ROLLO IN HOLLAND, BY

JACOB ABBOTT. 

BOSTON: BROWN, TAGGARD & CHASE, SUCCESSORS TO W. J. REYNOLDS & CO. , 25 & 29 CORNHILL. 

1857. 

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, byJACOB ABBOTT, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts. 

STEREOTYPED AT THEBOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. Damrell & Moore, Printers, Boston. 

[Illustration: ROLLO IN HOLLAND. ]

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE

 I. --PREPARATIONS, 11 II. --A BAD TRAVELLING COMPANION, 26 III. --THE MAIL STEAMER, 44 IV. --ENTERING HOLLAND, 67 V. --WALKS ABOUT ROTTERDAM, 86 VI. --DOING THE HAGUE, 109 VII. --CORRESPONDENCE, 138 VIII. --THE COMMISSIONER, 160 IX. --THE GREAT CANAL, 169 X. --THE DAIRY VILLAGE, 186 XI. --CONCLUSION, 200

ENGRAVINGS. 

 ROLLO IN HOLLAND. --(Frontispiece. ) PAGE VIEW IN HOLLAND, 10 THE HANSOM CAB, 33 LANDING FROM THE MAIL BOAT, 57 DORT, 83 THE FERRY BOAT, 101 THE DINNER, 124 THE BOAT FAMILY, 154 THE TREKSCHUYT, 181 THE DAIRY VILLAGE, 193 CABIN OF PETER THE GREAT, 204

 ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE. 

 ORDER OF THE VOLUMES. 

 ROLLO ON THE ATLANTIC. ROLLO IN PARIS. ROLLO IN SWITZERLAND. ROLLO IN LONDON. ROLLO ON THE RHINE. ROLLO IN SCOTLAND. ROLLO IN GENEVA. ROLLO IN HOLLAND. ROLLO IN NAPLES. ROLLO IN ROME. 

[Illustration: VIEW IN HOLLAND. ]

ROLLO IN HOLLAND. 

CHAPTER I. 

PREPARATIONS. 

Holland is one of the most remarkable countries on the globe. Thepeculiarities which make it remarkable arise from the fact that it isalmost perfectly level throughout, and it lies so low. A very largeportion of it, in fact, lies below the level of the sea, the watersbeing kept out, as every body knows, by immense dikes that have stoodfor ages. 

These dikes are so immense, and they are so concealed by the houses, andtrees, and mills, and even villages that cover and disguise them, thatwhen the traveller first sees them he can hardly believe that they aredikes. Some of them are several hundred feet wide, and have a good broadpublic road upon the top, with a canal perhaps by the side of it, andavenues of trees, and road-side inns, and immense wind mills on theother hand. When riding or walking along upon such a dike on one side, down a long slope, they have a glimpse of water between the trees. Onthe other, at an equal distance you see a green expanse of country, withgardens, orchards, fields of corn and grain, and scattered farm housesextending far and wide. At first you do not perceive that this beautifulcountry that you see spreading in every direction on one side of theroad is below the level of the water that you see on the other side; buton a careful comparison you find that it is so. When the tide is highthe difference is very great, and were it not for the dikes the peoplewould be inundated. [1]

[Footnote 1: See Frontispiece. ]

Indeed, the dikes alone would not prevent the country from beinginundated; for it is not possible to make them perfectly tight, and evenif it were so, the soil beneath them is more or less pervious to water, and thus the water of the sea and of the rivers would slowly press itsway through the lower strata, and oozing up into the land beyond, wouldsoon make it all a swamp. 

Then, besides the interpercolation from the soil, there is the rain. Inupland countries, the surplus water that falls in rain flows off inbrooks and rivers to the sea; but in land that is below the level ofthe sea, there can be no natural flow of either brooks or rivers. Therain water, therefore, that falls on this low land would remain therestagnant, except the comparatively small portion of it that would beevaporated by the sun and wind. 

Thus you see, that if the people of Holland were to rely on the dikesalone to keep the land dry, the country would become in a very shorttime one immense morass. 

To prevent this result it is necessary to adopt some plan to raise thewater, as fast as it accumulates in the low grounds, and convey it away. This is done by pumps and other such hydraulic engines, and these areworked in general by wind mills. 

They might be worked by steam engines; but steam engines are much moreexpensive than wind mills. It not only costs much more to make them, butthe expense of working them from day to day is very great, on account ofthe fuel which they require. The necessary attendance on a steam engine, too, is very expensive. There must be engineers, with high pay, to watchthe engine and to keep it always in order, and firemen to feed thefires, and ashmen to carry away the ashes and cinders. Whereas a windmill takes care of itself. 

The wind makes the wind mills go, and the wind costs nothing. It istrue, that the head of the mill must be changed from time to time, so asto present the sails always in proper direction to the wind. But eventhis is done by the wind itself. There is a contrivance by which themill is made to turn itself so as to face always in the right directiontowards the wind; and not only so, but the mill is sometimes soconstructed that if the wind blows too hard, it takes in a part of thesails by its own spontaneous action, and thus diminishes the strainwhich might otherwise be injurious to the machinery. 

Now, since the advantages of wind mills are so great over steam engines, in respect especially to cheapness, perhaps you will ask why steam isemployed at all to turn machinery, instead of always using the wind. Thereason is, because the wind is so unsteady. Some days a wind mill willwork, and some days it will lie still; and thus in regard to the timewhen it will do what is required of it, no reliance can be placed uponit. This is of very little consequence in the work of pumping up waterfrom the sunken country in Holland; for, if for several days the millsshould not do their work, no great harm would come of it, since theamount of water which would accumulate in that time would not do anyharm. The ground might become more wet, and the canals and reservoirsget full, --just as brooks and rivers do on any upland country after along rain. But then, after the calm was over and the wind began to blowagain, the mills would all go industriously to work, and the surpluswater would soon be pumped up, and discharged over the dikes into thesea again. 

Thus the irregularity in the action of the wind mills in doing such workas this, is of comparatively little consequence. 

But in the case of some other kinds of work, --as for example the drivingof a cotton mill, or any other great manufactory in which a large numberof persons are employed, --it would be of the greatest possibleconsequence; for when a calm time came, and the wind mill would notwork, all the hands would be thrown out of employ. They might sometimesremain idle thus a number of days at a time, at a great expense to theiremployers, or else at a great loss to themselves. Sometimes, forexample, there might be a fine breeze in the morning, and all the handswould go to the mill and begin their work. In an hour the breeze mightentirely die away, and the spinners and weavers would all find theirjennies and looms going slower and slower, and finally stoppingaltogether. And then, perhaps, two hours afterwards, when they had allgiven up the day's work and gone away to their respective homes, thebreeze would spring up again, and the wind mill would go to work moreindustriously than ever. 

This would not answer at all for a cotton mill, but it does very wellfor pumping up water from a great reservoir into which drains and canalsdischarge themselves to keep a country dry. 

And this reminds me of one great advantage which the people of Hollandenjoy on account of the low and level condition of their country; andthat is, it is extremely easy to make canals there. There are not onlyno mountains or rocks in the way to impede the digging of them, but, what is perhaps a still more important advantage, there is no difficultyin filling them with water. In other countries, when a canal is to bemade, the very first question is, How is it to be filled? For thispurpose the engineer explores the whole country through which the canalis to pass, to find rivers and streams that he can turn into it, whenthe bed of it shall have been excavated; and sometimes he has to bringthese supplies of water for a great distance in artificial channels, which often cross valleys by means of great aqueducts built up to holdthem. Sometimes a brook is in this way brought across a river, --theriver itself not being high enough to feed the canal. 

The people of Holland have no such difficulties as these to encounter intheir canals. The whole country being so nearly on a level with the sea, they have nothing to do, when they wish for a canal, but to extend it insome part to the sea shore, and then open a sluice way and let the waterin. 

It is true that sometimes they have to provide means to prevent theingress of too much water; but this is very easily done. 

It is thus so easy to make canals in Holland, that the people have beenmaking them for hundreds of years, until now almost the whole country isintersected every where with canals, as other countries are with roads. Almost all the traffic, and, until lately, almost all the travel of thecountry, has been upon the canals. There are private canals, too, aswell as public. A farmer brings home his hay and grain from his fieldsby water, and when he buys a new piece of land he makes a canal to it, as a Vermont farmer would make a road to a new pasture or wood lot thathe had been buying. 

Rollo wished very much to see all these things--but there was onequestion which it puzzled him very much to decide, and that was whetherhe would rather go to Holland in the summer or in the winter. 

"I am not certain, " said he to his mother one day, "whether it would notbe better for me to go in the winter. "

"It is very cold there in the winter, " said his mother; "so I am told. "

"That is the very thing, " said Rollo. "They have such excellent skatingon the canals. I want to see the boats go on the canals, and I want tosee the skating, and I don't know which I want to see most. "

"Yes, " said his mother, "I recollect to have often seen pictures ofskating on the Dutch canals. "

"And I read, when I was a boy, " continued Rollo, "that the women skateto market in Holland. "

Rollo here observed that his mother was endeavoring to suppress a smile. She seemed to try very hard, but she could not succeed in keepingperfectly sober. 

"What are you laughing at, mother?" asked Rollo. 

Here Mrs. Holiday could no longer restrain herself, but laughedoutright. 

"Is it about the Dutch women skating to market?" asked Rollo. 

"I think they must look quite funny, at any rate, " said Mrs. Holiday. 

What Mrs. Holiday was really laughing at was to hear Rollo talk about"when he was a boy. " But the fact was, that Rollo had now travelledabout so much, and taken care of himself in so many exigencies, that hebegan to feel quite like a man. And indeed I do not think it at allsurprising that he felt so. 

"Which would you do, mother, " said Rollo, "if you were I? Would yourather go in the summer or in the winter?"

"I would ask uncle George, " said Mrs. Holiday. 

So Rollo went to find his uncle George. 

Rollo was at this time at Morley's Hotel, in London, and he expected tofind his uncle George in what is called the coffee room. The coffee roomin Morley's Hotel is a very pleasant place. It fronts on one side upon avery busy and brilliant street, and on another upon a large open square, adorned with monuments and fountains. On the side towards the square isa bay window, and near this bay window were two or three small tables, with gentlemen sitting at them, engaged in writing. There were othertables along the sides of the room and at the other windows, wheregentlemen were taking breakfast. Mr. George was at one of the tablesnear the bay window, and was busy writing. 

Rollo went to the place, and standing by Mr. George's side, he said inan under tone, --

"Uncle George. "

Every body speaks in an under tone in an English coffee room. They dothis in order not to interrupt the conversation, or the reading, or thewriting of other gentlemen that may be in the room. 

"Wait a moment, " said Mr. George, "till I finish this letter. "

So Rollo turned to the bay window and looked out, in order to amusehimself with what he might observe in the street, till his uncle Georgeshould be ready to talk with him. 

He saw the fountains in the square, and a great many children playingabout the basins. He saw a poor boy at a crossing brushing the pavementindustriously with an old broom, and then holding out his hand to thepeople passing by, in hopes that some of them would give him ahalfpenny. He saw a policeman walking slowly up and down on thesidewalk, wearing a glazed hat, and a uniform of blue broadcloth, withhis letter and number embroidered on the collar. He saw an elegantcarriage drive by, with a postilion riding upon one of the horses, andtwo footmen in very splendid liveries behind. There was a lady in thecarriage, but she appeared old, and though she was splendidly dressed, her face was very plain. 

"I wonder, " said Rollo to himself, "how much she would give of herriches and finery if she could be as young and as pretty as my cousinLucy. "

"Now, Rollo, " said Mr. George, interrupting Rollo's reflections, "whatis the question?"

"Why, I want to know, " said Rollo, "whether you think we had better goto Holland in the winter or in the summer. "

"Is it left to you to decide?" asked Mr. George. 

"Why, no, " said Rollo, "not exactly. But mother asked me to considerwhich I thought was best, and so I want to know your opinion. "

"Very well, " said Mr. George, "go on and argue the case. After I haveheard it argued I will decide. "

Rollo then proceeded to explain to his uncle the advantages, respectively, of going in the summer and in the winter. After hearinghim, Mr. George thought it would be decidedly better to go in thesummer. 

"You see, " said he, "that the only advantage of going in the winter isto see the skating. That is very important, I know. I should like tosee the Dutch women skating to market myself, very much. But then, inthe winter you could see very little of the canals, and the wind mills, and all the other hydraulic operations of the country. Every thing wouldbe frozen up solid. "

"Father says that he can't go now very well, " continued Rollo, "but thatI may go with you if you would like to go. "

Mr. George was just in the act of sealing his letter as Rollo spokethese words; but he paused in the operation, holding the stick ofsealing wax in one hand and the letter in the other, as if he wasreflecting on what Rollo had said. 

"If we only had some one else to go with us, " said Mr. George. 

"Should not we two be enough?" asked Rollo. 

"Why, you see, " said Mr. George, "when we get into Holland we shall notunderstand one word of the language. "

"What language do they speak?" asked Rollo. 

"Dutch, " said Mr. George, "and I do not know any Dutch. "

"Not a word?" asked Rollo. 

"No, " said Mr. George, "not a word. Ah, yes! I know one word. I knowthat _dampschiff_ means steamboat. _Damp_, I suppose, means steam. "

Then Rollo laughed outright. Dampskiff, he said, was the funniest namefor steamboat that he ever heard. 

"Now, when we don't know a word of the language, " added Mr. George, "wecannot have any communication with the people of the country, but shallbe confined entirely to each other. Now, do you think that you could getalong with having nobody but me to talk to you for a whole fortnight?"

"Yes, indeed!" said Rollo. "But then, uncle George, " he continued, "howare you going to get along at the hotels without knowing how to speak tothe people at all?"

"By signs and gestures, " said Mr. George, laughing. "Could not you makea sign for something to eat?"

"O, yes, " said Rollo; and he immediately began to make believe eat, moving his hands as if he had a knife and fork in them. 

"And what sign would you make for going to bed?" asked Mr. George. 

Here Rollo laid his head down to one side, and placed his hand under it, as if it were a pillow, and then shut his eyes. 

"That is the sign for going to bed, " said Rollo. "A deaf and dumb boytaught it to me. "

"I wish he had taught you some more signs, " said Mr. George. "Or I wishwe had a deaf and dumb boy here to go with us. Deaf and dumb people canget along excellently well where they do not understand the language, because they know how to make so many signs. "

"O, we can make up the signs as we go along, " said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George. "I don't think that we shall have any greatdifficulty about that. But then it would be pleasanter to go in a littlelarger party. Two people are apt to get tired of each other, when thereis nobody else that they can speak a single word to for a wholefortnight. I don't think that I should get tired of you. What I amafraid of is, that you would get tired of me. "

There was a lurking smile on Mr. George's face as he said this. 

"O, uncle George!" said Rollo, "that is only your politeness. But thenif you really think that we ought to have some more company, perhaps theParkmans are going to Holland, and we might go with them. "

"I would not make a journey with the Parkmans, " said Mr. George, "ifthey would pay all my expenses, and give me five sovereigns a day. "

"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo; "I thought you liked Mr. Parkmanvery much. "

"So I do, " said Mr. George. "It is his wife that I would not go with. "

"O, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo again. 

Rollo was very much surprised at hearing this declaration; and it wasvery natural that he should be surprised, for Mrs. Parkman was a youngand beautiful lady, and she was very kindhearted and very amiable inher disposition. Mr. Parkman, too, was very young. He had been one ofMr. George's college classmates. He had been married only a short timebefore he left America, and he was now making his bridal tour. 

Mr. George thought that Mrs. Parkman was very beautiful and veryintelligent, but he considered her a very uncomfortable travellingcompanion. I think he judged her somewhat too harshly. But this was oneof Mr. George's faults. He did not like the ladies very much, and thefaults which he observed in them, from time to time, he was prone tocondemn much too harshly. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER II. 

A BAD TRAVELLING COMPANION. 

The reason why Mr. George did not like his friend Mr. Parkman's youngwife was not because of any want of natural attractiveness in herperson, or of amiableness in her disposition, --for she was beautiful, accomplished, and kindhearted. But for all this, from a want ofconsideration not uncommon among young ladies who are not muchexperienced in the world, she was a very uncomfortable travellingcompanion. 

It is the duty of a gentleman who has a lady under his charge, in makinga journey, to consult her wishes, and to conform to them so far as it ispossible, in determining where to go, and in making all the generalarrangements of the journey. But when these points are decided upon, every thing in respect to the practical carrying into effect of theplans thus formed should be left to the gentleman, as the executiveofficer of the party; just as in respect to affairs relating tohousekeeping, or any thing else relating to a lady's department, thelady should be left free to act according to her own judgment and tastein arranging details, while in the general plans she conforms to thewishes of her husband. For a lady, when travelling, to be continuallymaking suggestions and proposals about the baggage or the conveyances, and expressing dissatisfaction, or wish for changes in this, that, orthe other, is as much a violation of propriety as it would be for thegentleman to go into the kitchen, and there propose petty changes inrespect to the mode of cooking the dinner--or to stand by his wife ather work table, and wish to have her thread changed from this place tothat--or to have some different stitch to be used in making a seam. Alady very naturally feels disturbed if she finds that her husband doesnot have confidence enough in her to trust her with such details. 

"I will make or mend for you whatever you may desire, " she might say, "and I will get for your dinner any thing that you ask for; but in theway of doing it you ought to leave every thing to my direction. It isbetter to let me have my own way, even if your way is better than mine. For in matters of direction there ought always to be only one head, evenif it is not a very good one. "

And in the same manner a gentleman might say when travelling with alady, --

"I will arrange the journey to suit your wishes as far as ispracticable, and will go at such times and by such conveyances as youmay desire. I will also, at all the places where we stop, take you tovisit such objects of interest and curiosity as you wish to see. Butthen when it comes to the details of the arrangements to be made, --theorders to servants and commissioners, the determination of the times forsetting out, and the bargains to be made with coachmen andinnkeepers, --it is best to leave all those things to me; for it alwaysmakes confusion to have two persons give directions at the same time. "

To say this would be right in both cases, --there must always be _one_ tocommand. A great many families are kept in continual confusion by therebeing two or more ladies who consider themselves more or less at thehead of it--as, for instance, a wife and a sister, or two sisters and amother. Napoleon used to say that _one_ bad general was better than_two_ good ones; so important is it in war to have unity of command. Itis not much less important in social life. 

Mrs. Parkman did not understand this principle. Mr. George had seen anexample of her mode of management a day or two before, in taking a walkwith her and her husband in London. They were going to see the tunnelunder the Thames, which was three or four miles down the river fromMorley's Hotel, where they were all lodging. 

"Which way would you like to go?" asked Mr. Parkman. 

"Is there more than one way?" asked his wife. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Parkman, "we can take a Hansom cab, and drive downthrough the streets, or we can walk down to the river side, and theretake a boat. The boats are a great deal the cheapest, and the mostamusing; but the cab will be the most easy and comfortable, and the mostgenteel. We shall have to walk nearly half a mile before we get to thelanding of the boats. "

"Is there much difference in the price?" asked Mrs. Parkman. 

"Not enough to be of any consequence, " replied her husband. "It willmake a difference of about one and a half crown; for by the boats itwould be only two or three pence, while by the cab it will be as manyshillings. But that is of no consequence. We will go whichever way youthink you would enjoy the most. "

"You may decide for me, " said Mrs. Parkman. "I'll leave it entirely toyou. It makes no difference to me. "

"Then, on the whole, I think we will try the boat, " said Mr. Parkman;"it will be so much more amusing, and we shall see so much more ofLondon life. Besides, we shall often read and hear about the steamers onthe Thames when we return to America, and it will be well for us to havemade one voyage in them. And, Mr. George, will you go with us?"

"Yes, " said Mr. George. 

So they all left the hotel together, and commenced their walk towardsthe bridge where the nearest landing stage for the Thames boats lay. 

They had not gone but a very short distance before Mrs. Parkman began tohang rather heavily upon her husband's arm, and asked him whether it wasmuch farther that they would have to walk. 

"O, yes, " said Mr. Parkman. "I told you that we should have to walkabout half a mile. "

"Then we shall get all tired out, " said his wife, "and we want ourstrength for walking through the tunnel. It does not seem to be worthwhile to take all this trouble just to save half a crown. "

Mr. Parkman, though he had only been married a little more than a month, felt something like a sense of indignation rising in his breast, thathis wife should attribute to him such a motive for choosing the river, after what he had said on the subject. But he suppressed the feeling, and only replied quietly, --

"O, let us take a cab then, by all means. I hope you don't suppose thatI was going to take you by the boat to save any money. "

"I thought you said that you would save half a crown, " rejoined hiswife. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Parkman, "I did, it is true. "

Mr. Parkman was too proud to defend himself from such an imputation, supported by such reasoning as this; so he only said, "We will go by acab. We will take a cab at the next stand. "

Mr. George instantly perceived that by this change in the plan, he wasmade one too many for the party, since only two can ride conveniently ina Hansom cab. [2] So he said at once, that he would adhere to theoriginal plan, and go by water. 

[Footnote 2: A Hansom cab is made like an old-fashioned chaise, onlythat it is set very low, so that it is extremely easy to step in and outof it, and the seat of the driver is high up behind. The driver drives_over the top of the chaise_! Thus the view for the passengers ridinginside is wholly unobstructed, and this makes the Hansom cab a veryconvenient and pleasant vehicle for two persons to ride in, through thestreets of a new and strange town. ]

"But, first, " said he, "I will go with you to the stand, and see yousafe in a cab. "

So they turned into another street, and presently they came to a stand. There was a long row of cabs there, of various kinds, all waiting to beemployed. Among them were several Hansoms. 

Mr. Parkman looked along the line to select one that had a good horse. The distance was considerable that they had to go, and besides Mr. Parkman knew that his wife liked always to go fast. So when he hadselected the best looking horse, he made a signal to the driver. Thedriver immediately left the stand, and drove over to the sidewalk whereMr. Parkman and his party were waiting. 

Mr. Parkman immediately opened the door of the cab to allow his wife togo in; but she, instead of entering, began to look scrutinizingly intoit, and hung back. 

"Is this a nice cab?" said she. "It seems to me that I have seen nicercabs than this. 

"Let us look, " she added, "and see if there is not a better onesomewhere along the line. "

The cabman, looking down from his exalted seat behind the vehicle, saidthat there was not a nicer cab than his in London. 

"O, of course, " said Mrs. Parkman. "They always say that. But _I_ canfind a nicer one, I'm sure, somewhere in the line. "

So saying she began to move on. Mr. Parkman gave the cabman a silversixpence--which is equal to a New York shilling--to compensate himfor having been called off from his station, and then followed his wifeacross the street to the side where the cabs were standing. Mrs. Parkmanled the way all down the line, examining each hack as she passed it; butshe did not find any one that looked as well as the first. 

[Illustration: THE HANSOM CAB. ]

"After all, " said she, "we might as well go back and take the firstone. " So she turned and began to retrace her steps--the two gentlemenaccompanying her. But when they got back they found that the one whichMr. Parkman had first selected was gone. It had been taken by anothercustomer. 

Mr. George was now entirely out of patience; but he controlled himselfsufficiently to suppress all outward manifestation of it, only sayingthat he believed he would not wait any longer. 

"I will go down to the river, " said he, "and take a boat, and when youget a carriage you can go by land. I will wait for you at the entranceto the tunnel. "

So he went away; and as soon as he turned the corner of the street hesnapped his fingers and nodded his head with the air of a man who hasjust made a very lucky escape. 

