Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1855-12-25
For the Spectator.


and am really glad to have some outlet for m
Thoughts and feelings. The voyage was yer
tedious, and though Capt. w. was as polite a
could be, was all the while feeling the awk
wardness OF being the only woman ON board
The Major escaped sea sickness, but smoked U
all his tobacco before we made land. He wa
very much amazed at my talking German /Dtdc
he called it) with several returning emgrants-
But find The German of The Valley does no
quite pass muster though my Prussian blood vii
smooth the way for getting hold OF the lingo
AS to real Dutch, Holandish, cannot make GU
y sentence Of it.
After a dull. drowsy, misty tug up the river
we came to, during the night, at a great landing
spot, called the Boomnjes. being quay Of mill
in length. The rows of elms must be delightful
in the green season. The MAJOR came back in
terrible heat from The Custom House, swabbin!
himself with green silk handkerchief, and wish
ng himself back at Burdens Bottom. Will,
they were rumsging the trunks, he found Jew
who spoke English, and whom he had taken as
sort of genteel ralet de place In the meantime
| had discovered servantgirl who can understand
my German.
Things are very different from Virginia. The
Major vows that the 'runpus and the rIppet' are
worse than forty Court days rolled into one. A
least fifty runners, chiefly Jews, and often mere
children, have pulled and hauled at us, jabberine
Imaginable mixture OF Dutch French and English
The sound of the Dutch language is almost ex
acily like the English that is. when you do mol
catch the particular words. There is however 8
prevalence of rough sounds, like the German CHI
have met with right good friend at the Hotel
dee Qos in iI,a pf
a Scotch g0yernpss, who is here with two chill
dren of an Irish Lord She says cannot Judge
of Holland by Rotterdam, which as great sea-
port is like New York or Liverpool.
The Major has been shaved in his room by a
lame barber, who spoke English He used no
brush, and rubbed the soap on with his hands,
In remuneralng him, the Nd was gratifed to
find that there are cents in the Dutch currency
but they are trfling little things not much better
than mills. The gulder (abou, 40;ls) is divided
into twenty stipers-how familiar that word is,
from the ancient maratime connexions between
Dutch and English. The Dutch cent is the
Tooth part Of Il guiIder.
The Major laughs at The idea of my getting
new cap and bonnet among the Dutch; but what
am To do2 cannot travel about in this affair
with the lilac ribbon which | had trimmed in
chased a new hat, to replace the one which was
carried overheard. really don't know where 10
begin. in describing TO you This old Dutch town,
as 1t strikes me on first view. Ii seems 10 be a
sort of muddy and low level Venice. Canals
(not sweeD take the place of streets, in good
degree. The Hoog STRAIT, which is Dutch for
High Street, is built on one OF the vast dykes or
dams or sea walls or banks. which are so famous
In from,
at the junction of The RoHe with the Mas The
number Of bridges is Of course great. There are
fine old trees, which have singular and striking
look as beheld along with the water, and the
ships which go in and out as if at sea. You
know, dare say, that much Of Holland is made
ground, piled up in the ocean. The mighty wa
teIs are kept out by those huge dykes barriers,or
ramparis. The Major learns that the base Of
thesu dykes, on the sea side, is sometimes fifty
y4rds across. Just think, that large part Of
Holland is fenced in with such artificial bonn
dares. The sum annually expended for keeping
them in repair throughout the kingdom is two
million dollars. Tue breaks in the dykes are Of
ten rulnous. Thirty years ago, Amsterdam was
SO threatened, that if he sea had kept rising only
halt an hour longer the great barrier must have
been overturned. Bn thankful that you live on
dry ground, and Terra tirma. Miss Drulnmond
has allowed me 10 copy some odd old lines OF But
Ter. about this country and lis inhabitants
ssThat always ply the pump, and never thnk
They can be safe, but at the rate they sink;
That feed, like canaibals, other fishes,
And serve their cousin germans up III dishes.
A land that rides at anchor and is moor'd,
In which they do not live, but so aboard"
Tie immensely tall, dark looking houses, with
gables going up like steps, and with end 10 the
street. or the canal. are very imposing Ia Som-
ner. my German girl says, people may be seen
fishing out of their parluur windows. BY the by,
me o the cunningeSt notions is the ailixing OF
small nice looking glasses TO the windows. Tive
pieces Of glass, at an angle, reflect the view, one
np and The other down the street; 50 that you can
sit at your work and spy every one who comes
near, without being observed yourself. These
convenient tell-lales are called spious. 0 these
l1oanders are great people for comfort. | wish
you could see the bread pantry and dairy coset
in house where Miss Drummond goes for the
use Of their piano; it is entirely lined with fair
tiles or bits of white china, (ke Jndiih's porce
lain slate y 1Ior, walls and ceiling. They say
it never soils or is stained. Cleanliness is as mn
usual in genuine Duich, as il is wanting in Ger
olnn kitchens. Bul they say shall knew moth
ing of this, ill go 10 Broeci, which is DOUBTLESS
lie cleanest place Oh the footstoJl. The tea is
laid 10 be superb, being brought in the lndiamen
from Java, where thousands Of Chinese live and
trade. Miss Drummond revels 10 it, aud says no
} who knows ever drinks the dripsahie dvDgred
STUFF cal green tea. which never!i elass hone
tor NieaGInGe ! drink cpffee.ald The Major tries
schaapis He m Ssts his mint migh!iIy. And as
10 ice-lhe thing is unknown. do wish you
rould see the lovely little portable chatting stool,
which sits by the lady OF the house, TO keep the
lea kettle hut
NOVEMBER l7.-IYe-i. e., Miss Drummond
and have now iraversed great part OF this
great emporium Of Holland. having had i spell Of
uncommon weather. The Major has had an IN.
accountable sleepy time, and seems to have no in
lerest out OF the readlng-rO0m, where he smokes
and sips little something for his cold
II Is not 50 red on his cheek as at I.ynchburg
but think his nose is redder. The Dutch doc
tor recommends !eaving off flesh diet Tor few
Jays. The apoihecaries have figures before their
shops like negro heads with mouths wide open
suppose gaping for physic.
About seventy five vessels 90 from this port to
Batavia. averaging nine months 10 and from India.
his brings an extraordinary amount of East In
ila ornaments into the houses of Dutch merchants
Captain Bleecker at whose house Miss Drumm md
Is acquainted. has all kinds of lacquered ware,
Japan work. India window blinds, porcelain va
'eS (Which Miss ID. says all English scholars pro-
nounce ua,csesD and such like. The Major goes
II quenty to the statue of Erasmus, " hose book
he read at Parson Todd's schrUl. lie also luyes
% go 10 take smoke at the house where Eras
nus was born IN 1867. 1t is in the Broad Church
street and is now gin shop. TO morrow | shall
70 10 church, in the morning 10 ST. Lawrencs's,
Crooie Kerk, where there is an organ which RI
walls that of Harlem and in the afternoon to the
English Church, on the east side of the Haring
Htiet. The water here is very bad. and the Ma
or finds it necessary 10 qualify. How delighted
was, on stopping with our Jew commissionaire
1t the Post office. in the WJustraat, to find three
letters from home. by the Baltic.
Nov 20Ih.-I cannot help sending you piece
which our German fellow, Fritz, got in Ham
,ur,r manor The Maior found him cryino over IL |