Block Island And The Palatine. The Buccaneer : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BUCCANEER Among the natives of Block Island was a man named Lee. Born in the last century among fishermen and wreckers, he has naturally taken to the sea for a livelihood, and, never having known the influences of educati...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Lake : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LAKE SUPERIOR WATER GODS There were many water gods about Lake Superior to whom the Indians paid homage, casting implements, ornaments, and tobacco into the water whenever they passed a spot where one of these manitous s...
The White Mountains. Old Esther Dudley : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], OLD ESTHER DUDLEY Boston had surrendered. Washington was advancing from the heights where he had trained his guns on the British works, and Sir William Howe lingered at the door of Province House,--last of the royal governors...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Pokepsie : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], POKEPSIE The name of this town has forty-two spellings in old records, and with singular pertinacity in ill-doing, the inhabitants have fastened on it the longest and clumsiest of all. It comes from the Mohegan words...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Dolph Heyliger : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE ISLE OF MANHATTOES AND NEARBY DOLPH HEYLIGER New York was New Amsterdam when Dolph Heyliger got himself born there,--a graceless scamp, though a brave, good-natured one, and being left penniless on his father's death he w...
Title Page : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF OUR OWN LAND BY CHARLES M. SKINNER Philadelphia And London, J.P. Lippincott Company [1896] Formatted , July 2007. This electronic text is in the public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923.
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Tory's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE TORY'S CONVERSION In his firelit parlor, in his little house at Valley Forge, old Michael Kuch sits talking with his daughter. But though it is Christmas eve the talk has little cheer in it. The hours drag on until the clock...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Devil's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEVIL'S STEPPING-STONES When the devil set a claim to the fair lands at the north of Long Island Sound, his claim was disputed by the Indians, who prepared to fight for their homes should he attempt to serve his writ...
The White Mountains. Shonkeek Moonkeek : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SHONKEEK-MOONKEEK This is the Mohegan name of the pretty lake in the Berkshires now called Pontoosuc. Shonkeek was a boy, Moonkeek a girl, and they were cousins who grew up as children commonly do, whether in house or wigwam:...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Micah Rood Apples : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MICAH ROOD APPLES In Western Florida they will show roses to you that drop red dew, like blood, and have been doing so these many years, for they sprang out of the graves of women and children who had been cruelly killed by...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Green Picture : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GREEN PICTURE In a cellar in Green Street, Schenectady, there appeared, some years ago, the silhouette of a human form, painted on the floor in mould. It was swept and scrubbed away, but presently it was there ag...
The White Mountains. Eliza Wharton : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ELIZA WHARTON Under the name of Eliza Wharton for a brief time lived a woman whose name was said to be Elizabeth Whitman. Little is known of her, and it is thought that she had gone among strangers to conceal disgrace. She died...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Last St : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LAST STAND OF THE BILOXI The southern part of this country was once occupied by a people called the Biloxi, who had kept pace with the Aztecs in civilization and who cultivated especially the art of music. In lives of gentleness...
The White Mountains. Sale Of The Southwicks : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and flogged if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were set...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Rising Of Gouverneur : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE RISING OF GOUVERNEUR MORRIS Gouverneur Morris, American minister to the court of Louis XVI, was considerably enriched, at the close of the reign of terror, by plate, jewels, furniture, paintings, coaches, and so on, left...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Standing : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], STANDING ROCK The stone that juts from one of the high banks of the Missouri, in South Dakota, gives its name to the Standing Rock Agency, which, by reason of many councils, treaties, fights, feasts, and dances held there, is...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Horseheads : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HORSEHEADS The feeling recently created by an attempt to fasten the stupid names of Fairport or of North Elmira on the village in central New York that, off and on for fifty years, had been called Horseheads, caused an inquiry...
On The Pacific Coast. The Spook Of Misery Hill : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SPOOK OF MISERY HILL Tom Bowers, who mined on Misery Hill, near Pike City, California, never had a partner, and he never took kindly to the rough crowd about the place. One day he was missing. They traced his steps through...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Niagara : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], NIAGARA The cataract of Niagara (properly pronounced Nee-ah-gah-rah), or Oniahgarah, is as fatal as it is fascinating, beautiful, sublime, and the casualties occurring there justify the tradition that "the Thundering Water asks...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Knell : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE KNELL AT THE WEDDING A young New Yorker had laid such siege to the heart of a certain belle--this was back in the Knickerbocker days when people married for love--that everybody said the banns were as good as published; but...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Father And Son : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FATHER AND SON It was three soldiers, escaping from the rout of Braddock's forces, who caught the alleged betrayer of their general and put him to the death. They threw his purse of ill-gotten louis d'or into the river, and sent...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Were : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WERE-WOLVES OF DETROIT Long were the shores of Detroit vexed by the Snake God of Belle Isle and his children, the witches, for the latter sold enchantments and were the terror of good people. Jacques Morand, the "coureur de...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Mark : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MARK OF THE SPIRIT HAND Andover, New Jersey, was quaint and quiet in the days before the Revolution--it is not a roaring metropolis, even yet--and as it offered few social advantages there was more gathering in taprooms and more...
The White Mountains. Lady Eleanore's Mantle : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE Lady Eleanore Rochcliffe, being orphaned, was admitted to the family of her distant relative, Governor Shute, of Massachusetts Bay, and came to America to take her home with him. She arrived at the gates...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Ramapo Salamander : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE RAMAPO SALAMANDER A curious tale of the Rosicrucians runs to the effect that more than two centuries ago a band of German colonists entered the Ramapo valley and put up houses of stone, like those they had left in the Hartz...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Birth Of The Water Lily : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BIRTH OF THE WATER-LILY Back from his war against the Tahawi comes the Sun, chief of the Lower Saranacs,--back to the Lake of the Clustered Stars, afterward called, by dullards, Tupper's Lake. Tall and invincible he comes among...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Drop Star : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DROP STAR A little maid of three years was missing from her home on the Genesee. She had gone to gather water-lilies and did not return. Her mother, almost crazed with grief, searched for days, weeks, months, before she...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. A Ride : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A RIDE FOR A BRIDE When the story of bloodshed at Bunker Hill reached Bohemia Hall, in Cecil County, Maryland, Albert De Courcy left his brother Ernest to support the dignity of the house and make patriotic speeches, while he...