"I thank my stars, " said he to himself, "that I have not got such a ladyas that to take care of. Handsome as she is, I would not have her for atravelling companion on any account whatever. "

It was from having witnessed several such exhibitions of character asthis that Mr. George had expressed himself so strongly to Rollo on thesubject of joining Mr. Parkman and his wife in making the tour ofHolland. 

But notwithstanding Mr. George's determination that he would not travelin company with such a lady, it seemed to be decreed that he should doso, for he left London about a week after this to go to Holland withRollo alone; and though he postponed setting out for several days, so asto allow Mr. And Mrs. Parkman time to get well under way before them, hehappened to fall in with them several times in the course of thejourney. The first time that he met with them was in crossing theStraits of Dover. 

There are several ways by which a person may go to Holland from London. The cheapest is to take a steamer, by which means you go down theThames, and thence pass directly across the German Ocean to the coast ofHolland. But that makes quite a little voyage by sea, during whichalmost all persons are subject to a very disagreeable kind of sickness, on account of the small size of the steamers, and the short tossingmotion of the sea that almost always prevails in the waters that liearound Great Britain. 

So Mr. George and Rollo, who neither of them liked to be seasick, determined to go another way. They concluded to go down by railway toDover, and then to go to Calais across the strait, where the passage isthe shortest. Mr. And Mrs. Parkman had set off several days before them, and Mr. George supposed that by this time they were far on their waytowards Holland. But they had been delayed by Mrs. Parkman's desire togo to Brighton, which is a great watering place on the coast, not farfrom Dover. There Mr. And Mrs. Parkman had spent several days, and it sohappened that in going from Brighton to Dover they met, at the junction, the train that was bringing Mr. George and Rollo down from London; andthus, though both parties were unconscious of the fact, they weretravelling along towards Dover, after leaving the junction, in the sametrain, and when they stepped out of the carriages, upon the Doverplatform, there they were all together. 

Mr. Parkman and Mr. George were very glad to see each other; and whilethey were shaking hands with each other, and making mutual explanations, Mrs. Parkman went to the door of the station to see what sort of a placeDover was. 

She saw some long piers extending out into the water, and a great manyships and steamers lying near them. The town lay along the shore, surrounding an inner harbor enclosed by the walls of the piers. Behindthe town were high cliffs, and an elevated plain above, on which a greatnumber of tents were pitched. It was the encampment of an army. A littleway along the shore a vast promontory was seen, crowned by an ancientand venerable looking castle, and terminated by a range of lofty andperpendicular cliffs of chalk towards the sea. 

"What a romantic place!" said Mrs. Parkman to herself. "It is just sucha place as I like. I'll make William stay here to-day. "

Just then she heard her husband's voice calling to her. 

"Louise!"

She turned and saw her husband beckoning to her. He was standing withMr. George and Rollo near the luggage van, as they call it in England, while the railway porters were taking out the luggage. 

Mrs. Parkman walked towards the place. 

"They say, Louise, " said Mr. Parkman, "that it is time for us to go onboard the boat. She is going to sail immediately. "

"Ah! but, William, " said Mrs. Parkman, "let us stay here a little while. Dover is such a romantic looking place. "

"Very well, " said Mr. Parkman, "we will stay if you like. Are you goingto stay, Mr. George?"

"Yes, " said Mr. George; "Rollo and I were going to stay till thisafternoon. There is a boat to cross at four o'clock. "

It was about eleven o'clock in the morning when this conversationoccurred. The porter stood by all the time with Mr. Parkman's two trunksin his charge, waiting to have it decided when they were to go. 

"I should think, sir, " said the porter, "that as you have a lady withyou, you would find this boat better. This is a tidal steamer, but thefour o'clock is the mail boat, and it will be pretty rough thisafternoon. There is a breeze coming up. "

"O, never mind the breeze, " said Mrs. Parkman. "We are used to it, porter. We've crossed the Atlantic. "

"Very well, " said Mr. Parkman, "we will wait until four o'clock. "

"Then I'll put the luggage in the luggage room, " said the porter, "andtake it to the boat at half past three. That's the way to the hotel, " headded, pointing the way. 

There are several very nice hotels in Dover, but the one which theporter referred to is one of the finest and most beautifully situatedhotels in Europe. It is a large and handsome edifice, built in modernstyle, and it stands close to the railroad station, on a point of landoverlooking the sea. The coffee room, which, unlike other English coffeerooms, is used by both ladies and gentlemen, is a very spacious andsplendidly decorated apartment, with large windows on three sides of it, overlooking the sea and the neighboring coasts. Each sash of thesewindows is glazed with one single pane of plate glass, so that whetherthey are shut or open there is nothing to intercept the view. The roomis furnished with a great number of tables, each large enough toaccommodate parties of four or six, and all, except two or three indifferent parts of the room that are reserved for reading and writing, are covered with neat white table cloths, and other preparations more orless advanced for breakfasts or dinners that may have been ordered, while at almost all times of the day, a greater or less number of themare occupied by parties of tourists, their bags and baskets lying on theneighboring chairs. 

It was into this room, so occupied, that our travellers were ushered asthey walked from the station into the hotel. 

Mrs. Parkman walked forward, and took her seat near a window. Thegentlemen attended her. 

"What a magnificent view!" said she. 

The view was indeed magnificent. Across the water was to be seen thecoast of France, lying like a low cloud close to the horizon. Ships, andsteamers, and fish boats, and every other sort of craft were seen plyingto and fro over the water, --some going out, others coming in. Throughone of the windows in the end of the room, Mrs. Parkman could see thecastle crowning its bold and lofty promontory, and the perpendicularcliffs of chalk, with the sea beating against the base of them below. Through the opposite window, which of course was at the other end of theroom, the view extended down the coast for a great distance, showingpoint after point, and headland after headland, in dim perspective--witha long line of surf rolling incessantly upon the beach, which seemed, inthat direction, interminable. 

After looking for some time at the view from the windows, Mrs. Parkmanturned to observe the company in the room, and to watch the severalparties of new comers as they successively entered. She wished to see ifthere were any young brides among them. While she was thus engaged, herhusband selected a table that was vacant, and ordered breakfast. Mr. George and Rollo did the same at another table near. 

While Mr. George and Rollo were at the table drinking their coffee, Mr. George asked Rollo what he supposed the porter meant by saying that theeleven o'clock boat was a tidal boat. 

"_I_ know, " said Rollo. "I read it in the guide book. The tidal steamersgo at high tide, or nearly high tide, and if you go in them you embarkfrom the pier on one side, and you land at the pier on the other. Butthe mail steamers go at a regular hour every day, and then when ithappens to be low tide, they cannot get to the pier, and the passengershave to land in small boats. That is what the porter meant when he saidthat it would not be pleasant for a lady to go in the mail steamer. Itis very unpleasant for ladies to be landed in small boats when theweather is rough. "

"I don't believe that Mrs. Parkman understood it, " said Mr. George. 

"Nor I either, " said Rollo. 

"I presume she thought, " added Mr. George, "that when the porter spokeabout the rough sea, he only referred to the motion of the steamer ingoing over. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "but what he really meant was, that it would be badfor her to get down from the steamer into the small boat at the landing. I am afraid that she will not like it, though I think that it will bereal good fun. "

"Very likely it will be fun for _you_, " said Mr. George. 

"I would a great deal rather go across in a mail steamer at low tidethan in any other way, " said Rollo. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER III. 

THE MAIL STEAMER. 

Rollo's explanation in respect to the mail steamer was correct. As hasbefore been stated in some one or other of the volumes of this series, the northern coast of France is low, and the shore is shelving foralmost the whole extent of it, and there are scarcely any good harbors. Immense sandy beaches extend along the coast, sloping so graduallyoutward, that when the tide goes down the sands are left bare for milesand miles towards the sea. The only way by which harbors can be made onsuch a shore is to find some place where a creek or small river flowsinto the sea, and then walling in the channel at the mouth of the creek, so as to prevent it being choked up by sand. In this way a passage issecured, by which, when the tide is high, pretty good sized vessels canget in; but, after all that they can do in such a case, they cannot makea harbor which can be entered at low tide. When the tide is out, nothingis left between the two piers, which form the borders of the channel, but muddy flats, with a small, sluggish stream, scarcely deep enough tofloat a jolly boat, slowly meandering in the midst of them towards thesea. 

The harbor of California is such a harbor as this. Accordingly, in casea steamer arrives there when the tide is down, there is no other way butfor her to anchor in the offing until it rises again; and thepassengers, if they wish to go ashore, must clamber down the side of thevessel into a small boat, and be pulled ashore by the oarsmen. In smoothweather this is very easily done. But in rough weather, when bothsteamer and boat are pitching and tossing violently up and down upon thewaves, it is _not_ very easy or agreeable, especially for timid ladies. 

After finishing their breakfast, Mr. George and Rollo went out, and theyrambled about the town until the time drew near for the sailing of theboat. Then they went to the station for the luggage, and having engageda porter to take it to the boat, they followed him down to the pier tillthey came to the place where the boat was lying. After seeing the trunkput on board they went on board themselves. A short time afterwards Mr. And Mrs. Parkman came. 

The steamer, like all the others which ply between the coasts of Franceand England, was quite small, and the passengers were very few. Therewere only four or five ladies, and not far from the same number ofgentlemen. As the passage was only expected to occupy about two hours, the passengers did not go below, but arranged themselves on seats uponthe deck--some along the sides of the deck by the bulwarks, and somenear the centre, around a sort of house built over the passage way whichled down into the cabin. 

Soon after Mr. And Mrs. Parkman came on board, Mr. Parkman said to hiswife, --

"Now, Louise, my dear, you will be less likely to be sick if you getsome good place where you can take a reclining posture, and so remainpretty still until we get over. "

"O, I shall not be sick, " said she. "I am not at all afraid. "

So she began walking about the deck with an unconcerned and carelessair, as if she had been an old sailor. 

Pretty soon Mr. George saw two other ladies coming, with their husbands, over the plank. The countenances of these ladies were very pleasing, andthere was a quiet gentleness in their air and manner which impressed Mr. George very strongly in their favor. 

As soon as they reached the deck, and while their husbands wereattending to the disposal of the luggage, they began to look for seats. 

"We will get into the most comfortable position we can, " said one ofthem, "and keep still till we get nearly across. "

"Yes, " said the other, "that will be the safest. "

So they chose good seats near the companion way, and sat down there, andtheir husbands brought them carpet bags to put their feet upon. 

In about fifteen minutes after this the steamer put off from the pier, and commenced her voyage. She very soon began to rise and fall over thewaves, with a short, uneasy motion, which was very disagreeable. Thepassengers, however, all remained still in the places which they hadseverally chosen, --some reading, others lying quiet with their eyesclosed, as if they were trying to go to sleep. 

Mr. Parkman himself tried to do this, but his wife would not leave himin peace. She came to him continually to inquire about this or that, orto ask him to look at some vessel that was coming in sight, or at someview on the shore. All this time the wind, and the consequent motion ofthe steamer, increased. Scudding clouds were seen flitting across thesky, from which there descended now and then misty showers of rain. These clouds gradually became more frequent and more dense, until atlength the whole eastern sky was involved in one dense mass ofthreatening vapor. 

It began to grow dark, too. The specified time for sailing was fouro'clock; but there was a delay for the mails, and it was full half pastfour before the steamer had left the pier. And now, before she began todraw near the French coast, it was nearly half past six. At length thecoast began slowly to appear. Its outline was dimly discerned among themisty clouds. 

Long before this time, however, Mrs. Parkman had become quite sick. Shefirst began to feel dizzy, and then she turned pale, and finally shecame and sat down by her husband, and leaned her head upon his shoulder. 

She had been sitting in this posture for nearly half an hour, when atlength she seemed to feel better, and she raised her head again. 

"Are we not nearly there?" said she. 

"Yes, " said her husband. "The lighthouse is right ahead, and the ends ofthe piers. In ten minutes more we shall be going in between them, andthen all the trouble will be over. "

Rollo and Mr. George were at this time near the bows. They had gonethere to look forward, in order to get as early a glimpse as possibleof the boats that they knew were to be expected to come out from thepier as soon as the steamer should draw nigh. 

"Here they come!" said Rollo, at length. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George. "I see them. "

It was so nearly dark that the boats could not be seen distinctly. Indeed there was not much to be discerned but a black moving mass, slowly coming out from under the walls of the pier. 

The steamer had now nearly reached the ground where she was to anchor, and so the seamen on the forecastle took in the foresail, which had beenspread during the voyage, and the helmsman put down the helm. The headof the steamer then slowly came round till it pointed in a directionparallel to the shore. This carried the boats and the pier somewhat outof view from the place where Mr. George and Rollo had been standing. 

"Now we can see them better aft, " said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and they will board us aft too; so we hadbetter be there ready. "

Accordingly Mr. George and Rollo went aft again, and approached thegangway on the side where they supposed the boats would come. 

In going there they passed round first on the other side of the entranceto the cabin, where the two ladies were sitting that have already beendescribed. As they went by one of the gentlemen came to them and said, --

"Keep up your courage a few minutes longer. We are very near the pier. In ten minutes we shall be in smooth water, and all will be over. "

The ladies seemed much relieved and rejoiced to hear this, and then thegentleman went with Mr. George and Rollo towards the gangway, in orderthat they might make further observations. He was joined there a momentafterwards by his companion. Now, these gentlemen, as it happened, knewnothing about the plan of landing in boats. They had made no particularinquiry at Dover in respect to the steamer that they had come in, buttook it for granted that she would go into the harbor as usual, and landthe passengers at the pier. Their attention had just been attracted tothe singular movement of the steamer, when Rollo and Mr. George came up. 

"_What!_" said one of them, speaking with a tone of surprise, andlooking about eagerly over the water. "We are coming to, Mr. Waldo. Whatcan that mean?"

Just then the little fleet of boats, six or seven in number, began tocome into view from where the gentlemen stood. They were dimly seen at adistance, and looked like long, black animals, slowly advancing over thedark surface of the water, and struggling fearfully with the waves. 

"What boats can those be?" said Mr. Waldo, beginning to look a littlealarmed. 

He was alarmed not for himself, but for his wife, who was very frail anddelicate in health, and ill fitted to bear any unusual exposure. 

"I am sure I cannot imagine, " replied the other. 

"It looks marvellously as if they were coming out for us, " said Mr. Waldo. 

"Can it be possible, Mr. Albert, that we are to land in boats such anight as this?" continued he. 

"It looks like it, " replied the other. "Yes, they are really cominghere. "

The boats were now seen evidently advancing towards the steamer. Theycame on in a line, struggling fearfully with the waves. 

"They look like spectres of boats, " said Mr. George to Rollo. 

Mr. Albert now went round to the other side of the companion way, to theplace where the two ladies were sitting. 

"Ladies, " said he, "I am very sorry to say that we shall be obliged toland in boats. "

"In boats!" said the ladies, surprised. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Albert, "the tide is out, and I suppose we cannot gointo port. The steamer has come to, and the boats are comingalongside. "

The ladies looked out over the dark and stormy water with an emotion offear, but they did not say a word. 

"There is no help for it, " continued the gentleman; "and you havenothing to do but to resign yourselves passively to whatever comes. Ifwe had known that this steamer would not go into port, we would not havecome in her; but now that we are here we must go through. "

"Very well, " said the ladies. "Let us know when the boat for us isready. "

Mr. Albert then returned to the gangway, where Rollo and Mr. George werestanding. The foremost boat had come alongside, and the seamen werethrowing the mail bags into it. When the mails were all safely stowed inthe boat, some of the passengers that stood near by were called upon tofollow. Mr. George and Rollo, being near, were among those thus calledupon. 

"Wait a moment, " said Mr. George to Rollo, in a low tone. "Let a few ofthe others go first, that we may see how they manage it. "

It proved to be rather difficult to manage it; for both the steamer andthe boat were rocking and tossing violently on the waves, and as theirrespective motions did not at all correspond, they thumped against eachother continually, as the boat rose and fell up and down the side ofthe steamer in a fearful manner. It was dark too, and the wind wasblowing fresh, which added to the frightfulness of the scene. 

A crowd of people stood about the gangway. Some of these people werepassengers waiting to go down, and others, officers of the ship, to helpthem. The seamen in the boat below were all on the alert too, someemployed in keeping the boat off from the side of the ship, in order toprevent her being stove or swamped, while others stood on each side ofthe place where the passengers were to descend, with uplifted arms, ready to seize and hold them when they came down. 

There was a little flight of steps hanging down the side of the steamer, with ropes on each side of it in lieu of a balustrade. The passenger whowas to embark was directed to turn round and begin to go down thesesteps backward, and then, when the sea lifted the boat so that theseamen on board could seize hold of him, they all cried outvociferously, "LET GO!" and at the same moment a strong sailor graspedhim around the waist, brought him down into the bottom of the boat in avery safe, though extremely unceremonious manner. 

After several gentlemen and one lady had thus been put into the boat, amid a great deal of calling and shouting, and many exclamations ofsurprise and terror, the officer at the gangway turned to Mr. George, saying, --

"Come, sir!"

There was no time to stop to talk; so Mr. George stepped forward, sayingto Rollo as he went, "Come right on directly after me;" and in a momentmore he was seized by the man, and whirled down into the boat, hescarcely knew how. Immediately after he was in, there came someunusually heavy seas, and the steamer and the boat thumped together soviolently that all the efforts of the seamen seemed to be required tokeep them apart. 

"Push off!" said the officer. 

"Here, stop! I want to go first, " exclaimed Rollo. 

"No more in this boat, " said the officer. "Push off!"

"Never mind, " said Rollo, calling out to Mr. George, "I'll come by andby. "

"All right, " said Mr. George. 

By this time the boat had got clear of the steamer, and she now began tomove slowly onward, rising and falling on the waves, and strugglingviolently to make her way. 

"I am glad they did not let me go, " said Rollo. "I would rather stayand see the rest go first. "

Another boat was now seen approaching, and Rollo stepped back a littleto make way for the people that were to go in it, when he heard Mrs. Parkman's voice, in tones of great anxiety and terror, saying to herhusband, --

"I cannot go ashore in a boat in that way, William. I cannot possibly, and I will not!"

"Why, Louise, " said her husband, "what else can we do?"

"I'll wait till the steamer goes into port, if I have to wait tillmidnight, " replied Mrs. Parkman positively. "It is a shame! Suchdisgraceful management! Could not they find out how the tide would behere before they left Dover?"

"Yes, " replied Mr. Parkman. "Of course they knew perfectly well how thetide would be. "

"Then why did not they leave at such an hour as to make it right forlanding here?"

"There _are_ boats every day, " said Mr. Parkman, "which leave at theright time for that, and most passengers take them. But the mails mustcome across at regular hours, whether the tide serves or not, and boatsmust come to bring the mails, and they, of course, allow passengers tocome in these boats too, if they choose. We surely cannot complain ofthat. "

"Then they ought to have told us how it was, " said Mrs. Parkman. "Ithink it is a shameful deception, to bring us over in this way, and notlet us know any thing about it. "

"But they did tell us, " said Mr. Parkman. "Do not you recollect that theporter at the station told us that this was a mail boat, and that itwould not be pleasant for a lady. "

"But I did not know, " persisted Mrs. Parkman, "that he meant that weshould have to land in this way. He did not tell us any thing aboutthat. "

"He told us that it was a mail boat, and he meant by that to tell usthat we could not land at the pier. It is true, we did not understandhim fully, but that is because we come from a great distance, and do notunderstand the customs of the country. That is our misfortune. It wasnot the porter's fault. "

"I don't think so at all, " said Mrs. Parkman. "And you always take partagainst me in such things, and I think it is really unkind. "

All this conversation went on in an under tone; but though there was agreat deal of noise and confusion on every side, Rollo could hear itall. While he was listening to it, --or rather while he was _hearing_ it, for he took no pains to listen, --the gentleman who had been talkingwith Mr. Waldo, and whom the latter had called Mr. Albert, went round tothe two ladies who were waiting to be called, and said, --

"Now, ladies, the boat is ready. Follow me. Say nothing, but do just asyou are told, and all will go well. "

[Illustration: LANDING FROM THE MAIL BOAT. ]

So the ladies came one after the other in among the crowd that gatheredaround the gangway, and there, before they could bring their facultiesat all to comprehend any thing distinctly amid the bewilderingconfusion of the scene, they found their bags and shawls taken away fromthem, and they themselves turned round and gently forced to back downthe steps of the ladder over the boiling surges, when, in a moment more, amid loud shouts of "LET GO!" they were seized by the sailors in theboat, and down they went, they knew not how, for a distance of many feetinto the stern of the boat, where they suddenly found themselves seated, while the boat itself was rocking violently to and fro, and thumpingagainst the side of the steamer in a frightful manner. 

The officer, who had charge of the debarkation on the deck of thesteamer above, immediately called to Mrs. Parkman. 

"Come, madam!" said he. 

"No, " said she, "I can't possibly go ashore in that way. "

"Then you will have to stay on board all night. "

"Well, I'd rather stay on board all night, " said she. 

"And you will have to go back to Dover, madam, " continued the officer, speaking in a very stern and hurried manner, "for the steamer is notgoing into the pier at all. "

Then immediately turning to Rollo, he said, "Come, young man!"

So Rollo marched up to the gangway, and was in a moment whirled downinto the boat, as the others had been. Immediately afterwards the boatpushed off, and the sailors began to row, leaving Mr. And Mrs. Parkmanon board the steamer. How they were to get to the shore Rollo did notknow. 

Rollo began to look about over the water. It had become almost entirelydark, and though the moon, which was full, had, as it happened, brokenout through the clouds a short time before, when they were getting intothe boats, she had now become obscured again, and every thing seemedenveloped in deep gloom. Still Rollo could see at a short distancebefore him the other boats slowly making their way over the wild andstormy water. He could also see the ends of the piers dimly defined inthe misty air, and the tall lighthouse beyond, with a bright lightburning in the lantern at the top of it. 

"We shall only be a few minutes, now, " said one of the gentlemen. "It isnot far to the piers. "

The boat went on, pitching and tossing over the waves, with her headtowards the piers. The pilot who steered the boat called out continuallyto the oarsmen, and the oarsmen shouted back to him; but nobody couldunderstand such sailor language as they used. At length, on lookingforward again, Rollo saw that the boats before him, instead of going onin a line towards the land, were slowly scattering in all directions, and that their own boat, instead of heading towards the pier as atfirst, gradually turned round, and seemed to be going along in adirection parallel to the coast, as the steamer had done. 

"What!" exclaimed Mr. Albert, on observing this, "we are not goingtowards the piers. Where can we be going?"

The other gentleman shook his head, and said he did not know. 

The ladies remained quietly in their places. There was evidently nothingfor them to do, and so they concluded, very sensibly, to do nothing. 

The boat slowly turned her head round, all the time pitching and tossingviolently on the billows, until finally she was directed almost towardsthe steamer again. 

"What can be the matter?" asked one of the gentlemen, addressing theother. "We are not heading towards the shore. " Then turning towards thepilot, he said to him, --

"What is the matter? Why cannot we go in?"

