To make a long story short, the company broke up and returned to the more important concerns of the election.  Rip’s daughter took him home to live with her.  She had a snug, well-furnished house, and a stout, cheery farmer for a husband, whom Rip recollected for one of the urchins that used to climb upon his back.  Rip now resumed his old walks and habits.  He soon found many of his former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time, and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom he soon grew into great favor. 
          
                                                     —­Irving.

Notes.—­Rip Van Winkle, according to Irving’s story in “The Sketch Book,” was a great drunkard, and was driven from his home in the Catskill Mountains, one night, by his wife.  Wandering among the mountains, he fell in with the ghosts of Hendrick Hudson and his crew, with whom he played a game of ninepins.  Upon drinking the liquor which they offered him, however, he immediately fell into a deep sleep which lasted for twenty years.  The above lesson recounts the events that befell him when he returned to his native village.  In the meantime the Revolution of 1776 had taken place.

The Federals and the Democrats formed the two leading political parties of that time.

Stony Point is a promontory on the Hudson, at the entrance of the Highlands, forty-two miles from New York.  It was a fortified post during the Revolution, captured by the British, and again retaken by the Americans under Wayne.  Anthony’s Nose is also a promontory on the Hudson, about fifteen miles above Stony Point.

LXIV.  BILL AND JOE. (246)

Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1809-1894, was the son of Abiel Holmes, D.D.  He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard in 1829, having for classmates several men who have since become distinguished.  After graduating, he studied law for about one year, and then turned his attention to medicine.  He studied his profession in Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, and took his degree at Cambridge in 1836.  In 1838 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in Dartmouth College.  He remained here but a short time, and then returned to Boston and entered on the practice of medicine.  In 1847 he was appointed professor at Harvard, filling a similar position to the one held at Dartmouth.  He discharged the duties of his professorship for more than thirty years, with great success.  Literature was never his profession; yet few American authors attained higher success, both as a poet and as a prose writer.  His poems are lively and sparkling, abound in wit and humor, but are not wanting in genuine pathos.  Many of them were composed for special occasions.  His prose writings include works on medicine, essays, and novels; several appeared first as contributions to the “Atlantic Monthly.”  He gained reputation, also, as it popular lecturer.  In person, Dr. Holmes was small and active, with a face expressive of thought and vivacity. ###