The White Mountains. The Shrieking Woman : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SHRIEKING WOMAN During the latter part of the seventeenth century a Spanish ship, richly laden, was beset off Marblehead by English pirates, who killed every person on board, at the time of the capture, except a beautiful...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Watcher On White Island : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WATCHER ON WHITE ISLAND The isles of Shoals, a little archipelago of wind and wave-swept rocks that may be seen on clear days from the New Hampshire coast, have been the scene of some mishaps and some crimes. On Boone Isl...
Preface : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PREFACE It is unthinkingly said and often, that America is not old enough to have developed a legendary era, for such an era grows backward as a nation grows forward. No little of the charm of European travel is ascribed...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Haddam Enchantments : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HADDAM ENCHANTMENTS When witchcraft went rampant through New England the Connecticut town of Haddam owned its share of ugly old women, whom it tried to reform by lectures and ducking, instead of killing. It was averred th...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Moaning : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MOANING SISTERS Above Georgetown, on the Potomac River, are three rocks, known as the Three Sisters, not merely because of their resemblance to each other--for they are parts of a submerged reef--but because of a traditi...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 11 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE COFFIN OF SNAKES No one knew how it was that Lizon gained the love of Julienne, at L'Anse Creuse (near Detroit), for she was a girl of sweet and pious disposition, the daughter of a God-fearing farmer, while Lizon was a dark...
Tales Of Puritan Land. Passaconaway's Ride : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PASSACONAWAY'S RIDE TO HEAVEN The personality of Passaconaway, the powerful chief and prophet, is involved in doubt, but there can be no misprision of his wisdom. By some historians he has been made one with St. Aspenquid...
On The Pacific Coast. The Governor's Right Eye : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GOVERNOR'S RIGHT EYE Old Governor Hermenegildo Salvatierra, of Presidio, California, sported only one eye--the left--because the other had been shot out by an Indian arrow. With his sound one he was gazing into the fire...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Sacred : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SACRED FIRE OF NACHEZ The Indians of the South, being in contact with the civilized races of Central America, were among the most progressive and honorable of the red men. They were ruled by intelligence rather than force...
The White Mountains. Samuel Sewall's Prophecy : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SAMUEL SEWALL'S PROPHECY The peace of Newbury is deemed to be permanently secured by the prophecy of Samuel Sewall, the young man who married the buxom daughter of Mint-Master John Hull, and received, as wedding portion, her...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Cortelyou : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CORTELYOU ELOPEMENT In the Bath district of Brooklyn stands Cortelyou manor, built one hundred and fifty years ago, and a place of defence during the Revolution when the British made sallies from their camp in Flatbush...
The White Mountains. Skinner's Cave : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SKINNER'S CAVE The abhorrence to paying taxes and duties--or any other levy from which an immediate and personal good is not promised--is too deeply rooted in human nature to be affected by statutes, and whenever it is possible...
The White Mountains. Satan And His Burial Place : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SATAN AND HIS BURIAL-PLACE Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to many people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Hunter : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HUNTER OF CALAWASSEE Through brisk November days young Kedar and his trusty slave, Lauto, hunted along the Calawassee, with hope to get a shot at a buck--a buck that wore a single horn and that eluded them with easy...
The White Mountains. The Courtship Of Myles : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE COURTSHIP OF MYLES STANDISH Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting Priscilla Mullins--or was she a Molines, as some say...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Van Wempel's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], VAN WEMPEL'S GOOSE Allow us to introduce Nicholas Van Wempel, of Flatbush: fat, phlegmatic, rich, and henpecked. He would like to be drunk because he is henpecked, but the wife holds the purse-strings and only doles out money...
Storied Waters, Cliffs And Mountains. God : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], GOD ON THE MOUNTAINS From the oldest time men have associated the mountains with visitations of God. Their height, their vastness, their majesty made them seem worthy to be stairs by which the Deity might descend to earth...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Two Lives For One : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TWO LIVES FOR ONE The place of Macon, Georgia, in the early part of this century was marked only by an inn. One of its guests was a man who had stopped there on the way to Alabama, where he had bought land. The girl who w...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Weary : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WEARY WATCHER Before the opening of the great bridge sent commerce rattling up Washington Street in Brooklyn that thoroughfare was a shaded and beautiful avenue, and among the houses that attested its respectability was one...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 15 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CENTRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES AN AVERTED PERIL In 1786 a little building stood at North Bend, Ohio, near the junction of the Miami and Ohio Rivers, from which building the stars and stripes were flying. It was one...
The White Mountains. Wizard's Glen : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WIZARD'S GLEN Four miles from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, among the Berkshire Hills, is a wild valley, noted for its echoes, that for a century and more has been called Wizard's Glen. Here the Indian priests performed their...
The White Mountains. Edward Randolph's Portrait : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT Nothing is left of Province House, the old home of the royal governors, in Boston, but the gilded Indian that served as its weathercock and aimed his arrow at the winds from the cupola. The house...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 03 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE NAIN ROUGE Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared...
Along The Rocky Range. The Flood At Santa Fe : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic year of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Anthony's Nose : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ANTHONY'S NOSE The Hudson Highlands are suggestively named Bear Mountain, Sugar Loaf, Cro' Nest, Storm King, called by the Dutch Boterberg, or Butter Hill, from its likeness to a pat of butter; Beacon Hill, where the fires...
The White Mountains. The Revenge Of Josiah Breeze : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE REVENGE OF JOSIAH BREEZE Two thousand Cape Cod fishermen had gone to join the colonial army, and in their absence the British ships had run in shore to land crews on mischievous errands. No man, woman, or child on the Cape...
On The Pacific Coast. Hunger Valley : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HUNGER VALLEY East of San Francisco is a narrow valley opening to the bay of San Pablo. In spite of its pleasant situation and fruitful possibilities, it had no inhabitants until 1820, when Miguel Zamacona and his wife Emili...
Along The Rocky Range. The Weird Sentinel : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WEIRD SENTINEL AT SQUAW PEAK There is a cave under the highest butte of the Squaw Peak range, Arizona, where a party of Tonto Indians was found by white men in 1868. The white men were on the war-path, and when the Tontos...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Banshee : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BANSHEE OF THE BAD LANDS "Hell, with the fires out," is what the Bad Lands of Dakota have been called. The fearless Western nomenclature fits the place. It is an ancient sea-bottom, with its clay strata worn by frost and flood...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Providence : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PROVIDENCE HOLE The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who...
