as compensation an extraordinary number of philanthropic institutions,
splendid clubs, and all the comforts and diversions of a city of
wealth and refinement.

The observations that I have had occasion to make on the character and
life of the inhabitants will be more to the purpose at the Hague. I
will only mention that in Rotterdam, as in other Dutch cities, no one,
in speaking of their country's affairs, showed the least national
vanity. The expressions, "Isn't it beautiful?" "What do you think of
that?"--which one hears every moment in other countries, are never
heard in Holland, even when the inhabitants are speaking of things
that are universally admired. Every time that I told a citizen of
Rotterdam that I liked the town he made a gesture of surprise. In
speaking of their commerce and institutions they never let a vain
expression escape them, nor even a boastful or complacent word. They
always speak of what they are going to do, and never of what they have
done. One of the first questions put to me when I named my country
was, "What about its finances?" As to their own country, I observed
that they know all that it is useful to know, and very little that it
is simply a pleasure to know. A hundred things, a hundred parts of the
city, which I had observed when I had been twenty-four hours at
Rotterdam, many of the citizens had never seen; which proves that they
are not in the habit of rambling about and looking at everything.

When I took my leave my acquaintances filled my pockets with cigars,
counselled me to eat good nourishing dinners, and gave me advice on
the subject of economical travelling. They parted from me quietly.
There was no clamorous "What a pity you are going!" "Write soon!"
"Come back quickly!" "Don't forget us!" which rang in my ears on
leaving Spain. Here there was nothing but a hearty shake of the hand,
a look, and a simple good-bye.

On the morning when I left Rotterdam I saw in the streets through
which I passed to get to the Delft railway-station a novel spectacle,
purely Dutch--the cleaning of the houses, which takes place twice a
week in the early morning hours. All the servants in the city, dressed
in flowered lilac-colored wrappers, white caps, white aprons, white
stockings, and white wooden shoes, and with their sleeves turned up,
were busily washing the doors, the walls, and the windows. Some sat
courageously on the window-sills while they washed the panes of the
windows with sponges