The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-05-20
A DOUBLE DELUGE.
An Americans Experience with a
Holland Storm
AIr. Biddle. OF St. Louis, ASSISTS i'm stop
ping the EoIes in DiiSe-The
MzgnIiiccnce of the
Dutch Country.

So few mem bcrs Of the army Of
Americans which yearly pours 10 Eu-
rope 20 to Holland unless il bc simply
TO ly through 10y rail, giving perhaps
day To Amsterdam, that 10 those who
know the fair Low Countries" il has
become matter of great surprise.
1t would seem natural thattha soldier
should wish 70 see the fields where
were fought the most heroic battles Of
modern times; when the citizen soldiers
Of n small and Unmiltary country
stood their ground against the mighty
lcgionz Gl Alya. and dIl NOT talk of dy-
ing III the last ditch, but dlcd there
II would -eem as II the sailor would
like 20 visit the dock yards whence
Van IrolnD. with his boom nailed 70
his masthead. Ucnt ont and swept the
sea,' and "a least to tool, upon the
cabin whore the great Peter Of Russia
lived while very practically studying
naval architecture.
But alov- all Holland Is the paradise
for the mere seeker after novelty. In
fact. the novelty f.. n first. alm0St.too
marked; it is bcwildcr.uE. The rivers
pour along far over your head instead
OF going down u sea iE hips" YOU
climb up long flights 10 Err at them.
the cities are water; the whole land
scape is dotted with windmills grind
ing, not grain. but water; you may
walk along the scashorc for days and
By no more able 20 find pebble than
to find crown diamond, go a little TO
the north where what by courtesy may
be called the land is a few inches above
high tide and there for miles and miles
you will find the sea sand neatly COW
cred with mating TO prevent its blow
ing away 4 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 q marked de-
gree. are staid. grave, formal and as
solemn as the fOurteenthly Of the ser
mon Of a Puritan divine. The women,
remarkably pretty, especially in Fries
land, which has more pretty girls in IL
than any place on earth OF the same
population tour own town, Of course,
exccpted) are gay. decidedly. although
dCmurcly, coqucttish, and not At all
aversc to innocent fun II, however,
the stranger Ice so fortunate as TO gain
admittancc rs an intimate TO the fam
ily 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 a national custom instilled
in them from babyhood. But there is
no country in Europe where it is SO
difficult for 4 stranger to gain such ad-
nittance. 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 10
who were their ancestors, and what in
the name Of all that is wonderful ever
led them to settle in such country;
country that had not a tree upon il,
and has needed TO have millions OF
Norway pines driven into its unsta bic
soil to hold its houses. Bat. in the
early days, how build houses at all?
There was not stone in the country;
there was no wood and no coal, 50 how
make bricks? As there was no wood,
absolutely none, how make boats TO
bring necesSaries from other lands, or
TO hunt aquatic animals? What did
that strange people live upon? The
soil was then certainly unfit for agri-
culture, barren sand and water soaked
mud. There was no game except
water fowl, certainly no land animals
fit for food or useful for their skins.
How catch fish in any such numbers as
to be malnstay OF lie without DOats'
the fishing during at least three
months of the year being necessarily
on the sea? Why they went there and
how they survived are mysteries; we
only know that the tirelcss industry
and indomitable pluck Of the race has
made the land to blossom as the rose,
and dotted il with fair cities.
The language Of the Dutch seems a
cross between German and English,
but the people are entirely unlike
either Germans or Euglishmen, and
quite as unlike their other neighbors,
the Flemish and the French. They do
not Ike their ncighbcrs, and in return
these ncighbors, JEALOUS Of the Hol-
/ lander's hard-carnci success, are al
ways throwing hard words at them.
This. is long introduction to my
personal experience of Hollan
storm. / was visiting a gentlema
who lives on an island just west OF tn
mouth of the Rhine. We had dine
and were enjoying some cigars whe
/ the daughter of one of the dyke guard
came TO the house with the news tina
a northwestern storm was blowing
the one wind the Hollander breads \
once the whole household was in con
motion. ] had been once il a hurr