On The Pacific Coast. The Queen Of Death Valley : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE QUEEN OF DEATH VALLEY In the southern part of California, near the Arizona line, is the famous Death Valley--a tract of arid, alkaline plain hemmed in by steep mountains and lying below the level of the sea. For years it w...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Condemned To The Noose : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CONDEMNED TO THE NOOSE Ralph Sutherland, who, early in the last century, occupied a stone house a mile from Leeds, in the Catskills, was a man of morose and violent disposition, whose servant, a Scotch girl, was virtually...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 07 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SUN FIRE AT SAULT SAINTE MARIE Father Marquette reached Sault Sainte Marie, in company with Greysolon Du Lhut, in August, 1670, and was received in a manner friendly enough, but the Chippewas warned him to turn back...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Owl Tree : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE OWL TREE One day in October, 1827, Rev. Charles Sharply rode into Alfred, Maine, and held service in the meeting-house. After the sermon he announced that he was going to Waterborough to preach, and that on his circuit he...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 19 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SCARE CURE Early in this century a restless Yankee, who wore the uninspiring name of Tompkinson, found his way into Carondelet--or Vuide Poche, the French settlement on the Mississippi since absorbed by St. Louis--and cast...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 13 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HOUSE ACCURSED Near Gallipolis, Ohio, there stood within a few years an old house of four rooms that had been occupied by Herman Deluse. He lived there alone, and, though his farming was of the crudest sort, he never...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Pipestone : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PIPESTONE Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from which thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the Coteau des Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty feet high...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Old Indian Face : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], OLD INDIAN FACE On Lower Ausable Pond is a large, ruddy rock showing a huge profile, with another, resembling a pappoose, below it. When the Tahawi ruled this region their sachem lived here at "the Dark Cup," as they called this...
Block Island And The Palatine. Love And Rum : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LOVE AND RUM Back in the seventeenth century a number of Yankee traders arrived in Naugatuck to barter blankets, beads, buttons, Bibles, and brandy for skins, and there they met chief Toby and his daughter. Toby was not...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Polly's Lover : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], POLLY'S LOVER In about the middle of this century a withered woman of ninety was buried from a now deserted house in White Plains, New York, Polly Carter the name of her, but "Crazy Polly" was what the neighbors called her...
Along The Rocky Range. Horned Toad And Giants : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HORNED TOAD AND GIANTS The Moquis have a legend that, long ago, when the principal mesa that they occupy was higher than it is now, and when they owned all the country from the mountains to the great river, giants came out...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 09 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE ORIGIN OF WHITE-FISH An Indian who lived far in the north was so devoted to the chase that he was never at home for the whole of a day, to the sorrow of his two boys, who liked nothing so much as to sport with him and to be...
The White Mountains. The Wessaguscus Hanging : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WESSAGUSCUS HANGING Among the Puritans who settled in Wessaguscus, now Weymouth, Massachusetts, was a brash young fellow, of remarkable size and strength, who, roaming the woods one day, came on a store of corn concealed...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Swim : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE SOUTH THE SWIM AT INDIAN HEAD At Indian Head, Maryland, are the government proving-grounds, where the racket of great guns and splintering of targets are a deterrent to the miscellaneous visitations...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Barge : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BARGE OF DEFEAT Rappannock River, in Virginia, used to be vexed with shadowy craft that some of the populace affirmed to be no boats, but spirits in disguise. One of these apparitions was held in fear by the Democracy...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 17 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SALT WITCH A pillar of snowy salt once stood on the Nebraska plain, about forty miles above the point where the Saline flows into the Platte, and white men used to hear of it as the Salt Witch. An Indian tribe was for a long...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Love And Treason : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LOVE AND TREASON The tribes that inhabited Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard before the whites settled the country were constantly at war, and the people of the western island once resolved to surprise those of Nantucket and slay...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Evangaline : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TALES OF PURITAN LAND EVANGALINE The seizure by England of the country that soon afterward was rechristened Nova Scotia was one of the cruellest events in history. The land was occupied by a good and happy people who had much...
The White Mountains. Agnes Surriage : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], AGNES SURRIAGE When, in 1742, Sir Henry Frankland, collector of the port of Boston, went to Marblehead to inquire into the smuggling that was pretty boldly carried on, he put up at the Fountain Inn. As he entered that hostelry...
The White Mountains. The Great Carbuncle : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GREAT CARBUNCLE High on the eastern face of Mount Monroe shone the Great Carbuncle, its flash scintillating for miles by day, its dusky crimson glowing among the ledges at night. The red men said that it hung in the air...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Phantom. Part 02 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ON AND NEAR THE DELAWARE THE PHANTOM DRAGOON The height that rises a mile or so to the south of Newark, Delaware, is called Iron Hill, because it is rich in hematite ore, but about the time of General Howe's advance...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Nuns Of Carthage : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE NUNS OF CARTHAGE At Carthage, New York, where the Black River bends gracefully about a point, there was a stanch old house, built in the colonial fashion and designed for the occupancy of some family of hospitality...
The White Mountains. The Devil And Tom Walker : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER When Charles River was lined with groves and marshes there lived in a cabin, near Brighton, Massachusetts, an ill-fed rascal named Tom Walker. There was but one in the commonwealth who was more penurious...
Along The Rocky Range. Ta Vwots Conquers The Sun : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TA-VWOTS CONQUERS THE SUN The Indian is a great story-teller. Every tribe has its traditions, and the elderly men and women like to recount them, for they always find listeners. And odd stories they tell, too. Just listen...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The Old : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE OLD STONE MILL If the round tower at Newport was not Benedict Arnold's wind-mill, and any one or two of several other things, it is probably a relic of the occupancy of this country by Thorwald and his Norsemen. After...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Parricide : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PARRICIDE OF THE WISSAHICKON Farmer Derwent and his four stout sons set off on an autumn night for the meeting of patriots at a house on the Wissahickon,--a meeting that bodes no good to the British encamped in Philadelphia, let...
The Hudson And Its Hills. A Villain's Cremation : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A VILLAIN'S CREMATION Bramley's Mountain, near the present village of Bloomfield, New York, on the edge of the Catskill group, was the home of a young couple that had married with rejoicing and had taken up the duties...
