Holland (Volume 2) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1894. Excerpt: ... builder who had received the royal young artisan in his shipyard; the people accompanied him, crying, "Long life to Master Peter " and Master Peter, who exterminated Russian nobles and boyars, who condemned his own son, --Master Peter the terrible ruler wept. To go to Alkmaar, I took passage on a steamer that went up the Zaan as far as the Northern Canal, and consequently I saw East and West Zaandam, or all that part of the town which extends almost three miles along the two banks of the river. It is a spectacle that vindicates Broek a hundred times. Every one remembers the first landscapes he painted as a child, when his father or uncle gave him a long-expected box of colors. Usually we wish to paint some delicious place, such as we dream of in school while Ave doze over the last Latin lesson toward the end of the month of June. To make this spot really delightful we attempt to put in a tiny space a villa, a garden, a lake, a wood, a meadow, a kitchen-garden, a river, a bridge, a grotto, a cascade, and we crowd them all together, and, that nothing shall escape the eye of the spectator, we paint everything in the brightest, gaudiest colors in the box, and when all is finished we fancy that we have not taken advantage of every bit of space, and stick a house here, a tree there, and a cottage at the bottom; and when at last it is no longer possible to put in even a blade of grass, a stone, or a flower, we put down our brush quite satisfied with the work, and run to show it to the servant, who clasps her hands in wonder and exclaims that it is truly an earthly paradise. Well, Zaandam seen from the river is exactly like one of those landscapes. All the houses are green, and the roofs are covered with the reddest of red tiles, on which rise turrets which are gr...