HOMES NEAR TO NATURE. 



21 



The Legend of Laddin's Rock. 



BY II. E. SHERWOOD, NEW YORK CITY. 



Perhaps the oldest legend connected 

 with the history of Stamford, Conn., 

 is the one which relates to a rock about 

 two miles west of the centre of the 

 town. A cliff over sixty feet high, and 

 buried in the depths of a wood, this 

 rock has always been the objective 

 point for rambles from the town. 

 About it the early wild flowers bloom 

 and the late nuts fall. For many years 

 the companies of gypsies who travelled 

 over the old Boston-New York post 

 road camped near the rock to trade 

 horses and tell fortunes. 



A short distance west of the rock, 

 on which side its crest is reached by a 

 gentle incline, according to the legend, 

 a number of settlers built their homes 

 a few years after the Dutch settled on 

 the Island of Manhattan. Among 

 them was one named Cornelius Lad- 

 din. Laddin's family consisted of his 

 wife and a girl of sixteen. J lis log- 

 house was apart from those of his 

 neighbors and nearer the rock. The 

 little settlement was permitted to clear 

 its land and plant in peace for a few 

 years, but one day the Indians, their 

 passions aroused by the cupidity of 

 the Dutch traders of New Amsterdam, 

 attacked the little group of huts in the 

 wilderness. Laddin was in the field 

 working, and, seeing a smoke, knew 

 that the cabins of his neighbors were 

 on fire. He realized wdiat it meant, 

 and started for his home with the hope 

 of reaching it before the Indians did 

 in order to protect his wife, his child 

 and his horse. He had succeeded in 

 barring the doors before the red men 

 appeared in the cleared space before it 

 He took his place at the window, gun 

 in hand. An Indian started toward 

 the house bearing a flaming torch. 

 A puff of smoke from the window, and 

 the woodman's markmanship had 

 proved_ its efficiency. Maddened by 

 the resistance, a number of the savages, 

 carrying a log as a battering ram, 

 started toward the door. The wife and 

 daughter in terror clung to Laddin, 

 who was busily reloading his musket. 

 Another shot echoed in the clearing, 

 and for a minute the advance of the 



Indians was checked by the body of 

 a fallen comrade. Again they started 

 for the door, again the musket rang 

 out and another redskin's blood stained 

 the grass of the clearing. 



This resistance could not be con- 

 tinued for long, as the supply of pow- 



A HORSE AND RIDER IN THE PLACE WHERE 

 LADDIN AND HORSE FELL. 



der in the cabin was small and rapidly 

 diminishing. A crash on the heavy 

 door started the heavy hinges and the 

 bar which held it fast. The mother 

 and daughter shuddered as they clung 

 tighter to the husband and father. 

 Another crash followed and then, as 

 women sometimes do when they think 

 of the safety of loved ones, they for- 

 got themselves and their fear. 



"Husband, fly;" the woman cried. 

 "They will surely respect our sex. I 

 will open the door in the rear. You 

 can ride away on the horse which I 



