THE TOWN OF MOUNT PLEASANT. 



527 



" Tradition says that when Frederych Vlypse, the first lord of the 

 domain, began to build the church, he laid the foundation, and then 

 withdrew his laborers that they might repair the damage done to the 

 dam by a recent freshet. No sooner, though, had they finished the dam 

 than another freshet came one night and washed it away the second 

 time. Nothing daunted, they soon had a stronger structure erected, 

 when, lo ! another freshet came and destroyed it. This discouraged the 

 proprietor, and he was about to give up in despair, when Harry, his fav- 

 orite slave, dreamed that the cause of his ill-success was the withdrawal 

 of his men from the church. Let that be finished first, the warning said, 

 and the dam will stand. He forthwith resumed work on the church, 

 and afterwards built the dam which is doing good service at this day." a 



The interior of the building has undergone considerable repairs and 

 alterations, semi-Gothic lights having supplanted the old fashioned 



Communion Table. 



square headed windows. The pulpit and Heilig Avondmaal (holy com- 

 munion table) were, like the bricks, originally imported from Holland. 

 The former being a capacious affair, surmounted by a sounding board. 

 Like the church itself, we are sorry to say, the pulpit and canopy have 

 not escaped the hands of modern innovation ; we believe they are now 

 spread piece meal throughout the country ; but thanks to a few gener- 

 ous spirits, the communion table still remains unchanged, a venerable 

 relic of a by-gone age. 



The bell of this church was cast to order in Holland, and presented 

 by Frederick Philips. It is richly ornamented, and bears the following 

 inscription : 



a Reminiscences of Sleepy Hollow. Harper's Xew Monthly Magazine, No. CCCXI, April, 

 18 fG, vol. lii, p. 23. 



