1897.] ESSAYS. 9 



Another thing that attracted my attention was the condition of the 

 English horses. I did not see a poorly-fed horse while in England, 

 neither did I see a horse with a full tail. Cab drivers seldom wliip 

 their horses, but on the other hand give tliem the best care and atten- 

 tion, and the liorses show it. Exactly the contrary is true in Paris 

 and the whole of France, where little feeling is manifested for the 

 horse by those who use him daily for the more menial duties. 



Ciossing over the English channel ^ve arrived in France, and as soon 

 as you strike French soil you notice a radical change from England. 

 The land is not so thorouglily cultivated, nor are the people so thrifty. 

 But instead of the Loudon fog it is almost always sunshine in Paris ; 

 the people partake of the climate and are light, gay and happy. 



Id Belgium the thing that most impressed me while there was the 

 way in which the women had to work. It is a shame to see the 

 drudgeries that are put upon the women. The peasant women go to 

 public market each morning with their dog-carts loaded with vegeta- 

 bles. There they pitch their tents and sell their wares, after which 

 they trudge back home. The women have dark and coarse features. 

 The peasant class knows no more about good living than we do about 

 economy. They live largely on bread and beer, a loaf of bread and 

 a can of beer furnishing their only sustenance for the day. 



In Holland the women also do a great deal of the work. All 

 througli Holland farming districts the house and barn are connected, 

 the front part being for the people and the rear part for the cattle. 

 In one house that I was in, the family and the cow lived in the same 

 room, but this is of course an exception. The Dutch are a thrifty, 

 hearty, kind-hearted people, and look a great deal like English, and 

 many of them speak that language as well as they do their native 

 tongue. 



