The sun., 1893-09-10
An AMERICAN IN EUROPE.
Observations Upon the Life and Politics
Of Thirty Years Ago.
BX TUE LATE
JAMES sHERHERD PIKE.
Holland.


1t would be hard to flnd drearier country
| for a stranger to live in than Holland. Th,
eternal sameness OF the landscape extin.
| Ruishes all desire to roam over the country
| Go whore you will. you see the same sights
There is neither hill nor dale. mountain moi
| valley. No running streams. no hooks. nc
| outlooks. no picturesque spots-never any.
thing but the same level plain frinRed with
distant wood and cut up by staRnant water In
endless bitches.
Here and there you observe q sni going pas,
the land where there 10 no river. where
you can see no water. IL being walled out BY
earth banks above the surface.
This Is the nearest approach to the pictur.
esaue that the landscape affords. In all else
every hundred acres OF Holland soil 10 like
every other hundred acres. It is even relief
to get upon the dune country. where the ap-
proach to absolute desert 10 as near as need
be- The sand was blown in here ages ago. and
gradually the big hillocks have become covered
with coarse and thin grass. intermingled with
moss but not tree nor shrub will grow upon
them. They extend along the sea coast. mile
in width. and they cover considerable districts
inland. which the sea formerly washed.
1t is dismal variety they offer. but sti II It Il
better than nothing. This utter dead level OF
country produces in strangers and. to con-
siderable extent, In the people who inhabit ID.
q corresponding dead lev el of emotion ana of
mind. 1t is proverbisl that ennui and de-
preston seize all strangers who reside here.
and quito extinguish all purpose OF mental
occupation. To go up hill and down seems to
be q requirement Of our nature. Even horses
will not go SO far on level road as on hilly
one. This is imputed to the fact that the strain
OF travel on level comes all on one set Of
muscles but imagine there lis something be-
sides In the changing state Of atmosphere in o
rolling cour try.
highly esteem the Dutch character and ap-
preciate and admire what the people have
achieved. but as o country to live in think
Holland detestable. and not to be endured.
The scenery OF Holland IL everywhere alike,
and nobody knows what that means who has
not lived In this country. In the first place. 1t
means that as you cast your eyes over tho
map you see no place you desire to 20 to. For.
60 where you will. you are sure to see nothing
but the same unvarying scene OF stagnant
cities. level meadows. frinRes OF wood on q
dead level. with here and there windmill.
Thus all desire Of locomotion for the sake of
what new view or new thing you may see is
crushed at the start. stand anywhere on any
part Of the Dutch territory and you see tho
whole Of Holland. There is little exec optional
landscape about Arnhenl. but that ID all. The
rest is everywhere low. level. marshy. reedy.
fiat. monotonous. uninteresting.
Being thus converted into o barnacle from
the first. what follows Is necessarily seen. II
there were game anywhere. or good fishing. or
picturesque harbors for sailing. or any kind OF
a possibility for seeing or doing In any one
part what could not be seen or done in every
other. it would be. relief. but. alas. there
is none. Nature thus tends to make every
body in Holland as torpid as Q toad. and so the
Hollander Is slow and everybody is slow N
Holland. Torpidity Ii followed by depression
depression by languor. and lanEuor BY discon-
tent When we add to all dark and rainy
no wonder we often long for our days
Of exile to be over.
Holland is only raft Of pastures. We have
no shooting no fishing. and no sailing. and no
hills as high as a haycock.
There Is plenty Of water. but none OF 1t ever
learned to run. and yet it Is old enough. It
seems to have no ambition but to rouse and
drown us all out
But We keep the steam pumps going and
stop that, And such pumpsl have seen
eight OF them standing together. each with a
pump box six feet in diameter. 1t takes big
leak to offset such machines as those whom
run by steam.
ROTTERDAM. Nov. 4. 1S01.-They are selling
cabbages from the boats at one dollar hun
dred. fine and large. The boats bring about
5000 at n load. The watercraft are number
less and take the place OF wagons In other
They carry floating popu-
ation OF men. women. and children.
The men are plains. the women and chill
1ren the crew. who tow the boats and load
Or unload. whether the cargo be bricks or dirt
Or cabbages- Dogs and poor horses are also
used in towing. Rushes are conveyed in boat
fpr LAT fa m trv IN tot>
wood is scarce. Hot water ts bought and sold
in the streets Of this CITY, The water Is boiled
in great wooden cylinders by steam. and the |
women take 1t away In big iron bound buck |
sts. Sabots. or wooden shoes. everywhere
prevail with the poorer classes. The leaning
character OF the brick houses surpasses be-
ief. They often tip two or three feet from the |
perpendicular into the street. The buildings |
Ill rest on piles measured some they were |
irving and found them fifty feet long. The |
almost universal dress Of the women 10 the |
hort calico sack over the black stun petit
'oat. The wooden shoes necessitate woollen
locks. knit OF yarn as large as cod lines. A
ew-fashioned shoe OF wood soles and leather
OPS is in vogue In France. They cost six
rancs In Paris. and look very serviceabe.
The sabot can be had for a franc.
Jan. %. 1S62.-SkatinR is a great habit in
1oland. for everywhere there Is water. Every
arm is bounded by broad bitches filled by
Vater. instead OF fences Every highway is tho
anne. The peasant In winter thus may go
'here he will on skates. when there is frost
nough. which. however. is by no meanscon-
tant 1t is now the 25th OF January and there
nay have been a fortnight's skating 80 far.
nut the weather Is now soft and the Ice mostly
one. The stretches OF skating are som ethine
'onderfuL Gentlemen 20 from Amsterdam to
q distance Of sixty m lies. on skates.
nd may go to Brussels. 100 miles, In the op-
osite direction.
From Antwerp to Brussels the skating is
ood. and 30 is 1t all about Antwerp. whore the
osse OF the fertilization makes a continuous
anal surrounding the town and free from oc-
upation or obstruction.
The young Baron Groeninr told me that
ome young men skatsd in one day from
eyden across the Zuyder Zee to Lennarden in |
distance which appears by the
zap to be not less than l25 miles