Along The Rocky Range. A Battle In The Air : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A BATTLE IN THE AIR In the country about Tishomingo, Indian Territory, troubles are foretold by a battle of unseen men in the air. Whenever the sound of conflict is heard it is an indication that many dead will lie in the fields...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Moodus Noises : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MOODUS NOISES The village of Moodus, Connecticut, was troubled with noises. There is no question as to that. In fact, Machimoodus, the Indian name of the spot, means Place of Noises. As early as 1700, and for thirty years after...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Phantom : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PHANTOM DRUMMER Colonel Howell, of the king's troops, was a gay fellow, framed to make women false; but when he met the rosy, sweet-natured daughter of farmer Jarrett, near Valley Forge, he attempted no dalliance, for he...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Siren : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SIREN OF THE FRENCH BROAD Among the rocks east of Asheville, North Carolina, lives the Lorelei of the French Broad River. This stream--the Tselica of the Indians--contains in its upper reaches many pools where the rapid water...
The White Mountains. Peter Rugg, The Missing Man : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PETER RUGG, THE MISSING MAN The idea of long wandering as a penalty, symbolized in "The Wandering Jew, The Flying Dutchman," and the character of Kundry, in "Parsifal," has application in the legend of Peter Rugg. This strange...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 05 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE ESCAPE OF FRANCOIS NAVARRE When the Hurons came to Sandwich, opposite the Michigan shore, in 1806, and camped near the church for the annual "festival of savages," which was religious primarily, but incidentally gastronomic...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Last : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LAST REVEL IN PRINTZ HALL "Young man, I'll give thee five dollars a week to be care-taker in Printz Hall," said Quaker Quidd to fiddler Matthews, on an autumn evening. Young Matthews had just been taunting the old gentlem...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Hiawatha : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HIAWATHA The story of Hiawatha--known about the lakes as Manabozho and in the East as Glooskapis the most widely disseminated of the Indian legends. He came to earth on a Messianic mission, teaching justice, fortitude...
Along The Rocky Range. The Division Of Two Tribes : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DIVISION OF TWO TRIBES When white men first penetrated the Western wilderness of America they found the tribes of Shoshone and Comanche at odds, and it is a legend of the springs of Manitou that their differences began there...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 16 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE OBSTINACY OF SAINT CLAIR When the new First Regiment of United States Infantry paused at Marietta, Ohio, on its way to garrison Vincennes, its officers made a gay little court there for a time. The young Maj...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 08 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SPIRIT OF CLOUDY Among the lumbermen of Alger, Michigan, was William Cloud, an Indian, usually called Cloudy, who was much employed on a chute a mile and a half out of the village. The rains were heavy one spring...
Along The Rocky Range. Over The Divide : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ALONG THE ROCKY RANGE OVER THE DIVIDE The hope of finding El Dorado, that animated the adventurous Spaniards who made the earlier recorded voyages to America, lived in the souls of Western mountaineers as late as the first half...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Toccoa Falls : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TOCCOA FALLS Early in the days of the white occupation of Georgia a cabin stood not far from the Falls of Toccoa (the Beautiful). Its only occupant was a feeble woman, who found it ill work to get food enough from the wild...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Last. Part 02 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LAST SHOT AT GERMANTOWN Many are the tales of prophecy that have been preserved to us from war times. In the beginning of King Philip's war in Connecticut, in 1675, it was reported that the firing of the first gun was heard...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Consecrati : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CONSECRATION OF WASHINGTON In 1773 some of the Pietist monks were still living in their rude monastery whose ruins are visible on the banks of the Wissahickon. Chief among these mystics was an old man who might have enjoyed...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Wyandank : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WYANDANK From Brooklyn Heights, or Ihpetonga, "highplace of trees," where the Canarsie Indians made wampum or sewant, and where they contemplated the Great Spirit in the setting of the sun across the meeting waters, to Montauk...
The Central States And The Great Lakes : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE VISION OF RESCUE Surmounting Red Banks, twelve miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the eastern shore, and one hundred feet above the water, stands an earthwork that the first settlers found there when they went into th...
On The Pacific Coast. Cascades Of The Columbia : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA When the Siwash, as the Northwestern Indians called themselves, were few, Mount Hood was kept by the Spirit of Storms, who when he shook his robe caused rain or snow to fall over the land, while the Fire...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Spooks : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SPOOKS OF THE HIAWASSEE The hills about the head of the Hiawassee are filled with "harnts," among them many animal ghosts, that ravage about the country from sheer viciousness. The people of the region, illiterate...
The White Mountains. The Loss Of Weetamoo : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LOSS OF WEETAMOO Winnepurkit, sagamore of the coast settlements between Nahant and Cape Ann, had married Weetamoo, daughter of Passaconaway, king of the Pennacooks, and had taken her to his home. Their honeymoon was happy...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 12 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SKY WALKER OF HURON Here is the myth of Endymion and Diana, as told on the shores of Saginaw Bay, in Michigan, by Indians who never heard of Greeks. Cloud Catcher, a handsome youth of the Ojibways, offended his family by...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Martha's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MARTHA'S VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET There is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and common speech. It is Martin Wyngaard's Island, and so was named by Skipper Block, an Albany Dutchman. But they would English...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Michel : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MICHEL DE COUCY'S TROUBLES Michel De Coucy, of Prairie de Rocher, Illinois, sat before his door humming thoughtfully, and trying to pull comfort out of a black pipe.. He was in debt, and he did not like the sensation. As hunter...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 04 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE OLD LODGER In 1868 there died in Detroit a woman named Marie Louise Thebault, more usually called Kennette. She was advanced in years, and old residents remembered when she was one of the quaintest figures and most assertive...
The White Mountains. Harry Main. The Treasure : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], HARRY MAIN: THE TREASURE AND THE CATS Ipswich had a very Old Harry in the person of Harry Main, a dark-souled being, who, after a career of piracy, smuggling, blasphemy, and dissipation, became a wrecker, and lured vessels...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Prophet Of Palmyra : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PROPHET OF PALMYRA It was at Palmyra, New York, that the principles of Mormonism were first enunciated by Joseph Smith, who claimed to have found the golden plates of the Book of Mormon in a hill-side in neighboring...