The pilot, who spoke English very imperfectly, answered, "It is a bar. The water is not enough. "

"There is a bar, " said the gentleman, "outside the entrance to theharbor, and the water is not deep enough even for these boats to goover. We can see it. "

Rollo and the others looked in the direction where the gentlemanpointed, and he could see a long, white line formed by the breakers onthe bar, extending each way as far as the eye could reach along theshore. Beyond were to be dimly seen the heads of the piers, and a lowline of the coast on either hand, with the lighthouse beyond, toweringhigh into the air, and a bright and steady light beaming from the summitof it. 

"I hope the tide is not going _down_, " said the gentleman, "for in thatcase we may have to wait here half the night. "

"Is the tide going down, or coming up?" he said, turning again to thepilot. 

"It will come up. The tide will come up, " answered the pilot. 

"What does he say?" asked one of the ladies in a whisper. 

"He says that the tide will come up, " replied the gentleman. "Whether hemeans it is coming up now, or that it will come up some time or other, Ido not know. We have nothing to do but to remain quiet, and await theresult. "

The clouds had been for some time growing darker and darker, and now itbegan to rain. So the gentlemen took out their umbrellas and spreadthem, and the party huddled together in the bottom of the boat, andsheltered themselves there as well as they could from the wind and rain. They invited Rollo to come under the umbrellas too, but he said that therain would not hurt his cap, and he preferred to sit where he could lookout and see what they would do. 

"Very well, " said one of the gentlemen. "Tell us, from time to time, howwe get along. "

So Rollo watched the manoeuvring of the boat, and reported, from timeto time, the progress that she was making. It was not very easy for himto make himself heard, on account of the noise of the winds and waves, and the continual vociferations of the pilot and the seamen. 

"We are headed now, " said he, "right away from the shore. We are pointedtowards the steamer. I can just see her, working up and down in theoffing. 

"Now the men are backing water, " he continued. "We are going sternforemost towards the bar. I believe they are going to try to back herover. "

The boat now rapidly approached the line of breakers, moving sternforemost. The roar of the surf sounded nearer and nearer. At length theladies and gentlemen under the umbrellas looked out, and they sawthemselves in the midst of rolling billows of foam, on which the boatrose and fell like a bubble. Presently they could feel her thump uponthe bottom. The next wave lifted her up and carried her towards theshore, and then subsiding, brought her down again with another thumpupon the sand. The pilot shouted out new orders to the seamen. Theyimmediately began to pull forward with their oars. He had found that thewater was yet too shallow on the bar, and that it would be impossible topass over. So the sailors were pulling the boat out to sea again. 

The ladies were, of course, somewhat alarmed while the boat was thumpingon the bar, and the boiling surges were roaring so frightfully aroundthem; but they said nothing. They knew that they had nothing to do, andso they remained quiet. 

"We are clear of the bar, now, " said Rollo, continuing his report. "Ican see the breakers in a long line before us, but we are clear of them. Now the sailors are getting out the anchor. I can see a number of theother boats that are at anchor already. "

The anchor, or rather the grapnel which served as an anchor, was nowthrown overboard, and the boat came to, head to the wind. There shelay, pitching and tossing very uneasily on the sea. The other boats wereseen lying in similar situations at different distances. One was verynear; so near, that instead of anchoring herself, the seamen threw arope from her on board the boat where Rollo was, and so held on by her, instead of anchoring herself. In this situation the whole fleet of boatsremained for nearly an hour. Rollo kept a good lookout all the time, watching for the first indications of any attempt to move. 

At length he heard a fresh command given by the pilot, in language thathe could not understand; but the sailors at the bows immediately beganto take in the anchor. 

"They are raising the anchor, " said he. "Now we are going to try itagain. There is one boat gone already. She is just coming to the bar. She is now just in the breakers. I can see the white foam all aroundher. She is going in. Now she is over. I can see the whole line of foamthis side of her. Our boat will be there very soon. "

In a very few minutes more the boat entered the surf, and soon began tothump as before at every rise and fall of the seas. But as eachsuccessive wave came up, she was lifted and carried farther over thebar, and at last came to deep water on the other side. 

"It is all over now, " said one of the gentlemen, "and, besides, it hasstopped raining. " So he rose from his place and shut the umbrella. Theladies looked around, and to their great joy saw that they were justentering between the ends of the piers. The passage way was not verywide, and the piers rose like high walls on each side of it; but thewater was calm and smooth within, and the boats glided along one afteranother in a row, in a very calm and peaceful manner. At length theyreached the landing stairs, which were built curiously within the pier, among the piles and timbers, and there they all safely disembarked. 

On reaching the top of the stairs, Rollo found Mr. George waiting forhim. 

"Uncle George, " said Rollo, "here I am. "

"Have you had a good time?" asked Mr. George. 

"Yes, " said Rollo, "excellent. "

"And what became of Mr. And Mrs. Parkman?"

"I don't know, " said Rollo; "I left them on board the steamer. Shedeclared that she would not come in a small boat. "

"You and I, " said Mr. George, "will go off to-morrow morning by thefirst train, and go straight to Holland as fast as we can, so as to getout of their way. "

"Well, " said Rollo. "Though I don't care much about it either way. "

Mr. George, however, carried his plan into effect. The next day theywent to Antwerp; and on the day following they crossed the Belgianfrontier, and entered Holland. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV. 

ENTERING HOLLAND. 

Rollo and Mr. George went into Holland by the railway. It was a longtime before Rollo learned that in travelling from one European countryto another, he was not to expect any visible line of demarcation to showthe frontier. Boys at school, in studying the shape and conformation ofdifferent countries on the map, and seeing them marked by distinctcolored boundaries, are very apt to imagine that they will seesomething, when travelling from one country to another, to show them byvisible signs when they pass the frontier. 

But there is nothing of the kind. The green fields, the groves, thefarmhouse, the succession of villages continues unchanged as you travel, so that, as you whirl along in the railway carriage, there is nothing towarn you of the change, except the custom house stations, where thepassports of travellers are called for, and the baggage is examined. 

"Uncle George, " said Rollo, after looking out of the window at a placewhere the train stopped, twenty or thirty miles from Antwerp, "I thinkwe are coming to the frontier. "

"Why so?" asked Mr. George. 

"Because the Belgian custom house is at this station, and the next willbe the Dutch custom house. "

Rollo knew that this was the Belgian custom house by seeing the wordDOUANE over one of the doors of the station, and under it the wordsVISITE DES BAGAGES, which means _examination of baggage_. There werebesides a great many soldiers standing about, which was anotherindication. 

"How do you know that it is the Belgian custom house?" asked Mr. George. 

"Because all these soldiers are in the Belgian uniform, " said he. "Iknow the Belgian uniform. I don't know the Dutch uniform, but I supposeI shall see it at the next station. "

Rollo was perfectly right in his calculations. The last station on theline of the railway in Belgium was the frontier station for Belgium, andhere travellers, coming from Holland, were called upon to show theirpassports, and to have their baggage examined. In the same manner thefirst station beyond, which was the first one in Holland, was thefrontier station for that country, and there passengers going fromBelgium into Holland were stopped and examined in the same way. 

After going on a few miles from the Belgium station, the whistle blewand the train began to stop. 

"Here we are!" said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George; "and now comes the time of trial for the musicalbox. "

Rollo had bought a musical box at Antwerp, and he had some fears lest hemight be obliged to pay a duty upon it, in going into Holland. Mr. George had told him that he thought there was some danger, but Rolloconcluded that he would take the risk. 

"They have no business to make me pay duty upon it, " said he to Mr. George. 

"Why not?" asked Mr. George. 

"Because it is not for merchandise, " said Rollo. "It is not for sale. Ihave bought it for my own use alone. "

"That has nothing to do with it, " said Mr. George. 

"Yes it has, a great deal to do with it, " replied Rollo. 

There might have been quite a spirited discussion between Mr. George andRollo, on this old and knotty question, over which tourists in Europeare continually stumbling, had not the train stopped. The moment thatthe motion ceased, the doors of all the carriages were opened, and a manpassed along the line calling out in French, --

"Gentlemen and ladies will all descend here, for the examination ofpassports and baggage. "

Mr. George and Rollo had no baggage, except a valise which they carriedwith them in the carriage. Mr. George took this valise up and steppeddown upon the platform. 

"Now, Rollo, " said Mr. George, "if they find your musical box and chargeduty upon it, pay it like a man. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "I will. "

"And don't get up a quarrel with the custom house officer on thesubject, " continued Mr. George, "for he has the whole military force ofthe kingdom of Holland at his command, and what he says is to be done, in this territory, must be done. "

So saying, Mr. George, valise in hand, followed the crowd of passengersthrough a door, over which was inscribed the Dutch word for baggage. Inthe centre of this room there was a sort of low counter, enclosing asort of oblong square. Within the square were a number of custom houseofficers, ready to examine the baggage which the porters and thepassengers were bringing in, and laying upon the counter, all around thefour sides of the square. 

Mr. George brought up his valise, and placed it on the counter. A customhouse officer, who had just examined and marked some other parcels, turned to Mr. George's just as he had unlocked and opened it. 

"Have you any thing to declare?" said the officer. 

"Nothing, sir, " said Mr. George. 

The officer immediately shut the valise, and marked it on the back witha piece of chalk, and Mr. George locked it and took it away. 

"Are you through?" asked Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George. 

Mr. George then took the valise and followed a crowd of passengers, whowere going through a door at the end of the room opposite to where theycame in. There was an officer in uniform on each side of this door. These officers examined every bag, valise, or parcel that the passengershad in their hands, to see if they had been marked by the examiners, andas fast as they found that they were marked, they let them pass. 

Following this company, Mr. George and Rollo came soon to another smallroom, where a man was sitting behind a desk, examining the passports ofthe passengers and stamping them. Mr. George waited a moment until itcame his turn, and then handed his passport too. The officer looked atit, and then stamped an impression from a sort of seal on one corner ofit. He also wrote Mr. George's and Rollo's name in a big book, copyingthem for this purpose from the passport. 

He then handed the passport back again, and Mr. George and Rollo wentout, passing by a soldier who guarded the door. They found themselvesnow on the railway platform. 

"Now, " said Rollo, "I suppose that we may go and take our seats again. "

"Yes, " said Mr. George. "We are fairly entered within the dominions ofhis majesty the king of Holland. "

"And no duty to pay on my music box, " said Rollo. 

Rollo took a seat by a window where he could look out as the train wenton, and see, as he said, how Holland looked. The country was one immenseand boundless plain, and there were no fences or other close enclosuresof any kind. And yet the face of it was so endlessly varied with rows oftrees, groves, farm houses, gardens, wind mills, roads, and otherelements of rural scenery, that Rollo found it extremely beautiful. Thefields were very green where grass was growing, and the foliage of thetrees, and of the little ornamental hedges that were seen here and thereadorning the grounds of the farm houses, was very rich and full. AsRollo looked out at the window, a continued succession of the mostbright and beautiful pictures passed rapidly before his eyes, like thoseof a gayly painted panorama, and they all called forth from himcontinually repeated exclamations of delight. Mr. George sat at hiswindow enjoying the scene perhaps quite as much as Rollo did, though hewas much less ardent in expressing his admiration. 

"See these roads, uncle George, " said Rollo; "they run along on the topsof the embankment like railroads. Are those dikes?"

"No, " said Mr. George. "The dikes are built along the margin of the sea, and along the banks of rivers and canals, to take the water out. Theseare embankments for the roads, to raise them up and keep them dry. "

There were rows of trees on the sides of these raised roads, whichformed beautiful avenues to shelter the carriage way from the sun. Theseavenues could sometimes be seen stretching for miles across the country. 

"Now, pretty soon, " said Rollo, "we shall come to the water, and then weshall take a steamboat. "

"Then we do not go all the way by the train, " said Mr. George. 

"No, " said Rollo. "The railroad stops at a place called Moerdyk, andthere we take a steamer and go along some of the rivers. 

"But I can't find out by the map exactly how we are to go, " hecontinued, "because there are so many rivers. "

Rollo had found, by the map, that the country all about Rotterdam wasintersected by a complete network of creeks and rivers. This system wasconnected on the land side with the waters of the Rhine, by the immensemultitude of branches into which that river divides itself towards itsmouth, and on the other side by innumerable creeks and inlets coming infrom the sea. This network of channels is so extensive, and the water inthe various branches of it is so deep, that ships and steamers can go atwill all about the country. It would be as difficult to make a railroadover such a tract of mingled land and water as this, as it is easy tonavigate a steamer through it; and, accordingly, the owners of the linehad made arrangements for stopping the trains at Moerdyk, and thentransferring the passengers to a steamer. 

"I have great curiosity, " said Rollo, "to see whether, when we come tothe water, we shall go _up_ to it, instead of _down_ to it. "

"Do you think that we shall go up to it?" asked Mr. George. 

"I don't know, " replied Rollo. "We do in some parts of Holland. In someplaces, according to what the guide book says, the land is twenty orthirty feet below the level of the water, and so when you come to theshore you go _up an embankment_, and there you find the water on theother side, nearly at the top of it. "

When at length the train stopped at Moerdyk, the conductor called outfrom the platform that all the passengers would descend from thecarriages to embark on board the steamer. Rollo was too much interestedin making the change, and in hurrying Mr. George along so as to get agood seat in the steamer, to make any observation on the comparativelevel of the land and water. There was quite a little crowd ofpassengers to go on board; and as they walked along the pier towards theplace where the steamer was lying, all loaded with as many bags, cloaks, umbrellas, or parcels of some sort, as they could carry, Rollo and Mr. George pressed on before them, Rollo leading the way. The steamer was along and narrow boat, painted black, in the English fashion. There wasno awning over the deck, and most of the passengers went below. 

"I don't see what they are all going below for, " said Rollo. "I shouldthink that they would wish to stay on deck and see the scenery. "

So Rollo chose a seat by the side of a small porch which was built uponthe deck over the entrance to the cabin, and sat down immediately uponit, making room for Mr. George by his side. There was a little tablebefore him, and he laid down his guide book and his great coat upon it. 

"Now, " said he, "this is good. We have got an excellent seat, and wewill have a first rate time looking at Holland as we go along. "

Just then a young man, dressed in a suit of gray, and with a spy glasshanging at his side, suspended by a strap from his shoulder, and with ayoung and pretty, but rather disdainful looking lady on his arm, cameby. 

"Now, Emily, " said he, "which would you prefer, to sit here upon thedeck or go below?"

"O George, " said she, "let us go below. There's nothing to be seen onthe deck. The country is every where flat and uninteresting. "

"We might see the shores as we go along, " suggested her husband. 

"O, there's nothing to be seen along the shores, " said she; "nothing butbulrushes and willows. We had better go below. "

So Emily led George below. 

"Rollo, " said Mr. George, "if you would like to take a bet, I will betyou the prettiest Dutch toy that you can find in Amsterdam, that that isanother Mrs. Parkman. "

"I think it very likely she is, " said Rollo. "But, uncle George, what doyou think they have got down below? I've a great mind to go down andsee. "

"Very well, " said Mr. George. 

"And will you keep my place while I am gone?" asked Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "or you can put your cap in it to keep it. "

So Rollo put his cap in his seat, and went down below. In a few minuteshe returned, saying that there was a pretty little cabin down there, with small tables set out along the sides of it, and different partiesof people getting ready for breakfast. 

"It is rather late for breakfast, " said Mr. George. "It is after twelveo'clock. "

"Then perhaps they call it luncheon, " said Rollo. "But I'd rather stayon deck. We might have something to eat here. Don't you think we couldhave it on this table?"

"Yes, " replied Mr. George, "that is what the table is put here for. "

"Well!" said Rollo, his eye brightening up at the idea. 

"We can have it here, or we can wait and have it at the hotel inRotterdam, " said Mr. George. "You may decide. I'll do just as you say. "

Rollo finally concluded to wait till they arrived at Rotterdam, and thento have a good dinner all by themselves at some table by a window in thehotel, and in the mean time to devote himself, while on board thesteamer, to observing the shores of the river, or arm of the sea, whichever it might be, on which they were sailing. 

The steamer had before this time set sail from the pier, and afterbacking out of a little sort of creek or branch where it had beenmoored, it entered a broad channel of deep water, and began rapidly tomove along. The day was pleasant, and though the air was cool, Rollo andMr. George were so well sheltered by the little porch by the side ofwhich they were sitting, that they were very comfortable in allrespects. 

Before long the channel of water in which the steamer was sailing becamemore narrow, and the steamer passed nearer a bank, which Rollo soonperceived was formed by a dike. 

"See, see! uncle George, " said he. "There are the roofs of the housesover on the other side of the dike. We can just see the tops of them. The ground that the houses stand upon must be a great deal below thewater. "

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and see, there are the tops of the tall trees. "

The dike was very regular in its form, and it was ornamented with tworows of trees along the top of it. There were seats here and there underthe trees, and some of these seats had people sitting upon them, lookingat the passing boats and steamers. The water was full of vessels of allkinds, coming and going, or lying at anchor. These vessels were all ofvery peculiar forms, being built in the Dutch style, and not painted, but only varnished, so as to show beautifully the natural color of thewood of which they were made. They had what Rollo called _fins_ on eachside, which were made to be taken up or let down into the water, firston one side and then on the other, as the vessel was on different tacksin beating against the wind. 

Opposite to every place where there was a house over beyond the dike, there was a line of steps coming down the face of the dike on the hitherside, towards the water, with a little pier, and a boat fastened to it, below. These little flights of steps, with the piers and the boats, andthe seats under the trees on the top of the dike, and the roofs of thehouses, and the tops of the trees beyond, all looked extremely pretty, and presented a succession of very peculiar and very charming scenes toMr. George and Rollo as the steamer glided rapidly along the shore. 

In some places the dike seemed to widen, so as to make room for housesupon the top of it. There were snug little taverns, where the captainsand crews of the vessels that were sailing by could stop and refreshthemselves, when wind or tide bound in their vessels, and now and then ashop or store of some kind, or a row of pretty, though veryqueer-looking, cottages. At one place there was a ferry landing. Theferry house, together with the various buildings appertaining to it, wason the top of the dike, and a large pier, with a snug and pretty basinby the side of it, below. There was a flight of stairs leading up fromthe pier to the ferry house, and also a winding road for carriages. Atthe time that the steamer went by this place, the ferry boat was justcoming in with a carriage on board of it. 

There were a great many wind mills here and there along the dike. Somewere for pumping up water, some for sawing logs, and some for grindinggrain. These wind mills were very large and exceedingly picturesque intheir forms, and in the manner in which they were grouped with the otherbuildings connected with them. Rollo wished very much that he could stopand go on shore and visit some of these wind mills, so as to see howthey looked inside. 

At length the vessels and ships seemed to increase in numbers, and Mr. George said that he thought that they must be approaching a town. Rollolooked upon the map and found that there was a large town named Dort, laid down on the shores of the river or branch on which they weresailing. 

"It is on the other side, " said he. "Let us go and see. "

So they both rose from their seats and went round to the other side ofthe boat, and there, there suddenly burst upon their view such a maze ofmasts, spires, roofs, and wind mills, all mingled together inpromiscuous confusion, as was wonderful to behold. In the centre of thewhole rose one enormous square tower, which seemed to belong to acathedral. 

This was Dort, or Dordrecht, as it is often called. 

As the steamer glided rapidly along the shores, and Mr. George and Rolloattempted to look into the town, they saw not streets, but canals. Indeed, the whole place seemed just level with the surface of the water, and far in the interior of it the masts of ships and the roofs of thehouses were mingled together in nearly equal proportion. 

The steamer threaded its way among the fleets of boats and shippingthat lay off the town, and at length came to a stop at a pier. Thepassengers destined for this place began to disembark. Mr. George andRollo stood together on the deck, looking at the buildings which linedthe quay, and wondering at the quaint and queer forms which every thingthat they saw assumed. 

"I should really like to go ashore here, " said Mr. George, "and see whatsort of a place it is. "

"Let us do it, uncle George!" said Rollo, eagerly. "Let us do it!"

"Only we have paid to Rotterdam, " said Mr. George. 

"Never mind, " said Rollo. "It will not make much difference. "

But before Mr. George could make up his mind to go on shore, theexchange of passengers was effected, and the plank was pulled in, theropes were cast off, and the steamer once more began to move swiftlyalong over the water. 

"It is too late, " said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and on the whole it is better for us to go on. "

In about an hour more the steamer began to draw near to Rotterdam. Theapproach to the town was indicated by the multitude of boats and vesselsthat were passing to and fro, and by the numbers of steamers and windmills that lined respectively the margins of the water and of the land. The wind mills were prodigious in size. They towered high into the airlike so many lighthouses; the tops of the sails, as Mr. Georgeestimated, reached, as the vanes revolved, up to not less than onehundred and fifty or two hundred feet into the air. It was necessary tobuild them high, in order that the sails might not be becalmed by thehouses. 

[Illustration: DORT. ]

At length the steamer stopped at a pier. Two policemen stood at theplank, as the passengers landed, and demanded their passports. Mr. George gave up his passport, as he was directed, and then he and Rollogot into a carriage and were driven to the hotel. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER V. 

WALKS ABOUT ROTTERDAM. 

The hotel where Mr. George and Rollo were set down was a verymagnificent edifice standing on the quay opposite to a line of steamers. On entering it, both our travellers were struck with the spaciousness ofthe hall and of the staircase, and with the sumptuous appearance ingeneral of the whole interior. They called for a chamber. Theattendants, as they soon found, all understood English, so that therewas no occasion at present to resort to the language of signs, as Mr. George had supposed might be necessary. In answer to Mr. George'srequest to be shown to a room, the servant showed him and Rollo a verylarge and lofty apartment, with immense windows in front looking downupon the pier. On the back side of the room were two single beds. 

"This will do very well for us, " said Mr. George. 

"Will you dine at the table d'hote?"[3] asked the waiter. 

[Footnote 3: Pronounced _tahble dote_. ]

The table d'hote is the public table. 

"At what time is the table d'hote?" asked Mr. George. 

"At half past four, " said the waiter. 

"No, " said Mr. George, "we shall want to be out at that time. We willtake something now as soon as we can have it. Can you give us abeefsteak?"

"Yes, sir, " said the waiter. 

"Very well. Give us a beefsteak and some coffee, and some bread andbutter. "

"Yes, sir, " said the waiter. "Will you have two beefsteaks, or onebeefsteak?"

"Two, " said Rollo, in an under tone to Mr. George. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and coffee for two, also. "

So the waiter left the travellers in their room, and went down stairs. In about ten minutes Mr. George and Rollo went down too. At the foot ofthe grand staircase they turned into the dining room, where they sawseveral tables set, and at one of them, near a window, were thepreparations for their meal. 

The window looked out upon the quay, and Rollo could see the men at workgetting out hogsheads and bales of goods from a steamer that was mooredthere. Besides looking across to the quay, Rollo could also look up anddown the street without putting his head out of the window. The way inwhich he was enabled to do this, was by means of looking glasses placedoutside. These looking glasses were attached to an iron frame, and theywere placed in an inclined position, so as to reflect the whole lengthof the street in through the window. Thus a person sitting at his easewithin the room, could look up and down the street, as well as acrossit, at his pleasure. 

Rollo afterwards observed such looking glasses attached to the windowsof almost all the houses in town. 

The dinner was soon brought in, and Mr. George and Rollo ate it withexcellent appetites. Just as they had finished their meal, aneatly-dressed young man came to the table and asked them if they wishedfor some one to show them about the town. 

"Because, " said he, "I am a _valet de place_, and I can take you at onceto all the places of interest, and save you a great deal of time. "

"How much do you ask to do it?" asked Mr. George. 

