, and
affords excellent pasture to the lowing herds that roam upon it. One sees
but a few scattered trees, and several small woods, all the rest is clear
and bear--no hedge-fences even to interrupt the dull monotony of the scene
below. A strong wind, and it was high too, whistled around that lofty
tower, reminding me of our winter storms when they whistle over the
chimney-tops--a music that often makes melancholy hearts home-sick.

It was exactly 12:00 o'clock, and I was in the middle of the sentence,
"How beautiful these bells chime," when a boy motioned me to come quickly
to a certain place where I could see the cylinder revolve which
communicates with the peal of bells.

Two points of lightning-rods crown this tower. Few lightning-rods are to
be seen upon private buildings, in Europe, but upon public buildings they
are occasionally met with.

I must not leave Holland without once more referring to the rattling of
the wooden shoes upon the pavements, the red artificial flowers which old
gray-headed women wear upon their heads and the gaudy colors of some of
their dresses; also to the universal custom of carrying everything upon
their heads.

The denominations of Dutch money are _florins_ or _guldins,_ and cents;
100 cents equal one florin. The florin is equal to 40 cents in United
States money.

At 12:38 p.m., I left by train for Cologne, Germany. By 1:00 o'clock we
entered a desolate section of country consisting of barren sandy soil,
scanty crops, and dwarfish shrubs and trees. On our way, I formed the
acquaintance of an elderly gentleman who moved from Holland to this
country nineteen years ago. This gentleman explained to me the
agricultural institutions of Holland. He now lives in new Holland, Ottowa
Co., Michigan, a town of 3,000 inhabitants, most of which are natives of
Holland. There are about 15,000 more of his native countrymen living in
the neighborhood of new Holland and at Grand Rapids. They have a newspaper
published in their language in this country. At 2:25 we reached Arnheim
where my Dutch friend left me.

At Zeevenaar (near the boundary between Holland and Germany) we passed
muster. Soon after we crossed the Rhine on a ferry, which carried us and
the whole trains of cars over together. Thence we rode through Rhenish
Prussia on, on, until we reached Cologne.

Chapter XII.

Cologne.

Koeln, (or Cologne), the principal town in the Rhenish Province of Prussia,
the seat of the suprem