Dog Days.

Going To Market.

Heavily Loaded.

A Holland Headdress.

"A saint!" I answered, "not at all, he was only an American."

The little houses in the vicinity of Amsterdam are thoroughly characteristic of Holland. Their sharply pointed roofs of bright red tiles, their neatly painted walls and blinds, a monstrous windmill on one side, and panting dogs on the other, - these are features of Dutch scenery which multiply themselves here almost endlessly. Stopping occasionally at one of these houses to inquire my way, I found the floors and tables scoured and polished, as if they had been sandpapered; the pots and pans glistened as if made of gold and silver; and in one room I noticed that all the chairs were tipped forward, with their hind feet on the top edge of the baseboard, so that the dust should not settle upon the seats in the short interval that could elapse between one dusting and another.

Even in the better streets of Amsterdam, among the residences of its wealthy citizens, there is not much display of luxury. The houses are quite plain, though built of brick, and have stone trimmings at the doors and windows; a flight of steps leads sideways up to the front door, so as to take as little space as possible on the sidewalk; and the windows, of huge plate glass, are exquisitely polished. Outside of them are frequently mirrors, placed at such an angle as to reflect the scene below; for Hollanders lead such quiet lives that they are naturally curious to know all that goes on about them. The older houses with their pointed gables have, usually, above the attic window a beam and pulley hanging over the street. I jestingly called these at first a kind of gallows, on which the Dutch of former times were wont to hang such thoughtless miscreants as dared intrude upon their polished floors with muddy feet. They were, in fact, invented as an aid to cleanliness; for by these pulleys are still hoisted into the attics all articles of household use which might deface the immaculate front steps and halls.

A Country Scene.

I could not walk along these streets without inquiring what was done to prevent accidents by drowning. How can Dutch children, for example, ever play upon such narrow sidewalks without falling into the canals, and how can the men who have imbibed too freely of schnapps contrive to guide their reeling steps along these narrow spaces, which are unguarded by a parapet, and have the friendly lamp-posts few and far between? Yet I was told that deaths from drowning here are rare, partly because the Dutch are naturally cautious; chiefly, no doubt, because long practice renders them as certain of their steps as Blondin on his swinging rope.

Characteristic Houses, Amsterdam.

The Hotel Amstel, Amsterdam.

" Narrow Sidewalks".

To a Dutchman it would seem impossible to have too much water about his house. Even with a canal in front and another on each side, he will add, if possible, an artificial pond in his small garden as a necessary adjunct to his comfort, and, if he builds a summer-house, he will, by preference, locate it over a canal. From Amsterdam we journeyed to the beautiful Dutch capital, - the Hague. It is a charming place; not quite so odd as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, since the majority of its streets are not canals; but it has all the best peculiarities of Holland, without an undue prominence of water and unsavory odors. Indeed, I think there is not in the whole of Europe, from Lisbon to St. Petersburg, a cleaner and more aristocratic city than the Hague. Its site was formerly a densely wooded hunting park belonging to the Counts of Holland, which gave the town that subsequently rose here its quaint Dutch title: "'s Graven Hage," or the Count's Garden.