Block Island And The Palatine. Block Isl : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BLOCK ISLAND AND THE PALATINE Block Island, or Manisees, is an uplift of clayey moorland between Montauk and Gay Head. It was for sailors an evil place and "bad medicine" for Indians, for men who had been wrecked there had been...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Indian Plume : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE INDIAN PLUME Brightest flower that grows beside the brooks is the scarlet blossom of the Indian plume: the blood of Lenawee. Hundreds of years ago she lived happily among her brother and sister Saranacs beside Stony Creek...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. A Blow : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A BLOW IN THE DARK The Tory Manheim sits brooding in his farmhouse near Valley Forge, and his daughter, with a hectic flush on her cheek, looks out into the twilight at the falling snow. She is worn and ill; she has brought...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Envy : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE ENVY OF MANITOU Behind the mountains that gloom about the romantic village of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, was once a lake of clear, bright water, its winding loops and bays extending back for several miles. On one of its...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Two Rings : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE TWO RINGS Gabrielle de St. Pierre, daughter of the commandant of Fort Le Boeuf, now--Waterford, Pennsylvania, that the French had setup on the Ohio River, was Parisian by birth and training, but American by choice, for she...
Block Island And The Palatine. Robert Lockwood's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ROBERT LOCKWOOD'S FATE In the winter of 1779, General Putnam was stationed at Reading, Connecticut, with a band of ill-fed, unpaid troops. He was quartered at the Marvin house, and Mary, daughter of farmer Marvin, won her way...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The First : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE FIRST LIBERAL CHURCH In 1770 the brig Hand-in-Hand went ashore at Good Luck, New Jersey. Among the passengers on board the vessel, that it would perhaps be wrong to call ill fated, was John Murray, founder of Universalism...
The White Mountains. The Gray Champion : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GRAY CHAMPION It befell Sir Edmund Andros to make himself the most hated of the governors sent to represent the king in New England. A spirit of independence, born of a free soil, was already moving in the people's hearts...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Revenge Of Shandaken : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE REVENGE OF SHANDAKEN On the rock platform where the Catskill Mountain House now stands, commanding one of the fairest views in the world, old chief Shandaken set his wigwam,--for it is a mistake to suppose that barbarians...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Why Spuyten Duyvil : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WHY SPUYTEN DUYVIL IS SO NAMED The tide-water creek that forms the upper boundary of Manhattan Island is known to dwellers in tenements round about as "Spittin' Divvle." The proper name of it is Spuyten Duyvil, and this, in turn...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Rival : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE RIVAL FIDDLERS Before Brooklyn had spread itself beyond Greenwood Cemetery a stone could be seen in Martense's Lane, south of that burial-ground, that bore a hoof mark. A negro named Joost, in the service of the Van Der...
On The Pacific Coast. The Prisoner In Americ : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PRISONER IN AMERICAN SHAFT An Indian seldom forgets an injury or omits to revenge it, be it a real or a fancied one. A young native of the New Almaden district, in California, fell in love with a girl of the same race...
The White Mountains. Yet They Call It Lover's Leap : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], YET THEY CALL IT LOVER'S LEAP In the lower part of the township of Cavendish, Vermont, the Black River seeks a lower level through a gorge in the foot-hills of the Green Mountains. The scenery here is romantic and impressive...
The White Mountains. The Salem Alchemist : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SALEM ALCHEMIST In 1720 there lived in a turreted house at North and Essex Streets, in Salem, a silent, dark-visaged man,--a reputed chemist. He gathered simples in the fields, and parcels and bottles came and went between...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. A Ghostly Avenger : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A GHOSTLY AVENGER In Cuthbert, Georgia, is a gravestone thus inscribed: "Sacred to the memory of Jim Brown." No date, no epitaph--for Jim Brown was hanged. And this is the story: At the close of the Civil War a company...
The White Mountains. Knocking At The Tomb : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], KNOCKING AT THE TOMB Knock, knock, knock! The bell has just gone twelve, and there is the clang again upon the iron door of the tomb. The few people of Lanesboro who are paying the penance of misdeeds or late suppers, by lying...
The White Mountains. The Unknown Champion : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE UNKNOWN CHAMPION There was that in the very air of the New World that made the Pilgrims revolt against priests and kings. The Revolution was long a-breeding before shots were fired at Lexington. Stout old Endicott, having...
The White Mountains. Mother Crewe : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MOTHER CREWE Mother Crewe was of evil repute in Plymouth in the last century. It was said that she had taken pay for luring a girl into her old farm-house, where a man lay dead of small-pox, with intent to harm her beauty; she...
Along The Rocky Range. The Death Waltz : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEATH WALTZ Years ago, when all beyond the Missouri was a waste, the military post at Fort Union, New Mexico, was the only spot for miles around where any of the graces of social life could be discovered. Among the ladies...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Snoring Of Swunksus : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SNORING OF SWUNKSUS The original proprietor of Deer Isle, off the coast of Maine--at least, the one who was in possession one hundred and thirty years ago--had the liquid name of Swunksus. His name was not the only liquid...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Party : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PARTY FROM GIBBET ISLAND Ellis Island, in New York harbor, once bore the name of Gibbet Island, because pirates and mutineers were hanged there in chains. During the times when it was devoted to this fell purpose there stood...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 14 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CRIME OF BLACK SWAMP Two miles south of Munger, Ohio, in the heart of what used to be called the Black Swamp, stood the Woodbury House, a roomy mansion long gone to decay. John Cleves, the last to live in it, was a man whose...
The White Mountains. Wahconah Falls : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WAHCONAH FALLS The pleasant valley of Dalton, in the Berkshire Hills, had been under the rule of Miacomo for forty years when a Mohawk dignitary of fifty scalps and fifty winters came a-wooing his daughter Wahconah. On a June...
Along The Rocky Range. Sacrifice Of The Toltecs : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SACRIFICE OF THE TOLTECS Centuries ago, when Toltec civilization had extended over Arizona, and perhaps over the whole West, the valleys were occupied by large towns--the towns whose ruins are now known as the City of Ovens...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Moose Of Mount Kineo : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MOOSE OF MOUNT KINEO Eastern traditions concerning Hiawatha differ in many respects from those of the West. In the East he is known as Glooskap, god of the Passamaquoddies, and his marks are left in many places...
