Hans Brinker/Silver Skates/etc | Page 7

rabbits flying. The water roads are
nothing less than canals intersecting the country in every direction.
These are of all sizes, from the great North Holland Ship Canal, which
is the wonder of the world, to those which a boy can leap. Water
omnibuses, called trekschuiten, *{Canal boats. Some of the first named
are over thirty feet long. They look like green houses lodged on barges
and are drawn by horses walking along the bank of the canal. The
trekschuiten are divided into two compartments, first and second class,
and when not too crowded, the passengers make themselves quite at
home in them; the men smoke, the women knit or sew, while children
play upon the small outer deck. Many of the canal boats have white,
yellow, or chocolate-colored sails. This last color is caused by a
tanning preparation which is put on to preserve them.} constantly ply
up and down these roads for the conveyance of passengers; and water
drays, called pakschuyten, are used for carrying fuel and merchandise.
Instead of green country lanes, green canals stretch from field to barn
and from barn to garden; and the farms, or polders, as they are termed,
are merely great lakes pumped dry. Some of the busiest streets are
water, while many of the country roads are paved with brick. The city
boats with their rounded sterns, gilded prows, and gaily painted sides,
are unlike any others under the sun; and a Dutch wagon, with its funny
little crooked pole, is a perfect mystery of mysteries.
"One thing is clear," cries Master Brightside, "the inhabitants need
never be thirsty." But no, Odd-land is true to itself still.
Notwithstanding the sea pushing to get in, and the lakes struggling to
get out, and the overflowing canals, rivers, and ditches, in many
districts there is no water fit to swallow; our poor Hollanders must go
dry or drink wine and beer or send far into the inland to Utrecht and
other favored localities for that precious fluid older than Adam yet
younger than the morning dew. Sometimes, indeed, the inhabitants can

swallow a shower when they are provided with any means of catching
it; but generally they are like the albatross-haunted sailors in
Coleridge's famous poem "The Ancient Mariner." They see
Water, Water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink!
Great flapping windmills all over the country make it look as if flocks
of huge sea birds were just settling upon it. Everywhere one sees the
funniest trees, bobbed into fantastical shapes, with their trunks painted
a dazzling white, yellow, or red. Horses are often yoked three abreast.
Men, women, and children go clattering about in wooden shoes with
loose heels; peasant girls who cannot get beaux for love, hire them for
money to escort them to the kermis, *{Fair.} and husbands and wives
lovingly harness themselves side by side on the bank of the canal and
drag their pakschuyts to market.
Another peculiar feature of Holland is the dune, or sand hill. These are
numerous along certain portions of the coast. Before they were sown
with coarse reed grass and other plants, to hold them down, they used
to send great storms of sand over the inland. So, to add to the oddities,
the farmers sometimes dig down under the surface to find their soil,
and on windy days DRY SHOWERS (of sand) often fall upon fields
that have grown wet under a week of sunshine.
In short, almost the only familiar thing we Yankees can meet with in
Holland is a harvest song which is quite popular there, though no
linguist could translate it. Even then we must shut our eyes and listen
only to the tune, which I leave you to guess.
Yanker didee dudel down Didee dudel lawnter; Yankee viver, voover,
vown, Botermelk and Tawnter!
On the other hand, many of the oddities of Holland serve only to prove
the thrift and perseverance of the people. There is not a richer or more
carefully tilled garden spot in the whole world than this leaky, springy
little country. There is not a braver, more heroic race than its quite,
passive-looking inhabitants. Few nations have equalled it in important
discoveries and inventions; none has excelled it in commerce,
navigation, learning, and science--or set as noble examples in the
promotion of education and public charities; and none in proportion to
its extent has expended more money or labor upon public works.
Holland has its shining annals of noble and illustrious men and women;
its grand, historic records of patience, resistance, and victory; its

religious freedom; its enlightened enterprise; its art, music, and
literature. It has truly been called "the battlefield of Europe"; as truly
may we consider it the asylum of the world, for the oppressed of every
nation have there found shelter and encouragement.