Albany

“ Thus Albany is a real capital,—a typical Southern county town, the centre of the life of ten thousand souls; their point of contact with the outer world, their centre of news and gossip, their market for buying and selling, borrowing and lending, their fountain of justice and law. Once upon a time we knew country life so well and city life so little, that we illustrated city life as that of a closely crowded country district. ”

“ Thus, seeing crowds of the most distinguished and delightful people, receiving piles of the most interesting and adoring letters, happy, self-satisfied, Mme. d'Albany grew into an old woman. Every evening until ten, the rooms of the Casa Alfieri were thrown open; the servants in the Stuart liveries ushered in the guests, the tea was served in those famous services emblazoned with the royal arms of England. ”

“ But, excellent old Albany! whom even the corruptions of politics cannot change in the core, lying against thy hillside, and surrounded with thy picturesque scenery, there is an air of respectability about thee that I admire, and a quiet prosperity that I love. ”

“ In the afternoon, blue and purple in the far distance, we saw the glorious range of the mighty Catskill Mountains, forming one unbroken series of snow-capped domes, hiding in their deep recesses many of Nature's grandest secrets. The evening was closing in as the steamer passed under the swinging arch of the bridge at Albany, the chief town of New York State.
Albany is chiefly remarkable for its very fine Capitol, which has been in process of building since 1871, and is still far from finished, though it has already cost an enormous sum. ”

“ The air is so invigorating that, after being there only a few days, one feels almost a new being. Any one suffering from brain fag or exhaustion cannot do better than go to Albany for a holiday. One need only look at the faces of the children, see their healthy looks, bright eyes and general activity, to know that they have been born and brought up amongst healthy surroundings. One feature of the children is their beautiful hair; many possess such luxuriant tresses that one feels inclined to envy the lovely colour and beauty of them, and to wish one also had been born in Albany. ”

“ I have been settled in the large and flourishing city of Albany about seven years, and—ignoring the trammels of mock humility, let me say to you—have, within that period, gained to a flattering extent the confidence of the most respectable portion of the community; have built up an excellent and growing business connection, and secured the entree of the best society there. ”

“ But what can the mere littérateur do, walled up to heaven in a world of mathematical mystery and machinery! Your own city of Albany is a paradise compared to the metropolis: you are really very fortunate—very, very happy to be able to live at home. ”

“ The boy husband and the faded middle-aged wife remain a year in Albany. There a daughter is born. She will grow up as the beautiful Theodosia, and, when the maternal Theodosia is no more, be all in all to her father. Young Aaron kisses baby Theodosia, calls the stars his brothers, and walks the sky. For once, in a way, that old innate egotism is well-nigh dead in his heart.
About this time the beaten English sail away for home, and young Aaron gives up Albany. Albany has three thousand; New York-is a pulsating metropolis of twenty-two thousand souls. ”

“ Albany is an old town, said to contain near forty thousand inhabitants: its streets are very irregular, narrow and crooked: the widest is State street, graced with a large, splendid State House. State Houses, you know, are very fine buildings—here, office holders and office seekers, meet for debate, wise men to enact good laws, which many of the people, by-the-by, take special care not to observe. ”

“ And thus, one day in the autumn of 1777, there was brought, we know not by whom, half-curious and half-indifferent, to the salon of the Countess of Albany a certain very tall, thin, pale young man of twenty-eight, with handsome, mobile, rather hard aquiline features, choleric, flashing blue eyes, and a head of crisp, bright red hair; a man of fashion, nattily dressed in the Sardinian uniform, but with something strange, untamed, morose about his whole aspect which contrasted singularly with the effete gracefulness and amiability of young Florentine dandies. ”

“ We Butte smoke-eaters do not get our fruit that way. Albany is supplied with a woolen mill and flour mills, an iron foundry, and is an important railway center, besides considerable shipping being done on the river. It is no dream that the citizens of Albany are the most sociable, happy, and contented people that I have had the pleasure of meeting on the continent, and the town is a paradise for any one wishing to make a life-long home. ”

“ It exhaled at any rate a simple freshness, and I catch its pure breath, at our infantile Albany, as the very air of long summer afternoons—occasions tasting of ample leisure, still bookless, yet beginning to be bedless, or cribless; tasting of accessible garden peaches in a liberal backward territory that was still almost part of a country town ”

“ We are pleased to pay this tribute to Albany, where we met some very congenial people. There is no place in the interior of Oregon where the stranger is more likely to be pleased with his surroundings than here.
There are also many pleasant drives and resorts about Albany, and a fine view of that beautiful group of snow-peaks, the Three Sisters. Although there is much level prairie, there are also buttes and ridges so disposed about the valley as to give a charming variety to an otherwise monotonous landscape. ”

“ The big square house, freshly painted white, with green blinds at the windows, stood just at the edge of the broad elm-shaded road, known as the Albany Road because it had been, in stage-coach days, the main line between Albany and Boston. ”

“ The distance from Springfield to Albany is eighty-one miles. The above villages have a neat and comfortable appearance, and the fields were in a good state of cultivation. Upon our arrival at Schoodie the night was just setting in, but unfortunately we were lighted by a burning house upon an eminence not far off. At the village of Greenbush, near Albany, we crossed the Hudson or North river in a horse-boat, and upon our arrival in the city took lodgings at Cruttenden’s boarding-house, on an eminence near the capitol or state-house.
Albany contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants. ”

