Rollo in Holland Part 19

After walking on for about a quarter of a mile, the commissioner said that he would show them the interior of one of the dairy houses, where the cheeses were made,--for the business of this town was the making of cheeses from the milk of the cows that feed on the green polders that lie all around them.

"The stalls for the cows," said James, "are in the same house in which the family lives; but the cows are not kept there in summer, and so we shall find the stalls empty."

So saying, James turned aside up a little paved walk which led to the door of a very pretty looking house. He opened the door without any ceremony, and Mr. George and Rollo went in.

The door was near one end of the house, and it opened into a pa.s.sage way which extended back through the whole depth of it. On one side was a row of stalls, or cribs, for the cows. On the other, were doors opening into the rooms used for the family. A very nice looking Dutch woman, who had apparently seen the party from her window, came out through this side door into the pa.s.sage way, to welcome them when they came.

The stalls for the cows were all beautifully made, and they were painted and decorated in such an extraordinary manner, that no one could have imagined for what use they were intended. The floors for them were made of the glazed tiles so often used in Holland, and the part.i.tions between them were nicely rubbed as bright as a lady's sideboard. The cribs, too, were now, in the absence of the cows, occupied with various little _etageres_, and sets of shelves, which were covered with fancy cups and saucers, china images, and curiosities of all sorts,--the Dutch housewives taking a special pride in the collection of such things.

The row of cribs was separated from the floor of the pa.s.sage way by a sort of trench, about a foot and a half wide and ten inches deep, and outside this trench, and also within it, at the entrances to the cribs, were arrayed a great number of utensils employed in the work of the dairy, such as tubs, cans, cheese presses, moulds, and other such things. These were all beautifully made, and being mounted with bra.s.s, which had received the highest polish by constant rubbing, they gave to the whole aspect of the place an exceedingly gay and brilliant appearance.

Some of this apparatus was in use. There were tubs standing, with the curd or whey in them, and cheeses in press or in pickle, and various other indications that the establishment was a genuine one, and was then in active operation. The cheeses were of the round kind, so often seen for sale at the grocers' stores in Boston and New York. They looked like so many big cannon b.a.l.l.s.

After walking down the pa.s.sage way that led by the side of cribs, and examining all these things in detail, the party returned to the door where they had come in, and then, turning to the left, went into the rooms of the house. The first room was the bedroom. The second was the parlor. These rooms were both completely crowded with antique looking furniture, among which were cabinets of Chinese ware, and ornaments of every kind; and all was in such a brilliant condition of nicety and polish, as made the spectacle wonderful to behold.

The bed was in a recess, shut up by doors. When the doors were opened the bed place looked precisely like a berth on board s.h.i.+p.

After looking at all these things as long as they wished, Mr. George and Rollo bade the woman good by, and James gave her half a guilder. The party then withdrew.

"Well, uncle George," said Rollo, "and what do you think of that?"

"I think it is a very extraordinary spectacle," said Mr. George. "And it is very curious to think how such a state of things has come about."

"And how has it come about?" asked Rollo.

"Why, here," replied Mr. George, "for a thousand years, for aught I know, the people have been living from generation to generation with no other employment than taking care of the cows that feed on the polders around, and making the milk into cheese. That is a business which requires neatness. Every kind of dairy business does. So that here is a place where a current was set towards neatness a thousand years ago, and it has been running ever since, and this is what it has come to."

Talking in this manner of what they had seen, Mr. George and Rollo returned to the inn, and there they found an excellent breakfast. They were waited upon at the table by the young woman who had so many golden ornaments in her hair; and besides the _biftek aux pommes_, and the coffee, and the hot milk, and the nice b.u.t.ter, there was the half of one of the round cheeses, such as they had seen in process of making at the dairy.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI.

CONCLUSION.

After finis.h.i.+ng their breakfast, Mr. George and Rollo entered the carriage again, and returned by the same way that they came, for some miles towards Amsterdam, until they came to the place where the road turned off to go to Saandam. After proceeding for some distance upon one of the inland dikes, they came at length to the margin of the sea, and then for several miles the road lay along the great sea dike, which here defends the land from the ingress of the ocean.

"Ah," said Mr. George, as soon as they entered upon this portion of the road, "here we come to one of the great sea dikes. How glad I am."

"So am I," said Rollo. "I wanted to see one of the sea dikes."

"It is very much like the others," said Mr. George, "only it is much larger."

"Yes," said Rollo, "and see how it winds about along the sh.o.r.e."

