Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1857-03-14
COUNTRY LIFE OF THE HoLLANDERs

COUNTRY LIFE OF THE HOLLANDERS.
The following is very brief sketch of an
exceedingly interesting and valuable lecture,
delivered several evenings since, says the Trav-
eller, at the Cambridge Athenaum, in Cam
bridgeport, by ii. p. Arnold, of Boston, which
has hitherto been crowded out by the great
press Of matter during the lccturine season:
Abiding 10 his delivery Of lecture in the
same place last season. he commenced by ref
erence TO the occasion on which Phillip of Bur
gundy, when ruler Of Holland, celebrated his
marriage.
Referring TO the visit Of the poet Goldsmith
to Holland in the year 1851, and to the convic-
tions which his knowledge of other nations
forced upon his mind, and the opportunities he
had had Of comparing the condition of Holland
with that Of other realms, and quoting por-
tion Of one of his letters, in which he euogi
ses the couniry,-ihe lecturer said it was no
less true at the present day, and rural Holland
presents 10 the eye spectacle on which il loves
10 linger. This was one result of the small
extent of their territory. Not an inch remains
untitled, and every field receives as much atten-
tion as flower garden. Their land has thus
become, in the course OF centuries, the best cul.
tlvated and most fertile in Europe.
Complimenting the Hollanders on the enter
prise which prompted them TO devote their
wealth 10 the acquisition of territory from the
sea, and referring in detail 10 the process by
which the numberess and extensive inland
lakes or morasses were drained and converted
into tillage lands, Mr.. Arnold said shat when
the work Of draining a polder was completed,
the cnpiraeiars asseplhla -tuue,her- haya-a-noo5
injury to their digestive organs from their food,
and smoke tobacco enough 10 prevent the posi-
bilty Of harm from the schnapps, and appoint
a committee 10 lay out the land in lots, accord
ing to the interest of each shareholder. Every
lot Of land is laid out in the shape Of an exact
square. Every canal, road, and row OF trees,
is laid out as straight as a ropewalk.
The lecturer beautifully described visit 10
one of the most famous of these polders, or re-
claimed inland seas.
| The country is clothed with the richest ver-
dure of a tender, vivid green, and spotted with
herds of fat cattle Above The traveller, to the
height of twenty feet, rise the grassy embank-
ments Of the canal that surrounds the whole
tract, while boats, with their peculiar orange
colored sails, float along at intervals, eclpsing
for moment the suns rays; brigh, little farm
cottages peep out here and there, with their
broad, tile covered roofs flashing in the suns
rays, and surrounded by rows of glittering brass
milk Jugs, like batteries 10 keep off the idle
now shadow passes over the landscape, as 4
breeze rufiles the herbage, and gracefully wave:
| al hIuaiab fnli If tho v,,ll ,uhinh chnrE
: ed at the exposure of their uncovered trunks
toss up their arms in wild despair that no one
csa be found TO avenge their insulted modesty
This extreme sensitiveness on the part oftht
willows, is supposed to arise from the great at
tenton paid to their cultivation in Holland, al
the dikes are matched with sort Of wicker
work made Of their twigs, in order 10 preven
the water from washing away their soil. One
, peculiarly interesting feature arises from Gus
tom of painting the trees.
Another feature in the landscape is the herd
) of cattle. These are of native breed, pecul
| lar to the country, and from the quantity o
their milk and the quality of their beef, arr
greatly valued by the people. They are gen
orally of Goa! black hue, but spotted an,
, sreaked with white in the most curions man
ner. The pride the Holanders take in thei
cattle is well-deserved and is very conspicuou
, in the care they take of them. The cows ar
kept in stables as neat as our own kitchens, an
, neater than some of them.
S The lecturer again alluded 10 the excessiv
, neatness of the Hollanders. This, being ma
t tional weakness, is apparent everywhere; bu
o the prime meridian Of neatness, the whole bal
: terry of cleanliness and purity, is to be found a
u Brock The principal article of manufaclur
| is cheese-not those huge, solid masses lik
e grindstones without any perforations, but thos
/ little models Of rotundity and favor, whose al
Q oma fingers around the palate of the man {
: taste, like music around harp.
: At the entrance 10 the town, we were not
6 fed by board posted up in a conspicuous plac'
: that we were not TO smoke without shoppers
our pipes, nor to ride through the place, b.
i must dismount and lead our horses al slo
n pace. The streets are made too narrow {,
,r wheel vehicles-so narrow that not even or
n carriage can pass abreast, and are paved vii
r small pebbles of different coors, in various pa
a terms.
The houses are generally built of wood az
10 are annually painted throughout with the intel
a sest white and most vivid green, some famill'
J. even keep painter in the house, who is said
ID have enough to do. The roofs are cover'
with many-colored tiles, brightly polished al
r. gii,,ering in the sun, as if they had just be'
in scrubbed.
il. The farm houses are generally of one s,or
er and have comfortable appearance, as ii the
re cheese had good reputation in the marke
ut The mansions of the richer portions of the
70 habitants are built in style that a modern ira
,g eller has called "the aorid cockney," and a