e, so that it can turn down
backward, and lie along flat on the deck of the boat. It is going down
now.

"Now it is down, and the boat is going under the bridge.

"But good by, mother, for it is time for me to stop.

"Your affectionate and dutiful son,
"ROLLO.

"P. S. This is the longest letter that I ever wrote."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COMMISSIONER.

AS may well be imagined, the best use to which the green fields of
Holland can be put, is the raising of grass to feed cattle; for the
wetness of the land, which makes it somewhat unsuitable to be ploughed,
causes grass to grow upon it very luxuriantly. Accordingly, as you ride
through the country along the great railway lines, you see, every where,
herds of cattle and flocks of sheep feeding in the meadows that extend
far and wide in every direction.

The cattle are kept partly for the purpose of being fatted and sent to
market for beef, and partly for their milk, which the Dutch farmers make
cheese of. Dutch cheeses are celebrated in every part of the world.

In the neighborhood of Amsterdam there are a number of dairy villages
where cheeses are made, and some of them are almost always visited by
travellers. They are great curiosities, in fact, on account of their
singular and most extraordinary neatness. Cleanliness is, in all parts
of the world, deemed a very essential requisite of a dairy, and the
Dutch housewives in the dairy villages of Holland have carried the idea
to the extreme. The village which is most commonly visited by strangers
who go to Amsterdam, is one called Broek. It lies to the north of
Amsterdam, and at a distance of about five or six miles from it.

One day when Mr. George and Rollo arrived in Amsterdam, Mr. George, just
at sundown, looked out at the window of the hotel, and said,--

"Rollo, I think it is going to be a superb day to-morrow."

"So do I," said Rollo.

"At least," said Mr. George, "I should think so if I were in America.
The wind has all gone down, and the western sky is full of golden clouds
shining in roseate splendor."

Mr. George enunciated these high-sounding words in a pompous and
theatrical manner, which made Rollo laugh very heartily.

"And, to descend from poetry to plain prose," said Mr. George, "I think
we had better take advantage of the fine weather to go to Broek
to-morrow."

"Very well," said Rollo, "that plan suits me exactly."