77 
A RECORD OF TIME 
On the bank of a derelict river, within the city limits, 
is a mine of interesting information* It was not 
excavated originally for that purpose, neither is it 
now worked for any such product* The face of the 
towering hill has been cut away, and the cavern of 
diz2 y depth and impressive extent scooped out, in 
gathering material to make brick for the cave-dwellers 
of the city* But the diggers have unearthed a record 
that lets in a flood of light on the history of this 
continent* Byron halted in awe when treading on an 
empire's dust* But empires are merely the momen- 
tary lights and shadows across the path of world- 
progress laid bare in this excavation* The story 
begins to grow interesting where the cutting reaches 
the Hudson River rock, which bears the imprint of 
the varied transitions of animal life in its lower forms* 
Time has effected many transformations, but the 
casts of the shells are plain and distinct where the 
yielding mud has been changed to imperishable stone* 
There is the track of a slug-shaped creature that 
moved by corrugating his body and using the ridges 
as feet* The trail where he hurried across the mud 
has escaped obliteration by the rain, and now the firm 
