Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-02-09
NO. "a.
by the following account of a recent visit
furnished to us by friend:--

by the following account of recent visit
furnished to us by friend:-
Only six miles from Amsterdam, in the
heart OF the richest pastures of Europe,
hes the greatest butter and cheese factory
lof the amount OF population in the wide
world. You approach this village of
Brock only through a canal not a sail
boat affair as in days of ''Auld Lang Svne''
but worked in very tolerable speed by o
single horse. 1t would be very inconsist-
ent to visit this sleepiest of all living pla-
ces by any other means than this sleep
lest sort of travel, which seems to prepare
body and soul for the strange community
where not a sound breaks the Sabbath
stiffness, not an animal moves over the
kbrck-paved lanes,-not an uncivilized
hound yelps at the strangers heels,-not
even feline concerts are known. The day
OF my visit was perfectly clear, and mild
as May ought to be in that part of Europe;
but there was not a man to be seen abroad.
Every one of the cottages seemed sum-
mer-house for pleasure; the air around it
Arcadian; the spirit within, peace the
outlook upon the world desire to be let
alone.
The grand peculiarly of these thousand
Dutch folks is marvellous Cleanliness
| cleanliness without and within cleanliness
in stable, church, and house, in the kitchen
aud the chamber, on the sidewalk and
the garden-plot. By dint of few coppers
l obtained access to house after house, one
OF them l was assured, the poorhouse it
was too, before dinner-time but no speck
of dirt, or smell of cooking. no smoke nor
smut, hardly a trace oflabor, except scour-
ing, polishing, and vanishing, did dis
cover, and certainly none of the usual hum
OF domestic life, none of the slop-pails at
the back kitchen door, or the greasy mess
reserved for the house-dog, or the mudpie
which has pleased its little manufacturers
as well as the cranberry tart at Thanks
giving. The furniture exceedingly old
fashioned, of dark mahogony, sometimes
bureau shining like Sambo's face on o
frosty morning, oftenest my grandfather's
old secretary" for writing, and papers
above and clothes-drawers below, but in no
case with scratch on the side, or flicker
OF dust on the top. Even the kitchen floors
seemed freshly vanished, SO that weary
traveller would not disdain to sit down on
one in Turkish style, or dine from it as q
table. The chemney places made famous
show; their jambs gaily painted, filled in
with bits of china and made to look as if
no trace of smoke ever rested on their col
ored bricss. have often been asked how
this triumph of neatness was Won; / have
been obliged to answer that could not
possibly tell ; perhaps they were upon some
summer regime and the dirty work was
hidden somewhere out of doors. L did not
stay over night, because | did not find
anywhere to stay, and so cannot begin to
| lift the veil from this household mystery.
In their one little brick church, beyy of
damsels laid down the mop and securing
cloths and turned upon me for pay, as if
We're enjoying rare spectacle; but my
flight was SO rapid that they could not
catch the coppers that everywhere else
rendered my visit acceptable,-for all
Brock is a succession of show-boxes it
seemed to be the universal understanding
that everything was to be seen by every
body-"ior a consideration
The cattle-stalls were certainly the fun
niest of all. The story runs that the En-
peror of all the Russias. Alexander, had
to take off his shoes to enter one of these
barns, and | did not reject the tradition.
There was no stable smell within or with
out; no trace of manure, no decaying lit
ter. The stalls were occupied by butter
firkins, buttermilk and cheese, the latter
in every style; the cows were out at pas
ture, SO that | could not see their tails tied
up with ribbons. as the books say the hay
was stored out of the way under the roof.
Here, evidently, summer reigned; and
these gay pictures may have been lately
painted on the sides and floors; and per-
haps many laugh rose, and many a Jest
ran round, as the village decorator show
ed his strange fancy, and illumined the
otherwise dull stall, now with n boat, now
! with a locomotive.
| But everywhere childish tastes peeped
out--in the most fantastic bridges over the
perpetual canal, in the strangest garden
groups, in funny flower beds and oddly
placed summer houses. Here for instance
are ducks floating on little pond and the
sportsman's gun levelled at the group;
but it is all wood, freshly painted, and as
good as new. Here, again, is Dutch
dominic equipped with pipe and specta-
cles, and some mandarins bobbing
their heads amid lions and tigers. Egi-
IDENTITY they were children Of larger stature
who devised these things, for sometimes
the animals would move, the dogs bark,
and the mimic-women spin.
But everywhere the colors of the houses
were the gayest, the doors most quantity
carved, the narrowest sort of streets lined
with evergreen hedges, the roads brick
paved. smooth as if just made, and
strangely free from soil of earth. There
is no hotel probably so small and produc-
tive population do not need the luxury;
liquor was sold at the doctors house
no doubt every family manufactures its
own beer; the pleasure-houses on the ca
nal are the resort of the smokers The
grand idea of the place is secmsion.
Brock had shut itself from the stir of
Europe, from the poverty, restlessness.
crime of great cities; it is just as distinct
from the rest of Holland as from the per-
petual change of American life. Pompeii
is not more unlike the Italy of to-day than
this Dutch Sleepy Hollow is unlike tho
enterprise, growth, and vigor of all its
nelghborhood. ! like peace, especially
at the close of a busy career, after the
days work is manfully done; but this
peace was plainly the worship of the out
ward. the deification of materialism, the
triumph of the well-fed animal over the