or
three corresponding bridges of stone or of wood, with white railings,
meet each other; the only thing to be seen is some barge lying
motionless and apparently enjoying the delight of idleness; there are
few people stirring, the doors are closed, and all is still.

I took my way toward the new church, looking around to see if I could
discover any of the famous storks' nests, but there were none visible.
The tradition of the storks of Delft is still alive, and no traveller
writes about this city without mentioning it. Guicciardini calls it "a
memorable fact of such a nature that peradventure there is no record
of a like event in ancient or modern times." The circumstance took
place during the great fire which destroyed nearly the whole city.
There were in Delft a countless number of storks' nests. It must be
remembered that the stork is the favorite bird of Holland, the bird of
good augury, like the swallow. Storks are much in demand, as they make
war on toads and rats, and the peasants plant perches surmounted by
large wooden disks to attract them to build their nests there. In some
towns they are to be seen walking through the streets. Well, at Delft
there were innumerable nests. When the fire began, on the 3d of May,
the young storks were well grown, but they could not yet fly. When
they saw the fire approaching, the parent storks tried to carry their
little ones into a place of safety, but they were too heavy, and after
every sort of desperate effort the poor birds, worn and terrified, had
to abandon the attempt. They might yet have saved themselves by
leaving the young to their fate, as human beings generally do under
similar circumstances. But, instead, they remained on their nests,
pressing their little ones round them, and shielding them with their
wings, as though to delay their destruction for at least a moment.
Thus they awaited their death, and were found lifeless in this
attitude of love and devotion. Who knows whether during the horrible
terror and panic of the fire the example of that sacrifice, the
voluntary martyrdom of those poor mothers, may not have given courage
to some weaker soul about to abandon those who had need of him?

In the great square, where stands the new church, I again saw some shops
like those I had seen in Rotterdam, in which all the articles which can
be strung together are hung up either outside the door or in the room, so
forming wreaths, festoons, and curtains--of shoes, for e