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Show . --- THE DYKES OF HOLLAND. Tlielr Appeaiaiico anil How They Pr,o- U rt the I.imd and Are l'rtr ted. I A certain wulous 'dame is siid to have j once attempted to sweep tho ocean away j with a broom. The Dutch have been j wiser than this. They uro slow and do- j lils-rale people. Desperation may nss i brooms, but deliberation prefers clay and solid masonry. So, slowly und de- i liberatoly, tho dykes, those great hill- -j like walls of foment and , stone, have j risen to breast tho liUT-titi waves, j And tho funny part of it is they are so j ekillfnlly i.lanted and paved on the out- j Bido with Hat stones that the. efforts of j the thumping waves to beat them down . only make them all tho (inner! i Tbtw) Holland dykes are among the j wonders of the world. I cannot sj;y fnr , how many miles they stretch along tho const and throughout tho interior; but yon may 1m sure that wherever a dyke is IiectKsary to keep back tho encroaching waters there it is. Otherwise nothin? would bo there, at least nothing; in the form of land; nothing but a fearful illustration il-lustration of the principal law of hydrostatics: hydro-statics: Water always seeks its level. Sometimes the dikes, however carefully care-fully Wilt, will "spring a leak," and if riot attended to at once torriblo results are sure to follow. In threatened places guards uro stat ionod at intervals and a steady watch is kept up night and day. At the first signal of danger every Dutchman within hearing of the startr ling bell is ready to rush to tho rescue. When tho weak spot is discovered, what do you think is used to meet tho emergency? emerg-ency? What but straw everywhere else considered tho most helpless t all things in water! Yet straw, in the hantls of the Dutch, luus a will of its own. Woven into hu:;o mats and securely se-curely pressed against the embankment, it defies even a rushing tide, eager to sweep over the country. These dikes form almost tho only perfectly per-fectly dry land to bs seen from the ocean side. They are high und wide, with fine canriage roads on top, sometimes some-times lined with buildings and trees. Lying on ono side of them, and nearly on a level with the edge, is tho sea, lake, canal or river, ns the case may lx; on tho other the flat fields stretching damply damp-ly along at their base, so that cottat9 Tool's sometimes are lower than the shin- j ing line of tho water. Frogs squatting on the shore can take quite a bird'seyo view of the landscapo, and little fish wriggle their tails higher than the tops of the willows nearby. Horses look o.iplacentry down upon tho bell towers, and men in skiffs and canal boats sometimes know when they aro passing their friend Dirk's cottage, only by seeing tho suioko from its chimney, chim-ney, or perhaps by the cart wheel that : ho has perched upon tho peak of its overhanging over-hanging thatched roof, in tho hope that gome stork will build hc-r nest there and j so bring good luck. Jiary Mapcs Dodge in St. Nicholas. ! |