244 W.K. Scott on a change of level in the Green Mountains. 
that you know these gentlemen and will be willing to communi- 
eate to them what I write. 
In the year 1796, when I was eight years old, my father 
moved to a part of the town of Hoosick, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., 
known as Mapletown. His house was on the road from Ben- 
nington, Vt. to Troy, N. Y., near the Mapletown meeting-house, 
about four miles from the village of Bennington. The residence 
of the late Garret Van Hoosen is within a few feet of the site 
fourth of its height. 
In 1808, after having learned something about linear per 
spective, I made my first attempt at landscape painting in water 
colors. The view was taken from a front window in our house, 
and the picture embraced the whole of Mount Anthony which 
was visible from that point. I well remember how much trouble 
I had in representing the white spot on the mountain; and I re- 
member, too, what a miserable failure the whole performance 
was,—I mention these things to show that my recollections are 
not vague and shadowy, but clear, distinct, and certain. 
I left that place in January, 1808, after having finished & 
course of medical lectures at Dartmouth College. After an ab- 
sence of fifty years, I visited it again to see my friend, Garret 
Van Hoosen, who lived, as I have before mentioned, within 4 
few feet of my old home. During my journey there I thought 
almost as much about seeing Mount Anthony again, as seeing 
my old friend; but when I arrived there, no part of the moun- 
of the hill, which was cultivated, and see the top of the moul 
tain, so low that it was certain that no part of Pola be see2 
. _ from the house if no trees were on the hill, 
ea a 