"Five francs a day, " said the man. 

"That's right, " said Mr. George. "That's the usual price. But we shallnot want you, at least for this afternoon. We may want you to-morrow. Weshall stay in town a day or two. "

The young man said that he should be very happy to serve them if theyshould require his services, and then bowed and went away. 

After having finished their meal, Mr. George and Rollo set out to take aramble about the town by themselves. 

"We will go in search of adventures, " said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and if we lose our way, we shall be likely to_have_ some adventures, for we cannot speak Dutch to inquire for it. "

"Never mind, " said Rollo, "I'm not afraid. We will be careful which waywe go. "

So they went out and took quite a long ramble through the town. Thefirst aspect of the streets struck them with astonishment. The space wasnow more than half filled with docks and basins, and with canals inwhich ships and boats of every kind were moving to and fro. In factalmost every street consisted one half of canal, and one half of roadway, so that in going through it you could have your choice of going ina boat or in a carriage. The water part of the streets was crowdeddensely with vessels, some of them of the largest size, for the waterwas so deep in the canals that the largest ships could go all about thetown. 

It was curious to observe the process of loading and unloading thesevessels, opposite to the houses where the merchants who owned themlived. These houses were very large and handsome. The upper stories wereused for the rooms of the merchant and his family, and the lower oneswere for the storage of the goods. Thus a merchant could sit at hisparlor window with his family about him, could look down upon his shipin the middle of the street before his house, and see the workmenunlading it and stowing the goods safely on his own premises, in therooms below. 

In some of the streets the canal was in the centre, and there was a roadway along by the houses on each side. In others there was a road wayonly on one side, and the walls of the houses and stores rose updirectly from the water's edge on the other. It was curious, in thiscase, to see the men in the upper stories of these stores, hoistinggoods up from the vessels below by means of cranes and tacklesprojecting from the windows. 

There was one arrangement in the streets which Rollo at firstcondemned, as decidedly objectionable in his mind, and that was, thatthe sidewalks were smooth and level with the pavement of the street, differing only from the street by being paved with bricks, while theroad way was paved with stone. 

"I think that that is a very foolish plan, " said Rollo. 

"I should not have expected so crude a remark as that from so old andexperienced a traveller as you, " said Mr. George. 

"Why, uncle George, " said Rollo. "It is plainly a great deal better tohave the sidewalk raised a little, for that keeps the wheels of thecarts and carriages from coming upon them. Besides, there ought to be agutter. "

"People that have never been away from home before, " said Mr. George, "are very apt, when they first land in any strange country, and observeany strange or unusual way of doing things, or of making things, tocondemn it at once, and say how much better the thing is in theircountry. But I thought that you had travelled enough to know better thanthat. "

"How so?" asked Rollo. 

"Why, you see that after people have travelled more, they get theirideas somewhat enlarged, and they learn that one way of doing things maybe best in one country, and another in another, on account of somedifference in the circumstances or the wants of the two countries. So, when they see any thing done in a new or unusual manner, they don'tcondemn it, or laugh at it, until they have had time to find out whetherthere may not be some good reason for it. "

"But I don't see, " said Rollo, "what possible good reason there can befor having the sidewalks made so that every cart that comes along canrun over you. "

"And because you don't in a moment see every reason, does that make itcertain that there cannot be any?" said Mr. George. 

"Why, no, " replied Rollo. 

"Then if you had travelled to much purpose, " said Mr. George, "you wouldsuspend your judgment until you had inquired. "

It was not long before Rollo saw what the reason was for making thesidewalks in this way. Indeed, with a little reflection, he wouldprobably have thought of it himself. 

The object was to make it easy to wheel and convey the goods from theships across to the warehouses. For, as the ships and boats go intoalmost all the streets in the town, goods have to be wheeled acrossevery where, from the margin of the quay to the warehouses of themerchants, and a range of curbstones and gutter would make an obstaclethat would be very much in the way. 

Besides, contrary to Rollo's hastily formed opinion, there ought _not_to be any gutters in such a town as this, as far as the streets areperfectly level, from end to end; if gutters were made the water wouldnot run in them. The only way to have the rain water carried off, is toform a gentle slope from the houses straight across the quay to themargin of the canal, and this requires that the connection between thesidewalk and the road way should be continuous and even. So that onevery account the plan adopted in Rotterdam is the best for that town. 

I advise all the readers of this book, whether old or young, if theyhave not yet had an opportunity to learn wisdom by actual experience intravelling, to remember the lesson that Rollo learned on this occasion;and whenever, in their future travels, they find any thing that appearsunusual or strange, not to condemn it too soon, simply because it isdifferent from what they have been accustomed to at home, but to waittill they have learned whether there may not be some good cause for thedifference. 

Rollo wished to stop continually, as he and his uncle walked along, towatch the operations of loading and unloading that were going onbetween the ships and the warehouses. At one place was a boat loadedwith sails, which had apparently come from a sail maker's. The sailswere rolled up in long rolls, and some people in a loft of a warehousenear were hoisting them up with tackles, and pulling them in at thewindows. 

At another place two porters were engaged wheeling something inwheelbarrows across from a slip to the warehouse, stopping by the way ata little platform to have every wheelbarrow load weighed. One of theporters wheeled the loads from the ship to the platform, and the other, after they were weighed, wheeled them to the warehouse. At the platformsat a man with a little desk before him and a big book upon it, in whichhe entered the weight of each load as it came. As soon as the load wasweighed the warehouse porter would take it from the platform, wheel itacross the street to the warehouse, empty it there, and then bring backthe empty wheelbarrow and set it down by the side of the platform. Inthe mean time the ship porter would have wheeled another load up to theplatform from the ship, and by the time that the warehouse porter hadcome back, it would be weighed and all ready for him. The ship porter, when he brought the loaded wheelbarrow, would take back to the ship theempty one. The whole operation went on with so much regularity andsystem, and it worked so well in keeping all the men employed all thetime, without either having to wait at all for the other, that it was apleasure to witness it. 

At another place Mr. George himself, as well as Rollo, was muchinterested in seeing the process of tobacco inspection. There were anumber of hogsheads of tobacco, with a party of porters, coopers, inspectors, and clerks examining them. It was curious to see how rapidlythey would go through the process. The coopers would set a hogshead upupon its end, knock out the head, loosen all the staves at one end, whisk it over upon the platform of the scales, and then lift thehogshead itself entirely off, and set it down on one side, leaving thetobacco alone, in a great round pile, on the platform. Then when it wasweighed they would tumble it over upon its side, and separate it intoits layers, and the inspectors would take out specimens from all thedifferent portions of it. Then they would pile up the layers again, andput the hogshead on over them, as you would put an extinguisher on acandle; and, finally, after turning it over once more, they would put iton the head, and bind it all up again tight and secure, with hoop poleswhich they nailed in and around it. The porters would then roll thehogshead off, in order to put it on a cart and take it away. The wholeoperation was performed with a degree of system, regularity, andpromptness, that was quite surprising. The whole work of opening thehogshead, examining it thoroughly, weighing it, selecting specimens, andputting it up again, was accomplished in less time than it has taken mehere to describe it. 

There were a great many other operations of this sort that arrested theattention of Mr. George and Rollo, as they walked along the streets. Much of the merchandise which they saw thus landing from the ships, orgoing on board of them, was of great value, and the ships in which itcame were of immense size, such as are engaged in the East India trade. Mr. George said that they were the kind that he had often read about inhistory, under the name of Dutch East Indiamen. 

Rollo was very much amused at the signs over the doors of the shops, inthose streets where there were shops, and in the efforts that he made tointerpret them. There was one which read SCHEEP'S VICTUALIJ, which Mr. George said must mean victualling for ships. He was helped, however, somewhat in making this translation by observing what was exhibited inthe windows of the shop, and at the door. There was another in whichRollo did not require any help to enable him to translate it. It wasTABAK, KOFFY, UND THEE. Another at first perplexed him. It was this:HUIS UND SCHEEP'S SMEDERY. But by seeing that the place was a sort ofblacksmith's shop, Rollo concluded that it must mean house and shipsmithery, that is, that it was a place for blacksmith's work for housesand ships. 

Over one of the doors was OOSTERHOUTS UND BREDA'S BIER HUIS. Mr. Georgesaid that Breda was a place not far from Rotterdam, and that the lastpart of the sign must mean house for selling Breda beer. Rollo thenconcluded that the first word must mean something connected withoysters. There was another, KOFFER EN ZADEL MAKERIJ. At first Rollocould not make any thing of this; but on looking at the window he saw apainting of a horse's head, with a handsome bridle upon it, and a saddleon one side. So he concluded it must mean a trunk and saddle makery. Hewas the more convinced of the correctness of this from the fact that theword for trunk or box, in French, is _coffre_. 

Rollo amused himself a long time in interpreting in this way the signsthat he saw in the streets, and he succeeded so well in it that he toldMr. George that he believed he could learn the Dutch language veryeasily, if he were going to stay for any considerable time in Holland. 

Another thing that amused Rollo very much, was to see the wooden shoesthat were worn by the common people in the streets. These shoes appearedto Rollo to be very large and clumsy; but even the little children worethem, and the noise that they made, clattering about the pavements withthem, was very amusing. 

In a great many places where the streets intersected each other, therewere bridges leading across the canals. These bridges were of a verycurious construction. They were all draw bridges, and as boats andvessels were continually passing and repassing along the canals, itbecame frequently necessary to raise them, in order to let the vesselsgo through. The machinery for raising these bridges and letting themdown again, was very curious; and Rollo and Mr. George were both glad, when, in coming to the bridge, they found it was up, as it gave them anopportunity to watch the manoeuvre of passing the vessel through. 

Every boat and vessel that went through had a toll to pay, and themanner of collecting this toll was not the least singular part of thewhole procedure. While the bridge was up, and when the boat had passednearly through, the helmsman, or helmswoman, as the case might be, --forone half the boats and vessels seemed to be steered by women, --wouldget the money ready; and then the tollman, who stood on the abutment ofthe bridge, would swing out to the boat one of the wooden shoes abovedescribed, which was suspended by a long line from the end of a pole, like a fishing pole. The tollman would swing out this shoe over the boatthat was passing through, as a boy would swing his hook and sinker outover the water if he were going to catch fish. The helmsman in the boatwould take hold of it when it came within his reach, and put the moneyinto the toe of it. The tollman would then draw it in, and, taking outthe money, would carry it to his toll house, which was a small building, not much bigger than a sentry box that stood on the pier close by. 

In one case Rollo came to a bridge, which, instead of being made to beraised entirely, had only a very narrow part in the centre, just wideenough for the masts and rigging of the ship to go through, that couldbe moved. When this part was lifted up to let a vessel pass, it madeonly a very narrow opening, such as a boy might jump across very easily. 

In some places where the passing and repassing of ships was very great, there was a ferry instead of a bridge. In these cases there was aflat-bottomed boat to pass to and from one side to the other, with apretty little landing of stone steps at each end. Rollo was muchentertained by these ferries. He said it was crossing a street by water. And it was exactly that, and no more. The place where he first crossedone of these ferries was precisely like a broad street of water, withships and boats going to and fro upon it, instead of carriages, and avery wide brick sidewalk on each side. The ferry was at the crossing, atthe place where another street intersected it. 

As the houses on each side of these streets were very large andhandsome, and as there were rows of beautiful trees on the margin of thewater, and as every thing about the water, and the ships, and the quays, and the sidewalks, was kept very neat and clean, the whole view, as itpresented itself to Rollo and Mr. George while they were crossing in theboat, was exceedingly attractive and exciting. 

Mr. George and Rollo remained in Rotterdam several days before they weresatisfied with the curious and wonderful spectacles which it presentedto view. In one of their walks they made the entire circuit of the town, and Mr. George agreed with Rollo in the opinion that this was one of themost interesting walks they had ever taken. 

[Illustration: THE FERRY BOAT. ]

The way led along a smooth and beautiful road, which was neatly paved, and kept very nice and clean. On the right hand side there extendedalong the whole length of it a wide canal, with boats all the time goingto and fro. This canal looked brimming full. The water, in fact, came upwithin a few inches of the level of the road. The line of the road wasformed by a smooth and straight margin of stone, --like the margin of afountain, --with little platforms extending out here and there, whereneatly-dressed girls and women were washing. 

On the other side of the road, down ten feet or more below the level ofit, was a range of houses, with yards, gardens, and fields about them. The way to these houses was by paths leading down from the dike on whichthe road was built, and across little bridges built over a small canalwhich extended between them and the dike. This small canal was for thedraining of the land on which the houses stood. The water in this canalhad a gentle flow towards the end of the street, where there was a windmill to pump it up into the great canal on the other side of the street. 

As Rollo and Mr. George walked along this road, it was very curious tothem to see the water on one side so much higher than the land on theother. At the intervals between the houses they obtained glimpses of theinterior of the country, which consisted of level fields lying far belowwhere they were standing, and intersected in every direction by smallcanals, which served the purpose at the same time of fences, roads, anddrains. There seemed to be no other divisions than these between thelands of the different proprietors, and no other roads for bringing homethe hay or grain, or other produce which might be raised in the fields. 

In pursuing their walk around the town, our travellers were continuallycoming to objects so curious in their construction and use, as to arresttheir attention and cause them to stop and examine them. At one placethey saw a little ferry boat, which looked precisely like a littlefloating room. It was square, and had a roof over it like a house, withseats for the passengers below. This boat plied to and fro across thecanal, by means of a rope fastened to each shore, and running overpulleys in the boat. 

"We might take this ferry boat, " said Mr. George, "and go across thecanal into the town again. See, it lands opposite to one of thestreets. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "but I would rather keep on, and go all around thetown outside. "

"We might go over in the ferry boat just for the fun of it, " said Mr. George, "and then come back again. "

"Well, " said Rollo. "How much do you suppose the toll is?"

"I don't know, " said Mr. George. "It can't be much, it is such a smallboat, and goes such a little way; and then, besides, I know it must becheap, or else there could not so many of these girls and women go backand forth. "

For while they had been looking at the boat, as they graduallyapproached the spot, they had seen it pass to and fro with manypassengers, who, though they were very neatly dressed, were evidently byno means wealthy or fashionable people. 

So Mr. George and Rollo went to the margin of the road where the ferryboat had its little landing place, and when it came up they stepped onboard. The ferryman could only talk Dutch, and so Mr. George could notask him what was to pay. The only thing to be done was to give him apiece of silver, and let him give back such change as he pleased. Mr. George gave him a piece of money about as big as half a franc, and hegot back so much change in return that he said he felt richer than hedid before. 

At another place they came to a bridge that led across the canal. Thisbridge turned on a pivot placed out near the middle of the canal, sothat it could be moved out of the way when there was a boat to go by. Aman was turning it when Mr. George and Rollo came along. They stopped towitness the operation. They were quite amused, not merely with themanoeuvring of the bridge, but with the form and appearance of theboat that was going through. It seemed to be half boat and half house. There was a room built in it, which rose somewhat above the deck, andshowed several little windows with pretty curtains to them. There was agirl sitting at one of these windows, knitting, and two or threechildren were playing about the deck at the time that the boat was goingthrough the bridge. 

Farther on the party came to an immense wind mill, which was employed inpumping up water. This wind mill, like most of the others, was built ofbrick. It rose to a vast height into the air, and there its immensesails were slowly revolving. The wind mill was forty or fifty feet indiameter at the base, and midway between the base and the summit was aplatform built out, that extended all around it. The sails of the mill, as they revolved, only extended down to this platform, and the platformitself was above the roofs of the four-story houses that stood near. 

At the foot of this wind mill Mr. George and Rollo could see the waterrunning in under it, through a sluice way which led from a low canal, and on the other side they could see it pouring out in a great torrent, into a higher one. 

 * * * * *

Besides making this circuit around the town, Mr. George and Rollo oneevening took a walk in the environs, on a road which led along on thetop of a dike. The dike was very broad, and the descent from it to thelow land on each side was very gradual. On the slopes on each side, andalong the margin on the top, were rows of immense trees, that looked asif they had been growing for centuries. The branches of these trees metoverhead, so as to exclude the sun entirely. They made the road adeeply-shaded avenue, and gave to the whole scene a very sombre andsolemn expression. On each side of the road, down upon the low landwhich formed the general level of the country, were a succession ofcountry houses, the summer residences of the rich merchants ofRotterdam. These houses were beautifully built; and they were surroundedwith grounds ornamented in the highest degree. There were windingwalks, and serpentine canals, and beds of flowers, and pretty bridges, and summer houses, and groves of trees, and every thing else that canadd to the beauty of a summer retreat. 

All these scenes Mr. George and Rollo looked down upon as they saunteredslowly along the smooth sidewalk of the dike, under the majestic treeswhich shaded it. The place where they were walking on the dike was on alevel with the second story windows of the houses. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VI. 

DOING THE HAGUE. 

"And now what is the next place that we shall come to?" said Rollo toMr. George one morning after they had been some days in Rotterdam. 

"The Hague, " replied Mr. George. 

"Ah, yes, " said Rollo, "that is the capital. We shall stop there a goodwhile I suppose, because it is the capital. "

"No, " said Mr. George, "I shall go through it just as quick as I can forthat very reason. I have a great mind not to stop there at all. "

"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo, surprised, "what do you mean bythat?"

"Why, the Hague, " rejoined Mr. George, "is the place where the kinglives, and the princes, and the foreign ambassadors, and all thefashionable people; and there will be nothing to see there, I expect, but palaces, and picture galleries, and handsome streets, and suchthings, all of which we can see more of and better in Paris or London. "

"Still we want to see what sort of a place the Hague is, " said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "and I expect to do that in a very short time, and then I shall go on to Haarlem, where they have had such a time withtheir pumping. "

Mr. George and Rollo packed up their valise, paid their bill at thehotel, and set off for the station. 

"Let's go to the station by water, " said Rollo. 

"Well, " said Mr. George, "if you will engage a boat. "

"I know a place not far from here where there is a boat station, " saidRollo. 

So Rollo led the way until they came to a bridge, and there, by the sideof the bridge, were some stairs leading down to the water. There wereseveral boats lying at the foot of the stairs, and boatmen near, who allcalled out in Dutch, "Do you want a boat?" At least that was what Rollosupposed they said, though, of course, he could not understand theirlanguage. Rollo walked down the steps, and got into one of the boats, and Mr. George followed him. 

"I can't speak Dutch, " said Rollo to the boatman, "but that is the waywe want to go. " So saying, Rollo pointed in the direction which ledtowards the station. The man did not understand a word that Rollo hadsaid; but still, by hearing it, he learned the fact that Rollo did notspeak the language of the country, and by his signs he knew that he mustgo the way that he pointed. So he began to row the boat along. 

"We cannot go quite to the station by the boat, " said Rollo, "but we cango pretty near it, and we can walk the rest of the way. "

"How will you find out the way, " asked Mr. George, "through all thesecanals?"

"I can tell by the map, " said Rollo. 

So Rollo sat down on a seat at the stern of the boat, and taking out hismap, which was printed on a pocket handkerchief, he spread it on hisknee, and began to study out the canals. 

"There, " said he, "we are going along this canal, now; and there, alittle way ahead from here, is a bridge that we shall go under. Then weshall make a turn, " continued Rollo, still studying his map. "We shallhave to go a very round-about way; but that is no matter. "

So they went on, Rollo at each turn pointing to the boatman which way hewas to go. Sometimes the boat was stopped for a time by a jam in theboats and vessels before it, as a hack might be stopped in Broadway inNew York. Sometimes it went under bridges, and sometimes through darkarchways, where Rollo could hear carriages rumbling over his head inthe streets above. 

At length the boat reached the point which Rollo thought was nearest tothe station; and the man, at a signal which Rollo gave him, stopped atsome steps. Rollo paid the fare by holding out a handful of money in hishand, and letting the man take what was right, watching him, however, tosee that he did not take too much. 

Then Mr. George and Rollo both went ashore, and walked the rest of theway to the station. 

In the European railroad stations there are different waiting rooms forthe different classes of travellers. Mr. George sometimes took secondclass carriages, and sometimes first. For short distances he generallywent first class, and as it was only a few miles to the Hague fromRotterdam, he now went into the first class waiting room. There was acounter for refreshment in one corner of the room, and some sofas alongthe sides. Mr. George sat down upon one of the sofas, putting his valiseon the floor at the end of it. Rollo said that he would go out and takea little walk around the station, for it was yet half an hour before thetrain was to go. 

In a few minutes after Rollo had gone, there came to the door, amongother carriages, one from which Mr. George, to his great surprise, sawMr. And Mrs. Parkman get out. Mr. George's first thought was to go outby another door, and make his escape. But he checked this impulse, saying to himself, "It would be very ungenerous in me to abandon my old friend in hismisfortune; so I will stay. "

Mr. Parkman seemed very much delighted, as well as surprised, to see Mr. George again; and Mrs. Parkman gave him quite a cordial greeting, although she half suspected that Mr. George did not like her very well. 

Mr. George asked her how she liked Holland, so far as she had seen it. 

"Not much, " said she. "The towns are not pretty. The streets are allfull of canals, and there is nothing to be seen but boats and ships. Andwhat ugly wooden shoes they wear. Did you ever see any thing so ugly inall your life?"

"They look pretty big and clumsy, " said Mr. George, "I must admit; butit amuses me to see them. "

"At the Hague I expect to find something worth seeing, " continued Mrs. Parkman. "That's where the king and all the great people live, and allthe foreign ambassadors. If William had only got letters of introductionto some of them! He might have got them just as well as not. Ourminister at London would have given him some if he had asked for them. But he said he did not like to ask for them. "

"Strange!" said Mr. George. 

"Yes, " rejoined Mrs. Parkman, "I think it is not only strange, butfoolish. I want to go to some of the parties at the Hague, but we can'tstop. William says we can only give one day to the Hague. "

"O, you can do it up quite well in one day, " said Mr. George. 

"If you would only go with us and show us how to do it, " said Mrs. Parkman. 

"Yes, " said Mr. Parkman. "Do, George. Go with us. Join us for one day. I'll put the whole party entirely under your command, and you shall haveevery thing your own way. "

Mr. George did not know what to reply to this proposition. At last hesaid that he would go and find Rollo, and consult him on the subject, and if Rollo approved of it they would consent to the arrangement. 

Mrs. Parkman laughed at hearing this. "Why, " said she, "is it possiblethat you are under that boy's direction?"

"Not exactly that, " said Mr. George. "But then he is my travellingcompanion, and it is not right for one person, in such a case, to makeany great change in the plan without at least first hearing what theother has to say about it. "

"That's very true, " replied Mrs. Parkman. "Do you hear that, William?You must remember that when you are going to change the plans withoutasking my consent. "

Mrs. Parkman said this in a good-natured way, as if she meant it injoke. It was one of those cases where people say what they wish to haveconsidered as meant in a joke, but to be taken in earnest. 

Mr. George went out to look for Rollo. He found him lying on the grassby the side of a small canal which flowed through the grounds, andreaching down to the water to gather some curious little plants thatwere growing upon it. Mr. George informed him that Mr. And Mrs. Parkmanwere at the station, and that they had proposed that he himself andRollo should join their party in seeing the Hague. 

"And I suppose you don't want to do it, " said Rollo. 

