The national flag floated out from each corner of the Reservoir, and during the day thousands of the citizens visited it giving demonstrations of joy and satisfaction at the accomplishment of this great work. The 14th of October following was set apart as a day for the celebration of the introduction of the water into the city: and it was an occasion of unrestrained enthusiasm and joy. Multitudes came in from the country around, and from sister cities:--all business was laid aside for the pleasing ceremonies of the day, and the Croton water, with the beauty and grandeur of its fountains, met with a welcome which showed that its value was appreciated. The advantages, the comforts and blessings of this supply of pure water will be appreciated as the city extends the means for its use, and the time is not distant when she will regard it as a treasure which was cheaply purchased, and will proudly point to the noble work which she has achieved not only as an example of her munificence, but as an illustration of what _art_ and _science_ can accomplish. With cleanly streets, and the public parks beautified with the fountains which send forth cooling and refreshing vapours upon the air, the citizens will forget to leave the city during the warm months of summer, and the _sea-shore_, the _mountain-tops_, and _watering-places_, will fancy their beauty has faded, since they cease to be visited. The foreigner who visits this country will find the Croton Aqueduct an interesting specimen of our _public works_, and will be pleased with a pedestrian tour along the line of work to the Fountain Reservoir among the hills of the Croton. Besides becoming acquainted with the important features of the work, he may enjoy much that is beautiful in American scenery. In his course along the Aqueduct he may see the majestic palisades which for a distance _wall_ the right bank of the Hudson; he may view the Tappan and Haverstraw bays with their ever-varying scenery, and the dark gorge where the Hudson emerges from the Highlands with its white bosom. Along the Aqueduct there are also many picturesque scenes where the mountain stream leaps among the rocks in the deep ravine which guides its course to the Hudson. The country is interesting also from the associations with which it has been invested by the pen of our novelists. The region of the Croton where the Fountain Reservoir is formed, is a part of the district where the scene of the “Tale of the Neutral Ground” is laid; and one may fancy there the figure of Harvey Birch, beneath his _pondrous pack_, casting a shadow at night along the moon-lit slopes. Leaving the valley of the Croton we come out upon the Hudson at the head of the “_great waters of the Tappan Zee_,” beyond which the early inhabitants of _New-Amsterdam_ dared not to voyage without first “settling their family affairs, and making their wills.”