Emphasis Preaching Journal

Washington Irving spun the tale of Rip Van Winkle who ascended the Catskill Mountains on a hunting trip. Van Winkle fell asleep under a tree, had a marvelous adventure with the mountain people, then awoke some twenty years later. When he descended the mountains and entered his village, he found that it had completely changed; his wife, most of his friends, and his dog, Wolf, had died; his favorite haunt, the village inn, was now called the "Union Hotel by Jonathan Doolittle." To make matters worse, no one recognized the old man. It was believed that old Rip Van Winkle was long dead.