wered.
This reply made me more tired of Amsterdam than anything else, for,
thought I, if the agent of the would-be "cloak-room" is a party to such a
set of fellows, I must indeed have fallen into pretty bad company. I
offered the porter 4 cents, which was twice as much as it cost me in other
cities to have my satchel cared for a whole day, but he refused to take
it. Being unwilling to become the victim of their extortions, I took my
satchel and carried it (almost three fourths of a mile) through town to
the Oosterspoorweg on the other side of the city. There I obtained good
accommodations. I had asked for lodging while coming through the city, but
could not suit myself; so I decided to start that evening with the first
train for Utrecht. How different was the social atmosphere of the
Oosterspoorweg Station! Not only were the porters and the officers civil,
but there was an excellent restaurant connected with it, and the
waiting-girls of the coffee-room were tidily dressed in French costume,
spoke German, and were social, polite and accommodating.

At 9:30, I left by train for Utrecht, which I reached at 10:35 p.m. The
station was a new and spacious one and the accommodations were again like
those which I had been accustomed to, before I saw Holland; so I felt
quite at home again.

Utrecht.

It is entirely wrong for the tourist to come into a strange city late at
night, but I could not avoid it this time on account of my sudden
determination in Amsterdam not to spend the night there, as had been my
intention. A clever and kind-hearted gentleman accompanied me through
comparatively dark streets, and found a good hotel for me.

The next forenoon I ascended the high tower (469 steps, 321 feet in
height). In this tower, at the height of 124 steps, lives the lady
custodian of this stupendous building. She must have "_high_ times" up
there! The tower is a large square structure affording plenty of room even
for several families; but I was thinking that she must have quite a time
of it carrying up her water and all the numerous other things necessary to
house-keeping.

The view from the top of the tower takes in the greater part of Holland.
The country all around is quite level, as far as the eye can see. Level,
in Holland, _means_ level. Here one sees the innumerable wind-mills, and
the labyrinthic net-work of canals which intersect Holland. An almost
boundless expanse of meadow land stretches out in every direction