IRVING 



3068 



ISAAC 



real character appeared; he worked diligently 

 to support not only himself, but his brothers, 

 who were in poor health. Declining regular 

 editorial work, he finished Geoffrey Crayon's 

 Sketch Book, his greatest work. The best se- 

 lections, Rip Van Winkle and the Legends 

 of Sleepy Hollow, are read in every school as 

 models of story-telling. In 1832, after a visit 

 to France, he published Bracebridge Hall, an 

 English "Sketch Book" containing much deli- 

 cate humor and some charming stories. 



After visiting the Rhine country he pub- 

 lished, in 1824, Tales of a Traveler, which 

 maintained his popularity. An invitation from 

 the United States minister at Madrid to trans- 

 late some Spanish documents turned his atten- 

 tion to the history of Spain, and his Life of 

 Columbus at once gave him an honorable place 

 among historians. The Alhambra and The 

 Conquest of Granada followed, less important 

 historically, but full of vivid and romantic 

 description. In 1829 he returned to England, 

 to serve as secretary of the American legation 

 there. The Royal Society of Literature then 

 awarded him a gold medal, and from Oxford 

 came the degree of LL. D. 



Returning to the United States, Irving was 

 enthusiastically welcomed, for he was the first 

 man who had won real recognition for Ameri- 

 can literature abroad. He purchased "Sunny- 

 side," a country seat near Sleepy Hollow, and 

 there with his nieces spent ten quiet years. He 

 was perhaps the most prominent private citi- 

 zen of his country, because of his character 

 even more than of his work. Never a strong 

 political partisan, he declined public office, and 

 except for a trip to the Western prairies, spent 

 his time in writing. His work at this time, in 

 book form and for. the Knickerbocker Maga- 

 zine, includes A Tour of the Prairies, Captain 

 Bonneville and sketches of the homes of Scott 

 and Byron. While writing a history of Mexico, 

 he learned that the blind Prescott was planning 

 such a work. He courteously abandoned the 

 field, and Prescott never knew what a sacrifice 

 Irving had made. 



For four years he served ably as minister to 

 Spain, then gladly returned to "Sunnyside," 

 where the rest of his life was passed. He was 

 a cheery, jolly man, not unlike the Diedrich 

 Knickerbocker he himself had created. His 

 Life of Goldsmith is a delightful and sympa- 

 thetic work, for the two men were much alike 

 in their roving dispositions and their smiling 

 indulgence for the world. After some lesser 

 works, he finished the Life of Washington, a 



well-balanced and impartial biography, and 

 soon afterward died, November 28, 1859. He 

 was buried near Sleepy Hollow. C.W.K. 



Consult Washington Irving, by Boynton, by 

 Hill, or by Warner. 



IR'VINGTON, N. J., in Essex County, is a 

 rapidly developing manufacturing town, whose 

 population almost doubled between 1910, when 

 it was 11,877, and 1915, when it reached 20,342. 

 It is three miles from Newark, with which it is 

 connected by electric lines', and fourteen miles 

 west of New York City. A freight line into 

 the city is operated by the Lehigh Valley Rail- 

 road. In 1916 the factory output totaled $7,- 

 420,000. The principal industries are smelters 

 and foundries, automobile works, lumber yards, 

 refineries, a tannery, and manufactories of ma- 

 chinery, linoleum, masons' materials and novel- 

 ties. 



Irvington was settled in 1666 as Camptown. 

 It received its present name in 1852, and was 

 incorporated as a town in 1898. The commis- 

 sion form of government was adopted in 1913. 

 In the city is one of a chain of county parks, 

 a town hall, a public library, Gladden Lodge 

 Hospital and Bethany Home. W.S.G. 



ISAAC, i'zak, the name given in the book 

 of Genesis to the son of the Patriarch Abraham 

 and his wife Sarah. Like Abraham, Isaac is a 

 figure of the old tradition, but he is a much 

 more shadowy figure than Abraham or Jacob. 

 While many tales which circulated orally a long 

 time before they were committed to writing 

 are told of Abraham and Jacob, Isaac appears 

 to be overshadowed by his father, on the one 

 hand, and by his son Jacob, on the other. The 

 only story that specifically deals with an inci- 

 dent in the life of Isaac, the adventure wit 

 Abimelech, who came near depriving Isaac 

 his wife (see Genesis XXVI), is a repetiti< 

 with slight variation, of the similar story t( 

 about Abraham (Genesis XX). 



Near the beginning of Isaac's career, ho\ 

 ever, we have the beautiful story, in which at 

 least he plays a part, describing how Abraham 

 sent his servant to the old home in Mesopo- 

 tamia in order to seek a wife from that place 

 for his favorite son. The story is most charm- 

 ingly told (Genesis XXIV), how the servant 

 whose name is not mentioned reached the 

 home of Abraham and came to a well about 

 the time when the maidens came out to draw 

 water for the flocks. The servant prayed for 

 divine help to carry out his mission success- 

 fully and decided that the maiden who, upon 

 being appealed to, would allow him to drink 



