The Arkansaw traveler., 1883-03-10
sAa, the EnslssA language is

understood that the English language Is a marketable commodity in Amsterdam. for the momen, came out of the station
 was surrounded by boys who assured me in sadly mutilated English that they
 would be only too happy to be my guide. philosopher and friend while stayed in the city. One of them steeied me into a rather poor hotel, where they charged ! the nces of first-class London inn with big percentage added. However II was 10 be for one night only, so stood the price and what was worse, the accommo- dation, and after meal sAllied forth to see the city by gaslight Naturally |, ralned. put on a long white W sierproot coat that reached to my heels. and accou- tered as was, plunged into the Hood. In those useful and instructive yellow almanacs that the late Mir. Ayers used so get up and which at one time. and per haps even now, formed the chief literary event of the year m far out rural districts. theie used to be li,tle scraps of informA- ton after each date in this style Cad
 mus introduced letters into Greece ia | ie74.' Cromwell beheaded in Dublin in 1860 :. Penn introduced gin. sling 10 the American Indians in i7si." want the able editor Of that national work to
 select any date not now occupied among the soS at his disposal and write for the
 next edition Luke Sharp introduced
 waierproofs into Amsterdam In 1882.
 After working my say along canal tor some time l came to a narrow. bg; well lighted street. which had an unpro- nouneeablc name. II was evidently 4 man thoroughfare and was the tinest s1cet of handsome shops that l saw du,- lag my few hours stay in that city. Most ct the stores had large and handsome plate glass windows that were brilliantly lighted and filled with all sorts of entlc- ing objects. may here pom, eu, what seems to me the leading difference be- tween an Amenoan store window and the shop window of London.
 In great Britain the shop-keeper com pictcly fills his windows with all the arti- cles he can possibly crowd into them. and these goods are pull as close to the pane as possible. This leaves the window lit- tie scope for the fulh!lment ot i,s original purpose. vii: ,he letting in of light. and goodness knows. the British in.desman has little enough oi that m his shop un- der the most favorable cireumstamces ! But that seems to be q secondary consld- eration with hn. for many shops zye quite dark. although they have p.cn.y oi
 window space. Al night these shop win
 do~s are It up from without generally by 1 sort of reiiecung lanterns tha, are black towards the passer-by. bat which throw brilliant light on the wealth of articles | dows like this Tn Ainetlea, bu, have never seen them The Amsterdam shop win low is as have said. after the Amer iean fashion, which Is to group the artl- eles as 4rtistieally as possible m the large space back from the window. and at night light up from within ins. .ii of from without. The street. am sorry had not ,iae 10 wnte down the name of II. which occupied most of the space across the corner buildings this street was really ser,es of very charming window pictures even those shops that sold onh stoves and other usually unat,raciivc iron work. were as picturesque as they could possibly se made. The good people o, Amsterdam seemed to appreciate the ef- tor,s that were made to please them. for the narrow sidewalks were crowded As walked along t seemed to me that the crowd was getting thicker and on with drawing my attention d msmeat from the windows noticed that l was the cen
 ter of quite an interested and evidently 1 amused circle. The frs, thought tha, struck me was that somebod, had plnned somsthirg to the backsof my coat. bu, < moment reflection showed me that that t,ick was not so easy when person wofe d stout oilCio,h. Then Il seemed io m. tha, perhaps they were making the mis- 1 take tha, Mrs. Brown noticed m France. namely. looking upon me AS the foreigner [ and ignoring the fact that Il was rcallN themselves tha, were the foreigners. ! walked on and tried to gi,e my attention. to the study of the windows and the pco- pie. till me, a couple of handsome giris who were walking along arm m arm. bare-headed. notwithstanding the ram i They were talking very vigorously to each ! other until they came within A few paces of me when one of them noticed what was ahead oi her. She gave shflek oi 1 laughter n which the other cordially joined, and they made an exclamation 4, the top of their voices, which feel sure meant:
 '.for the Lord sake, look at tha, What is it?"
 I will confess that l felt offended a' this uncalled-ior mirth. walked quickly on aud the ever increasing crowd had to ,ros along lively to keep up with me. Bl turning down a very narrow lane and nearly falling into canal. which in the
 most reckless manner they leave lying around loose in unexpected places al nigh, n tha, city. l managed 10 make a flank movemen, that brought me into the
 street again withou, the ill-nannered ! crowd al my heels. But my curiosity sas aroused. Uader swinging lamp al the corner of the lane took of the long white coat to see if there was anything wrong with ii, bu, it was all right
 slipped it on again and was soon in the