THE FUTURE OF LABOR–DAY-BREAK. LONDON, Friday, May 9, 1851. I have spent the forenoon of to-day in examining a portion of the ModelLodging-Houses, Bathing and Washing establishments and Cooperative LaborAssociations already in operation in this Great Metropolis. My companionswere Mr. Vansittart Neale, a gentleman who has usefully devoted much timeand effort to the Elevation of […]
LONDON, Thursday, May 6th, 1851. “The World’s Fair,” as we Americans have been accustomed to call it, hasnow been open five days, but is not yet in complete order, nor anythinglike it. The sound of the saw and the hammer salutes the visiter fromevery side, and I think not less than five hundred carpenters and […]
LONDON, Thursday, May 1, 1851. Our Human Life is either comic or tragic, according to the point of viewfrom which we regard it. The observer will be impelled to laugh or toweep over it, as he shall fix his attention on men’s follies or theirsufferings. So of the Great Exhibition, and more especially its RoyalInauguration, […]
In the valley of the Moldau, a beautiful tributary of the Elbe, in asetting of hills clothed with pines, lies the old capital of Bohemia, now Czech Republic.Great mountain barriers enclose an undulating and wild tract, withPrague in its centre. In the valleys there is verdure, and the fieldsare well tilled. The river flows through […]
Few towns in Europe have preserved so much of the spirit of the MiddleAges as Nuremberg. Its history is pregnant with romance, and its annalsof mediæval art are of marked interest. Amsterdam recalls Rembrandt;Antwerp calls to mind Rubens, and with the town of Nuremberg, thestudent of painting associates its illustrious native, Albert Durer. The craftsmen […]
To think of Heidelberg is to think of learning. One of the first ofEuropean universities was established in this town by the ElectorRupert; and here culture has flourished for centuries, in spite ofrepeated sieges and a long history of disasters. What a grim story isthat of yonder old grey castle that frowns upon Heidelberg across […]
A horn of flatland, bounded by the North Sea and the Zuyder Zee, justnorthward, with Haarlem and Amsterdam at its base. Sundered by a channelfrom the point of the horn is Texel, the biggest of the curious line ofislands that stretches along the coast to Friesland. This Helder, or“Hell’s Door,” the tidal channel leading to […]
Three centuries ago the city of Antwerp had in Europe scarcely a rival in commerce and affluence. To-day Antwerp remains one of the most populous commercial cities of Belgium, although the period of its greatest splendour passed with the Spanish persecution under the Duke of Alva. Not only as a busy port and mart is […]
From Bruges to Ghent the distance is about twenty-eight miles. Therailroad runs by the side of a placid canal, with banks planted withrows of tall trees–such as Hobbema painted–and traverses a fertilecountry, a verdant district of West Flanders, famous for its gardens andorchards. Though an inland town, Ghent can be approached by largevessels, by way […]
When Bacchus and Lusus came to the Peninsula, sundered from Italy by theMediterranean Sea, they discovered a delightful region of mountains andglens, well-watered and fertile, which they called Lusitania. Betweenthe rivers Minho and Douro is a glowing tract of country, not unlike thefinest parts of North Wales, with a varied sea coast, bright littlevillages nestling […]