"Why, yes, " said Mr. George, "I've taken a notion to accept the proposalif you like it. We'll then do the Hague in style, and I shall get backinto Mrs. Parkman's good graces. Then we will bid them good by, andafter that you and I will travel on in our own way. "

"Well, " said Rollo, "_I_ agree to it. "

Mr. George accordingly went back into the station, and told Mr. And Mrs. Parkman that he and Rollo would accept their invitation, and join withthem in seeing what there was in the Hague. 

"And then, after that, " said Mr. George, "we shall come back to Delft, while you go on to Amsterdam. "

"I wish you would go on with us, " said Mr. Parkman. 

"We can't do that very well, " said Mr. George. "We want to try a Dutchcanal once, and a good place to try it is in going from the Hague toDelft. It is only about four or five miles. We are going there by thecanal boat, and then coming back on foot. "

Mr. George had taken care in planning the course which he and Rollo wereto pursue after leaving the Hague, to contrive an expedition which hewas very sure Mrs. Parkman would not wish to join in. 

"O, Mr. George!" she exclaimed, "what pleasure can there be in going ona canal?"

"Why, the canal boats are so funny!" said Rollo. "And then we see suchcurious little places all along the banks of them, and we meet so manyboats, carrying all sorts of things. "

"I don't think it would be very agreeable for a lady, " said Mr. George;"but Rollo and I thought we should like to try it. "

Just at this moment the door leading to the platform opened, and a mandressed in a sort of uniform, denoting that he was an officer of therailroad, called out in Dutch that the train was coming. The ladies andgentlemen that were assembled in the waiting room immediately took uptheir bags and bundles, and went out upon the platform. As they wentout, Mr. George, in passing the man in uniform, slipped a piece of moneyinto his hand, and said to him in an under tone, first in French andthen in English, --

"A good seat by a window for this lady. "

The officer received the money, made a bow of assent, and immediatelyseemed to take the whole party under his charge. When the train arrived, and had stopped before the place, there was a great crowd among the newpassengers to get in and procure seats. The officer beckoned to Mr. George to follow him, but Mrs. Parkman seemed disposed to go anotherway. She was looking eagerly about here and there among the carriages, as if the responsibility of finding seats for the party devolved uponher. 

"What shall we do?" said she. "The cars are all full. "

"Leave it to me, " said Mr. George to her in an under tone. "Leave itentirely to me. You'll see presently. "

The officer, finding the carriages generally full, said to Mr. George, in French, "Wait a moment, sir. " So Mr. George said to the rest of theparty--

"We will all stand quietly here. He'll come to us presently. "

"Yes, " said Mrs. Parkman, "when all the seats are taken. We shan't getseats at all, William. "

"You'll see, " said Mr. George. 

In a moment more the officer came to the party, and bowing respectfullyto Mrs. Parkman, he said, "Now, madam. "

He took out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door of a carriagewhich had not before been opened, and standing aside, he bowed to letMrs. Parkman pass. 

Mrs. Parkman was delighted. There was nobody in the carriage, and so shehad her choice of the seats. She chose one next the window on thefarther side. Her husband took the seat opposite to her. 

"Ah!" said she, with a tone of great satisfaction, "how nice this is!And what a gentlemanly conductor! I never had the conductor treat me sopolitely in my life. "

Mrs. Parkman was put in excellent humor by this incident, and she said, towards the end of the journey, that she should have had a delightfulride if the country had not been so flat and uninteresting. To Mr. George and Rollo, who sat at the other window, it appeared extremelyinteresting, there was so much that was curious and novel to be seen. The immense green fields, with herds of cattle and flocks of sheepfeeding every where, and separated from each other by straight andnarrow canals instead of fences; the boats passing to and fro, loadedwith produce; the little bridges built over these canals here and there, for the foot paths, with the gates across them to keep the cattle fromgoing over; the long road ways raised upon dikes, and bordered byquadruple rows of ancient and venerable trees, stretching to a boundlessdistance across the plains; and now and then a wide canal, with largeboats or vessels passing to and fro, --these and a multitude of othersuch sights, to be seen in no other country in the world, occupied theirattention all the time, and kept them constantly amused. 

At length the train arrived at the station for the Hague, and the wholeparty descended from the carriage. 

"Now, William, " said Mr. George, "give me the ticket for your trunk, and you yourself take Mrs. Parkman into the waiting room and wait till Icome. "

"No, " said Mr. Parkman, "I cannot let you take that trouble. "

"Certainly, " said Mr. George. "You said that I should have the entirecommand. Give me the ticket. "

So Mr. Parkman gave him the ticket, and Mr. George went out. Rolloremained with Mr. And Mrs. Parkman. In a few minutes Mr. Georgereturned, and said that the carriage was ready. They all went to thedoor, and there they found a carriage waiting, with Mr. And Mrs. Parkman's trunk upon the top of it. A man was holding the door open forthe party to get in. As soon as they had all entered, Mr. George put afew coppers into the hand of the man at the door, and said to him, "Hotel Belview. "[4]

[Footnote 4: In French, _Hotel Belle Vue_; but Mr. George gave it theEnglish pronunciation, because the pronunciation of words in Holland ismuch more like the English than like the French. ]

"HOTEL BELVIEW!" shouted the man to the coachman. On hearing thiscommand the coachman drove on. 

The road that led into the town lay along the banks of a canal, andafter going about half a mile in this direction, the horses turned andwent over a bridge. They were now in the heart of the town, but theparty could not see much, for the night was coming on and the sky wascloudy. It was cold, too, and Mrs. Parkman wished to have the windowsclosed. The carriage went along a narrow street, crossing bridgesoccasionally, until at length it came to a region of palaces, and parks, and grounds beautifully ornamented. Finally it stopped before a largeand very handsome hotel. The hotel stood in a street which had large andbeautiful houses and gardens on one side, and an open park, with deerfeeding on the borders of a canal, on the other. 

Two or three very nicely dressed servants came out when the carriagestopped, and opened the door of it in a very assiduous and deferentialmanner. 

"Wait here in the carriage, " said Mr. George, "till I come. "

So saying, he himself descended from the carriage, and went into thehouse, followed by two of the waiters that had come to the door. 

In about two minutes he came out again. 

"Yes, " said he to Mrs. Parkman, "I think you will like the rooms. "

So saying, he helped Mrs. Parkman out of the carriage, and gave her hisarm to conduct her into the house. At the same time he said to one ofthe waiters, --

"See that every thing is taken out of the carriage, and pay thecoachman. "

"Very well, sir, " said the waiter. 

Mr. George led Mrs. Parkman up a broad and handsome staircase. He waspreceded by one waiter and followed by two others. These waiters hadtaken every thing from the hands of the party, especially from Mrs. Parkman, so that they were loaded with bags, cloaks, and umbrellas, while the travellers themselves had nothing to carry. 

At the head of the staircase the waiter, who was in advance, opened adoor which led to a large drawing room or parlor, which was veryhandsomely decorated and furnished. The windows were large, and theylooked out upon a handsome garden, though it was now too dark to see itvery distinctly. 

As Mrs. Parkman turned round again, after trying to look out at thewindow, she saw a second waiter coming into the room, bringing with himtwo tall wax candles in silver candlesticks. The candles had just beenlighted. The waiter placed them on the table, and then retired. 

"And now, " said Mr. George to the other waiter, "we want a good firemade here, and then let us have dinner as soon as you can. "

[Illustration: THE DINNER. ]

"Very well, sir, " replied the waiter; and so saying he bowedrespectfully and retired. 

A neatly-dressed young woman, in a very picturesque and pretty cap, hadcome into the room with the party, and while Mr. George had beenordering the fire and the dinner, she had shown Mrs. Parkman to herbedroom, which was a beautiful and richly furnished room with two singlebeds in it, opening out of the parlor. On the other side of the parlorwas another bedroom, also with two beds in it, for Mr. George andRollo. [5]

[Footnote 5: Almost all the bedrooms in the hotels on the continent ofEurope are furnished thus with two single beds, instead of one doubleone. It is the custom for every body to sleep alone. ]

Mr. And Mrs. Parkman remained in their room for a time, and when theycame out they found the table set for dinner, and a very pleasant fireburning in the grate. 

"Mr. George, " said she, "I wish we had you to make arrangements for usall the time. "

"It would be a very pleasant duty, " said Mr. George. "You are so easilysatisfied. "

Mrs. Parkman seemed much pleased with this compliment. She did not for amoment doubt that she fully deserved it. 

About eight o'clock that evening, Mr. George asked Mrs. Parkman at whattime she would like to have breakfast the next morning. 

"At any time you please, " said she; "that is, if it is not too early. "

"How would half past nine do?" asked Mr. George. 

"I think that will do very well, " said Mrs. Parkman. 

"We will say ten, if you prefer, " said Mr. George. 

"O, no, " said she, "half past nine will do very well. "

So Mr. George rang the bell, and when the waiter came, he ordered asumptuous breakfast, consisting of beefsteaks, hot rolls, coffee, omelet, and every thing else that he could think of that was good, anddirected the waiter to have it ready at half past nine. 

"I shall also want a carriage and a pair of horses to-morrow, " continuedMr. George, "and a commissioner. "

"Very well, sir, " said the waiter; "and what time shall you wish for thecarriage?"

"What time, Mrs. Parkman?" repeated Mr. George, turning to the lady. "Shall you be ready by half past ten to go out and see the town?"

"Yes, " said Mrs. Parkman, "that will be a very good time. "

"Very well, sir, " said the waiter; and he bowed and retired. 

The next morning, when the different members of the party came out intothe breakfast room, they found the table set for breakfast. At half pastnine all were ready except Mrs. Parkman. She sent word by her husbandthat she would come out in a few minutes. 

"There is no hurry, " said Mr. George. "It will be time enough to havebreakfast when she comes. "

In about fifteen minutes she came. Mr. George asked her very politelyhow she had spent the night; and after she had sat a few minutes talkingby the fire, he said that they would have breakfast whenever she wished. 

"Yes, " said she, "I am ready any time. Indeed, I was afraid that Ishould be late, and keep you waiting. I am very glad that I am inseason. "

So Mr. George rang the bell; when the waiter came, he ordered breakfastto be brought up. 

While the party were at breakfast, a very nicely-dressed waiter, with awhite napkin over his arm, stood behind Mrs. Parkman's chair, andevinced a great deal of alertness and alacrity in offering her everything that she required. When the breakfast was nearly finished, Mr. George turned to him and said, --

"Is the commissioner ready, John, who is to go with us to-day?"

"Yes, sir, " said the waiter. 

"I wish you to go down and send him up, " said Mr. George. 

So the waiter went down stairs to find the commissioner, and while hewas gone Mr. George took out a pencil and paper from his pocket. 

"I am going to ask him, " said Mr. George to Mrs. Parkman, "what there isto be seen here, and to make a list of the places; and then we will goand see them all, or you can make a selection, just as you please. "

"Very well, " said Mrs. Parkman. "I should like that. "

Accordingly, when the commissioner came in, Mr. George asked him toname, in succession, the various objects of interest usually visited bytravellers coming to the Hague; and as he named them, Mr. Georgequestioned him respecting them, so as to enable Mrs. Parkman to obtain asomewhat definite idea of what they were. The commissioner enumerated avariety of places to be seen, such as the public museum of painting, several private museums, the old palace, the new palace, two or threechurches, the town hall, and various other sights which tourists, arriving at the Hague, usually like to view. Mr. George made a list ofall these, and opposite to each he marked the time which thecommissioner said would be required to see it well. After completingthis list, he said, --

"And there is a great watering place on the sea shore, not far fromthis, I believe. "

"Yes, sir, " said the commissioner, "about three miles. "

"Is it a pleasant ride there?" asked Mr. George. 

"Yes, sir, " replied the commissioner. "It is a _very_ pleasant ride. Youcan go one way and return another. It is a very fashionable place. Thequeen and the princesses go there every summer. "

"Very well; it takes about two hours and a half, I suppose, to go thereand return, " said Mr. George. 

"Yes, sir, " said the commissioner. 

"Very well, " said Mr. George. "Have the carriage ready in---- Shall wesay half an hour, Mrs. Parkman? Shall you be ready in half an hour?"

Mrs. Parkman said that she should be ready in half an hour, and so Mr. George appointed that time, and then the commissioner went away. 

Mr. George added up all the periods of time that the commissioner hadsaid would be required for the several sights, and found that therewould be time for them to see the whole, and yet be ready for theafternoon train for Amsterdam, where Mr. And Mrs. Parkman were goingnext. So Mrs. Parkman concluded not to omit any from the list, but to goand see the whole. 

In half an hour the carriage was at the door, and in ten or fifteenminutes afterwards Mrs. Parkman was ready. Just before they went, Mr. George rang the bell again, and called for the bill, requesting thewaiter to see that every thing was charged--carriage, servants, commissioner, and all. When it came, Mr. Parkman took out his purse, expecting to pay it himself, but Mr. George took out his purse too. 

"The amount, " said Mr. George, looking at the footing of the bill, "isforty-five guilders and some cents. Your share is, say twenty-twoguilders and a half. "

"No, indeed, " said Mr. Parkman. "My share is the exact footing of thebill. You have nothing to do with this payment. "

"Yes, " said Mr. George. "I have just one half to pay for Rollo and me. We are four in all, and Rollo and I are two. "

Mr. Parkman seemed extremely unwilling to allow Mr. George to pay anything at all; but Mr. George insisted upon it, and so the bill was paidby a joint contribution. 

All this time the carriage was ready at the door, and the gentlemen, attended by two or three waiters, conducted Mrs. Parkman down to thedoor. The party then drove, in succession, to the various places whichthe commissioner had enumerated. There were museums consisting of agreat many rooms filled with paintings, and palaces, where they wereshown up grand staircases, and through long corridors, and into suitesof elegant apartments, and churches, and beautiful parks and gardens, and a bazaar filled with curiosities from China and Japan, and a greatmany other similar places. Mr. George paid very particular attention toMrs. Parkman during the whole time, and made every effort to anticipateand comply with her wishes in all respects. In one case, indeed, I thinkhe went too far in this compliance, and the result was to mortify hernot a little. It was in one of the museums of paintings. Mrs. Parkman, like other ladies of a similar character to hers, always wanted to gowhere she could not go, and to see what she could not see. If, when shecame into a town, she heard of any place to which, for any reason, itwas difficult to obtain admission, that was the very place of all othersthat she wished most to see; and if, in any museum, or palace, orlibrary that she went into, there were two doors open and one shut, shewould neglect the open ones, and make directly to the one that was shut, and ask to know what there was there. I do not know as there was anything particularly blameworthy in this. On the contrary, such a feelingmay be considered, in some respects, a very natural one in a lady. But, nevertheless, when it manifests itself in a decided form, it makes thelady a very uncomfortable and vexatious companion to the gentleman whohas her under his care. 

In one of the rooms where our party went in the museum of paintings, there was a door near one corner that was shut. All the otherdoors--those which communicated with the several apartments where thepictures were hung--were open. As soon as Mrs. Parkman came in sight ofthe closed door, she pointed to it and said, --

"I wonder what there is in that room. I suppose it is something verychoice. I wish we could get in. "

Mr. Parkman paid, at first, no attention to this request, but continuedto look at the pictures around him. 

"I wish you would ask some of the attendants, " she continued, "whetherwe cannot go into that room. "

"O, no, " replied her husband. "If it was any thing that it was intendedwe should see, the door would be open. The fact that the door is shut isnotice enough that, we are not to go in there. "

"I'm convinced there are some choice pictures in there, " said Mrs. Parkman; "something that they do not show to every body. Mr. George, Iwish you would see if you can't find out some way to get in. "

"Certainly, " said Mr. George, "I will try. "

So Mr. George walked along towards one of the attendants, whom he saw inanother part of the room, --putting his hand in his pocket as he went, tofeel for a piece of money. He put the piece of money into theattendant's hand, and then began to talk with him, asking variousindifferent questions about the building; and finally he asked him wherethat closed door led to. 

"O, that is only a closet, " said the attendant, "where we keep ourbrooms and dusters. "

"I wish you would just let us look into it, " said Mr. George. "Here'shalf a guilder for you. "

The man looked a little surprised, but he took the half guilder, saying, --

"Certainly, if it will afford you any satisfaction. "

Mr. George then went back to where he had left the rest of his party, and said to Mrs. Parkman, --

"This man is going to admit us to that room. Follow Him. I will come ina moment. "

So Mr. George stopped to look at a large painting on the wall, whileMrs. Parkman, with high anticipations of the pleasure she was to enjoyin seeing what people in general were excluded from, walked in a proudand stately manner to the door, and when the man opened it, saw only asmall, dark room, with nothing in it but brooms, dust pans, and lampfillers. She was exceedingly abashed by this adventure, and for the restof that day she did not once ask to see any thing that was notvoluntarily shown to her. 

After visiting all the places of note in the town, the coachman wasordered to drive to the watering place on the sea shore. It was a verypleasant drive of about three miles. Just before reaching the shore ofthe sea, the road came to a region of sand hills, called _dunes_, formedby the drifting sands blown in from the beach by the winds. Among thesedunes, and close to the sea shore, was an immense hotel, with long wingsstretching a hundred feet on each side, and a row of bath vans on themargin of the beach before it. The beach was low and shelving, and itcould be traced for miles in either direction along the coast, whitenedby the surf that was rolling in from the German Ocean. 

After looking at this prospect for a time, and watching to see one ortwo of the bathing vans drive down into the surf, in order to allowladies who had got into them to bathe, the party returned to thecarriage, and the coachman drove them through the village, which wasvery quaint and queer, and inhabited by fishermen. The fishing boatswere drawn up on the shore in great numbers, very near the houses. Rollodesired very much to go and see these boats and the fishermen, andlearn, if he could, what kind of fish they caught in them, and how theycaught them. But Mrs. Parkman thought that they had better not stop. They were nothing but common fishing boats, she said. 

The carriage returned to the Hague by a different road from the one inwhich it came. It was a road that led through a beautiful wood, wherethere were many pleasant walks, with curious looking Dutch women goingand coming. As the party approached the town, they passed through aregion of parks, and palaces, and splendid mansions of all kinds. Mrs. Parkman was curious to know who lived in each house, and Mr. Georgecontrived to communicate her inquiries to the coachman, by making signs, and by asking questions partly in English and partly in German. Butthough the coachman understood the questions, Mrs. Parkman could notunderstand the answers that he gave, for they were Dutchnames, --sometimes long and sometimes short; but whether they were longor short, the sounds were so uncouth and strange that Mrs. Parkmanlooked terribly distressed in trying to make them out. 

At length the carriage arrived at the hotel again; and there the portersput on the baggage belonging both to Mr. And Mrs. Parkman, and to Mr. George and Rollo. It then proceeded to the station. Mr. George and Rollowaited there until the train for Amsterdam arrived, and then took leaveof Mr. And Mrs. Parkman as they went to their seats in the carriage. Mrs. Parkman shook hands with Mr. George very cordially, and said, --

"We are very much obliged to you, Mr. George, for your company to-day. We have had a very pleasant time. I wish that we could have you totravel with us all the time. "

 * * * * *

"I think she ought to be obliged to you, " said Rollo, as soon as thetrain had gone. 

"Not at all, " said Mr. George. 

"Not at all?" repeated Rollo. "Why not? You have done a great deal forher to-day. "

"No, " said Mr. George. "All that I have done has not been for her sake, but for William's. William is an excellent good friend of mine, and I amvery sorry that he has not got a more agreeable travelling companion. "

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

One day, when Mr. George and Rollo were at the town of Leyden, it beganto rain while they were eating their breakfast. 

"Never mind, " said Rollo. "We can walk about the town if it does rain. "

"Yes, " said Mr. George, "we can; but we shall get tired of walking aboutmuch sooner if it rains, than if it were pleasant weather. However, I amnot very sorry, for I should like to write some letters. "

"I've a great mind to write a letter, too, " said Rollo. "I'll write tomy mother. Don't you think that would be a good plan?"

"Why, --I don't know, "--said Mr. George, speaking in rather a doubtfultone. "It seems to me that it would be hardly worth while. "

"Why not?" asked Rollo. 

"Why, the postage is considerable, " said Mr. George, "and I don'tbelieve the letter would be worth what your father would have to pay forit; that is, if it is such a letter as I suppose you would write. "

"Why, what sort of a letter do you suppose I should write?" asked Rollo. 

"O, you would do as boys generally do in such cases, " replied his uncle. "In the first place you would want to take the biggest sheet that youcould find to write the letter upon. Then you would take up as much ofthe space as possible writing the date, and _My dear mother_. Then youwould go on for a few lines, saying things of no interest to any body, such as telling what day you came to this place, and what day to that. Perhaps you'd say that to-day is a rainy day, and that yesterday waspleasant--just as if your mother, when she gets your letter, would careany thing about knowing what particular days were rainy and whatpleasant, in Holland, a week back. Then, after you had got about twothirds down the page, you would stop because you could not think of anything more to say, and subscribe your name with ever so many scrawlflourishes, and as many affectionate and dutiful phrases as you couldget to fill up the space. 

"And that would be a letter that your father, like as not, would have topay one and sixpence Or two shillings sterling for, to the Londonpostman. "

Rollo laughed at this description of the probable result of his proposedattempt to write a letter; but he laughed rather faintly, for he wellrecollected how many times he had written letters in just such a way. Hesecretly resolved, however, that when they came in from their walk, andMr. George sat down to his writing, he would write too, and would seewhether he could not, for once, produce a letter that should be at leastworth the postage. 

After they came in from their walk, they asked the landlady to have afire made in their room; but she said they could not have any fire, forthe stoves were not put up. She said it was the custom in Holland not toput the stoves up until October; and so nobody could have a fire in anything but foot stoves until that time. The foot stoves, she said, wouldmake it very comfortable for them. 

So she brought in two foot stoves. They consisted of small, squareboxes, with holes bored in the top, and a little fire of peat in anearthen vessel within. Rollo asked Mr. George to give him two sheets ofthin note paper, and he established himself at a window that looked outupon a canal. He intended to amuse himself in the intervals of hiswriting in watching the boats that were passing along the canal. 

He took two sheets of note paper instead of one sheet of letter paper, in order that, if he should get tired after filling one of them, hecould stop, and so send what he had written, without causing his fatherto pay postage on any useless paper. 

"Then, " thought he, "if I do _not_ get tired, I will go on and fill thesecond sheet, and my mother will have a double small letter. A doublesmall letter will be just as good as a single large one. "

This was an excellent plan. 

Rollo also took great pains to guard against another fault which boysoften fall into in writing their letters; that is, the fault of growingcareless about the writing as they go on with the work, by which means aletter is produced which looks very neat and pretty at the beginning, but becomes an ill-looking and almost illegible scrawl at the end. 

"I'll begin, " said he, "as I think I shall be able to hold out; and I'llhold out to the end just as I begin. "

Rollo remained over his letter more than three hours. He would havebecome exceedingly tired with the work if he had written continuouslyall this time; but he stopped to rest very often, and to amuse himselfwith observing what was passing before him in the street and on thecanal. 

Mr. George was occupied all this time in writing _his_ letter, and eachread what he had written to the other that same evening, after dinner. The two letters were as follows:--

 MR. GEORGE'S LETTER. 

 "LEYDEN, HOLLAND, September 27. 

 "MY DEAR EDWARD:[6]

[Footnote 6: Edward was Mr. George's brother. He was a boy about twelveyears old. ]

"We have been travelling now for several days in Holland, and it is oneof the most curious and amusing countries to travel in that I have everseen. 

