Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sketch From Cologne, With A Peep Into Holland.
air to the scene ; after all , however , that we hacl heard of Prussian troops and the grenadiers of Frederick the Great , I must say the specimens of soldiers we saw at Aix la Chapelle and Cologne were anything but creditable , either to the military race or—its tailors ! The steamer took a wide sweep to swing her head towards
Holland , and in a few minutes , the bridge of boats parting in the centre , and apparently collapsing on either side of us , we were well on our * way , and the towers of Cologne stood high and clear in the increasing glow of early day . We were but a little group of passengers , and soon formed ourselves into cliques . Of our party was a tall graceful Greek , a Dutch advocate ,
handsome and intelligent , and a young girl and her brother from Rhenish Prussia ; now ancl then an intelligent American dropped in a sensible reflective remark ; anon we had an amicable word or two on the differences of religious ancl political creeds , and this led to the Dutchman speaking of the banished Jewswhodriven from Belgiumhad established their
, , , commercial head-quarters in Holland . So we whiled the time away with conversation , not mere talk , till our attention was drawn to a busy scene on the water ; for soon there came floating by great rafts of timber , that had been worked for hundreds of miles without sails or steam . Skilful menas wise as river gods in the navigation of the
, mighty stream , conducted these huge fabrics in ancl out of the paths of the deep waters ; for there are dangerous currents to be avoided in the way , ancl it needs a clever pilot to steer the course through the smooth channels intersecting the dangerous and deceitful eddies of "King Rhine . "
We were passing the Prussian frontier . I looked for some well-defined boundary ; they showed me two trees , unpicturesque in shape and colour . I smiled , and turned round to the young girl , who had interested me . Her eyes were full of tears ; for her those ugly trees had a sacred charm , and she only uttered her thoughts aloud as she said , " Adieu , my own dear home ;
oh ! when shall I return ! " And then , as an apology for intruding her thoughts on me , she said , " I am going among people who will be glad to have me -with them ; my brother knows them , but to me they are strangers . " She spoke in English , and there was an indescribable charm in her accent as she uttered the word " strangers" and fixed her swimming
, eyes on the stunted landmarks between her people and those strangers . " I , too , " said a gentleman of our party , " have pleasant thoughts associated with those landmarks : not far from them
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sketch From Cologne, With A Peep Into Holland.
air to the scene ; after all , however , that we hacl heard of Prussian troops and the grenadiers of Frederick the Great , I must say the specimens of soldiers we saw at Aix la Chapelle and Cologne were anything but creditable , either to the military race or—its tailors ! The steamer took a wide sweep to swing her head towards
Holland , and in a few minutes , the bridge of boats parting in the centre , and apparently collapsing on either side of us , we were well on our * way , and the towers of Cologne stood high and clear in the increasing glow of early day . We were but a little group of passengers , and soon formed ourselves into cliques . Of our party was a tall graceful Greek , a Dutch advocate ,
handsome and intelligent , and a young girl and her brother from Rhenish Prussia ; now ancl then an intelligent American dropped in a sensible reflective remark ; anon we had an amicable word or two on the differences of religious ancl political creeds , and this led to the Dutchman speaking of the banished Jewswhodriven from Belgiumhad established their
, , , commercial head-quarters in Holland . So we whiled the time away with conversation , not mere talk , till our attention was drawn to a busy scene on the water ; for soon there came floating by great rafts of timber , that had been worked for hundreds of miles without sails or steam . Skilful menas wise as river gods in the navigation of the
, mighty stream , conducted these huge fabrics in ancl out of the paths of the deep waters ; for there are dangerous currents to be avoided in the way , ancl it needs a clever pilot to steer the course through the smooth channels intersecting the dangerous and deceitful eddies of "King Rhine . "
We were passing the Prussian frontier . I looked for some well-defined boundary ; they showed me two trees , unpicturesque in shape and colour . I smiled , and turned round to the young girl , who had interested me . Her eyes were full of tears ; for her those ugly trees had a sacred charm , and she only uttered her thoughts aloud as she said , " Adieu , my own dear home ;
oh ! when shall I return ! " And then , as an apology for intruding her thoughts on me , she said , " I am going among people who will be glad to have me -with them ; my brother knows them , but to me they are strangers . " She spoke in English , and there was an indescribable charm in her accent as she uttered the word " strangers" and fixed her swimming
, eyes on the stunted landmarks between her people and those strangers . " I , too , " said a gentleman of our party , " have pleasant thoughts associated with those landmarks : not far from them