Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

BELGIUM.

BELGIUM is a prosperous, flat, rich, little country, more fuil of inhabitants than any part of Europe in proportion to its size; but they are very industrious.

The land is divided into small bits, and they cultivate every inch of ground, collect all the manure they can, and manage, somehow, to make two cabbages grow where other people would only have one. Many of the early vegetables you see in greengrocers' shops come from Belgium. The country is so flat, that rail-roads are easily made; and they have sea-ports, such as Antwerp and Ostend, whence steamers go every day to London.

At Mechlin and Brussels, the women and girls make the most wonderful lace. When you read an account of a very grand wedding, in a London newspaper, you will almost always see that the bride had on a splendid gown of Brussels or Mechlin lace; they cost, sometimes, two or three hundred pounds. But though the Belgians work so hard, they do not neglect school. The government insists upon the children going there, whether they like it or not; but as they work in the open air when school is over, and seem to enjoy it, perhaps they are as happy as if they were kept at home to dawdle about, or to play at marbles when they had the chance.

The Belgians used to belong to Holland, but many years ago they would have a king of their own, and they chose a prince named Leopold, who married our Princess Charlotte. She was to have been our Queen,

as Victoria is; but she died, and her little baby also, a year after she married Prince Leopold. He lived on in England till the Belgians sent for him. Having been so much in England, he has taught the Belgians many English ways, and in no place do travellers find so many English comforts as at Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. Leopold was the uncle of Queen Victoria.

Near Brussels, was fought the famous battle of Waterloo, between the English-who were helped by the Prussians and Belgians-and the French On the fields, which once were covered with the bodies of Englishmen who died in defence of their country, now grows the most beautiful corn, but amongst it may still be found bullets and bits of swords, which the people sell to English travellers as relics of the victory. A lady once bought one of these bullets and packed it in her portmanteau with her clothes, and the shaking of the journey, made it wear a large round hole through every gown and petticoat she had with her, which was not a very pleasant reminiscence. It is suspected that fresh bullets are sometimes buried amongst the corn, to gain money from credulous travellers.

Coal is found in Belgium, and the Belgians make steam-engines and all sorts of iron-work cheaper and quite as well as we do. They can make such things cheaper because the work-people do not insist on such high wages, and they can get on with lower wages because they do not want to spend so much as our people do. They do not drink so much, they do not waste money in buying expensive food, but

eat rye bread and bacon for dinner, and drink coffee-not tea. And they spend much less in clothes. The girls who come over here selling brooms are often Belgians, and you must have seen their thick short woollen petticoats, knitted jackets and stout shoes, all of which will last out a dozen of the thin, flimsy, faded things which our people fancy make them look well.

The king of Belgium is a Protestant, but the people are chiefly Roman Catholics; however, they live peaceably together on the whole, and few countries are so prosperous as the little kingdom of Belgium.

HOLLAND.

HOLLAND is a small country lying to the north of Belgium. The people who live in it are called Dutch. It is very damp, and for this reason, that a great deal of the land was once under water.

The sea in that part of Europe is very shallow near the coast; and so the people thought that they could easily get more land by draining off the water, and building earthen walls across the part which was drained to keep the sea from returning. These walls are called dams. If you want to see how this was done, dig a hole in your garden, and fill it with water to make a pond, and then dig a little ditch, and let the water run into it; next make a wall of earth to keep the water from running back. That will be like the Dutch dam. However, although the Dutch are always draining the country to make it as dry as they can, it is still very damp. Every

night thick mist rises from the ground about the height of a man's knees. When this mist rises higher, high enough to reach people's heads, it makes them ill. There is much ague in Holland, a disease which is caused by damp. The Dutch think that smoking is good for this complaint; so you would seldom see a Dutchman without a cigar or glass pipe-even at a funeral all the mourners have their cigars in their mouths, as they follow the hearse.

Now you

The Dutch are very industrious. know that industrious people are usually clean, and so you will not be surprised to hear that Holland is the cleanest country in Europe. The people are always scrubbing and cleaning. You could eat your dinner off the floors, and the copper saucepans and kettles shine like new halfpence. It takes a deal of labour to keep them bright in such a damp place. Sometimes the people take off their boots before going into a house, for fear of making it dirty. There is one village so clean that the inhabitants never go out at their front doors, excepting for a wedding, or a funeral, for fear of dirtying the steps.

The gardens are not very pretty, for the Dutch like straight walks and square flower-beds, which look formal. Most of our bulbs, hyacinths, tulips, &c., come from Holland. Dutch tulips are especially famous. The Dutch have an ugly trick of cutting their trees and hedges into the shape of birds and beasts.

Little children in Holland work hard, like their

parents, and make quantities of toys, which are sent

over to England, to be sold.

There is a saying that,

“The children of Holland take pleasure in making What the children of England take pleasure in breaking.”

The Dutch look rather old fashioned, not at all unlike Noah and his family in the arks you buy at the toy-shops.

The poor women, and those of the middle-classes, have a curious custom of wearing pieces of gold on each side of their faces, just the shape of the blinkers which horses have.

Food.-The Dutch eat meat and fruit cooked together, with a quantity of oil; and very often meat which is not cooked at all, but only smoked. A good deal of cheese is made in Holland. You have seen little round cheeses, called Dutch cheeses, in the grocers' shops.

Animals.-There are very strong, useful horses in Holland, and very good ones. The Dutch are very fond of that awkward, long-legged bird, the stork, which looks like a boy who has outgrown his last suit-long and lanky. But the Dutch like what is useful better than what is pretty; and the storks are useful birds, for they eat frogs. The Dutch hate frogs; not because they are ugly, but because it is supposed that they destroy the dams. So the stork, which gobbles up the frogs, is just as great a favourite in Holland, as the robin-redbreast in England.

Government. The Dutch have a King and Parliament like the English.

« AnteriorContinuar »