II.
HOLLAND.
Holland is one of the queerest countries under the sun. It should be called Odd-land or Contrary-land; for in nearly every thing it is different from other parts of the world. In the first place, a large portion of the country is lower than the level of the sea. Great dikes, or bulwarks, have been erected, at a heavy cost of money and labor, to keep the ocean where it belongs. On certain parts of the coast, it sometimes leans with all its weight against the land; and it is as much as the poor country can do to stand the pressure. Sometimes the dikes give way, or spring a leak, and the most disastrous results ensue. They are high and wide; and the tops of some of them are covered with buildings and trees. They have even fine public roads upon them, from which horses may look down upon wayside cottages. Often the keels of floating ships are higher than the roofs of the dwellings. The stork clattering to her young on the house-peak may feel that her nest is lifted far out of danger; but the croaking frog in neighboring bulrushes is nearer the stars than she. Waterbugs dart backward and forward above the heads of the chimney-swallows; and willow-trees seem drooping with shame, because they cannot reach as high as the reeds near by.
Ditches, canals, ponds, rivers, and lakes are everywhere to be seen. High, but not dry, they shine in the sunlight, catching
