The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-07-11
a village in Holland.

Helder Canal in a freckschait--a mode Of
conveyance, by the way, delightfully."- ma
tional in its order and peace--then hire a
carriage, for which you must pay what is
asked or wanted for it, and proceed leisure
ly along the banks Of the canal for three OF
four miles, until you reach Brock. The
peep one gets from the road across the
country gives perfect idea Of Holland,
which looks like the fat bottom of a
bOundless sea, drained or draining of; the
cattle in the fields, the scattered villages
with their steeples, and tall trees here and
there, with storks studying in earnest
meditation on the margin Of long bitches
all assure you that, in the meantime,
the land has got the best of II. Yet it is
impossible not to have damp, uneasy
feelings, lest by some unnoticed power Of
evil,-an unstOpped leakage, dry rot in a
slulce-gate, or some mistake or other to
which all things mundane are subject
dyke should burst, and the old Zuyder
Zee pour itself like deluge over the
country, leaving you and your carriage out
of sight of land.
Brock is well worth peep. The only
thing | had ever heard about ii in history
was the high state Of its cleanliness, which
had gone so far that the tails of the cows
were suspended by cords, lest they should
be soiled by contact with the ground, and
afterwards be used to switch the pure and
dapplcd sides of their possessors at any
moment when the said possessors, were
suddenly thrown off their guard by the
bite of some unmannerly insect.
| can certify to the truth of this eaudal
arrangement. 1t seemed, however, TO be
more cleanly than comfortable. The most
ordinary sympathy with suffering caused
an irritation in ones skin, as he saw the
tail suddenly checked by the string, just
when about to descend upon and SWEEP
away huge Ay, busy breakfasting about
the backbone or shoulder.blade.
A model village preserved in glass case
could not be more free from dust, life Oh
human interest than this Brock. A small
lake and innumerable small canals 50 in.
terlace the cottages and streets that il
looks as IL built upon series Of islands
connected by bridges The streets are al
paved to the waters edge with small
bricks. Each tree is bricked round to the
trunk. Bricks keep down earth, grass
and damp, and are 50 thoroughly secured
and spotless that it is impossible to walk
without an uneasy feeling of leaving a stain
from some adhering dust of mother earth
The inhabitants If there are any seem Il
have resigned the town to sight-seers.
am quite serious when | assure the reader
that three travellers, at eleven o'clock. in
a fine summer forenoon, watched from q
spot near the centre Of the village, and
did not for at least ten minutes see a living
thing except cat stealing slowly toward,
a bird, which seemed to share the general
repose. You ask, very naturally, what
were the inhabitants about? put the
same question at the time in half whis.
per, but there was no one to answer. All
experienced, / think, sort Of supersti.
tious awe from the unbroken quiet, so that
the striking Of the clock made US start.
We visited the church yard NATURALLY, }
and found everything arranged with the
same regard to order. There are no
graves, but rews Of small black wooden
pegs driven into the ground, rising six
inches above the grass, with number on
each, little larger than those used for
marking flowers, indicate the place where
the late burghes of this Sleepy Hollow
finally repose. have never seen SO pros.
aic and statistical a graveyard. Contrast
with this the unfsnced spot in Highland
glen, its green grass mingling with the
bracken and heather, and its well-marked
mound, beside which the sheep and her
lamb recline, except when reused by the
weeping mournerl To live in Brock, and
be known after death only as number in
its churchyard, would seem to be the per-
fection Of order and the genius Of content
ment. To be mentioned by widow and
children like an old account, small sum,
an item less from the total Of the whole
as "our poor 46, or aour dear departed
154 what an "in naemoriamF' The
intensity Of the prose becomes pleasing to
the fancy. | am not sure how far il would
be inadvisable to send colony Of Irish
peasantry and pigs to improve Brock -.
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