"We all know from the books of geography which we study at school, thatHolland is a very low country--lower in many places than the ocean; andthat the water of the ocean is kept from overflowing it by dikes, whichthe people built ages ago, along the shores. I always used to supposethat it was only from the sea that people had any danger to fear ofinundations; but I find now that it is not so. 

"The people have to defend themselves from inundations, not only on theside towards the sea, but also quite as much, if not more, on the sidetowards the land, from the waters of the River Rhine. The River Rhinerises in Switzerland, and flows through various countries of Europeuntil it comes to the borders of Holland, and there it spreads out intoinnumerable branches, and runs every where, all over the country. Itwould often overflow the country entirely, were it not that the banksare guarded by dikes, like the dikes of the sea. The various branches ofthe rivers are connected together by canals, which are also higher thanthe land on each side of them. Thus the whole country is covered with agreat network of canals, rivers, and inlets from the sea, with water inthem higher than the land. When the tide is low in the sea, the surpluswater from these rivers and canals flows off through immense sluices atthe mouth of them. When the tide comes up, it is kept from flowing in byimmense gates, with which the sluices are closed. They call the tractsof land that lie lower than the channels of water around them, _polders_. That is rather a queer name. I suppose it is a Dutch name. 

"The polders all have drains and canals cut in them. As we ride along inthe railway carriages we overlook these polders. They look like immensegreen fields, extending as far as you can see, with straight canalsrunning through them in every direction, and crossing each other atright angles. These canals, in the bottom of the polders, are about sixfeet wide. They are wide enough to prevent the cattle from jumpingacross them, and so they serve for fences to divide the fields from eachother. They also serve for roads, for the Dutchmen use boats on theirfarms to get in their hay and produce, instead of carts. 

"The water that collects in these low canals and drains, which runacross the polders, cannot flow out into the large canals, which arehigher than they are, and so they have to pump it out. They pump it outgenerally by means of wind mills. So wherever you go, throughout allHolland, you find an immense number of wind mills. These wind mills arevery curious indeed. Some of them are immensely large. They look likelighthouses. The large ones are generally built of brick, and some ofthem are several hundred years old. The sails of the big ones are oftenfifty feet long, and sometimes eighty feet. This makes a wheel onehundred and sixty feet in diameter. When you stand under one of thesemills, and look up, and see these immense sails revolving so high in theair that the lowest point, when the sail comes round, is higher than thetops of the four story houses, the effect is quite sublime. 

"With these wind mills they pump the water up from one drain or canal toanother, till they get it high enough to run off into the sea. In someplaces, however, it is very difficult to get the water into the sea evenin this way, even at low tides. The River Amstel, for instance, whichcomes out at Amsterdam, and into which a great many canals and channelsare pumped, is so low at its mouth that the sea is never, at the lowesttides, more than a foot and a half below it. At high tides the sea is agreat deal above it. The average is about a foot above. Of course itrequires a great deal of management to get the waters of the river out, and avoid letting the water of the sea in. They do it by immensesluices, which are generally kept shut, and only opened when the tide islow. 

"In the mean time, if it should ever so happen that they could notsucceed in letting the water out fast enough, it would, of course, accumulate, and rise in the rivers, and press against the dikes that runalong the banks of it, till at last it would break through in some weakplace; and then, unless the people could stop the breach, the wholepolder on that side would be gradually overflowed. The inundation wouldextend until it came to some other dike to stop it. The polder thatwould first be filled would become a lake. The lake would be many milesin extent, perhaps, but the water in it would not usually be verydeep--not more than eight or ten feet, perhaps; though in some casesthe polders are so low, that an inundation from the rivers and canalsaround it would make the lake twenty or thirty feet deep. 

"Of course, in ancient times, when a portion of the country became thussubmerged, it was for the people to consider whether they would abandonit or try to pump all that water out again, by means of the wind mills. They would think that if they pumped it out it would be some yearsbefore the land would be good again; for the salt in the water wouldtend to make it barren. So they would sometimes abandon it, and put alltheir energy into requisition to strengthen the dikes around it, inorder to prevent the inundation from spreading any farther. For water, in Holland, tends to spread and to destroy life and property, just asfire does in other countries. The lakes and rivers, where they arehigher than the land, are liable to burst their barriers after heavyrains falling in the country, or great floods coming down the rivers, orhigh tides rise from the sea, and so run into each other; and the peoplehave continually to contend against this danger, just as in othercountries they do against spreading conflagrations. 

"In the case of spreading fire, water is the great friend and helper ofman; and in the case of these spreading inundations of water, it iswind that he relies upon. The only mode that the Dutch had to pump outthe water in former times was the wind mills. When the rains or thetides inundated the land, they called upon the wind to help them liftthe water out to where it could flow away again. 

"There was a time, two or three hundred years ago, when all the windmills that the people could make, seem not to have been enough to do thework; and there was one place, in the centre of the country, where thewater continued to spread more and more--breaking through as it spreadfrom one polder to another--until, at last, it swallowed up such anextent of country as to form a lake thirty miles in circumference. Thislake at last extended very near to the gates of Haarlem, and it wascalled the Holland Lake. You will find it laid down on all the maps ofHolland, except those which have been printed within a few years. Thereason why it is not laid down now is, because a few years ago, findingthat the wind mills were not strong enough to pump it out, thegovernment concluded to try what virtue there might be in steam. So theyfirst repaired and strengthened the range of dikes that extended roundthe lake. In fact, they made them double all around, leaving a spacebetween for a canal. They made both the inner and outer of these dikeswater-tight; so that the water should neither soak back into the lakeagain, after it was pumped out, nor ooze out into the polders beyond. The way they made them water-tight was by lining them on both sides witha good thick coating of clay. 

"When the dikes enclosing the lake were completed, the engineers set upthree very powerful steam engines, and gave to each one ten or twelveenormous pumps to work. These pumping engines were made on such a grandscale that they lifted over sixty tuns of water at every stroke. But yetso large was the lake, and so vast the quantity of water to be drained, that though there were three of the engines working at this rate, andthough they were kept at work night and day, it took them a year and ahalf to lay the ground dry. The work was, however, at last accomplished, and now, what was the bottom of the lake is all converted into pasturesand green fields. But they still have to keep the pumps going all thetime to lift out the surplus water that falls over the whole space inrain. You may judge that the amount is very large that falls on adistrict thirty miles round. They calculate that the quantity which theyhave to pump up now, every year, in order to keep the land from beingoverflowed again, is over fifty millions of tuns. And that is a quantitylarger than you can ever conceive of. 

"And yet the piece of ground is so large, that the cost of this pumpingmakes only about fifty cents for each acre of land, which is verylittle. 

"Besides these great spreading inundations, which Holland has alwaysbeen subject to from the lakes and rivers in the middle of the country, there has always been a greater danger still to be feared from the icefreshets of the Rhine, and other great rivers coming from the interiorof the country. The Rhine, you know, flows from south to north, andoften the ice, in the spring, breaks up in the middle of the course ofthe river, before it gets thawed in Holland. The broken ice, in comingdown the stream towards the north, is kept within the banks of thestream where the banks are high; but when it reaches Holland it is notonly no longer so confined, but it finds its flow obstructed by the icewhich there still remains solid, and so it gets jammed and forms dams, and that makes the water rise very fast. At one time when such a dam wasformed, the water rose seven feet in an hour. At such times the pressurebecomes so prodigious that the dikes along the bank of the river areburst, and water, sand, gravel, and ice, all pour over together uponthe surrounding country, and overwhelm and destroy every thing thatcomes in its way. 

"Some of the inundations caused in Holland by these floods and freshetshave been terrible. In ancient times they were worse than they are now;because now the dikes are stronger, and are better guarded. At oneinundation that occurred about sixty years ago, eighty thousand personswere drowned. At another, three hundred years earlier, one hundredthousand perished. Think what awful floods there must have been. 

"But I cannot write any more in this letter. I have taken up so muchspace and time in telling you about the inundations and freshets, that Ihave not time to describe a great many other things which I have seen, that are quite as curious and remarkable as they. But when I get home Ican tell you all about them, in the winter evenings, and read to youabout them from my journal. 

 "Your affectionate brother, "GEORGE. "

 ROLLO'S LETTER. 

 "LEYDEN, Tuesday, September 27. 

 "MY DEAR MOTHER:

"Uncle George and I are having a very fine time indeed in travellingabout Holland; it is such a funny country, on account of their being somany canals. The water is all smooth and still in all the canals, (except when the wind blows, ) and so there must be excellent skatingevery where in the winter. 

"I wish it was winter here now, for one day, so that uncle George and Icould have some Dutch skating. 

"There must be good skating every where here in the winter, for there iswater every where, and it is all good water for skating. In the fields, instead of brooks running in crooked ways and tumbling over rocks, thereare only long and narrow channels of smooth water, just about wideenough to skate upon, and reaching as far as you can see. 

"The people here speak Dutch, and they cannot understand me, and Icannot understand them. And that is not the worst of it; they can'tunderstand that _I can't understand_ them. Sometimes the woman thatcomes to make my bed tells me something in Dutch, and I tell her that Ican't understand. I know the Dutch for 'I can't understand. ' Then shesays, 'O!' and goes on to tell me over again, only now she tries tospeak plainer--as if it could make any difference to me whether shespeaks plain or not. I shake my head, and tell her I can't understandany thing. I tell her in French, and in English, and in Dutch. But itdoes not do any good, for she immediately begins again, and tells me thewhole story all over again, trying to speak plainer than ever. I supposeshe thinks that any body can understand Dutch, if she only speaks itplain enough to them. 

"When I want any thing of them, I always tell them by signs. The otherevening, uncle George and I wanted some candles. So I rang the bell, anda woman came. I went to the door of the room, and made believe that Ihad two candlesticks in my hand, and that I was bringing them in. Imade believe put them on the table, and then sat down and opened a book, and pretended that I was reading by the light of them. She understood meimmediately. She laughed, and said, 'Ya, ya!' and went off out of theroom to get the candles. 

"Ya, ya, means yes, yes. 

"Another time we wanted a fire. So when the woman came in, I shivered, and made believe that I was very cold, and then I went to the fireplace, and made believe warm myself. Then I pointed to the fireplace, and madea sign for her to go away and bring the fire to put there. But insteadof going, she told me something in Dutch, and shook her head; and when Isaid I could not understand it, she told me over again; and finally shewent away, and sent the landlady. The landlady could speak a littleEnglish. So she told me that we could not have any fire except in footstoves, for the fireplace stoves were not put up. 

[Illustration: THE BOAT FAMILY. ]

"It is very curious to walk about the streets, and see the boats on thecanals, and what the people are carrying back and forth in them. I watchthem sometimes from the windows of the hotel, especially when it rains, and we cannot go out. They have every thing in these boats. They usesome of them instead of houses; and the man who owns them lives in themwith his wife and children, and sometimes with his ducks and chickens. 

"I often see the little children playing on the decks of the boat. OnceI saw one that had a dog, and he was trying to teach him to cipher on aslate. His mother and the other children were on the boat too. 

"The people use their dogs here to draw carts. They have three or foursometimes harnessed in together. The dogs look pretty poor and lean, butthey draw like good fellows. You would be surprised to see what greatloads they draw. They draw loads of vegetables to market, and then, whenthe vegetables are sold, they draw the market women home in the emptycarts. 

"Only they don't mind very well, when they are told which way to go. Isaw a boy yesterday riding along in a cart, with a good big dog to drawhim, and when he came to a street where he wanted him to turn down, thedog would not turn. The boy hallooed out to him in Dutch a good manytimes, and finally the boy had to jump down out of the cart, and run andseize him by the collar, and _pull_ him round. 

"It is not a great deal that they use dog carts to bring things tomarket, for generally they bring them in boats. They take almost everything to and fro along the canals in boats; and it is very curious tostand on a bridge and look down on the boats that pass under, and seehow many different kinds of boats there are, and how many differentkinds of things they have in them. This morning, I saw one that had thebottom of it divided into three pens for animals. In the first pen weretwo great cows, lying down on the straw; in the second pen were severalsheep; and in the third there were as many as a dozen small pigs, justbig enough to be roasted. I suppose it was a farmer bringing in hisstock to market. 

"Sometimes they row the boats along the canal, and sometimes they pushthem with setting poles. They have the longest setting poles in some ofthe boats that I ever saw. There is an iron pike at one end of the pole, and a wooden knob at the other. When they are pushing the boat by meansof one of these poles, they run the ironed end of it down to the bottom, and then the man puts his shoulder to the little knob at the other endand pushes. As the boat goes on, he walks along the boat from the bow tothe stern, pushing all the way as hard as he can push. 

"When they are out of town the men pull the boats along the canals bymeans of a long cord, which is fastened to a strap over their shoulders. With this strap they walk along on the tow-path of the canal, pulling inthis way--so that if the cord should break, I should think they wouldfall headlong on the ground. 

"I saw a man and a woman the other day pulling a double boat, loadedwith hay, along a canal. The hay was loaded across from one boat to theother. It made as much as five or six of the largest cart loads of haythat I ever saw. I was surprised to see that a man and a woman coulddraw so much. They drew it by long lines, and by straps over theirshoulders. The woman's line was fastened to one of the boats, and theman's to the other. 

"The people travel a great deal in boats in these parts of the country, where there are no railroads. Uncle George and I took a little journeyin one, the other day. I wanted to go very much, but uncle George wasafraid, he said, that they might take us somewhere where there would benobody that could talk English, and so we might get into some seriousdifficulty. But he said that he would go with me a few miles, if I couldfind a canal boat going to some place that we knew. So I found one goingto a town called Delft. We knew that place, because we had come throughit, or close by it, by the railway. 

"Uncle George said that it was an excellent plan to go there, for then, if we got tired of the canal boat in going, we could come home by arailroad train. 

"So we went; and we had a very pleasant time, indeed. I found the canalboat by going to the place where the boats all were, and saying, _Delft, Delft_, to the people; and then they pointed me to the right boat. So wegot in. When the captain came for the fare, I took out a handful ofmoney, and said _Delft_, and also pointed to uncle George. So he tookout enough to pay for uncle George and me to go to Delft. At least Isuppose he thought it was enough, though I thought it was very little. 

"We had a very pleasant sail to Delft. The banks of the canal arebeautiful. They are green and pretty every where, and in some placesthere were beautiful gardens, and summer houses, and pavilions closeupon the shore. 

"But now I begin to be tired of writing. I should have been tired agreat while ago, only I have stopped to rest pretty often, and to lookout the window, and see what is going by on the canal. 

"There is a boat coming now with a mast, and I don't see what they aregoing to do, for there is a bridge here, and it is not a draw bridge. Almost all the bridges are draw bridges, but this one is not. So I don'tsee how he is going to get by. 

"Ah, I see how it is! The mast is on a hinge, so that it can turn downbackward, and lie along flat on the deck of the boat. It is going downnow. 

"Now it is down, and the boat is going under the bridge. 

"But good by, mother, for it is time for me to stop. 

 "Your affectionate and dutiful son, "ROLLO. 

"P. S. This is the longest letter that I ever wrote. "

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE COMMISSIONER. 

AS may well be imagined, the best use to which the green fields ofHolland can be put, is the raising of grass to feed cattle; for thewetness of the land, which makes it somewhat unsuitable to be ploughed, causes grass to grow upon it very luxuriantly. Accordingly, as you ridethrough the country along the great railway lines, you see, every where, herds of cattle and flocks of sheep feeding in the meadows that extendfar and wide in every direction. 

The cattle are kept partly for the purpose of being fatted and sent tomarket for beef, and partly for their milk, which the Dutch farmers makecheese of. Dutch cheeses are celebrated in every part of the world. 

In the neighborhood of Amsterdam there are a number of dairy villageswhere cheeses are made, and some of them are almost always visited bytravellers. They are great curiosities, in fact, on account of theirsingular and most extraordinary neatness. Cleanliness is, in all partsof the world, deemed a very essential requisite of a dairy, and theDutch housewives in the dairy villages of Holland have carried the ideato the extreme. The village which is most commonly visited by strangerswho go to Amsterdam, is one called Broek. It lies to the north ofAmsterdam, and at a distance of about five or six miles from it. 

One day when Mr. George and Rollo arrived in Amsterdam, Mr. George, justat sundown, looked out at the window of the hotel, and said, --

"Rollo, I think it is going to be a superb day to-morrow. "

"So do I, " said Rollo. 

"At least, " said Mr. George, "I should think so if I were in America. The wind has all gone down, and the western sky is full of golden cloudsshining in roseate splendor. "

Mr. George enunciated these high-sounding words in a pompous andtheatrical manner, which made Rollo laugh very heartily. 

"And, to descend from poetry to plain prose, " said Mr. George, "I thinkwe had better take advantage of the fine weather to go to Broekto-morrow. "

"Very well, " said Rollo, "that plan suits me exactly. "

Rollo was always ready for any plan which involved the going away fromthe place where he, was, to some new place which he had not seen before. 

"But how are we going to find the way there?" said Rollo. 

"I shall take a commissioner, " said Mr. George. "I am going to Saandam, too, where Peter the Great learned ship carpentry. "

"I have heard something about that, " said Rollo, "but I don't know muchabout it. "

"Why, Peter the Great was emperor of Russia, " said Mr. George, "and hewished to introduce ship building into his dominions. So he came toHolland to learn about the construction of ships, in order that he mightbe better qualified to take the direction of the building of a fleet inRussia. Saandam was the place that he came to. While he was there helived in a small, wooden house, near the place where the ship buildingwas going on. That house is there now, and almost every body that comesto this part of the country goes to see it. "

"How long ago was it that he was there?" asked Rollo. 

"It was more than one hundred and fifty years ago, " said Mr. George. 

"I should not think a wooden house would have lasted so long, " saidRollo. 

"It would not have lasted so long, " replied Mr. George, "if they had nottaken special pains to preserve it. They have built a brick house aroundit and over it, to protect it from the weather, and so it has beenpreserved. Now I think we had better go to-morrow and see Broek, andalso Saandam, and I am going to take a commissioner. "

Mr. George had employed a commissioner once before, as the reader willperhaps recollect, namely, at the Hague; and perhaps I ought to stophere a moment to explain more fully what a commissioner is. He is aservant hired by the day to conduct strangers about the town where theyreside, and about the environs, if necessary, to show them what there isthat is curious and wonderful there. These men are called, sometimescommissioners and sometimes _valets de place_, and in their way they arevery useful. 

If a traveller arrives at a hotel in the morning, at any important townin Europe, before he has been in his room fifteen minutes he generallyhears a knock at his door, and on bidding the person come in, awell-dressed looking servant man appears and asks, --

"Shall you wish for a commissioner, sir, to-day?"

Or if the gentleman, after remaining in his room a few minutes, takeshis wife or his daughter, or whomever he may have travelling with him, and goes out from the door of the hotel, he is pretty sure to be metnear the door by one or more of these men, who accost him earnestly, saying, --

"Do you want a commissioner, sir?" Or, "Shall I show you the way, sir?"Or, "Would you like to see the museum, sir?"

When a traveller intends to remain some days in a place, he hasgenerally no occasion for a commissioner; since, in his rambles aboutthe town, he usually finds all the places of interest himself, and insuch a case the importunities of the commissioners seeking employmentare sometimes annoying to him. But if his time is very short, or if hewishes to make excursions into the neighborhood of a town where he doesnot understand the language of the people, then such a servant is ofvery great advantage. 

Mr. George thought that his proposed excursion to Broek and Saandam wasan occasion on which a commissioner could be very advantageouslyemployed. Accordingly, after he and Rollo had finished their dinner, which they took at a round table near a window in the coffee room, heasked Rollo to ring the bell. 

Rollo did so, and a waiter came in. 

"Send me in a commissioner, if you please, " said Mr. George. 

"Very well, sir, " said the waiter, with a bow. 

The waiter went out, and in a few minutes a well-dressed and veryrespectable looking young man came in, and advancing towards Mr. George, said, --

"Did you wish to see a commissioner, sir?"

"Yes, " said Mr. George. "I want to make some inquiries about going toBroek and to Saandam, to-morrow. I want to know what the best way is togo, and what the expenses will be. "

So saying, Mr. George took out a pencil and a piece of paper from hispocket, in order to make a memorandum of what the commissioner shouldsay. 

"In the first place, " asked Mr. George, "what is your name? I shall wantto know what to call you. "

"My name is James, " said the commissioner. 

"Well, now, James, " said Mr. George, "I want you to tell me what thebest way is to go, and what all the expenses will be. I want to knowevery thing beforehand. "

"Well, sir, " said James, "we shall go first by the ferry boat across tothe Y, [7] and there we shall take the _trekschuyt_ for a short distanceon the canal. "

[Footnote 7: The Y is the name of the sheet of water which lies beforeAmsterdam. It is a sort of harbor. ]

"And how much will that cost?" asked Mr. George. 

"For the three, forty-five cents, " said James. 

He meant, of course, Dutch cents. It takes two and a half Dutch cents tomake one American cent. 

"There, " continued James, "we take a carriage. "

"And how much will the carriage be?" asked Mr. George. 

"To go to Broek and back, and then to Saandam, will be ten guilders. "

Mr. George made memoranda of these sums on his paper, as James namedthem. 

"And the tolls, " continued James, "will be one guilder and twenty-fivecents more. "

"And the driver?" asked Mr. George. 

In most of the countries of Europe, when you make a bargain for thecarriage, the driver's services are not included in it. He expects a feebesides. 

"The driver, fifty cents. Half a guilder, " said James. 

"Is that enough for him?" asked Mr. George. 

"Yes, sir, " said James, "that's enough. "

"We will call it seventy-five cents, " said Mr. George. So saying, hewrote seventy-five. 

"Then there will be some fees to pay, I suppose, " said Mr. George, "bothat Broek and at Saandam. "

"Yes, sir, " said James. "We pay twenty-five cents at the dairy, twenty-five cents at the garden, and twenty-five to the hostler. Thatmakes seventy-five. And the same at Saandam, to see the hut of Peter theGreat, and the house. That makes one guilder fifty centimes. "

"Is that all?" asked Mr. George. 

"There will be forty-five cents for the ferry, coming back, " said James. 

Mr. George added this sum to the column, and then footed it up. Theamount was nearly fifteen guilders. 

"We will call it fifteen guilders, " said he. "To-morrow I will give youfifteen guilders, and you will pay all expenses. And then what shall Ihave to pay you for your services?"

"My charge is four guilders for the day, " said James. 

"Very well, " said Mr. George. "And at what time in the morning will itbe best to set out?"

"There is a boat at nine o'clock, " said James. 

"Then we will leave here at half past eight. We will have breakfast, Rollo, at eight. Or perhaps we can have breakfast at Broek. Is there ahotel there, James?"

"Yes, sir, " said James. "There is a hotel there. "

"Very well. Then we will wait till we get there before we takebreakfast, and we will expect you at half past eight. Our room is numbereleven. "

The arrangement being thus fully made, the commissioner, promising to bepunctual, bowed and retired. 

"Now, Rollo, " said Mr. George, "to-morrow we will have a good time. After I give the commissioner the fifteen guilders, I shall have nofurther care or responsibility, but shall be taken along over the wholeground as if I were a child under the care of his father. "

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX. 

THE GREAT CANAL. 

The commissioner knocked at Mr. George's door at the time appointed. Mr. George and Rollo were both ready. Mr. George counted out the fifteenguilders on the table, and James put them in his pocket. The party thenset out. 

