File:The Bookshelf for boys and girls Historic Tales and Golden Deeds part 4 (1912) (14781773194).jpg

Identifier: bookshelfforboys00univ019 (find matches)
Title: The Bookshelf for boys and girls Historic Tales and Golden Deeds part 4
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: University Society, New York
Subjects: Children's literature Children's encyclopedias and dictionaries Literature Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Publisher: New York. : University Society
Contributing Library: Brigham Young University-Idaho, David O. McKay Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University-Idaho

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of that shore has beenthe first duty and thought for those who, living inthe land, wished to protect it, and enlarge its bor-ders, against the storms and tides that dashagainst it. As we travel through Holland to-day, we areastonished at the engineering skill that has grownthrough the centuries from perpetual battle withthe water. A LAND WHERE THE FISH SWIM ABOVEAND THE BIRDS FLY BELOW Let us stand on one of the great dikes, or seawalls. It is perhaps sixty feet high, and broadenough at the top for a carriage road, borderedwith trees and buildings. The sea laps quietly,though it may rage and roar to-morrow, not farbelow the level of this road, and boats comealongside to little piers and quays; but the otherside slopes deep down to the green meadows, sothat we on the dike can see down the chimneysof the houses nestling on them below, and thefishes on the one side are higher than the birdsin the trees on the other. Very strong, built ofstones and cement and willow boughs, are these 316
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TWO BOYS OF HOLLAND. ENGRAVED BY T. JOHNSON FROM A PAINTING BY CUYP. 3«7 318 HOLLAND AND BELGIUM walls which push back the ocean, and constantcare is needed to see that there is no leak, andthat the various gates and sluices are in perfectorder. There arc stronjj walls, too, round the lakesand on the banks of the rivers that become floodedwhen the snow melts in the distant Alps; andeverywhere are canals and ditches cut to regulatethe flow, and to help the land to keep its headabove water. Li many places, continuous pump-ing has to be carried on, and this is largely doneby the windmills that are such a feature of thecountry. From the top of the dike we can per-haps count twenty or more, for the Dutch peoplemake the most of the labor of that riotous giant,the wind, who often does so much mischief in thecountry. Besides pumping and draining, the windmillssaw up wood and grind corn. Many lakes areformed by the draining of the marshes, whichhas been done with enormous toil and skill; anda

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