=Idlewild.=—­Where Willis spent the last years of his life is a charming spot and rich with poetic memories.  E. P. Roe also chose Cornwall for his home.  Lovers of the Hudson are indebted to Edward Bok for his realistic sketch of an afternoon visit.  The “Idlewild” of to-day is still green to the memory of the poet.  Since Willis’ death the place has passed in turn into various hands, until now it belongs to a wealthy New York lawyer, who has spent thousands of dollars on the house and grounds.  The old house still stands, and here and there in the grounds remains a suggestion of the time of Willis.  The famous pine-drive leading to the mansion, along which the greatest literary lights of the Knickerbocker period passed during its palmy days, still remains intact, the dense growth of the trees only making the road the more picturesque.  The brook, at which Willis often sat, still runs on through the grounds as of yore.  In the house, everything is remodeled and remodernized.  The room from whose windows Willis was wont to look over the Hudson, and where he did most of his charming writing, is now a bedchamber, modern in its every appointment, and suggesting its age only by the high ceiling and curious mantel.  Only a few city blocks from “Idlewild” is the house where lived E. P. Roe, the author of so many popular novels, as numerous, almost, in number as the several hundreds of thousands of circulation which they secured.  There are twenty-three acres to it in all, and, save what was occupied by the house, every inch of ground was utilized by the novelist in his hobby for fine fruits and rare flowers.  Now nothing remains of the beauty once so characteristic of the place.  For four years the grounds have missed the care of their creator.  Where once were the novelist’s celebrated strawberry beds, are now only grass and weeds.  Everything is grown over, only a few trees remaining as evidence that the grounds were ever known for their cultivated products.  A large board sign announces the fact that the entire place is for sale.

* * *

  The river narrows at their proud behest
    And creeps more darkly as it deeper flows,
  And fitful winds swirl through the long defile
    Where the great Highlands keep their stern repose.

  E.A.  Lente.

* * *

Cornwall has been for many years a favorite resort of the Hudson Valley and her roofs shelter in the summer season many thousand people.  The road completed in 1876, from Cornwall to West Point, gives one a pleasant acquaintance with the wooded Highlands.  It passes over the plateau of Cro’ Nest and winds down the Cornwall slope of Storm King.  The tourist who sees Cro’ Nest and Storm King only from the river, has but little idea of their extent.  Cro’ Nest plateau is about one thousand feet above the parade ground of West Point, and overlooks it as a rocky balcony.  These mountains, with their wonderful lake system, are, in fact, the