Year: 1875

and simplicity, as you can perhaps no
where else in Holland.


Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the
Hague are contaminated more or less
with some foreign element, but
Utrecht is Dutch to the core. The
quietude and orderliness, and above
all, the cleanliness, we found here was
most welcome, after sojourn of two
months in noisy, dirty London. No
slOuchy women in cast-off, dingy tag
gerry; no dirty, ragged children no
duiI, heavy atmosphere to obscure
what of brightness Heaven had
vOuchsafed to man; no crushing
crowd rushing madly through the
streets, each man bent on the accom-
plishment of his own ends, utterly re-
gardless of his fellow at his elbow. In
stead, an atmosphere of peace and
good will seemed TO have settled over
the pointed red-tiled roofs, and the
sun shone as if il were giving it's light
just there, more to the Just than the
unjust. The streets were as cleanly
swept as n parlor floor, and along them
walked, in quiet business-like way,
the industrious, steady.gOing inhab-
itants, in costumes so unique and pic
turesque and withal so neat that they
could not fail to excite in you feelings
If the deepest admiration.


| should think that this is the clean
est city of its size, or any size on the
continent, or, indeed, anywhere. That
is the impression it gives you on all
sides. There is nothing about it to
suggest dirt, and if dirt is to be consid-
cred matter out of place-for every
thing seems TO ee its place, and to have
been there always. Even the canal
which winds through the town, cut~
ting it up in true Nenitian style, has
not the stagnant look common to
canals, but its clear waters move along
with a majestic slowness, typical of
the slow progress and innate simplicity
of the people.


1t is the costumes of the common
people, of course, which attract the at
tention for at the present time the
style of dress of the higher, middle and
upper classes is pretty much the same
~ in all enlightened countries. That
of the women is most peculiar.
Women in any kind of service, as
well as the wives and daughters of
laboring men, have all essentially the
same style of costume, consisting of
bodice and short overskirt of some
simple print-generally lilac color-a
black worsted skirt, a checked apron,
and n suOw-white cap A plentiful
supply of petticOats gives an exceeding
fullness to the hips, and this, in con-
nection with long and somewhat
tapering waists, completes the picture
Of women sucn as we see in the works
of the old Dutch painters. No, am
too last, 1t does not complete the pic
ture: one thing, and most important
one, remains to be added, and that is
the wooden shoes, Those wooden
shoes are a study TO me, from two
points of view. Firstly, / can not
make out how they are made, by what
contrivance the cavity for the foot is
cut out of the solid piece of wood and,
secondly, how they can walk in them,
or even keep them on their feet. am
sure it requires no small amount of ex-
pertness to be able to perform the
movements of locomotion i'm that
heavy, clumsy-looking foot-gear


They give most queer appearance
to the lower eXtremities, and bear
stronger resemblance to two canoes,
very much thickened and turned up
mt one end, than to anything else can
now call to mind. 1t looked exceed
ingly funny to see little children chat
tering along the pavements in these
wooden boats, almost half as large as
themselves. There was too great a
dignity in the size of the shoe and the
child-too much shoe and too little
child.


Hhe people are universally civil and
well-mannered and we found none
of that Obtrusive anxiety about strang-
ers and foreigners that are experienced
at some other places. Even our colored
servant was not mOlested when walk
ing along the tIeets, which was far
from being the case in some towns we
nave visited. In one, Ia particular
whilst we were out driving, a crowd
of childrrn followed after the carriage
and bc,~me so loud in their demon
strations nat the driver was compelled
to get down from the box and drive
them away with his whip.


The manner of living is in keeping
with the character of the people. Our
hotel had all the freshness of a couH-
try farm house. The beds We're clean,
and were evidently made regardless of
the cost of feathers, while 1t was not
necessary to put the pillow on Its end
in order to get your head sufficiently
high to sleep with comfort, as has not
unfrequently been the case at our va
rious stopping places. The bread was
has it been my for
tune to eat better.


| think the flour ground by the
windmills must be better for baking
purposes than any other. 1t seems
natural to suppose that its vitality is
not destroyed to the extent that it
must be in more rapid grinding. The
butter was fresh and sweet, and the
milk, if watered at all, was so slightly
so in comparison to that generally pro,
cured for us, as to leave the impression
on our minds that it was pure. At the
table d'hote, native wine is fur
nished.


TO me, personally, Utrecht is most
interesting, as benig the place of resi-
dence of one of the greatest lights in
ophthalmOlogy. .ProfDOnders lives here
the man who, more than any other,
has brought to its present state of perfec-
tiOn the scientific use of spectacles in
the various diseases of the eye requir-
ing the use of glasses. Many thou
sands of people, by means of his in
vestigations, have had a new world
opened to them, and been enabled to
use their ewes with ease and comfort