The Hudson And Its Hills. An Event In Indian Park : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], AN EVENT IN INDIAN PARK It was during the years when the Saranacs were divided that Howling Wind, one of the young men of Indian Carry, saw and fell in love with a girl of the family on Tupper Lake. He quickly found a way...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Lewiston Hermit : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LEWISTON HERMIT On an island above the falls of the Androscoggin, at Lewiston, Maine, lived a white recluse at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The natives, having had good reason to mistrust all palefaces, could...
On The Pacific Coast. Tamanous Of Tacoma : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TAMANOUS OF TACOMA Mount Tacoma has always been a place of superstitious regard among the Siwash (Sauvage) of the Northwest. In their myths it was the place of refuge for the last man when the Whulge was so swollen after long...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The Headless : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HEADLESS SKELETON OF SWAMPTOWN The boggy portion of North Kingston, Rhode Island, known as Swamptown, is of queer repute in its neighborhood, for Hell Hollow, Pork Hill, Indian Corner, and Kettle Hole have their stories...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 10 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WITCH OF PICTURED ROCKS On the Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior dwelt an Ojibway woman, a widow, who was cared for by a relative. This relative was a hunter, the husband of an agreeable wife, the father of two bright children...
The White Mountains. Nix's Mate : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], NIX'S MATE The black, pyramidal beacon, called Nix's Mate, is well known to yachtsmen, sailors, and excursionists in Boston harbor. It rises above a shoal,--all that is left of a fair, green island which long ago disappeared...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Revenge : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], REVENGE OF THE ACCABEE The settlement made by Lord Cardross, near Beaufort, South Carolina, was beset by Spaniards and Indians, who laid it in ashes and slew every person in it but one. She, a child of thirteen, had supposed...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Ball Game : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BALL GAME BY THE SACO Water-Goblins from the streams about Katahdin had left their birthplace and journeyed away to the Agiochooks, making their presence known to the Indians of that region by thefts and loss of life. When...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Natural Bridge : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], NATURAL BRIDGE Though several natural bridges are known in this country, there is but one that is famous the world over, and that is the one which spans Clear Creek, Virginia--the remnant of a cave-roof, all the rest...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Flame : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FLAME SCALPS OF THE CHARTIERS Before Pittsburg had become worthy to be called a settlement, a white man rowed his boat to the mouth of Chartiers creek, near that present city. He was seeking a place in which to make his home...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Rip Van Winkle : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HUDSON AND ITS HILLS RIP VAN WINKLE The story of Rip Van Winkle, told by Irving, dramatized by Boucicault, acted by Jefferson, pictured by Darley, set to music by Bristow, is the best known of American legends. Rip w...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 18 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SPELL OF CREVE CIUR LAKE Not far west of St. Louis the Lake of Creve Coeur dimples in the breezes that bend into its basin of hills, and there, in summer, swains and maidens go to confirm their vows, for the lake h...
The White Mountains. The Gloucester Leaguers : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE GLOUCESTER LEAGUERS Strange things had been reported in Gloucester. On the eve of King Philip's War the march of men was heard in its streets and an Indian bow and scalp were seen on the face of the moon, while the boom...
Along The Rocky Range. The Spider Tower : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SPIDER TOWER In Dead Man's Canon--a deep gorge that is lateral to the once populated valley of the Rio de Chelly, Arizona--stands a stark spire of weathered sandstone, its top rising eight hundred feet above its base...
The White Mountains. Newbury's Old Elm : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], NEWBURY'S OLD ELM Among the venerable relics of Newbury few are better known and more prized than the old elm. It is a stout tree, with a girth of twenty-four and a half feet, and is said to have been standing since 1713...
The Hudson And Its Hills. A Trapper's Ghastly : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A TRAPPER'S GHASTLY VENGEANCE About a mile back from the Hudson, at Coxsackie, stood the cabin of Nick Wolsey, who, in the last century, was known to the river settlements as a hunter and trapper of correct aim, shrewdness...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 06 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SNAKE GOD OF BELLE ISLE The Indian demi-god, Sleeping Bear, had a daughter so beautiful that he kept her out of the sight of men in a covered boat that swung on Detroit River, tied to a tree on shore; but the Winds, having...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Kayuta And Waneta : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], KAYUTA AND WANETA The Indians loved our lakes. They had eyes for their beauty, and to them they were abodes of gracious spirits. They used to say of Oneida Lake, that when the Great Spirit formed the world "his smile rested...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Missing : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MISSING SOLDIER OF VALLEY FORGE During the dreadful winter of the American encampment at Valley Forge six or eight soldiers went out to forage for provisions. Knowing that little was to be hoped for near the camp of their...
Storied Waters, Cliffs And Mountains. Monsters : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], STORIED WATERS, CLIFFS AND MOUNTAINS MONSTERS AND SEA-SERPENTS It is hardly to be wondered at that two prominent scientists should have declared on behalf of the sea-serpent, for that remarkable creature has been reported at so...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Saved : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SAVED BY THE BIBLE It was on the day after the battle of Germantown that Warner, who wore the blue, met his hated neighbor, the Tory Dabney, near that bloody field. By a common impulse the men fell upon each other with their...
Along The Rocky Range. The River Of Lost Souls : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS In the days when Spain ruled the Western country an infantry regiment was ordered out from Santa Fe to open communication with Florida and to carry a chest of gold for the payment of the soldiers in St...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Twelfth : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], TWELFTH NIGHT AT CAHOKIA It was Twelfth Night, and the French village of Cahokia, near St. Louis, was pleasantly agitated at the prospect of a dance in the old court saloon, which was assembly-room and everything else...
The White Mountains. The Wild Man Of Cape Cod : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WILD MAN OF CAPE COD For years after Bellamy's pirate ship was wrecked at Wellfleet, by false pilotage on the part of one of his captives, a strange-looking man used to travel up and down the cape, who was believed to be one...
Along The Rocky Range. The Coming Of The Navajos : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Devil's Dance : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE DEVIL'S DANCE-CHAMBER. Most storied of our New World rivers is the Hudson. Historic scenes have been enacted on its shores, and Indian, Dutchman, Briton, and American have invested it with romance. It had its source...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. A Dinner : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A DINNER AND ITS CONSEQUENCES The Nipmucks were populous at Thompson, Connecticut, where they skilfully tilled the fields, and where their earthworks, on Fort Hill, provided them with a refuge in case of invasion. Their chief...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Swallowing : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SWALLOWING EARTHQUAKE The Indian village that in 1765 stood just below the site of Oxford, Alabama, was upset when the news was given out that two of the squaws had given simultaneous birth to a number of children that were...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 02 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE INDIAN MESSIAH The promise of the return to earth of various benign spirits has caused much trouble among the red men, and incidentally to the white men who are the objects of their fanatic dislike. The New Mexicans believed...
