Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1907-08-09
FOREIGN LETTER
FROM 7. P. CRAMER
The Cramer Family Will Reach
New York on Homeward
Journey August Is.
Velp, The Netherlands.


July 16, 107.
Editor Courier: At last we are be-
ginning to get taste of summer, and
it is grateful relief to us who have
been accustomed to so much sunshine.
What would you think of keeping on
winter underwear until July 10Th ?
We hope that the season from now on
will try to make mp for what we have
not had previously. We have only
two and one half weeks more in Hol-
land, and we hope to be in New York
again on August l3. We leave Rotter.
dam on the S. S. "Statendam" on
August Sd. and if we strike hot wave
10 New York we shall long for the
cool breezes of Holland. We have
just returned from few small trips
to various points in other parts of the
country, and we're favored by the
weather. as the rain came almost al
together at night. We lived for sew.
ersl days in the Middle Ages. and
things we saw and spoke about hap
pened in period ranging from the
18th Century Crusades, until the lib
erty of The Netherlands was well es.
tablished. We first visited HARLEM,
which was one Of the centers Of action
during the Eighty Years war, and is
rich in memories of that famous strug-
gle. In the park we find the "Span-
iards Lam" magnificent lane one
half mile long. with four rows Of CEN
tury old trees making three avenues.
which remind one of the arches Of the
large cathedrsls. The large church of
St. Bavo stands in square where is
. statue of John Laurens Roster q na.
tive of HARLEM who was the first to
use movable type when the art OF
printing was In its infancy. The
church is probably six centuries old,
has a fine set of old chimes, and also
two small bells captured from the
Turks during one of the late Cru
sades. These bells are rung every
night from 8 till 10 80. and their
plaiDtive melancholy note can be
heard for long distance. The
church has been magniicently restored
on the outside, but inside it Is still
as it was many years ago. The floor
is composed of large blue stone slabs
under which are the tombs of many
brave Hollanders. who died in the
Spanish wars. The stones are badly
worn 30 that the inscriptions can not
be read, but often date of 300 or 400
years ago can be decipbered. The
church contains one of the finest or
gsns in the world. and ws were fortu-
nate to hear one Of the semi-weekly
concerts which are free to all. 1t was
truly magnificent, and the effect pro-
duced by the grand climaxes will not
soon be forgotten. The city still
shows many of the old canals and
waterways.
- Toward Amsterdam there is the
Amsterdam Poort or gate, one OF the
few entrances to the city, which were
really small fortresses when the city
had o wall and moat, and the three or
four gates were the only possible
means of entrance. We rambled
through the streets and alleys. aud as
the sister we were visiting lived 20
years in HARLEM we had the best OF
= guides. The city has in its museum
some rich art treasures, and the room
containing the Franz Halls masterpiece,
i, one Of the.tamous things of Holland.
We saw numbers OF Americans in th,
art galleries, and it is remarkable ho-
easily one can distinsu uish between tn,
nationalities. In Hsarlsm we ssw al