Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-18
EUROPEAN LETTER.
r,r.nxxp nusyxLIs tour THROUGH
rur TowNs or HOLLAND

nr1paxp avssxLIs TouR THROUGH
rur TowNs or HOLLAND
a-..srs.m and rts Streets and canais-
Hsarlsn- Dutch Artandc Churches
Aslespy Place.
----------------
Especial corrsspondence OF the DISPATCH
ANTWERP, June -, 1885.
Our tour through Holland gave us =
rood deal Of pleasure ~ well IS some
vexation. The hotels are more expen'
siye, when what IL had Ia taken into col.
Alteration, than any others with Which
"a had made acquaintance in the parts
Of Europe We had visited, and the
small sums Of menay continually given
for slight services rendered have to be
double those given elsewhere. Fortu-
patsly, Holland is very srall, 50 the
travellers annoyan do not last long,
and the country is so different from
others that the novelty Of the sights
keeps him from dwelling long on dis
agreeable things. The fiatness OF
Holland is ono Of its most striking Tea
tnres--the dykes that keep the sea out
being scarcely discernible in the land
scspe. Amsterdam, the chief port and
seat of trade, is = large and wealthy
town, and is built entirely on piles
driven into the soil, the unstable nature
of the surface rendering this pro-
cseding necessary. Most Of the towns
are built 10 this manner as the land
generally is below the level Of the sea.
There is q project under consideration
TO drain the Zuyder Zee, st the north Of
the country, so as to increase the acre
age of cultivated land.
STREETS AND CANALS.
The streets run each side Of the Ca
nails, and in many cases are bordered
with trees, 30 that houses aud trees and
ships are mixed up together in all kinds
Of picturesque ways. Amsterdam itself
il somewhat like o northern Venice
that is to say, the canals intersecs the
city at every point, but the strong,
practical, methodical North is every
where obtrusive, and the likeness to the
graceful, careless, charming South is
but momentary. The most characteristic
costumes of the women are only seen
out of the cities, but the quaint head.
dresses Of white muslin attached to the
head with twirliDg gold pins are COM
mon at every turn. The latter always
look perfectly fresh and as if just out
of the hands Of the laundress, and this
astonished us in such damp climate.
The churches are fairly good in point Of
design, but the interiors are so choked
mp with high pews that it is scarcely
possible to see across them, and the
exterior walls are almost hidden by the
houses that are built up against them.
CHARITIES.
For centuries the Dutch have been
noted for their charitable institu-
tions, especially for those for the
bringing up and education Of the
young. One Sunday we saw seye-
raj Of these scholars in church. Some
of the girls wore scarlet dresses,
black aprons and tippets, aud white
caps that fitted the head closely others
had black dresses, with scarlet-and-
white aprons and white caps. The
girls wore the caps instead Of bonnets,
and reminded US Of the heroines in the
the play "The Orphans" Amster-
dam is remarkably clean, as indeed
most Of the Dutch towns are, though
whether the end justifes the excess of
the means ] hesitate to say. The whole
Of Holland when We were there vas
being thoroughly cleansed, inside and
out, with mops and brooms and
carbohydrates, paint-pOts, lad
dsrs, and every conceivable article
that could be pressed into the
service. The hotels, sidewalks, pic
ture.g galleries, churches, in fact every
thing was being cleaned, and every cor
ner and staircase and doorway that
could afford refuge for housekeeping
implements was cluttered up with them
so that it was very difficult to escape
them, and very easy for the Needless to
tumble over them. Cleaning claims
right Of precedence almost royal. In
some picture-galleries the copyist
crowds out the sight-seer, but in Hol-
land it is the cleaner, who, with q long.
handled brush, drives him backwards
and forwards as he gives an added polish
to the already spotlessly clean and dan
gerously-slippery floor.
ROYAL PALACE.
The royal palace in Amsterdam,
formerly the town hall, is . fine build"
ing, begun in 1913, and contains some
handsome apartments. In 1908, at tho
time Of the Napoleonic domination, 1t
was presented to the King, Louis
Bonaparte, father Of Napoleon ILL.,, and
turned into royal palace. The hand.
soonest room is the reception hall Of
white marble, said to be one Of the
largest in Europe. In ID, as well as In
the throne room, are many tattered old
flags and standards won by the Dutch
in the time Of their glory. Round
many Of the doorways are white mar
BILE 6as-reli,Js by Quellin Of the same
date as the building Of the palace
that are remarkably good. Dutch
art, consisting principally Of pictures,
portraits predominsting, is as distinctive
Is Italian, and fully repays the trouble
and expense of tour to see it in its
native country. 1t would be impossible
for any one to say with justice that the
best Dutch portraits are far inferior in
merit Of execution to the Italian ones,
butthey are certainly inferior in beauty.
especially in the women. There is
either severe seriousness in them or
else rollicking dash about them that
prevents them rising in effect to the
level Of the graceful and high-bred
Italian ones. Innumerable landscapes
reproduce the peculiar charm Of the
Dutch sky, and atmosphere, and quiet
country life.
NATIONAL MUSEUM.
The National Museum in Amsterdam
has been recently finished and now
contains many pictures that wore for
H. = u