Mr. George wished to stop by the way to put a letter in the post office, and to pay the postage of it. He desired to do this personally, for hewished to inquire whether the letter would go direct. So James led themby the way of the post office, and conducted Mr. George into the officewhere foreign letters were received, and the payment of postage takenfor them. Here James served as interpreter. Indeed, it is one of themost important duties of a commissioner to serve as an interpreter tohis employer, whenever his services are required in this capacity. 

When the letter was put in, the party resumed their walk. Thecommissioner went on before, carrying Mr. George's travelling shawl andthe umbrella, and Mr. George and Rollo followed. The way lay along anarrow street, by the side of a canal. There were a thousand curioussights to be seen, both among the boats on the canal and along the road;but Rollo could not stop to examine them, for the commissioner walkedpretty fast. 

"I wish he would not walk so fast, " said Rollo. 

"Ah, yes, " said Mr. George, "he is right this morning, for we want toget to the pier in time for the boat. But in walking about the town tosee it, it would be a great trouble to us. "

"To-morrow we will go about by ourselves, " said Rollo, "and stop whenand where we please. "

"We will, " said Mr. George. 

At last the party came out to what may be called the front of the city, where they could look off upon the harbor. This harbor is a sheet ofwater called the Y, which has been before referred to. The morning wasbright and beautiful, and the water was covered with ships, steamers, barges, boats, and vessels of every form and size, going to and fro. Thesteamers passed swiftly, but the sailing vessels scarcely moved, so calmand still was the morning air. The sun was shining, and the whole scenepresented to Mr. George's and Rollo's view, as they looked out over thewater, was extremely brilliant and beautiful. 

The commissioner led the way out over a long pier supported by piles, toa sort of landing platform at a distance from the shore. This place wasquite large. It had a tavern upon it, and a great many different officesbelonging to the different lines of steamers, and piers projecting indifferent directions for the different boats and steamers to land at. Itstood at some distance from the shore, and the whole had the appearanceof a little village on an island. It would have been an island indeed, if there had been any land about it; but there was not. It was builtwholly on piles. 

Here were crowds of people going and coming on this stage, some havingjust landed from the different steamers that had just arrived, and someabout to embark in others that were going away. Small boats were coming, too, over the water, with passengers in them, among whom were manypeasant girls, whose foreheads and temples were adorned with a profusionof golden ornaments, such as are worn by the ladies of North Holland. Rollo looked this way and that as he passed along the stage, and hewished for time to stop and examine what he saw; but the commissionerwalked rapidly on, and led the way to the ferry boat. 

"You will walk on board, " said James, "while I get the tickets. "

So Mr. George and Rollo went over the plank on board the boat, whileJames turned to a little office that stood near to get the tickets. 

There was a man standing at the end of the plank to collect the ticketsas the passengers came on board. Mr. George, as he passed, pointed backto the office where James had gone. The man bowed, and he and Rollopassed on. 

"How independent we are!" said Mr. George. "I shall have nothing to dowith making any payments all day to-day, and it will seem as if we weretravelling free. "

The ferry boat was of a very singular construction, and most singularlooking people they were who were on board of it. It had a great flatdeck, which was of an oval form, and was spreading out very wide at thesides. There were seats here and there in different places, but noawning or shelter of any kind overhead. Rollo was glad of this, for themorning was so fine, and the view on every side was so magnificent, thathe was very much pleased to have it so wholly unobstructed. 

As soon as the chimes of the city clocks began to strike for nine, thevarious steamboats began to shoot out in different directions from thepiers of the landing, and soon the ferry boat began to move, too. Shemoved, however, very slowly. 

"What a slow and clumsy boat!" said Rollo. 

"I'm glad she is slow, " replied Mr. George, "for I want to look about. Ishould be willing to be an hour in going across this ferry. "

The prospect on every side was, indeed, very fine. On looking back theycould see the buildings of the town extending far and wide for miles, with domes, and towers, and spires, and tops of trees, and masts ofships rising together every where above the tops of the houses. Thewater of the harbor was covered with ships and steamers passing to andfro--those near glittering in the sun, while the distant ones were halflost in a smoky haze that every where softened and concealed thehorizon. Mr. George and Rollo gazed earnestly on this scene, looking nowin this direction, and now in that, but not speaking a word. 

When they were about half across the Y, James came to Mr. George, andsaid, --

"This ferry boat connects with a steamer on the canal, which goes to theHelder, and also with various trekschuyts. We shall take a trekschuyt togo for a short distance?--as far as to the place where we shall get acarriage. "

"Very well, " said Mr. George. "Arrange it as you think best. Then weshall go a short distance on the great canal. "

"Yes, sir, " said James. "You will like to see a little of the canal. "

"I shall, indeed, " said Mr. George. 

The great canal of which James here spoke is the grandest work of thekind in Holland, and perhaps in the world. If you look at the map youwill see that Amsterdam stands somewhat in the interior of the country, and that the only approach to it, by sea, is through a great gulf calledthe Zuyder Zee. Now, the water in the Zuyder Zee is shallow. There arechannels, it is true, that are tolerably deep; but they are very windingand intricate, and they are so surrounded with shoals and sand banks asto make the navigation very difficult, especially for ships of largesize. 

The people, accordingly, conceived the plan of digging a canal acrossthe country; from Amsterdam to the nearest place where there was deepwater on the sea. This was at a point of land called the Helder. 

The reason why there was deep water there, was, that that was the outletfor the Zuyder Zee, and the water rushing in there when the tide isrising, and out again when it goes down, keeps the channel deep andclear. 

So it was determined to make a canal from the Helder to Amsterdam. Butthe land was lower, almost all the way, than the sea. This rendered itimpossible to construct the canal so as to make it of the same levelwith the sea, without building up the banks of it to an inconvenientheight. Besides, it was just as well to make the canal lower than thesea, and then to build gates at each end of it, to prevent the sea waterfrom coming in. 

"Then how were the ships to get in?" asked Rollo, when Mr. Georgeexplained this to him. 

"Why, there were two ways, " replied Mr. George, "by which ships mightget in. You see, although the canal is lower than the sea is generally, there is an hour or two every day when the tide goes down, in which thetwo are about on a level. Accordingly, by opening the gates when thetide is low, a communication would be made by which the vessels couldsail in and out. "

"But that would be inconvenient, I should think, " said Rollo, "not tohave the gates open but twice a day. "

"Yes, " said Mr. George; "and so, to enable them to admit ships at anytime, they have built _locks_ at each end. "

"Like the locks in a common canal in America?" said Rollo. 

"Yes, " said Mr. George; "and by means of these locks, ships can betaken in and out at any time. "

"I don't exactly understand how they do it, " said Rollo. 

"Let me explain it to you, then, " replied Mr. George. "Listenattentively, and picture to your mind precisely what I describe, and seeif you understand. 

"First, " continued Mr. George, "imagine that you are down by the seashore, where the canal ends. The water in the sea is higher than it isin the canal, and there are two sets of gates, at a little distance fromeach other, near the mouth of the canal, which keep the water of the seafrom flowing in. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "I can picture that to my mind. But how far apart arethe two sets of gates?"

"A little farther apart, " said Mr. George, "than the length of thelongest ship. Of course one pair of these locks is towards the sea, andthe other towards the canal. I will call the first the sea gates, andthe other the canal gates. The space between the two gates is called thelock. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "I understand all that. "

"Now, " continued Mr. George, "a ship comes in, we will suppose, and isto be taken into the canal. First, the men open the sea gates. The seacan now flow into the lock, but it cannot get into the canal, becausethe canal gates are still shut. "

"Yes, " said Rollo. 

"And, now you see, " continued Mr. George, "that as the water in the lockis high, and on a level with the sea, the ship can sail into the lock. "

"But it can't get down into the canal, " said Rollo. 

"No, " replied Mr. George, "not yet. But now the men shut the sea gates, and thus shut the ship in. They then open the passages through the canalgates, and this lets the water out of the lock until it subsides to thelevel of that in the canal, and the ship settles down with it. But thesea cannot come in, for the sea gates, that are now behind the ship, areshut. When the water in the lock has gone down to the canal level, thenthey can open the gates, and the ship can sail along out of the lockinto the canal. 

"Thus they lock the ship down into the canal at one end, and when shehas passed through the canal, they lock her up into the Y again at theother. "

"Yes, " said Rollo. "I understand it now. And shall we go into the canalthrough the locks in this way?"

"I don't know, " said Mr. George. "I'll ask James. "

So Mr. George beckoned to James to come to him, and asked him whetherthey should enter the canal through the lock. 

"No, " said James. "The ferry boat does not go into the canal at all. Wego into a little dock or harbor by the side of it, and the passengerswalk over the dike, and down to the canal, where they find the boatsready for them that they are to take. "

"Why don't they pass from those boats through the locks, and let themcome across to Amsterdam?" asked Rollo, "and then we might get on boardthem there, and so not have to change from one boat to the other. "

"Because it takes some time, and some trouble, " said James, "to pass anything through the locks, and it is not worth while to do it, except incase of large and valuable ships. So the boats and steamers that plyalong the canal are left inside the lock, and the passengers are takento and from them by the ferry boat. "

The ferry boat, by this time, began to approach the shore. It enteredinto a little opening in the land, which formed a sort of harbor. Herethe passengers were landed at a wharf, which was surrounded by smallbuildings. Thence they ascended what was evidently a large dike. Whenthey reached the top of the dike they saw below them, on the other sideof it, the beginning of the canal. It lay several feet lower than thewater of the harbor in which they had left the ferry boat; but it wasquite wide, and it was bordered by broad dikes with avenues of treesupon them, on either side. On one side, under the trees, was a tow path, and on the other a broad and smoothly gravelled road. 

Two boats were lying moored to the wharves at the side of the canal. Onewas a long, sharp, and narrow steamer, which was going through the wholelength of the canal to the Helder. The other was a trekschuyt, or canalboat, which was going only a short way, to the nearest village. 

The passengers that came in the ferry boat divided into two parties, asthey came down the dike. One party went to the steamer, the other to thetrekschuyt. Mr. George and Rollo, of course, went with the last. 

The trekschuyt was a curious sort of boat. It was built like the Noah'sark made for children to play with; that is, it was a broad boat, with ahouse in it. The roof of the house, which formed the deck of the boat, was flat, and there were seats along the sides of it, and a railingbehind them on the margin, to keep people from falling off. At each endof the house were two flights of steps, leading up to the roof or deck, and below them another flight, which led down to the little cabinsbelow. 

As soon as Rollo got on board, he first ran up on the deck. He sat downon the seat upon one side, and then, after looking about a moment, heran over to the other side, and sat down there. Then he got up, and saidthat he was going below to look at the cabins. 

Mr. George, all the time, stood quietly on the deck, looking at thecanal, and at the country around. He could see the canal extending, in awinding direction, across the country; but the view of it was soon lost, as the winding of its course brought the dikes on the sides of it in theway so that they concealed the water. He could, however, trace itscourse for some distance, by the masts and sails of vessels which he sawat different distances rising among the green trees. Along the dike, onone side, was a high road, and on the other, a tow path. Different boatswere coming and going in the part of the canal that was near. They weredrawn by long and slender lines, that were fastened to a tall mast setup near the bows of the boat. Some were drawn by men, and some byhorses. 

[Illustration: THE TREKSCHUYT. ]

Before the trekschuyt had gone far, after it commenced its voyage, agreat ship was seen coming on the canal. She was coming from the Helder. It was a ship that had come from the West Indies, and was going toAmsterdam. The wind was contrary for her, and they could not use theirsails, and so they were drawing her along by horses. There were twoteams of horses, eight in each team. The view of these teams, walkingalong the tow path, with the immense ship following them in the canal, presented a very imposing spectacle. 

The trekschuyt started before the Helder steamer; but it had not gonefar before Rollo, who had now ascended to the deck again, saw her comingup behind very rapidly. 

"I tell you what it is, uncle George, " said he, "I wish you and I wereon board that steamer, and were going along the whole length of thecanal. "

"So do I, " said Mr. George. 

"Could not we get on board?" asked Rollo. 

"No, " said Mr. George. "We cannot change our plan to-day very well. Butnow that we have found the way, we can come over here any morning weplease, and take the Helder steamer. "

"Let's come, " said Rollo, eagerly. "Let's come to-morrow. "

"We'll see about that, " said Mr. George. "See, here comes a marketboat. "

"Yes, " said Rollo. "The man is towing it, and his wife is steering. "

"Now we will see how they pass, " said Rollo. 

There was no difficulty about passing, for as soon as the man who wastowing the market boat found that the trekschuyt had come up to hisline, he stopped suddenly, and the advance of his boat caused his lineto drop into the water. The trekschuyt then sailed right over it. Bythis simple manoeuvre, boats and vessels could pass each other veryeasily, and generally the manoeuvre was executed in a prompt and veryskilful manner. But once, when they were passing a boat, the woman whowas steering it put the helm the wrong way, and though the captain ofthe trekschuyt, and also the husband of the woman, who was on the shore, shouted to her repeatedly in a loud and angry manner, she could not getit right again in time to avoid a collision. The trekschuyt gave theboat a dreadful bump as it went by. Fortunately, however, it did noharm, except to frighten the poor woman, and break their tow line. 

After going on in this way for fifteen or twenty minutes along thecanal, the trekschuyt arrived at its place of destination, and Mr. George and Rollo disembarked at a little village of very neat and prettyhouses, built along the dike on one side of the canal. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X. 

THE DAIRY VILLAGE. 

Mr. George and Rollo walked ashore in a very independent manner, havingthe commissioner to attend to the tickets. They went up to the top ofthe dike, and waited for the commissioner to come to them. 

"While I am getting the carriage ready, " said the commissioner, when hecame, "perhaps you will like to take a walk on the bridge, where thereis a very fine view. But first, perhaps, you will look at the carriage, and choose the one that you will like. "

So saying, James led the way into a sort of stable, where there were agreat many very nice and pretty carriages, arranged very snuglytogether. Mr. George was surprised to see so many. He asked James how ithappened. 

"O, there is a great deal of travelling on the roads about here, " saidJames. "The country is very rich and populous, and the people ofAmsterdam come out a great deal. "

Some of the carriages were very elegant. One of these an hostler tookout, and told Mr. George that he could have it if he chose. There wasanother which was much less elegant, but it was more open. 

"Let us take the open one, " said Rollo. "We can see so much better. "

So they decided upon the open one; and then, while the hostlers wereharnessing the horses, Mr. George and Rollo went forward to the bridge. 

The bridge led over a branch canal, which here comes into the maincanal. The road to it lay along the dike, and formed the street of alittle village. It was paved with bricks placed edgewise, and was asneat as a parlor floor. The houses were all on one side. They were verysmall; but they were so neat and pretty, and the forms of them were sostrange and queer, that they looked like play houses, or like a scene infairy land, rather than like the real habitations of men. 

There were pretty gardens by them, which extended down the slope of thedike. The slopes of the dikes are always very gradual, and very nicegardens can be made on them. 

Mr. George and Rollo stood on the bridge, and looked up and down thecanals on either side. They saw boats, with people in them, gettingready to set out on their voyages. 

"I wonder where that canal leads to?" said Rollo. 

"O, it goes off into the interior of the country, some where, " said Mr. George. "The country is as full of canals as Massachusetts is of roads. "

"I should like, very much, " said Rollo, "to get on board that boat withthat man, and go with him wherever he is going. "

"So should I, if I knew Dutch, " said Mr. George, "so that I could talkwith him as we sailed along. "

"How pretty it is all about here, " said Rollo. "What a queervillage, --built on a bank! And what a funny road! It looks like a playroad. "

The road, where it led through the village, did, indeed, present a verysingular appearance. It was very narrow indeed, being barely wide enoughfor one carriage to pass, and leaving scarcely room on the side for achild to crowd up against the house, and let it go by. On the other sidewas a row of trees, with green grass beneath, covering the banks of thecanal. 

After Mr. George and Rollo had been standing a few minutes on the bridgethey saw that the carriage was nearly ready. So they went back to theplace and got in. The top of the carriage was turned entirely down, sothat they could see about them in every direction as they rode along. James mounted on the box outside, with the driver. 

"Now, " said Rollo, in a tone of great satisfaction, "we will have a veryfirst rate ride. "

The carriage drove along through the little street, which has alreadybeen described. Rollo could reach his hand out and almost touch thehouses as they rode by. There were little shops kept in some of thehouses, and the things that were for sale were put up at the windows. They looked exactly as if children had arranged them for play. 

After leaving the village the road turned and followed the dike of abranch canal. The views on every side were extremely beautiful. Thecanal was carried along between its two banks, high above the rest ofthe country, and here and there, at moderate distances from each other, wind mills were to be seen busy at work pumping up water from the drainsin the fields, and pouring it into the canal. The fields were coveredwith herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and here and there wereparties of men mowing the grass or loading the new-made hay into boats, that lay floating in the small canals which bordered the fields. 

In looking about over the country, there were wind mills to be seen inall directions, their long arms slowly revolving in the air, andinterspersed among them were the masts and sails of sloops andschooners, that were sailing to and fro along the canals. As the waterof these canals was often hidden from view by the dikes which borderedthem, it seemed as if the ships and steamers were sailing on the land inthe midst of green fields and trees, and smiling villages. 

After going on in this way for an hour or more, the carriage approachedthe village which Mr. George and Rollo were going to see. The villagelay on the borders of a canal, which was here quite broad, and as theroad approached it on the other side of the canal, it was in full viewfor Mr. George and Rollo as the party approached it. The houses wereclose to the margin of the water. They were very neat and pretty, andwere, most of them, painted green. Many of them had little canals by theside of them, like lanes of water leading into the rear of the houses, and the prettiest little porticoes, and trellises, and piazzas, andpavilions, and summer houses were seen in every part. The road wentwinding round a wide basin, and then, after crossing a bridge, thecarriage stopped at an inn. 

The inn was entirely outside of the village. The commissioner said thatthey must walk through the village, for there was no carriage roadthrough it at all. 

So Mr. George and Rollo dismounted, and the hostlers came out from thestable to unharness the horses. 

"Now, Rollo, " said Mr. George, "we will go in and order a breakfast, andthen we will take our walk through the village while it is gettingready. "

"Yes, " said Rollo. "I should like some breakfast very much. "

"What shall we have?" asked Mr. George. 

"What you like, " replied Rollo. "You always get good breakfasts. "

"Well, " said Mr. George, "we will tell them the old story. "

Just at this moment James came up to the door of the hotel where Mr. George and Rollo had been standing during this conversation. 

"You may order breakfast for us, James, " said Mr. George, "and let themhave it ready for us when we get back from our walk. "

"Yes, sir, " said James. "And what will you have?"

"_Biftek aux pommes_, "[8] said Mr. George, "and coffee. And let themgive us some of their best cheese. "

[Footnote 8: Pronounced _biftek-o-pom_. This is a very favoritebreakfast in France, and every where, in fact, throughout Europe. Mr. George liked it better than any thing else, not only for his breakfast, but also for his dinner. It consists of very tender beefsteaks, deliciously seasoned, and accompanied with sliced potatoes, fried in apeculiar manner, and arranged all around the margin of the dish. ]

The commissioner went in to give the order. 

"Uncle George, " said Rollo, "I think you'll be known all through thiscountry as the beefsteak and fried potato man. "

Mr. George laughed. 

"Well, " said he. "There could not be a more agreeable idea than that tobe associated with my memory. "

The truth is, that both Mr. George and Rollo liked the _biftek auxpommes_ better than almost any thing else that they could have, whetherfor breakfast or dinner. 

After having given the order for the breakfast to a very nice andtidy-looking Dutch girl, whose forehead and temples were adorned with aprofusion of golden ornaments, after the fashion of the young women ofNorth Holland, the commissioner came back, and the whole party set outto walk through the village. There were no streets, properly so called, but only walks, about as wide as the gravel walks of a garden, whichmeandered about among the houses and yards, in a most extraordinarymanner. There were beautiful views, from time to time, presented overthe water of the canal on which the village was situated; and there werea great number of small canals which seemed to penetrate every where, with the prettiest little bridges over them, and landing steps, andbowers, and pavilions along the borders of them, and gayly-painted boatsfastened at kitchen doors, and a thousand other such-like objects, characteristic of the intimate intermingling of land and water whichprevails in this extraordinary country. 

[Illustration: THE DAIRY VILLAGE. ]

Every thing was, however, on so small a scale, and so scrupulously neatand pretty, that it looked more like a toy village than one built forthe every-day residence of real men. 

After walking on for about a quarter of a mile, the commissioner saidthat he would show them the interior of one of the dairy houses, wherethe cheeses were made, --for the business of this town was the making ofcheeses from the milk of the cows that feed on the green polders thatlie all around them. 

"The stalls for the cows, " said James, "are in the same house in whichthe family lives; but the cows are not kept there in summer, and so weshall find the stalls empty. "

So saying, James turned aside up a little paved walk which led to thedoor of a very pretty looking house. He opened the door without anyceremony, and Mr. George and Rollo went in. 

The door was near one end of the house, and it opened into a passage waywhich extended back through the whole depth of it. On one side was arow of stalls, or cribs, for the cows. On the other, were doors openinginto the rooms used for the family. A very nice looking Dutch woman, whohad apparently seen the party from her window, came out through thisside door into the passage way, to welcome them when they came. 

The stalls for the cows were all beautifully made, and they were paintedand decorated in such an extraordinary manner, that no one could haveimagined for what use they were intended. The floors for them were madeof the glazed tiles so often used in Holland, and the partitions betweenthem were nicely rubbed as bright as a lady's sideboard. The cribs, too, were now, in the absence of the cows, occupied with various little_étagères_, and sets of shelves, which were covered with fancy cups andsaucers, china images, and curiosities of all sorts, --the Dutchhousewives taking a special pride in the collection of such things. 

The row of cribs was separated from the floor of the passage way by asort of trench, about a foot and a half wide and ten inches deep, andoutside this trench, and also within it, at the entrances to the cribs, were arrayed a great number of utensils employed in the work of thedairy, such as tubs, cans, cheese presses, moulds, and other suchthings. These were all beautifully made, and being mounted with brass, which had received the highest polish by constant rubbing, they gave tothe whole aspect of the place an exceedingly gay and brilliantappearance. 

Some of this apparatus was in use. There were tubs standing, with thecurd or whey in them, and cheeses in press or in pickle, and variousother indications that the establishment was a genuine one, and was thenin active operation. The cheeses were of the round kind, so often seenfor sale at the grocers' stores in Boston and New York. They looked likeso many big cannon balls. 

After walking down the passage way that led by the side of cribs, andexamining all these things in detail, the party returned to the doorwhere they had come in, and then, turning to the left, went into therooms of the house. The first room was the bedroom. The second was theparlor. These rooms were both completely crowded with antique lookingfurniture, among which were cabinets of Chinese ware, and ornaments ofevery kind; and all was in such a brilliant condition of nicety andpolish, as made the spectacle wonderful to behold. 

The bed was in a recess, shut up by doors. When the doors were openedthe bed place looked precisely like a berth on board ship. 

After looking at all these things as long as they wished, Mr. George andRollo bade the woman good by, and James gave her half a guilder. Theparty then withdrew. 

"Well, uncle George, " said Rollo, "and what do you think of that?"

"I think it is a very extraordinary spectacle, " said Mr. George. "And itis very curious to think how such a state of things has come about. "

"And how has it come about?" asked Rollo. 

