4 Ride to Easton. 



RIDE TO EASTON. 



From Elizabethtown point we passed through Springfield* and 

 Morristown, a part of the classic ground of the revolution. At the 

 latter place, the house which was the head quarters of Gen. Wash- 

 ington while the army lay three miles south, on the declivity of the 

 mountains, is still shewn. Here the troops remained stedfastly en- 

 camped, during the tremendous winter of 1779-80, when their tents 

 were often buried in the snow, or overturned by the tempests of that 

 dreadful season. To this strong hold, Washington retired after the 

 successful battle of Princeton, and thus secured the advantage he 

 had won. 



Morristown is a handsome inland town, situated in the midst of a 

 beautiful country, soon to be enlivened by the commerce, which will 

 flow through the Morris canal, now drawing near to its completion ; 

 this will connect the Delaware, at Easton, with Newark bay, and of 

 course with New York, to which city the important produce of the 

 Lehigh coal mines will then be transported with the same ease as to 

 Philadelphia. Morristown is twenty eight miles from New York. 

 From this place to Schooley's mountain the face of the country is 

 both grand and beautiful. Meadows of intense verdure, orchards, 

 and mountains with rich forests, are constantly in view. At Mor- 

 ristown, we leave the trap and sandstone country, which cover the 

 middle region of New Jersey, and fragments of primitive rocks be- 

 gin to be abundant, especially on Schooley's mountain ; none howev- 

 er were observed in place, but they might have been unnoticed in 

 the obscurity of a rainy day, and of a curtained coach. We had no 

 time to search for the zircon crystals, or to taste the mineral waters, 

 which have here gained considerable celebrity. From Schooley's 

 mountain to the Delaware, the beauty of the country constantly in- 

 creased. We rode between two barriers of mountains, which attended 

 us with great regularity, but at such a distance as to admit of wide 

 fields between ; these fields were covered with luxuriant grass and 

 wheat, and being kept in fine order, were a constant subject of ad- 

 miration. The descent of a long and steep hill with a high preci- 

 pice on the right, at only a few feet from the coach, one of whose 

 wheels was locked for safety, brought us, at dark, to Easton, and to 

 the enjoyment of Pennsylvania hospitality and plenty. 



* In whose vicinity there was a sharp battle diirinj: ihe revohition. 



