ssed like mules to the tow-ropes. Woman's rights seemed
to be particularly recognized in this part of Holland, for females are
harnessed to the boats like horses, enjoying the same rights as the
"lords of creation." The houses on the way were mostly cottages, whose
steep roofs were often twice the height of the walls. The stork, which
the people cherish with a kind of superstitious reverence, was
occasionally seen, but not so frequently as in the vicinity of The
Hague, where he has a nest on the roof in a large proportion of the
houses.

The boys were much interested in the navigation of the _trekschuit_.
Meeting another boat, the steersman shouted "_Huy!_" indicating that the
other craft was to go to the right. When the tow-boy of the approaching
boat reached a certain point, he stopped his team, and the _trekschuit_
horses passed over it, as the rope slacked. He halted again to loose the
rope for the barge to pass over. Neither boat was stopped by the
operation. At the many bridges the rope was cast off, and made fast
again, without any delay.

An hour and a half brought them to Broek, the paradise of Dutch
neatness. It is a village of eight hundred people, most of whom have
"made their pile" and retired from business. Neatness is carried to
lunacy here, for no one is permitted to enter a house without taking off
his shoes. The narrow lanes and passages which serve as avenues are
paved with brick, or with tiles of different colors, arranged in
fantastic figures, and some are covered with sand and sea-shells, made
up into patterns. Strangers are warned not to ride through the place;
they must walk, leading the horse. The houses are mostly of wood,
gaudily painted; the roofs are covered with glazed tile of various hues.

The cow-stables of the dairy farms are better than the houses of most of
the poorer classes of Europe, having tiled floors, with everything
"polished off" and sandpapered as nicely as though they were intended
for drawing-rooms. Over each stall is a hook, by which the cow's tail is
fastened up, so as to keep her neat and clean.

The students continued on their way from Breck to Alkmar,--which
sustained a siege, and successfully resisted the Spaniards,--and thence
to The Helder, a town of twelve thousand inhabitants, opposite the
Texel. The great ship canal to Amsterdam commences at this point, which
is the only place on the coast of Holland where the deep water extends
up to the shore, the tide rush