The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-01-26
The Land OF the WindmiIls.
CAPITAL DESCRIPTION FOR YOUNG READERS

/ tucy WOuiu uC uhciy W kct from tnel Regular
school text books. We copy large part OF the
/ letter:
l am sure that every boy and girl who reads the
journal would take great pleasure in visiting Hol
land; II is such queer strange, funny place. and
| the people are SO odd and curious. There are
| such scenes as cannot be found anywhere else 10
| the wide world Most Of the boys ia New England
carry knives in their pockets; and dare say
| that there is not a lad among all Of them who
may read this letter who had not Whitfield out a
| windmill, or at least q whrligg; but there are
more wlndmils here than they ever dreamed Of
windmills in the towns and cities, out in the
country, and all along the shore of the ses-s in
motion wherever there is wind enough to turn
| them. Yesterday could see nearly one hundred
at time. IL vas gusty, breezy day, aud the
| storm clouds were flying In from the German
ocean, and there was tremendous commotion
| among the windmils. Each one seemed to be
trying to whrl faster than the other.
Undoubtedly you have read Of the exploits of
| that crazy night, Don Quixote, who saw a wind
mill and thought it was giant, ard went at it full
tilt, and got tumbled into the dirt by the great
fans which went round and round Just as IT moth
ing had happened; but if he were alive in these
days, and were to visit Holland, he might think
with good reason that the land was full Of giants.
WHAT THEY ARE FOR.
You wonder perhaps, what the people of this
country can want OF SO many windmills; but let
me tell you that If it had not been for these mills
IN the past there would be very few people in
HOLLAND now. The windmills in one sense have
Looking upon your map of Holland you will see
that the river Rhine, which h4s its source away
south in the center of Europe among the noun
tains Of Switzerland, here reaches the sea. When
1t gets within about one hundred miles of the
sea il splits itself into a dozen or more chan
nels, all of which, after winding and turning
through great marsh, pour their waters into the
ocean. Holland. therefore, was once great
marsh or bog. There are very few stones in the
country there are no mountains or hills but one
|, dead level Of marsh land.
Hundreds of years ago the people who lived
~ .1V,N. - -. A.
land was very fertile, FOR the silt in the river
brought down every year from the mountains
made the land very rich; they saw also that il
they could only get rid of the water the marshes
they might lay out cabbage gardens and little
farms. They commenced by building dams here
and there-one on the branch of the Rhine called
the Rotter-and the place in time was known as
Rotterdam; another the Amstel, which was
the origin of the name OF this city-Amsterdam.
SO all of the dams in Holland came. not because
the people were in the habit of using wicked
words, but because they built dams on the streams.
But the water soaked through the entertainments,
and every rain made their gardens wet; they dug
bitches, into which the water settled, and then
conceived the idea of building wind mills for
pumping the water into the river.
They set one of the forces of nature-the wind
to work against another force the rain and
as gust of wind will turn several thousand of
mills just as easily as ii does one, they have con-
queTed the rain-h8ve forced the great river
Rhine TO quit the marshes, and have begun to
pump the ocean dry.
That is the meaning of all these giants swing
ing their arms from one end OF the year 70 the
other-day and night-whenever there is breath
OF AIR.
THE COUNTRY.
To see the country as 1t is. imagine great en-
bankment along the shore Of the sea, against
which the waves are always dashiDg. Walking
along the embankment you notice that the land is
ten, fifteen, twenty, even thirty feet lower than
the sea. You can hardly realize that these gar
dens, green with cabbages, turnips, caui1o 1ers
and other vegetables, were once the bed of the
ocean that the waves rolled miles and miles in.
land; that vessels once sailed where fsrmhouses
now stand; that fishermen let down their hooks
ard nets above those meadows. But it has
been, and the story of the rise and growth and
pumping ont of Holland is one of the most inter-
estiDg in all history. 1t shows what enterprise
intelligence, perseverance, and hard work will ac-
cOmplish.
1t would give you strange sensation to sail
up the river from the ocean IN a steamboat or
in ship, and find yourself so high above the
houses that you can almost look down the Chin
neys, also to zee cattle and sheep feeding down
below, and men catching fish above.
Were il not for the windmils, the river, the
ocean aud the rain would soon food the fields and
meadows, and set all the houses afloat but be-
cause the mills are always going, the boys and
girls OF Dutchlsnd sleep securely at night, go to
school, eat their three meals DEAL play in the
streets, 60 10 church on Sunday, without ever
dreaming of any danger.
Once there was terrible disaster; q dam gave
way, and the water came pouring in, covering the
meadows, drowning cattle and sheep, sweeping
away farm-houses villages and towns, destroying
many lives and making sad havoc. But the people
filed up the breach set the windmills a.going
pumped the whole country dry again and ever
since have taken good care to keep all the en-
bankments strong and in good repair. There Is q
saying tn at eternal vigilance IL the price of lib
eTty," but here in Holland it is the price of life
Men are on the watch all the time to see that there
are no weak places in the embankments. They
are paid by government and have control of all
the mills. They wage constant warfare with the
ocean, at cost Of nearly three million dollars
every year, but with the wind for ally, they are
enabled TO keep the marshes drained, and have
transformed the bogs into beautiful meadows, pas
lures, orchards and gardens and built villages sad
towns below the level Of the sea.
SCENES on THE CANALS.
The country is cut up by canals-some deep
enough TO hoat the largest of ships, others smal
and narrow. You see hundreds of boats. Stand
with me on the bank of the great canal which
leads from the city Of Amsterdam TO the ocean
and see the crafts. A boy riding horse trofs
pact us-the horse towing a hekschuisen, packet
boat, q canal omnibus stage which plies be-
tween Amsterdam and the adjoining villages. A
man stands at the helm and his good wife Is in the
cabin dealing out bread, cheese and beer TO the
passengers, who are eating, chatting, laughing
and smoking. The boat skins lightly over the
water, and is far down in the bend OF the canal,
almost before you have had time to see what the
people are mp to on board.
Here comes lazy, numbering craft, almost as
broad as il is long, with man and a bog Juggling
at the tow line. 1t is loaded with mud scooped
up from the bottom of the canal. They are TAX
ing it out into the country TO spread the land.
Here is family craft-a boat which is at the same
time Louse-the owner, with his wife and child
rem. living on board. The father il Juggling at the
tow line. The air is still to day. and he is obliged
TO pull the boat along the stream; if it were
breezy you would see him hoist the sail and go
scuddDg away. His wife has long pole in her
hands, and is pushing with all her might to help
her husband and their two children, boy and
girl, are steering the craft. They live on board
eat and sleep t0re in little close
cabin. Here they to-day, tomorrow
they will be at Haarlem. and the day after at
.Leyden, perhaps, and next week will be here at
Amsterdam again with cargo Of potatoes, or Of
wood, or of something else. Now a schooner,
then barge, and then a ship-her masts tall as
church steeples-the sailors 10 the shrouds getting
ready to shake out the sails. On the bay beyond
the green meadows are hundreds Of boats and
barges with sails set 10 catch the little breath Of
wind which pulls in our faces. Here comes
boat loaded with oabbages-another loaded to the
waters edge with turnips-anOther tilted with