Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-11-03
Letter From Consul Julian Phelps.
CREFELp, GERMANY. Oct, IL. ,9s

KNOW tnat the folks were all improving.
Tor had been worried somewhat about
them, and / should have written YOU
sooner had it not been for the fact that
have had great many letters to write.
have tried to write as often as once
week home, to mother or some one else
there. We have often thought and
spoken OF your folks and wondered how
they were, but have heard but little.
and hope that this letter will find YOU
all well. We hear quite often from Yer.
mont and have had two letters from
sister Josephine. Our correspondence
with the friends in Atlantic has been
very large. / received u real good long
letter from Mr.. McWaid the other day,
the length OF it surprised me for did
not think he would take the time but
he told me all about things at home.
business matters. mean, and this is
what pleases lis for everything that is
going on at home interests us here.
1t is now over eleven months since we
left Atlantic and the time has passed
very quickly, for it has been a busy
time for us all. We have taken trip
or two this summer, one to Holland to
attend the coronation fetes OF the Queen
In the fore part of September, and I en-
joyed the ride through Holland very
much. 1t was quite different from what L
had expected, and still / ought to have
known about what it was, for had read
about the country quite little. OF
course much of it is low and also is very
productive. The chief industry OF these
low lands seems to be the raising OF cat
tie, and much Of the way we could see
nothing but black and white cattle as
far as the eye could reach. The land is
divided into small patches OF meadow
aud pasture by bitches which serve the
triple purpose Of drainage, fence and
way over which to transport the produce
from the farm to the farm. house or oft
ener the little village for the peasants
seem to live in little villages. In looking
over the landscape you see only cattle,
hero and there clump of trees, and a
board gate, shutting the way across the
little bridge which spans the canal We
saw the peasants hauling their hay home
on boats, sometimes the men and wom-
en- together pulling the load along by q
rope and sometimes standing upon the
load and pushing it along with poles.
In several instances we saw the mast OF
ship with sails up. apparently sailing
up through the pasture or meadow, but
on closer inspection, we found that it
was sailing up canal made little wild
err than it's fellows for the purpose.
Much OF this lowland is divided up into
fields OF pasture or meadow, OF five, ten,
or fifteen acres each, and OF course the
gates separating them were quite close
together and they seemed to stand out
alone connecting nothing and leading
nowhere, and actually found myself
straining my eyes to d scover the wire
fence we are 90 accustomed to In Iowa,
till ] happened TO remember that Hol-
land dug her fences nsts al of building
them. Much Of this low land has been
taken from the sea End is rs fertile as
land can be, and il seems to me will
support more cattle to the acre than any
other land ever saw. The dry seasons
80 prevalent with us are OF course, I'M
known here. The quaint little villages
through which we passed were decked
out in orarge in honor OF their queen
who was to be coronated the next day.
Even the peasants cottages and the old
Holland wind mills everywhere were
gaily decked in yellow. All Holland
seemed to be doing it's best to make the
day happy one for its queen. We may
have seen Holland ut it's best, but it
struck me as being AS beautiful coun-
try as the sun ever shope upon. One
curious feature OF the Holland railroad
system is the peasant signal women at
every crossing, standing at present
arms" in front Of their little cottages,
which are very near the track, standing
as il they were statues with their stove
pipe shiny hats and their regulation
blue cloaks on, both OF which they dof
as soon as the train passes, hang them
on post in front Of the house and take
up their other duties till the whistle OF
the train tells them to again don their
regimentsls. There has been 80 many
accounts Of the coronation fetes written
that will not undertake to give you a
description OF them, but will content
myself by saying that on the streets of
Amsterdam, everywhere, and in fact all
over Holland, the enthusiasm knew no
bounds and seemed to be genuine, as it
certainly ought to be for there is no
ruler more deservedly popular among
her people than the young Queen Will.
hemina, the last OF the house OF Orange,
and descendant of William of Orange.
From what / hear from home | should
think that the weather here this sum-
mer has been quite contrast to the
weather in Iowa, as we have had but
little warm weather and none that we