Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sketch From Cologne, With A Peep Into Holland.
better grace than many an Englishman of higher caste would have done , and left the deck . There were soon marked evidences on the banks , of Dutch industry and foresight ; above the sedges rose the digues ( dykes ) , which may rank among the Avonders of the Avorld . Day and night these digues are Avatchedlest the waters should try their
, strength successfully against the barriers AA * hich man has raised against the mighty Avaves . In times of strife , Avhen unwelcome neighbours have sought to obtrude themselves upon the fertile plains of Holland , the inhabitants , preferring death and ruin to the advance of a conqueror , did not hesitate to flood the country Avith the watersinvolving themselves and their foes in one
, common fate ; and instances are on record , where , when the men have hesitated , the women have advised and assisted in the gloomy sacrifice . At intervals we glided past quaint towns Avith their variegated houses ! Some green Avith pink window-sashes , some pink faced Avith greenand rising in the midst of one Avas a
leaden-, tinted church , Avith staring AvindoAvs in white frames ; and thus it had something of a negro air . Next we came to a temple at the edge of a little peninsula , and in the temple Avindow a sedate Dutchman in a smoking-cap sat fishing , and looking
extremely like a Chinese in costume and expression . Women belonging to the humble cottages Avere scouring their brazen household utensils in the Rhine , while grave , pretty children sat knitting on the bank beside them ; mothers , fathers , girls and boys , were all busy , and in the great boats that swept past us , there Avere family parties , apparently settled for life on the
decks ; some seAving , some knitting or otherwise employed ; the stand of floAver-pots arranged as carefully as for a lady ' s boudoir , and up against the mast , in a gilded or gaily-coloured cage , sang the favourite bird . The steersman , in his Avide trousers , felt hat , and snoAvy shirt-sleeves , smoked the pipe of peace ; for from the absence of steam , these barges wend their
way along the Rhine with a comfort unknown amid the rush and roar of steam-boat traffic , and Avas just such a being as you see in Teniers' pictures . All Avere so occupied , and healthy , and pleasant-looking , that Ave longed after seeing the " land that owned them , " to embark and daAvdle up the river with them . At lengthon a rising groundquite a hill
, , for Holland , we saAV groups of magnificent trees , then a Avaving wood , next the "great church" toAver , ancl in a few minutes we had landed under the rising walls of Arnheim . We had hardly been an hour in Arnheim , before Ave discovered a happy difference between the domestic arrangements
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sketch From Cologne, With A Peep Into Holland.
better grace than many an Englishman of higher caste would have done , and left the deck . There were soon marked evidences on the banks , of Dutch industry and foresight ; above the sedges rose the digues ( dykes ) , which may rank among the Avonders of the Avorld . Day and night these digues are Avatchedlest the waters should try their
, strength successfully against the barriers AA * hich man has raised against the mighty Avaves . In times of strife , Avhen unwelcome neighbours have sought to obtrude themselves upon the fertile plains of Holland , the inhabitants , preferring death and ruin to the advance of a conqueror , did not hesitate to flood the country Avith the watersinvolving themselves and their foes in one
, common fate ; and instances are on record , where , when the men have hesitated , the women have advised and assisted in the gloomy sacrifice . At intervals we glided past quaint towns Avith their variegated houses ! Some green Avith pink window-sashes , some pink faced Avith greenand rising in the midst of one Avas a
leaden-, tinted church , Avith staring AvindoAvs in white frames ; and thus it had something of a negro air . Next we came to a temple at the edge of a little peninsula , and in the temple Avindow a sedate Dutchman in a smoking-cap sat fishing , and looking
extremely like a Chinese in costume and expression . Women belonging to the humble cottages Avere scouring their brazen household utensils in the Rhine , while grave , pretty children sat knitting on the bank beside them ; mothers , fathers , girls and boys , were all busy , and in the great boats that swept past us , there Avere family parties , apparently settled for life on the
decks ; some seAving , some knitting or otherwise employed ; the stand of floAver-pots arranged as carefully as for a lady ' s boudoir , and up against the mast , in a gilded or gaily-coloured cage , sang the favourite bird . The steersman , in his Avide trousers , felt hat , and snoAvy shirt-sleeves , smoked the pipe of peace ; for from the absence of steam , these barges wend their
way along the Rhine with a comfort unknown amid the rush and roar of steam-boat traffic , and Avas just such a being as you see in Teniers' pictures . All Avere so occupied , and healthy , and pleasant-looking , that Ave longed after seeing the " land that owned them , " to embark and daAvdle up the river with them . At lengthon a rising groundquite a hill
, , for Holland , we saAV groups of magnificent trees , then a Avaving wood , next the "great church" toAver , ancl in a few minutes we had landed under the rising walls of Arnheim . We had hardly been an hour in Arnheim , before Ave discovered a happy difference between the domestic arrangements