Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 36 (Classic Reprint)
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| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Cannon, George Quayle) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Juvenile Instructor, Vol. 36 Doubtless many would be interested to learn how this great transformation of watery wastes into fields and places of habitation was brought about. It is said that some generations ago the people whom we now call Hollanders found themselves very much in need of more land upon which to build homes for their fast increasing population. They were too honest and conscientious to wage war upon their fellow-men that they might gain this much needed expansion of their borders, so they determined upon a more honorable conquest, that of subduing and driving out vast areas of water that intruded within their confines. As soon as the water receded, sometimes owing to the outgoing tide, but oftener as a result of the diligent and unceasing labors of the people, dams and dikes were constructed to prevent its return. At times the great sea, as though angered by the thought that it could be conquered by puny human hands, would dash with all its fury against the walls of rock and earth that sought to stay its might, and breaking through, would submerge whole fields and villages and destroy many lives. But the people were not easily discouraged, and at each seeming failure of their labors they built their walls higher and stronger, and in time became almost complete masters of their once fierce and powerful foe. Today in many parts of Holland there is a perfect net-work of dams and dikes running in every direction. These not only afford a means of protection from the waters of the sea, but many of them are paved with brick or stone, and serve as the very cleanest and best of roads and public highways. Our illustration shows a small portion of Rotterdam, the second city in size to Amsterdam, and like the latter, much cut up by numerous canals. At a point near the upper center of the picture are a number of massive gates, hidden from view beneath large buildings and guarded day and night by soldiers. One man, knowing the secret of unlocking these gates (there are but few men living at a time who are ever permitted to share the secret) can in a minute or two let loose, not alone the waters of the ocean without, but the confined inland water for many miles around, and in a very few hours a large part of South Holland would be under water. Some day it may be necessary to effect this great inundation, as a means of defense against an invading army, and woe unto that body of troops against whom those flood-gates are loosened. You may wonder how the people of Holland could afford to flood their own provinces that they might resist the inroads of their enemies, but in doing so they would only be following a precedent established by their forefathers, one that brought to them unbounded success and victory. In the year 1574, during the period known as the Reformation, Leyden, a city many miles from Rotterdam, and one of the most beautiful in all Holland, was besieged by a large Spanish army, whose land and sea forces girdled the city. The stout-hearted people within the city refused to surrender, relying upon God to deliver them from their cruel foe. The Protestant leader, the noble Prince of Orange, was in Rotterdam, but he sent word to the imprisoned citizens of Leyden to hold out at least three months, and promised them that within that time a plan for their rescue would be devised. There was not an abundance of food in the city, but rich and poor alike daily received of what there was in strict allowance. The siege began on the 26th of May, and by August the people were well-nigh in a state of starvation, while a plague had broken out that carried off whole families. Mothers dropped dead in the street, with their dead children in their arms. The prince sent a message, encouraging them to a little longer resistance, and assuring a speedy relief.
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