Homes of American Authors Author:George William Curtis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: BANCROFT. THE Indians called the finest of New England rivers, Connecticut, Biver of Pines. The summer tourist to the White Mountains, ascending or descending... more » its vallev, finds little reason for the name remaining, until he reaches its upper shores, where occasional groves of pines remind him of the name and its significance. A broad, tranquil stream, it flows through much of the most characteristic scenery of the Northern States, from out the " crystal hills," — from the shadow of Agiocochook, " throne of the Great Spirit," as the Indians called Mount Washington, dividing New Hampshire from Vermont, the granite from the green, — beneath graceful Ascutney Mountain at Windsor, through wide-waving grain-fields, foaming over the rocks in its sole important cascade at Bellows Falls, then into a broader and more open landscape as it crosses Massachusetts, making at Northampton its famous bend — the Great Ox-bow. At Springfield the railways from every quarter meet upon its banks, and its calm breadth here,with the low clustering foliage of its shores, and the bold cliff of Mount Tom glimmering in the hazy noon, which is the hour of arrival at Springfield, gives the tone to the day's impression. The traveller southward follows the stream toward Hartford and New Haven ; the northern traveller clings to its shore until he reaches Northampton. Lying in the heart of Massachusetts, Northampton is one of the most beautiful of country towns. Looking over a quiet and richly cultivated landscape, the view from Mount Holyoke is of the same quality as that from Richmond Hill, in England. Gentle green hills, fair and fertile meadows, watered by the River of Pines. That river is not classic Thames, and no grotesque Strawberry Hill nor historic Hampdcn Court. no Pope's Villa at Twickenham nor st...« less