"Why, here, " replied Mr. George, "for a thousand years, for aught Iknow, the people have been living from generation to generation with noother employment than taking care of the cows that feed on the poldersaround, and making the milk into cheese. That is a business whichrequires neatness. Every kind of dairy business does. So that here is aplace where a current was set towards neatness a thousand years ago, andit has been running ever since, and this is what it has come to. "

Talking in this manner of what they had seen, Mr. George and Rolloreturned to the inn, and there they found an excellent breakfast. Theywere waited upon at the table by the young woman who had so many goldenornaments in her hair; and besides the _biftek aux pommes_, and thecoffee, and the hot milk, and the nice butter, there was the half of oneof the round cheeses, such as they had seen in process of making at thedairy. 

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XI. 

CONCLUSION. 

After finishing their breakfast, Mr. George and Rollo entered thecarriage again, and returned by the same way that they came, for somemiles towards Amsterdam, until they came to the place where the roadturned off to go to Saandam. After proceeding for some distance upon oneof the inland dikes, they came at length to the margin of the sea, andthen for several miles the road lay along the great sea dike, which heredefends the land from the ingress of the ocean. 

"Ah, " said Mr. George, as soon as they entered upon this portion of theroad, "here we come to one of the great sea dikes. How glad I am. "

"So am I, " said Rollo. "I wanted to see one of the sea dikes. "

"It is very much like the others, " said Mr. George, "only it is muchlarger. "

"Yes, " said Rollo, "and see how it winds about along the shore. "

In looking forward in the direction in which Rollo pointed, the dikecould be traced for a long distance in its course, like an immenserailroad embankment, winding in and out in a most remarkable manner, inconformity to the indentations of the shore. In one respect it differedfrom a railroad embankment, namely, in being bordered and overshadowedby avenues of immense trees, which showed how many ages ago the dike hadbeen built. There is not a railroad embankment in the world that hasbeen built long enough for such immense trees to have had time to grow. 

The carriage road lay along the top of the dike, which was very broad, and the slopes of it, towards the water on one side, and towards the lowmeadow lands on the other, were very gradual. Men were at work everywhere along these slopes, cutting the second crop of grass, and makingit into hay. Where the hay was ready to be got in, the men were at workloading it into boats that lay in the little canals that extend alongthe sides of the dike at the foot of the slopes. 

Wind mills were to be seen every where, all about the horizon. As theroad approached Saandam, these mills became more and more numerous. 

"I mean to see if I can count them, " said Rollo. 

"You cannot count them, I am sure, " said Mr. George. 

Rollo began; but when he got up to a hundred, he gave up the undertakingin despair. Mr. George told him that he read in the guide book thatthere were four thousand wind mills in that region. 

Some of these wind mills were very small indeed; and there were two orthree which looked so "cunning, " as Rollo said, that he wished very muchthat he had one of them to take with him to America. 

The use of these very small wind mills was to pump up the water fromsome very limited tract of land, which, for some reason or other, happened to lie a few inches lower than the rest. 

At last, after an infinite number of turnings and windings, by means ofwhich every part of the surrounding country was brought in successioninto view before Mr. George and Rollo as they sat in their carriage, they arrived at the town of Saandam. 

The town consists of two streets, one on each embankment of a greatcanal. The streets are closely built up for many miles along the canal, but the town does not extend laterally at all, on account of the groundfalling off immediately to very low polders. 

[Illustration: CABIN OF PETER THE GREAT. ]

After entering the street the commissioner left the carriage, in orderthat the horses might rest, and led Mr. George and Rollo on a walkthrough the prettiest part of the town. They walked about half a milealong the canal on one side, and then, crossing by a ferry, they cameback on the other side. 

In the course of this walk they went to see the hut where Peter theGreat lived while he was in Holland engaged in studying ship building inthe ship yards of Saandam. The hut itself was old and dilapidated; butit was covered and protected by a good, substantial building of brick, with open arches all around, which allowed the hut to be seen, while theroof and walls of the building protected it from the rain. The hut wassituated in a very pretty little garden. 

There were two rooms in the hut, and one of them--the one shown in theengraving--had a very curious-looking Dutch fireplace in one corner ofit, and a ladder to go up to the loft above. The chairs were verycurious indeed; the seats being three-cornered, and the back and armsbeing constructed in a very singular manner. 

The walls of the rooms were perfectly covered, in every part, with thenames of visitors, who had come from all countries to see the rooms. Besides these, there were a great many volumes of books filled withnames. These books lay on a great table, which stood at one side of theroom. There was one of the books which was not yet full, and this onelay open on the table, with a pen and ink near it, in order that freshvisitors, as fast as they came, might enter their names. 

After looking at this cabin as long as they wished, and entering theirnames in the book, Mr. George and Rollo left the hut and returnedthrough one of the main streets of the town to the place where they hadleft their carriage. The carriage was soon ready for them, and they setout to go back to Amsterdam. 

They had a delightful drive back, going as they came, on the top of thegreat sea dike. On one side they could look off over a wide expanse ofwater, with boats, and steamers, and ships moving to and fro in everydirection over it. On the other side they overlooked a still widerexpanse of low and level green fields, intersected every where withcanals of water and avenues of trees, and with a perfect forest of windmills in the horizon. 

 * * * * *

As they were riding quietly along upon this dike on the return toAmsterdam, Rollo had the opportunity of imparting to Mr. George somevaluable information in respect to Peter the Great. 

"I am glad that I have had an opportunity to see the workshop of Peterthe Great, " said Mr. George. "It is very curious indeed. But I don'tknow much about Peter the Great. The first opportunity I get I mean toread an account of his life, and I advise you to do the same. "

"I have read about him, " said Rollo. "I found a book about him in asteamboat that we came in, and I read all about his coming to Holland. "

"Then tell me about it, " said Mr. George. 

"Why, you see, " said Rollo, "he was at war with the Turks, and he foughtthem and drove them off to the southward, until at last he came to theSea of Asoph. Then he could not fight them any more, unless he could getsome ships. So he made a law for all the great boyars of his kingdom, that every one of them must build or buy him a ship. What are boyars, uncle George?"

"Nobles, " said Mr. George. 

"I thought it must be something like that, " replied Rollo. 

"The old nobility of those Russian countries are called boyars, " saidMr. George; "but I don't know why. Most of the common people are slavesto them. "

"Well, at any rate, " said Rollo, "he made a law that every one of them, or at least all that were rich enough, should build or buy him a ship;but they did not know how to build ships themselves, and so they wereobliged to send to Holland for ship builders. They built more and betterships in Holland in those days than in any country in the world. "

"Yes, I suppose so, " said Mr. George. 

"The boyars did not like it very well to be obliged to build theseships, " continued Rollo. "And there was another thing that they dislikedstill more. "

"What was that?" asked Mr. George. 

"Why, the emperor made them send off their sons to be educated indifferent foreign countries, " replied Rollo. "You see, in those daysRussia was very little civilized, and Peter concluded that it would helpto introduce civilization into the country, if the sons of the principalmen went to other great cities for some years, to study sciences andarts. So he sent some of them to Paris, and some to Berlin, and some toAmsterdam, and some to Rome. But most of them did not like to go. "

"That's strange, " said Mr. George. "I should have thought they wouldhave liked to go very much. "

"At least their fathers did not like to send them, " said Rollo; "perhapson account of the expense; and some of the young men did not like togo. There was one that was sent to Venice, in order that he might seeand learn every thing that he could there, that would be of advantage tohis own country; but he was so cross about it that when he got to Venicehe shut himself up in his house, and declared that he would not see orlearn any thing at all. "

"He was a very foolish fellow, I think, " said Mr. George. 

"Yes, " said Rollo, "I think he was. But I've seen boys in school actjust so. They get put out with the teacher for something or other, andthen they won't try to understand the lesson. "

"That is punishing themselves, and not the teacher, " said Mr. George. "But go on about Peter. "

"After a while, " continued Rollo, "Peter concluded to make a journeyhimself. His plan was to go to all the most civilized countries, andinto all the finest cities in Europe, and see what he could learn thatwould be of use in his own dominions. So he fitted out a grandexpedition. He took a number of ambassadors, and generals, and greatpotentates of all kinds with him. These men were dressed in splendiduniforms, and travelled in great state, and had grand receptions in allthe great towns that they came to. But Peter himself did nothing of thekind. He dressed plainly, like a common man, so that wherever he wenthe could ramble about at liberty, and see what he wanted to see in peaceand quietness, while all the people were running after the procession ofambassadors and grandees. "

"That was a good plan, " said Mr. George. 

"An excellent plan, " rejoined Rollo. "In some of the seaports that hevisited, he used to put on a sort of a pea jacket, such as the Dutchskippers wore, and go about in that, along the wharves and docks, andlook at all the shipping. 

"But he was most interested in going to Holland, " continued Rollo, "forthat was the country where they built the best ships. Besides, the firstvessel that he ever saw happened to be a Dutch vessel. I forgot to tellyou about that. "

"Yes, " replied Mr. George, "tell me now. "

"Why, it was some years before this time, " said Rollo, --"two or three Ibelieve, --that he first saw a vessel. There was a country place with ahandsome house and pleasure grounds, belonging to the royal family. Iforget what the name of it was. But that is no matter. One time, afterPeter came to the throne, he went out to this country place to spend afew days. He found on the grounds a sort of artificial winding canal orpond, with pretty trees on the banks of it. On this canal was a yacht, which had been built in Holland and brought there, for the people tosail in when they came to that palace. The yacht had not been used much, and was lying neglected at the wharf. But Peter immediately had it putin order, and took a sail in it, and he liked it very much indeed. "

"Was it the first vessel that he ever saw?" asked Mr. George. 

"Yes, " said Rollo, "I believe it was; or at least it was the first thathe ever particularly noticed. He liked sailing in it, and then, besides, there was one of his officers there, who had travelled in othercountries in Europe where people had ships and navies, and he told Peterwhat great advantages they gained from them, not only in carrying goodsfrom place to place, but in transporting armies, and fighting theirenemies at sea. 

"Peter thought a great deal about this, and when he went back to Moscow, which was then the capital, he inquired and found that there were somepeople from Holland there. He asked them if they knew how to buildships. Some of them said they did. Then he asked them if they could notbuild him some small vessels, just like the Dutch ships of war. Theysaid they could. So he made a bargain with them, and they built himseveral. 

"Do you know how many?" asked Mr. George. 

"Not exactly, " replied Rollo. "There were several small vessels, and Iremember that there were four frigates, and each frigate had four guns. I don't suppose the guns were very large. "

"Four guns is a very small armament for a frigate, " said Mr. George. 

"Yes, " replied Rollo, "very small indeed. But you see, Peter did notwant them for real service, but only for models, as it were. "

"And what did he do with them, when they were done?" asked Mr. George. 

"They were launched into a lake there was in that part of the country, "said Rollo, "and there the emperor used to sail about in them, and havesham fights. 

"But all this, you must understand, " continued Rollo, "took place two orthree years before Peter drove the Turks off from the southern part ofhis empire, so as to get to the sea. And it was not till then that hebegan to have real ships built of large size. And now, when he was goingto Holland, he of course remembered the old Dutch yacht which he had onhis pleasure grounds, and the small frigates which they had built him, and the large ones too, which they had built for the boyars, and he felta great interest in going to see the ship yards. He determined thatwhile he was in Holland he would spend as much time as he could inlearning all about ship building. 

"It is very curious about the emperor and his company's enteringAmsterdam, " continued Rollo. "When the government there heard that hewas coming, they made grand preparations to receive him. They got thecannon all ready on the ramparts to fire salutes, and drew out thesoldiers, and all the doors and windows were crowded with spectators. They prepared a great number of illuminations, too, and fireworks, forthe night. But just before the party arrived at Amsterdam, the emperorslipped away in a plain dress, and left the ambassadors, and generals, and grandees to go in by themselves. The people of Amsterdam did notknow this. They supposed that some one or other of the people dressed sosplendidly, in the procession, was Peter; and so they shouted, and wavedtheir flags and their handkerchiefs, and fired the cannon, and made agreat parade generally. "

"And Peter himself was not there at all?" said Mr. George. 

"No, " said Rollo. "He slipped away, and came in privately with a fewmerchants to accompany him. And instead of going to the great palacewhich the government of Amsterdam had provided and fitted up for him, heleft that to his ambassadors, and went himself to a small house, by aship yard, where he could be at liberty, and go and come when hepleased. "

"And afterwards, I suppose he went to Saandam, " said Mr. George. 

"Yes, sir, " replied Rollo. "Saandam was a great place for building shipsin those days. They say that while he was there, he went to workregularly, like a ship carpenter, as if he wished to learn the tradehimself. But I don't believe he worked a great deal. "

"No, " said Mr. George. "I presume he did not. He probably took thecharacter and dress of a workman chiefly for the purpose of makinghimself more at home in the ship yards and about the wharves. Indeed, Ican't see what useful end could be gained by his learning to do workhimself. He could not expect to build ships himself when he shouldreturn to Russia. "

"No, " said Rollo. "I expect he wanted to see exactly how the ships werebuilt, and how the yards were managed, and he thought he could do thisbetter if he went among the workmen as one of their number. "

"I presume so, " said Mr. George. "I am very glad you found the book, andI am much obliged to you for all this information. "

Soon after this Mr. George and Rollo arrived safely at Amsterdam. 

 * * * * *

Rollo and Mr. George remained, after this, some days in Amsterdam; andthey were very much entertained with what they saw there in the streets, and with the curious manners and customs of the people. 

 * * * * *

PUBLICATIONS OF

BROWN, TAGGARD & CHASE, SUCCESSORS TO

W. J. REYNOLDS & CO. , No. 24 Cornhill, Boston. 

ROLLO'S TOUR IN EUROPE:

BEING A NEW SERIES OF

ROLLO BOOKS, BY REV. JACOB ABBOTT. 

IN SIX VOLUMES, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED. 

_Extract from the Preface. _

In this series of narratives we offer to the readers of the Rollo Booksa continuation of the history of our little hero, by giving them anaccount of the adventures which such a boy may be expected to meet within making a tour of Europe. The books are intended to be books ofinstruction rather than of mere amusement; and, in perusing them, thereader may feel assured that all the information which they contain, notonly in respect to the countries visited, but to the customs, usages, and modes of life that are described, and also in regard to the generalcharacter of the incidents and adventures that the young travellers meetwith, is in most strict accordance with fact. The main design of thenarratives is, thus, the communication of useful knowledge; andeverything which they contain, except what is strictly personal, inrelation to the actors in the story, may be depended upon as exactly andscrupulously true. 

_Notices of the Press. _

We know of no books that are so eagerly sought for by good boys andgirls as Mr. Abbott's new series of "Rollo Books. "--_Hartford ChristianSecretary. _

Mr. Abbott has a singularly successful faculty of conveying instructionwith entertainment, and of interesting all classes of readers, but moreparticularly the young. All will say that the more we have of suchuseful and pleasant volumes the better. --_Salem Register. _

They give excellent lessons in Geography and History, in the mostpleasing forms. They are beautifully printed, and illustrated with fineengravings. --_New Haven Palladium. _

There is no wonder that the "Rollo Books" are so extremely popular, forwe doubt if many of us "children of a larger growth" can escape theirfascination. --_Salem Observer. _

A careful perusal of the volume under notice (Switzerland) will give theyoung reader not only as good a geographical knowledge of the country itdescribes as would be obtained at a term at school, but will acquainthim with the habits, manners, and characteristics of the people ofSwitzerland. --_American Citizen_. 

No living man is his equal in story-telling for the young, and the bookwill find its way into thousands of homes. --_Hartford Republican. _

They contain a great deal of useful information, conveyed in a mostpleasing and interesting manner. --_Boston Post. _

Written by one who has made the tour through which he carries his younghero, and who, from long experience, knows how to please and instructhis young readers, these volumes possess just the qualities to attractthose for whom they are intended. --_Norfolk Co. Journal. _

The author has admirably combined the pleasing with the instructive, sothat while the youthful reader is charmed by the narrative, he alsogains valuable information with regard to those far-off places famed instory and song. --_Boston Olive Branch. _

A correspondent of the New York _National Magazine_ says;--"The volumesare beautifully illustrated, and written in the charming and instructivestyle of the author. We saw one of our New England governors, latelyreturned from a European tour, quite absorbed in the volume upon Paris, while travelling in a railway car, a short time since. "

 * * * * *

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Price 38 cents. 

NOTICES OF A NEW WORK ON PARLIAMENTARY RULES, By LUTHER S. CUSHING, TWELVE YEARS CLERK OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

_From S. H. Walley, late Speaker of the Massachusetts House ofRepresentatives. _

I have taken great pleasure in examining the pages of this work, and donot hesitate to express most fully my approbation of its plan andexecution. 

On two or three questions of minor importance, I might come to differentconclusions from the author;--but, inasmuch as he has devoted much timeto a careful research into the subject of parliamentary rules andpractice, I am free to admit, that I should feel great distrust in anyopinions which I have held, even on these questions, where they differfrom those expressed by Judge Cushing, without very carefulreëxamination and study. 

This Manual is much needed. There is no work, in this country, which isadapted near as well, in my judgment, to assist those who are calledupon to preside in public assemblies, to discharge their dutiesacceptably and profitably to the community. 

I sincerely hope and believe that this publication will receive thecountenance and approbation to which it seems to me so justly entitled. 

 * * * * *

_From the Law Reporter, Edited by Peleg W. Chandler, Esq. _

Hon. Luther S. Cushing has prepared for the press a new Manual ofParliamentary Practice. Having examined the manuscript of this work withconsiderable care, we take occasion to say, that it will be a valuableaccession to the libraries of those who are called upon to preside indeliberative assemblies; and we believe the necessity of such a work asthis has been very generally felt in our country where almost everycitizen is occasionally called upon to exercise the duties of apresiding officer. The work is founded upon the well-established rulesand customs of the British Parliament, and Mr. Cushing divests himselfof all local usages prevailing in different parts of this country;maintaining in the outset, that no assembly can ever be subject to anyother rules than those which are of general application, or which itspecially adopts for its own government; and denying explicitly that therules adopted and practised upon by a legislative assembly therebyacquire the character of general laws. 

PUBLISHED BY

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NO. 24 CORNHILL

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_Part III. --Containing most of the old popular Continental Psalm Tunes. _

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By I. B. WOODBURY, author of the "Dulcimer, " "The Cythara, " &c. &c. 

_Extract from the Preface. _

Here may be found Glees, Quartets, Trios and Songs, suited to everyoccasion. If merry, here are pieces that will add to merriment; if sad, harmonies that will soothe sadness. If longing for home fill the mind, the dear scenes that cluster there are painted in many a song. Requiemsto the loved departed are also here. Indeed, almost every scene to whichthe chequered life of man is subject is here made the refrain of song. For the Sabbath eve, when

 "Softly fades the twilight ray Of the holy Sabbath day, "

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Comprising PSALM AND HYMN TUNES, of every variety and metre, ANTHEMS, CHANTS, AN ORATORIO, SET PIECES, ETC. 

BY I. B. WOODBURY. 

Author of the "Dulcimer, " of which more than 140, 000 copies have beensold. 

Mr. Woodbury's long residence in Europe, and his intimate acquaintancewith the music and musical people of every section of our country, theirwants and predilections, have imparted to him advantages hardlyvouchsafed to any other man. To these qualifications he brings the vigorand elasticity of early manhood, and, after years of untiring andenergetic devotion to this one subject, he has produced a volume ofSacred Music, rich in melody, chaste and harmonious in composition, simple in arrangement, and thoroughly adapted to the wants of his owncountry. 

B. T. & C. Have for sale _all the Music Books_ published. Traders, Teachers, and others supplied at the lowest cash price. 

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COLBURN'S FIRST LESSONS. Intellectual Arithmetic, upon the InductiveMethod of Instruction. By Warren Colburn. 

"Colburn's First Lessons, the only faultiest school book that we have, has made a great change in the mode of teaching Arithmetic, and isdestined to make a still greater. It should be made the basis ofinstruction in this department. "--_From the School and Schoolmaster. _

"Warren Colburn's First Lessons has had many imitators, but noequals. "--_From the Massachusetts Common School Journal for April, 1852. _

"I have always considered Colburn's First Lessons in Arithmetic the mostvaluable school book that has made its appearance in this country. Constant use of it for more than twelve years has entirely confirmed myopinion. --_George B. Emerson. _

"I have no hesitation in saying that this book is not only the best inthis country, but, so far as my information extends, _the best in theworld_. "--_Thomas Sherwin, Esq. , of the Boston High School. _

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WORCESTER'S HISTORY. Elements of History, Ancient and Modern. By J. E. WORCESTER, LL. D. A new edition, brought down to the Present Time, andprinted from entirely new stereotype plates. 438 pp. 

Worcester's History has for many years occupied a high place among textbooks. The new edition, being printed from entirely new stereotypeplates, is a great improvement upon former editions. Applicants foradmission into the Freshman class at Harvard College are examined inthis book. 

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SMELLIE'S PHILOSOPHY. The Philosophy of Natural History. By WM. SMELLIE. With an Introduction and Addition by Dr. John Ware, of Cambridge, Mass. 12mo, 360 pp. 

Smellie's Philosophy is a valuable book for High Schools and Academies, and is used extensively in every part of the country. 

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NORTHEND'S BOOK KEEPING. The Common School Book Keeping; being a simpleand practical system, by Single Entry. Designed for the use of PublicSchools, and adapted to the wants of Mechanics, Farmers, and RetailMerchants; containing various forms of Notes, Receipts, Orders, Bills, and other useful matter; in two books, a Day-book and Ledger. By CharlesNorthend, author of "National Writing Book, " "National Speaker, " etc. 

In preparing this system the author has endeavored to make a plain, practical, and _economical_ work, suited to the wants of common schoolsand retail merchants in every department of business. 

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CUSHING'S MANUAL. Rules of Proceeding and Debate in DeliberativeAssemblies. By Luther S. Cushing, for twelve years Clerk ofMassachusetts House of Representatives. 

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BENTLEY'S PICTORIAL PRIMER. For beginners. One of the most beautifulschool books published. 

Copies of all the above book will be sent to school committees, forexamination, on application. 

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MY UNCLE TOBY'S LIBRARY, By FRANCIS FORRESTER, Esq. , Consists of TWELVE VOLUMES, elegantly bound, and Illustrated withupwards of SIXTY BEAUTIFUL ENGRAVINGS. 

 1. _Arthur Ellerslie_, or The Brave Boy. 2. _Redbrook_, or Who'll buy my Watercresses? 3. _Minnie Brown_, or The Gentle Girl. 4. _Ralph Ratler_, or The Mischief Maker. 5. _Arthur's Temptation_, or The Lost Goblet. 6. _Aunt Amy_, or How Minnie Brown Learned to be a Sunbeam. 7. _The Runaway_, or Punishment of Pride. 8. _Fretful Lillia_, or The Girl who was compared to a Sting-nettle. 9. _Minnie's Pic-nic_, or a Day in the Woods. 10. _Cousin Nelly_, or The Pleasant Visit. 11. _Minnie's Playroom_, or how to Play Calisthenica. 12. _Arthur's Triumph_, or Goodness Rewarded. 

The books are so written that, while each number is a complete story initself, there is, nevertheless, a connection between the whole series. 

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In addition to their own publications, B. T. & C. Are supplied with alarge stock of School Books, Music Books, and Stationery, which theyoffer to purchasers _at lowest prices_.