dred acres in what was later the village of Greenwich, the city of New York gave him two hundred acres more; this carried him up to 14th

street.

He also made large purchases from the Indians in the Mohawk Valley and sent for his nephew, William Johnson (later Sir William Johnson, Indian Commissioner for the Crown and Colonel in the British army) to manage his Mohawk properties.

Sir Peter's eldest daughter married Lord Abingdon, the second married Charles Fitzroy Baron Southampton, the youngest married Col. Skinner.

The baronet was elected to Parliament and returned to England. After his death the property was divided into plots and roads named for members of the family. Skinner road is now Christopher street, Fitzroy road is merged with Eighth Avenue and all that is left to remind us of the mutability of human affairs in his case is the small triangle known as Abingdon Square.

Still preserved in the Van Cortlandt manor house are various articles of Indian pottery, hatchets, arrowheads, pipes, etc., all dug up in this vicinity at various times.

A large Indian bow lies across a pair of moose antlers over the main entrance to the house, which was given, it is said, by the Sachem Kitchewan to the first lord of the manor and has been transmitted with the house to the Van Cortlandts of the present day.

A walk through the garden leads to the old "Ferry House." During the Revolutionary War there was no bridge between the mouth of the Croton and Pine's Bridge. The first "Pine's Bridge" was about a half mile up stream beyond the present structure. The piles of the old structure could be seen when the water was low, before the present dam was built. It is hoped that the water in the lake may never again be low enough to expose these piers. Commanding Pine's Bridge on the mountain west of Mr. Brewster's (the Burr place) was an earthwork, the profile of which can yet be traced-at least it could forty years ago when the writer was last there.

Pine's Bridge was an important post for the Americans at this time as it was on the highway leading from North Castle to Peekskill and the

communication for the two wings of Washington's army. The Croton Ferry carried all of the transportation going north and south.

Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, dined at the manor house once under peculiar circumstances:

One Sunday while attending divine service in a little church near Croton, Colonel Van Cortlandt saw a well dressed Indian leaning upon a window sill, listening to the sermon.

On learning that it was Brant, who was staying at a tavern nearby, he sent an invitation to the chief to dine with him. The late war became the topic of conversation.

The Colonel had once chased Brant and had been conscious that he was a mark for the Indian sharpshooters.

When he spoke of this Brant only replied: "I ordered one of my best marksmen to pick you off but you seemed to be bullet proof."

George Whitefield once preached to Van Cortlandt's tenants from the veranda of the manor house.

Dr. Franklin rested there when returning from his fruitless mission to Canada in 1776. Washington was often in the house when his army lay on the banks of the Hudson.

There La Fayette, Rochambeau, and the Duke de Lauzun were entertained and the house was always open to peripatetic parsons.

The manor house contains interesting portraits, manuscripts, and relics of the past. An inventory of the many articles that have been accumulated, and religiously cared for, would absorb the lover of historical relics. Every notable man of the Revolutionary period has passed the portals and of many there are reminders.

Among many portraits is one of John Van Cortlandt, a boy of about twelve, his right hand resting on a pet stag.

It is worthy of mention that the head and horns of this very animal are yet preserved in the hall. General Pierre Van Cortlandt left his memorandum relative to them: "That the deer of which this is the head and horns was raised by my uncle, John Van Cortlandt, about the year 1730 and which head and horns has been preserved and kept by

my late father until his death and still by me-Pierre Van Cortlandt." 1749-1831.

Perhaps the deer that occasionally invade our gardens are descended from this identical deer.

The manor house would be incomplete had it not a "haunted chamber."

If one sleeps alone in this room the ghost is sure to appear, but no one knows what it was that disturbs the spirit of the lady who occasionally flits through the room and prevents her from sharing the rest that the other inmates of the graveyard enjoy.

KATONAH, N. Y., Times.

R. W. L.