The White Mountains. Goody Cole : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], GOODY COLE Goodwife Eunice Cole, of Hampton, Massachusetts, was so "vehemently suspected to be a witch" that in 1680 she was thrown into jail with a chain on her leg. She had a mumbling habit, which was bad, and a wild look...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Flying : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FLYING SHADOW AND TRACK MAKER The Chippewas and Sioux had come together at Fort Snelling to make merry and cement friendships. Flying Shadow was sad when the time came for the tribes to part, for Track Maker had won her heart...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. The Crumbling : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CRUMBLING SILVER There is a clay bank on Little Neck, Long Island, where metallic nodules are now and then exposed by rain. Rustics declare them to be silver, and account for their crumbling on the theory that the metal is...
The White Mountains. The Hobomak : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE HOBOMAK Such was the Indian name of the site of Westboro, Massachusetts, and the neighboring pond was Hochomocko. The camp of the red men near the shore was full of bustle one day, for their belle, Iano, was to marry...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Mackinack : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], MACKINACK Not only was Mackinack the birthplace of Hiawatha: it was the home of God himself--Gitchi Manitou, or Mitchi Manitou--who placed there an Indian Adam and Eve to watch and cultivate his gardens. He also made the beaver...
The White Mountains. The White Deer Of Onota : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WHITE DEER OF ONOTA Beside quiet Onota, in the Berkshire Hills, dwelt a band of Indians, and while they lived here a white deer often came to drink. So rare was the appearance of an animal like this that its visits were held...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Skull In The Wall : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SKULL IN THE WALL A skull is built into the wall above the door of the court-house at Goshen, New York. It was taken from a coffin unearthed in 1842, when the foundation of the building was laid. People said there was no...
Storied Waters, Cliffs And Mountains. Stone : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], STONE-THROWING DEVILS There is an odd recurrence among American legends of tales relating to assaults of people or their houses by imps of darkness. The shadowy leaguers of Gloucester, Massachusetts, kept the garrison of th...
Tales Of Puritan Land. Chocorua : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], CHOCORUA This beautiful alp in the White Mountains commemorates in its name a prophet of the Pequawket tribe who, prior to undertaking a journey, had confided his son to a friendly settler, Cornelius Campbell, of Tamworth...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. Origin Of A Name : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ORIGIN OF A NAME The origin of many curious geographical names has become an object of mere surmise, and this is the more the pity because they suggest such picturesque possibilities. We would like to know, for instance, how...
Tales Of Puritan Land. A Chestnut Log : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A CHESTNUT LOG There is no doubt that farmer Lovel had read ancient history or he would not have been so ready in the emergency that befell him one time in the last century. He had settled among the New Hampshire hills near...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Baker's Dozen : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BAKER'S DOZEN Baas [Boss] Volckert Jan Pietersen Van Amsterdam kept a bake-shop in Albany, and lives in history as the man who invented New Year cakes and made gingerbread babies in the likeness of his own fat offspring...
Along The Rocky Range. The Phantom Tr : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PHANTOM TRAIN OF MARSHALL PASS Soon after the rails were laid across Marshall Pass, Colorado, where they go over a height of twelve thousand feet above the sea, an old engineer named Nelson Edwards was assigned to a tr...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Big Indian : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BIG INDIAN Intermarriages between white people and red ones in this country were not uncommon in the days when our ancestors led as rude a life as the natives, and several places in the Catskills commemorate this fact. Mount...
On The Pacific Coast. Bridal Veil Fall : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BRIDAL VEIL FALL The vast ravine of Yo Semite (Grizzly Bear), formed by tearing apart the solid Sierras, is graced by many water-falls raining down the mile-high cliffs. The one called Bridal Veil has this tale attached to it...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Culprit Fay : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CULPRIT FAY The wood-tick's drum convokes the elves at the noon of night on Cro' Nest top, and, clambering out of their flower-cup beds and hammocks of cobweb, they fly to the meeting, not to freak about the grass or banquet...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Saved : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], SAVED BY A LIGHTNING-STROKE There was rough justice in the West in the old days. It had to be dealt severely and quickly, for it was administered to a kind of men that became dangerous if they saw any advantage or any...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Monster Mosquitoe : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE MONSTER MOSQUITOE They have some pretty big mosquitoes in New Jersey and on Long Island, but, if report of their ancestry is true, they have degenerated in size and voracity; for the grandfather of all mosquitoes used...
The White Mountains. The Forest Smithy : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE FOREST SMITHY Early in this century a man named Ainsley appeared at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and set up a forge in a wood at the edge of the village, with a two-room cottage to live in. A Yankee peddler once put up at his...
Along The Rocky Range. The Pale Faced Lightning : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE PALE FACED LIGHTNING Twenty miles from the capital of Arizona stands Mount Superstition--the scene of many traditions, the object of many fears. Two centuries ago a tribe of Pueblo dwarfs arrived near it and tilled the soil...
The White Mountains. The White Mountains : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WHITE MOUNTAINS From times of old these noble hills have been the scenes of supernatural visitations and mysterious occurrences. The tallest peak of the Agiochooks--as they were, in Indian naming--was the seat of God himself...
The White Mountains. Balanced Rock : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BALANCED ROCK Balanced Rock, or Rolling Rock, near Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a mass of limestone that was deposited where it stands by the great continental glacier during the ice age, and it weighs four hundred and eighty...
Along The Rocky Range. The Broad House : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE BROAD HOUSE Down in the canon of Chaco, New Mexico, stands a building evidently coeval with those of the cliff dwellers, that is still in good preservation and is called the Broad House. When Noqoilpi, the gambling god, came...
