The carriage road lay along the top of the dike, which was very broad, and the slopes of it, towards the water on one side, and towards the low meadow lands on the other, were very gradual. Men were at work every where along these slopes, cutting the second crop of grass, and making it into hay. Where the hay was ready to be got in, the men were at work loading it into boats that lay in the little canals that extend along the sides of the dike at the foot of the slopes.
Wind mills were to be seen every where, all about the horizon. As the road approached Saandam, these mills became more and more numerous.
"I mean to see if I can count them," said Rollo.
"You cannot count them, I am sure," said Mr. George.
Rollo began; but when he got up to a hundred, he gave up the undertaking in despair. Mr. George told him that he read in the guide book that there were four thousand wind mills in that region.
Some of these wind mills were very small indeed; and there were two or three which looked so "cunning," as Rollo said, that he wished very much that he had one of them to take with him to America.
The use of these very small wind mills was to pump up the water from some very limited tract of land, which, for some reason or other, happened to lie a few inches lower than the rest.
At last, after an infinite number of turnings and windings, by means of which every part of the surrounding country was brought in succession into view before Mr. George and Rollo as they sat in their carriage, they arrived at the town of Saandam.
The town consists of two streets, one on each embankment of a great canal. The streets are closely built up for many miles along the canal, but the town does not extend laterally at all, on account of the ground falling off immediately to very low polders.
[Illustration: CABIN OF PETER THE GREAT.]
After entering the street the commissioner left the carriage, in order that the horses might rest, and led Mr. George and Rollo on a walk through the prettiest part of the town. They walked about half a mile along the canal on one side, and then, crossing by a ferry, they came back on the other side.
In the course of this walk they went to see the hut where Peter the Great lived while he was in Holland engaged in studying ship building in the ship yards of Saandam. The hut itself was old and dilapidated; but it was covered and protected by a good, substantial building of brick, with open arches all around, which allowed the hut to be seen, while the roof and walls of the building protected it from the rain. The hut was situated in a very pretty little garden.
There were two rooms in the hut, and one of them-the one shown in the engraving-had a very curious-looking Dutch fireplace in one corner of it, and a ladder to go up to the loft above. The chairs were very curious indeed; the seats being three-cornered, and the back and arms being constructed in a very singular manner.
The walls of the rooms were perfectly covered, in every part, with the names of visitors, who had come from all countries to see the rooms. Besides these, there were a great many volumes of books filled with names. These books lay on a great table, which stood at one side of the room. There was one of the books which was not yet full, and this one lay open on the table, with a pen and ink near it, in order that fresh visitors, as fast as they came, might enter their names.
After looking at this cabin as long as they wished, and entering their names in the book, Mr. George and Rollo left the hut and returned through one of the main streets of the town to the place where they had left their carriage. The carriage was soon ready for them, and they set out to go back to Amsterdam.
They had a delightful drive back, going as they came, on the top of the great sea dike. On one side they could look off over a wide expanse of water, with boats, and steamers, and ships moving to and fro in every direction over it. On the other side they overlooked a still wider expanse of low and level green fields, intersected every where with canals of water and avenues of trees, and with a perfect forest of wind mills in the horizon.
* * * * *
As they were riding quietly along upon this dike on the return to Amsterdam, Rollo had the opportunity of imparting to Mr. George some valuable information in respect to Peter the Great.
"I am glad that I have had an opportunity to see the workshop of Peter the Great," said Mr. George. "It is very curious indeed. But I don't know much about Peter the Great. The first opportunity I get I mean to read an account of his life, and I advise you to do the same."
"I have read about him," said Rollo. "I found a book about him in a steamboat that we came in, and I read all about his coming to Holland."
"Then tell me about it," said Mr. George.
"Why, you see," said Rollo, "he was at war with the Turks, and he fought them and drove them off to the southward, until at last he came to the Sea of Asoph. Then he could not fight them any more, unless he could get some ships. So he made a law for all the great boyars of his kingdom, that every one of them must build or buy him a ship. What are boyars, uncle George?"
"Nobles," said Mr. George.
"I thought it must be something like that," replied Rollo.
"The old nobility of those Russian countries are called boyars," said Mr. George; "but I don't know why. Most of the common people are slaves to them."
"Well, at any rate," said Rollo, "he made a law that every one of them, or at least all that were rich enough, should build or buy him a ship; but they did not know how to build ships themselves, and so they were obliged to send to Holland for ship builders. They built more and better ships in Holland in those days than in any country in the world."
"Yes, I suppose so," said Mr. George.
"The boyars did not like it very well to be obliged to build these ships," continued Rollo. "And there was another thing that they disliked still more."
"What was that?" asked Mr. George.
"Why, the emperor made them send off their sons to be educated in different foreign countries," replied Rollo. "You see, in those days Russia was very little civilized, and Peter concluded that it would help to introduce civilization into the country, if the sons of the principal men went to other great cities for some years, to study sciences and arts. So he sent some of them to Paris, and some to Berlin, and some to Amsterdam, and some to Rome. But most of them did not like to go."
"That's strange," said Mr. George. "I should have thought they would have liked to go very much."
"At least their fathers did not like to send them," said Rollo; "perhaps on account of the expense; and some of the young men did not like to go. There was one that was sent to Venice, in order that he might see and learn every thing that he could there, that would be of advantage to his own country; but he was so cross about it that when he got to Venice he shut himself up in his house, and declared that he would not see or learn any thing at all."
"He was a very foolish fellow, I think," said Mr. George.
"Yes," said Rollo, "I think he was. But I've seen boys in school act just so. They get put out with the teacher for something or other, and then they won't try to understand the lesson."
"That is punishing themselves, and not the teacher," said Mr. George. "But go on about Peter."
"After a while," continued Rollo, "Peter concluded to make a journey himself. His plan was to go to all the most civilized countries, and into all the finest cities in Europe, and see what he could learn that would be of use in his own dominions. So he fitted out a grand expedition. He took a number of ambassadors, and generals, and great potentates of all kinds with him. These men were dressed in splendid uniforms, and travelled in great state, and had grand receptions in all the great towns that they came to. But Peter himself did nothing of the kind. He dressed plainly, like a common man, so that wherever he went he could ramble about at liberty, and see what he wanted to see in peace and quietness, while all the people were running after the procession of ambassadors and grandees."