In looking forward in the direction in which Rollo pointed, the dike could be traced for a long distance in its course, like an immense railroad embankment, winding in and out in a most remarkable manner, in conformity to the indentations of the sh.o.r.e. In one respect it differed from a railroad embankment, namely, in being bordered and overshadowed by avenues of immense trees, which showed how many ages ago the dike had been built. There is not a railroad embankment in the world that has been built long enough for such immense trees to have had time to grow.

The carriage road lay along the top of the dike, which was very broad, and the slopes of it, towards the water on one side, and towards the low meadow lands on the other, were very gradual. Men were at work every where along these slopes, cutting the second crop of gra.s.s, and making it into hay. Where the hay was ready to be got in, the men were at work loading it into boats that lay in the little ca.n.a.ls that extend along the sides of the dike at the foot of the slopes.

Wind mills were to be seen every where, all about the horizon. As the road approached Saandam, these mills became more and more numerous.

"I mean to see if I can count them," said Rollo.

"You cannot count them, I am sure," said Mr. George.

Rollo began; but when he got up to a hundred, he gave up the undertaking in despair. Mr. George told him that he read in the guide book that there were four thousand wind mills in that region.

Some of these wind mills were very small indeed; and there were two or three which looked so "cunning," as Rollo said, that he wished very much that he had one of them to take with him to America.

The use of these very small wind mills was to pump up the water from some very limited tract of land, which, for some reason or other, happened to lie a few inches lower than the rest.

At last, after an infinite number of turnings and windings, by means of which every part of the surrounding country was brought in succession into view before Mr. George and Rollo as they sat in their carriage, they arrived at the town of Saandam.

The town consists of two streets, one on each embankment of a great ca.n.a.l. The streets are closely built up for many miles along the ca.n.a.l, but the town does not extend laterally at all, on account of the ground falling off immediately to very low polders.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CABIN OF PETER THE GREAT.]

After entering the street the commissioner left the carriage, in order that the horses might rest, and led Mr. George and Rollo on a walk through the prettiest part of the town. They walked about half a mile along the ca.n.a.l on one side, and then, crossing by a ferry, they came back on the other side.

In the course of this walk they went to see the hut where Peter the Great lived while he was in Holland engaged in studying s.h.i.+p building in the s.h.i.+p yards of Saandam. The hut itself was old and dilapidated; but it was covered and protected by a good, substantial building of brick, with open arches all around, which allowed the hut to be seen, while the roof and walls of the building protected it from the rain. The hut was situated in a very pretty little garden.

There were two rooms in the hut, and one of them--the one shown in the engraving--had a very curious-looking Dutch fireplace in one corner of it, and a ladder to go up to the loft above. The chairs were very curious indeed; the seats being three-cornered, and the back and arms being constructed in a very singular manner.

The walls of the rooms were perfectly covered, in every part, with the names of visitors, who had come from all countries to see the rooms.

Besides these, there were a great many volumes of books filled with names. These books lay on a great table, which stood at one side of the room. There was one of the books which was not yet full, and this one lay open on the table, with a pen and ink near it, in order that fresh visitors, as fast as they came, might enter their names.

After looking at this cabin as long as they wished, and entering their names in the book, Mr. George and Rollo left the hut and returned through one of the main streets of the town to the place where they had left their carriage. The carriage was soon ready for them, and they set out to go back to Amsterdam.

They had a delightful drive back, going as they came, on the top of the great sea dike. On one side they could look off over a wide expanse of water, with boats, and steamers, and s.h.i.+ps moving to and fro in every direction over it. On the other side they overlooked a still wider expanse of low and level green fields, intersected every where with ca.n.a.ls of water and avenues of trees, and with a perfect forest of wind mills in the horizon.

As they were riding quietly along upon this dike on the return to Amsterdam, Rollo had the opportunity of imparting to Mr. George some valuable information in respect to Peter the Great.

"I am glad that I have had an opportunity to see the workshop of Peter the Great," said Mr. George. "It is very curious indeed. But I don't know much about Peter the Great. The first opportunity I get I mean to read an account of his life, and I advise you to do the same."

"I have read about him," said Rollo. "I found a book about him in a steamboat that we came in, and I read all about his coming to Holland."

"Then tell me about it," said Mr. George.

"Why, you see," said Rollo, "he was at war with the Turks, and he fought them and drove them off to the southward, until at last he came to the Sea of Asoph. Then he could not fight them any more, unless he could get some s.h.i.+ps. So he made a law for all the great boyars of his kingdom, that every one of them must build or buy him a s.h.i.+p. What are boyars, uncle George?"

"n.o.bles," said Mr. George.

"I thought it must be something like that," replied Rollo.