Waterbury evening Democrat., 1892-03-28
A DOUBLE DELUGE.
An Americans Experience with a
Holland Storm.
MIR. Blddlc. OF st. Louis, Assists in Stop
ping tho Isoles In o DiS0-ThO
MnEnincencC of tho
Dutch Country.


Americans which yearly pours to Eu-
rope go to Holland, unless it be simply
to fly through by rail, giving perhaps
day to Amsterdam, that to those who
know the fair Low Countries" 1t has
become n matter of great surprise.
1t would seem natural that the soldier
should wish to see the fields where
were fought the most heroic battles Of
modern times; when the citizen soldiers
of small and unmilitary country
stood their ground against the mighty
legions of Alva, and did not talk of dy-
ing in the last ditch, but died there.
1t would seem Us if tho sailor would
like to visit the dock yards whence
Van Tromp, with his boom nailcdto
his masthead, went out and swept the
sea-" and ut least to look upon the
cabin where the great Peter of Russia
lived while very practically studying
naval architecture.
But above all Holland is the paradise
for the mere seeker after novelty. In
fact, the novelty is, ut first, almost'too
marked; it is bewildering. The rivers
pour along far over your head Instead
of going down to seq in ships" you
climb up long flights to get ct them.
1t seems mad land. The streets Of
the cities are water; the whole land
scape is dotted with windmills grind
ing, not grain, but water; you may
walk along the seashorc for days and
be no more able to find q pebble than
to end crown diamond, go little to
the north where what by courtesy may
be called the land is few inches above
high tide and there for miles and miles
you sill find the sea sand neatly COW
cred with mating to prevent its blow
ing away! A still more astonishing
thing is that the men and women do
not seem lat first sight always under
stood) to belong to the same race. The
men, most polite and courteous in all
classes, and hospitable to marked de-
gree, are staid, grave, formal and as
solemn as the fourteenthly OF tho SER
mon of Puritan divine. The women,
remarkably pretty, especially in Fries
land, which has more pretty girls in 1t
than any place on earth OF the same
population Jour own town, Of course,
excepted) are gay, decidedly. although
demurely, coquettish, and not at oil
averse to innocent fun. II, however,
the stranger be SO fortunate as to gain
admittance as an intimate to the fam
lily circle OF some Dutchman. he gets to
know that the men are really very jol-
ly fellows, and that their grave formal
| ity is only O national custom instilled
In them from babyhood. But there Is
no country in Europe where it is SO
difficult for a stranger to gain such ad-
mittance, for the Dutch do not love
men of other races.
But the more one knows OF this peo-
pie the more the curiosity grows as to
who were their ancestors, and what In
the name of all that is wonderful ever
led them to settle in such o country; q
country that had not O tree upon 1t,
and has needed to have millions OF
Norway pines driven into its unstable
soil to hold its houses. But, in the
early days, how build houses at ALT
There was not q stone in the country
there was no wood and no coal, SO how
make bricks? AS there was no wood,
absolutely mono, how make boats tc
bring necessare s from other lands, OF
to hunt aquatic animals2 WHAT die
that strange people live uponf The
soil was then certainly unfit for agri
culture, barren sand and water soaked
mud. There was no game excep'
water fowl, certainly no land animals
fit for food or useful for their slins
How catch fish in any such numbers o.
to be q mainstay of life without boats
the fishing during ut least three
months of the year being necessarily
on the sea? Why they went there ant
how they survived are mysteries; WI
only know that the tireless industry
and indomitable pluck of the race ha
made the land to blossom as the rose
and dotted it with fair cities.
The language of the Dutch seems
cross between German and English
but the people are entirely unlilr
either Germans or Englishnen, ant
! quite as unlike their other neighbors
J the Flemish and the French. They d
, not like their neighbers, and in return
these neighbors, jealous of the Hol
; lander's hard-earned success, are a
ways throwing hard words at them.
/ T. Ia. ksN VTN