painter ever before
succeeded in so riveting the attention of spectators in the presence of
death. The listeners appear altogether unconscious of the pallid corpse
that lies before them on the dissecting table.

Invited by Christine's mother, the young artists accompanied the De
Ruyters to Amsterdam, the commercial capital of Holland, with 300,000
inhabitants. They live on ninety islands formed by intersecting canals,
which are crossed by three hundred bridges. The buildings rest on
foundations of piles, or trees, which fact gave rise to Erasmus's jest,
that he knew a city where the people dwelt on tops of trees, like rooks.

Alfonso took Leo into the suburbs to see diamond polishing. The machinery
is run by steam, and the work is done largely by Portuguese Jews. These
precious stones are cut or sawed through by means of wires covered with
diamond dust, and the gems are polished by holding them against rapidly
revolving iron disks moistened with a mixture of diamond dust and oil.

Christine's people lived in a red brick mansion, the gable of which
contained a portrait in relief of Admiral de Ruyter, and fronted a shaded
street on a canal. Here the American artists were handsomely entertained.
They were driven to the picture galleries and the palace or town-hall in
the Dam Square, where Louis Napoleon and Hortense once resided. From the
tower which terminates in a gilded ship the artists obtained fine views
of Northern Holland. Christine pointed out the Exchange and other objects
of interest in the city, which abounds in narrow streets and broad
canals, the latter lined with fine shade trees. Many of the tall,
narrow houses have red tile roofs, quaint fork-chimneys, and they stand
with gables to the canals. The docks show a forest of masts.

The environs of the city are covered with gardens; trees adorn the roads,
while poplars and willows cross or divide the fields, which are studded
with windmills and distant spires, and everywhere are seen fertile corps,
black and white cattle, and little boats creeping slowly along the
canals.

A Hollander's wealth is often estimated by his windmills. If asked, "How
rich?" The reply comes, "Oh, he is worth ten or twelve windmills."
Holland seems alive with immense windmills. They grind corn, they saw
wood, they pulverize rocks, and they are yoked to the inconstant winds
and forced to contend with the water, the great enemy of the Dutch. They
constantly pump water from the marshe