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Henry Van Dyke - To Joseph Jefferson
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May 4th, 1898.—To-day, fishing down the Swiftwater, I found Joseph Jefferson on a big rock in the middle of the brook, casting the fly for trout. He said he had fished this very stream three-and-forty years ago; and near by, in the Paradise Valley, he wrote his famous play.—Leaf from my Diary.

We met on Nature`s stage,
    And May had set the scene,
With bishop-caps standing in delicate ranks,
And violets blossoming over the banks,
    While the brook ran full between.
The waters rang your call,
  With frolicsome waves a-twinkle,—
They knew you as boy, and they knew you as man,
And every wave, as it merrily ran,
  Cried, “Enter Rip van Winkle!”
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