The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-10-09

alities. The better class of shops having
seen the danger to their trade from such
dealings, have adopted fixed price as
can be told by signs in the windows, and
such shops are much the safest to deal
with.
was proud to find how high the credit
of Americsns is in Europe, almost any
of them can buy things in places like
Geneva or Florence, pay part of the price
down, and the remainder when they
reach home or when the goods are re-
ceived. You may look at watch, jew
elry or anything else in Geneva, admire
it, but say you will not buy for fear your
money might run short before you
reached home, when they will tell you to
take it along and send the money to some
store in New York or Boston when you
get home. Various merchants told me
they had done this often and never failed
to get their money, so Americans re-
member this when you go abroad, and do
not spoil the reputation made for you.
Merchants also said an Englishman
would come into their shops and go
away without buying, as an excuse to get
away telling them to set aside some arti-
Gle and he would come in later and get
it, which he seldom did; while if an
American said so, he almost invariably
came back and took the article.
Leyden is a small city, and the stream
Of tourists seems to have swept by it, so
that it has kept more of its ancient fla
vor, so to speak, than the other cities;
but it is the oldest town in Holland, has
an old and famous University whose
fame is better than its buildings, and is
well worth seeing. Near the centre of
the city is hill about 300 feet square at
the base, and 100 feet high, the highest
hill in Holland, which was built by the
Romans under Drusus. On the top is an
old fortress with heavy brick walls, and
an old well 200 feet deep which supplied
the garrison with water. Here the peo-
pie stood siege of 131 days by the Span
iards, until finally the dykes were cut,
the whole country flooded, and the in
vaders drowned. The principal church
is really large cathedral, and like the
rest of the great churches in Holland and
Belgium is surrounded on all sides by
streets, while in the corners left by pro-
jecting walls queer houses not over fif-
teen feet deep have been built clinging to
the wall.
Like all the rest of the Holland cities,
canals were numerous, and the streets
very narrow and crooked. We saw a
hearse being driven to some funeral, the
horses entirely covered with black hang
ings, great black plumes were on the
hearse, while the driver wore the most
absurd hat / ever beheld, the brim at
least three feet wide, and dropping in the
most ludicrous manner.
| We took the steam tram eight miles
out to Katwyk where the Rhine is let
into the sea: the land being so low these
great works were built that the country
might not be flooded. We found two
great massive buildings, with gates built
across the Rhine, about one-half mile
apart, the outer one close to the sea, and
connected with the other by canal $50
feet wide. At low tide the gates are
opened and the river flows into the sea
when the tide begins to rise, the gates
are closed and the waters of the river ac-
lcumulate there till at low tide the gates
can be re-Opened. All the waters of the
Rhine do not pass out here, as it divides
into several mouths widely separated
when they reach the sea; one is called
the Mas at Rotterdam, each branch has
a separate name, the comparatively small
part at Katwyk is called the Old Rhine.
Our next stop was at HARLEM to see
the great Cathedral of st. Bavon, with its
immense organ 110 feet high having 5000
pipes, the largest in Holland. The old
pulpit was a mass of queer carving, and
set in the ceiling was a large clock. The
great Amsterdam gate is the only rem
nant of the old city walls. Haarlem
stood a siege of about the same length as
Leyden.
On the way to Amsterdam the railways
pass through the bed of the great Lake
of Harlem, 10000 acres drained or rath
er pumped dry in 1915, now splendid
|. farm land. Amsterdam has 400, 900 peO
ple beautiful city with its wide streets
handsome buildings, numerous canal
and beautiful park, in which the grea
amount of water adds much to its charm
! The great railway station is very mucl
like the Grand Central in New York, bu
it is set sideways TO street about 40
feet wide, which shows it off finely. Th
: Holland stations are more like ours thai
y those of any other country. Asplendi'
great building contains fine collection
of paintings, but unfortunately it wa
closed when we were there. / notices
: the ruins of an immense building whicl
: had been burned, and was told it was tn
theatre; it must have made tremendou
!. fire. Amsterdam is a very importan
!, seaport, the great Zuyder Zee making
splendid harbor, and by canal tn
= North Sea is reached. Here ladies rid
y y on the platforms of the trans, as men d.
= = with us, a curious custom.
Utrecht we found very beautiful cit
!, of 1900 people, and as it is mostly use'
! as residence place, the whole city |
like park, the canal being skillfull
? used to heighten the effect.
A. G. SHERRY.