The Isle Of Manhattoes And Nearby. Delaware : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], DELAWARE WATER GAP The Indian name of this beautiful region, Minisink, "the water is gone," agrees with the belief of geologists that a lake once existed behind the Blue Ridge, and that it burst its way through the hills at this...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Part 22 : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE KEUSCA ELOPEMENT Keusca was a village of the Dakota Indians on the Wisconsin bluffs of the Mississippi eighteen hundred miles from its mouth. The name means, to overthrow, or set aside, for it was here that a tribal law w...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The Lamb : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LAMB OF SACRIFICE The Revolution was beginning, homes were empty, farms were deserted, industries were checked, and the levies of a foreign army had consumed the stores of the people. A messenger rode into the Connecticut...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Pass Christian : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], PASS CHRISTIAN Senhor Vineiro, a Portuguese, having wedded Julia Regalea, a Spaniard, in South America, found it needful to his fortunes to leave Montevideo, for a revolution was breeding, and no less needful to his happiness...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The Windam Frogs : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE WINDAM FROGS On a cloudy night in July, 1758, the people of Windham, Connecticut, were awakened by screams and shrill voices. Some sprang up and looked to the priming of their muskets, for they were sure that the Indians...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The New : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE NEW HAVEN STORM SHIP In 1647 the New Haven colonists, who even at that early day exhibited the enterprise that has been a distinguishing feature of the Yankee, sent a ship to Ireland to try to develop a commerce, their...
The White Mountains. Berkshire Tories : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BERKSHIRE TORIES The tories of Berkshire, Massachusetts, were men who had been endeared to the king by holding office under warrant from that sacred personage. They have been gently dealt with by historians, but that is...
The White Mountains. Aunt Rachel's Curse : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], AUNT RACHEL'S CURSE On a headland near Plymouth lived "Aunt Rachel," a reputed seer, who made a scant livelihood by forecasting the future for such seagoing people as had crossed her palm. The crew of a certain brig came to see...
Along The Rocky Range. The Ark On Superstiti : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE ARK ON SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS The Pima Indians of Arizona say that the father of all men and animals was the butterfly, Cherwit Make (earth-maker), who fluttered down from the clouds to the Blue Cliffs at the juncti...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Devil's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], DEVIL'S LAKE Any of the noble rivers and secluded lakes of Wisconsin were held in esteem or fear by the northern tribes, and it was the now-forgotten events and superstitions connected with them, not less than the frontier...
On The Pacific Coast. The Voyager Of Whulge : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], ON THE PACIFIC COAST THE VOYAGER OF WHULGE Like the ancient Greeks, the Siwash of the Northwest invest the unseen world with spiritual intelligence. Every tree has a soul; the forests were peopled with good and evil genii...
The Hudson And Its Hills. Francis Woolcott's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FRANCIS WOOLCOTT'S NIGHT-RIDERS In Copake, New York, among the Berkshire Hills, less than a century ago, lived Francis Woolcott, a dark, tall man, with protruding teeth, whose sinister laugh used to give his neighbors a creep...
Along The Rocky Range. Besieged : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], BESIEGED BY STARVATION A hundred years before the white men set up their trading-posts on the Arkansas and Platte, a band of mountain hunters made a descent on what they took to be a small company of plainsmen, but who proved...
As To Buried Riches. Kidd's Treasure : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], AS TO BURIED RICHES KIDD'S TREASURE Captain Kidd is the most ubiquitous gentleman in history. If his earnings in the gentle craft of piracy were frugally husbanded, he has possibly left some pots of money in holes in the ground...
Untitled : * Charles M. Skinner wrote at approximately the time that the frontier closed. It was a time when the US was starting to enter the world stage, and was in the process of building a national, as well as a number of regional mythologies. In the process, many stories which were apocryphal or pure...
Along The Rocky Range. The Comanche Rider : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE COMANCHE RIDER The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. Lake : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP Drummond's Pond, or the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, is a dark and lonely tarn that lies in the centre of this noted Virginia morass. It is, in a century-old tradition, the Styx of two unhappy ghosts th...
Lights And Shadows Of The South. The Silence : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE SILENCE BROKEN It was in 1734 that Joist Hite moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia, with his wife and boys, and helped to make a settlement on the Shenandoah twelve miles south of Woodstock. When picking berries at a distance...
Tales Of Puritan Land. The Lady Ursula : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LADY URSULA In 1690 a stately house stood in Kittery, Maine, a strongly guarded place with moat and drawbridge (which was raised at night) and a moated grange adjacent where were cattle, sheep, and horses. Here, in lonely...
Along The Rocky Range. A Yellowstone Tragedy : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], A YELLOWSTONE TRAGEDY Although the Indians feared the geyser basins of the upper Yellowstone country, believing the hissing and thundering to be voices of evil spirits, they regarded the mountains at the head of the river...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Falls : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY Several of the Dakotas, who had been in camp near the site of St. Paul, left their families and friends, when the hunting season opened, and went into the north. On their arrival at another village of their...
Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket. The Crow : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE CROW AND CAT OF HOPKINSHILL In a wood near Hopkins Hill, Rhode Island, is a bowlder, four feet in diameter, scored with a peculiar furrow. Witch Rock, as it is called, gained its name two centuries ago, when an old wom...
Storied Waters, Cliffs And Mountains. Storied : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], STORIED SPRINGS Like the Greeks, the red men endowed the woods and waters with tutelary sprites, and many of the springs that are now resorted to as fountains of healing were known long before the settlement of Europeans here...
The Central States And The Great Lakes. Wallen's : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], WALLEN'S RIDGE A century ago this rough eminence, a dozen miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee, was an abiding place of Cherokee Indians, among whom was Arinook, their medicine-man, and his daughter. The girl was pure and fair...
The White Mountains. The Fatal Forget Me Not : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE FATAL FORGET-ME-NOT Three miles out from the Nahant shore, Massachusetts, rises Egg Rock, a dome of granite topped by a light-house. In the last century the forget-me-nots that grew in a little marsh at its summit were much...
Along The Rocky Range. Goddess Of Salt : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], GODDESS OF SALT Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides, while near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis:...
The Hudson And Its Hills. The Lost Grave Of Paine : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], THE LOST GRAVE OF PAINE Failure to mark the resting-places of great men and to indicate the scenes of their deeds has led to misunderstanding and confusion among those who discover a regard for history and tradition in this...
Tales Of Puritan Land. Jack Welch's Death Light : * "Myths and Legends of our Own Land", by Charles M. Skinner, [1896], JACK WELCH'S DEATH LIGHT Pond Cove, Maine, is haunted by a light that on a certain evening, every summer, rises a mile out at sea, drifts to a spot on shore, then whirls with a buzz and a glare to an old house, where it vanishes...