Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-10-10


And tho children draw near to admire
The thin snowy locks and white beard
Whicl, mark the long years of tho sire.
The dear mothers grave, pleasant face.
For moment u dull shadow wears;
But shadows are there out of place,
And the wife has forgotten her cares;
For bark! on tho still evening air,
Her husbands quick footstep she hears.
There is poverty, so says the world,
III the little brown house on tho hill;
There are riches OF value untold,
That the heart with cententment doth fll;
The wealth that is better than gold,
That all men may have it they will.
--ChGFs O,cn Book.
Letter From Holland.
From the New York Observer.
wonder how many American children
would like to live in this curious country,
Surely, mono who know much about the
eauty Of our New England hills in sum.
mer, or have enjoyed cOasting in winter,
could be satisfied here; for it il the flat.
test Of all fiat lands! Even those who are
little proud Of their Dutch grandfathere
would be very glad they had emlgra.ed
| AZ you steam calmly and slowly up the
Mouse, river but little wider than good
sized canal, the highest and most conspic.
nous objects in sight are the
| wlNDMILLs.
Turn where you will, in every direction
stand armies Of them, beating tho air.
With their sails, some one hundred feet
long and eight teet wide, whirling rapidly,
you can EARLY fancy that in the dim twi-
light they would seem more like active
hobgoblins thau the useful, Woodworking
creatures they really are; for they grind
the grain of the country, beside doing con-
slant duty in keeping the land, wnat there
is of it, dry, and the water in all the ditcbes
ut the same level. At first, aslonished at
the sight, YOU attempt to count them but
they come in view 80 suddenly and rapidly
that you cease in utter dispair and gaze
bewildered tthe multitude, and are only
comf"rted for your failure by remembering
that the guide-book eives Holland 10000
of them.
The steamboat, or "etoomboot," as it IL
called here, goes slowly along, stopping at
queer I'D towns, with houses turned gable
ends toward the street, among them bort,
where the famous SynoA settled the arti-
clcs Of faith of the Reformed Church
passing heavy, ungraceful ships, with
broad, qaeer)y shaped bows and ut Rot
terdam we take an equally Glow railroad
train for
THE HAGUE.
Once the hunting seat of the Counts of
Holland, it was called La IIaye,' from
the hedge which surrounded their lodge ;
ind so the city has since held the name
always % puzsling TO young students Of
geography.
Here are the royal palaces and a fine
picture gallery, which holds some remark.
able paintings. One Of them is Of q young
bull, with white and brown spots standing
IN field quite like an American field, with
two or three sheep, q cow, ind an old
man near by. 1t il d natural scene
enough, but 50 very natural that it would
scarcely astonish you t., see tho animals
move. while you voluntarily wonder if
the bulls eye can have caught sight of
your scarlet neck,ie and il it Will rouse his
fury. as scarlet always does rouse well-edu-
Gated bulls: and SO you forget that it Is
only bull done in oils ty Paul Potter, a
Holland painter, who died 2l8 years ago.
Yet you do not wonder that Napoleon
Bonaparte. who after be had conquered q
country, always carried its most valued
possessions in art away to ad0rn Paris,
after tho manner Of the old Romans, who
always held their tr,umphal professions
Of captives laden with spoils, refused the
$lWn,OOO which the Dutch Government
offered hin, to allow it to remain ut tho
Hague. II is considered Pot.ers's finest
work and valued at $4,000. There is
another, BY Rembrandt, where the pro.
lessor in Anatomy is showing the muscles
ota dead mans arm to his pupils re-
mark"ble, but not an attr sctive PICTURE
from which We turn with pleasure to q
home scene, by Gerard Doaw. A pretty,
ight-haired elder sister watches the ROSY.
checked baby in its cradle, while her
mother is engaged in some household
work, showing that good daug hters helped
their mothers in Holland oven 800 years
ago.
It's broad streets, light-colored houses.
and pleasant drives, make the Hague an
attractive city and not unlike ether Con-
tine ntal towns. But
is worry queer. Almost every street has a
canal through the centre, which divide
the city into 81 islands and are crossed bv
nearly 300 bridges of wood and stone.
The whole city ia built upon piles driven
into the ground, but it has stood longer
and seems quit as firm as MANY built On
solid land. The houses TACO each other
with gable ends, and in the narrow streets
lean forward US if the upper stories would
touch each other. Here is nne Of the finest
palaces in Europe. 1t stands in q large.
open square, which these Hollanders cali
the "damm," showing that words have
not always tho same meanings; and
though the Hollanders are very proud Of
their language and dislike exceedingly to
be mistaken for Germans in speech or Gus.
toms, yet sometimes, to q FOREIGNER. it
seems very much as it they simply took an
English or French word and placed the
letters ~, j." either in the centre or on
} he end.
Tho royal palace was finished about
1865 and used first az courthouse or CITY
hall. Napoleon l., however, made his
brother Louis, who was the father of the
preeent ex. Emperor of tho French, King
Of Holland, and this fine building was
used as his palace. 1t has many fine
paintings, but is more remarkable for its
marbles. Pillars of various kinds of COL
ored marble attract you everywhere while
tho ballroom, l25 feet long and SIS icet
wide, is lined throughout with pure ltal
ion Marble, the panels beautifully carved
in flowers and fruit. At one end stands
colossal figure cf Atlas, bent over by the
weigh, ofthe world on his shoulders. A
century and more ago, when Holland was
great commercial power, besides boast
ing her Admiral Van Tromp, who was tho
hero Of 80 battles and who sailed with II
broom fastened t" his masthoad-a signal
that he would sweep Tho seas clean Of all
opposing navies-that statue did vol
enough but now, it would b. difficult to
believe that the whole world was in lIol.
land.
The strongest custom is that which
makes the village of Brock a place for ali
strangers to visit but about ITS wonderful
noatness and queer headdress which We
induced Dutch woman there to show MS.
murt tell you another timc.
BITrERswEEr.