“ Albany can be distinctly seen with a glass—a field glass, I mean, not a glass of birch beer. Some claim that the nub of a political boom may be seen protruding from the Capitol with the nude vision. Others say they can see the Green mountains, and as far south as the eye can reach. ”

“ Setting to work after the manner of one possessed of the same supreme authority as the King of France, Albany began his government with an air of rigour, insomuch that the common historians speak of him as having resolved to suppress the turbulent spirit of the age, and assert the supremacy of law and order. ”

“ Travellers from the North, when accompanied by their families and baggage, usually stop at Troy, and take a canal boat there, for the West.
The ancient city of Albany has the appearance of much business and wealth; and some portions of it are pleasant, especially in the region of the State House and other public buildings. From the river, the ground rapidly rises, so that the city stands upon the side of a hill, and makes a fine appearance, when viewed from the opposite shore. ”

“ When the sky is lowering, they usually take in sail going along this part of the river.
About four o’clock in the morning of the fourth of July we reached Albany, the place of our destination, one hundred and sixty miles distant from New York.
Albany is a city, and contains about eleven hundred houses; the number however is increasing fast, particularly since the removal of the state government from New York. In the old part of the town the streets are very narrow and the houses are frightful ”

“ The private houses of Albany are built, many of them, very expensively; and the city is remarkable for its hospitality.
CROW NEST, FROM BULL HILL, WEST POINT.
It is true of the Hudson, as of all other rivers, that, to be seen to advantage, it should form the middle, not the foreground of the picture. Those who go to Albany by steam have something the same idea of the scenery of West Point, that an inside passenger may have of the effect of the Brighton coach at top-speed. ”

“ Albany was probably the second place to be permanently settled within the borders of the original Thirteen Colonies. It seems likely that French traders ascended the river as far as the site of the present city in the first half of the sixteenth century, and according to some writers a temporary trading post was established here about 1540. Albany’s authentic history, however, may be dated from 1614, when Dutch traders built on Castle Island, opposite the city, a post which they named Fort Nassau. ”

“ If I were the Earl of Bellamont, I should look to the defense of Albany.”
“Albany! Why yes, Albany to be sure; Albany is the thing. I should defend Albany at all hazards. By my faith, that is an idea, my Vincent. I should advise the Earl myself, but I am not in the council now. God’s curse upon that man Le Bourse.”
I wished to change the subject, now that it drew so near myself, and I wished also to say a word for Miriam. So I spoke of the Red Band. ”

“ Albany has received more permanent and evident advantages from the canals than any other place in the state. Since 1825, the population has increased from fifteen thousand nine hundred and seventy-one to 33,627. The first settlement at Albany was made about 1614, when a stockade was built on a spot just below the steam-boat dock. The charter of the city was granted in 1686, a few months before that of New York. The city and township are a mile in breadth, and extend thirteen miles along the river. The neighborhood of Albany abounds in pleasant villages. ”

“ It is in an agricultural region, and controls large commercial interests, particularly in cotton, cottonseed oil, bricks, fertilizers, lumber, etc. The city has wide streets and handsome residences; is the home of the Georgia Chautauqua; and is noted for numerous artesian wells, which are the exclusive source of the water supply. Settled in 1836, Albany was incorporated two years later. The government, under a charter of 1899, is administered by a mayor, elected every two years, and a city council, whose consent is required for all appointments of administrative officials made by the mayor. ”

“ Great pains have been taken to have the streets well paved and lighted. Here are four places for public worship, and an hospital. Albany is in summer time a very disagreeable place; it stands in a low situation, just on the margin of the river, which runs very slowly here, and towards the evening often exhales clouds of vapours; immediately behind the town, likewise, is a large sand bank, that prevents a free circulation of air, while at the same time it 272powerfully reflects the rays of the sun, which shines in full force upon it the whole day. ”

“ Albany is the second city in the State of New York, in population, wealth, and commerce. It stands on the west bank of the Hudson, and about one hundred and forty-five miles from New York by the river, and near the head of sloop navigation. It is built just over the pitch of an extensive plain, lying between the Mohawk and the Hudson, and has very much the look of a city sliding down hill.
The history of Albany is not very definite, touching its first settlement. The probability seems, that, in 1614, the Dutch erected a fort and trading-house on an island just below the city ”

“ It included traders, merchants, commission-agents, and manufacturers belonging to Albany itself, also large numbers of fruit-growers and farmers from stations in the interior of this prosperous land of orchards and wheatfields. Gatherings of returned soldiers and school children, also nurses and other war-workers flanked the general assemblage. A night train journey followed through rolling country and bush, with arable fields, apple orchards and orange gardens which looked most attractive next morning in brilliant sunshine in the freshest of rain-washed air. ”

“ Shortly after Albany's retirement the English entered Scotland by the eastern marches, and ravaged the country, burning many towns and villages. Albany took his revenge by sending in 1419 a force of seven thousand picked troops under the Earl of Buchan to the aid of the French against the English. Albany died at Stirling Castle in 1420. ”

“ In 1686, Albany received a city charter from Governor Dongan, providing for an elected council and a mayor to be appointed by the governor. The first mayor, Peter Schuyler, continued to serve until 1694. The settlement continued to be inhabited mainly by the Dutch, but the increase in the English population is indicated by the erection of an English church in 1714. ”

“ Instead of turning to the left for Saratoga, we turned to the right for Albany, the grand office being in that place.
On arriving in Albany, I went to a well known family there—that of Mr. R.K. I was received and treated by this family in such a way as, should I live thousands of years, I never could enough express my gratitude to them for their kindness. ”