Mr. Norton’s letters*—no* 4. 
127 
of being inquired into, and what is best to counteract 
it. Having been born and bred near the ocean* and 
being an old sailor, 1 feel particularly interested in 
this matter. 
Ladies' Department—Domestic Education of Cats.— 
I am a great friend of cats, but still I am inclined to 
think that the same diet which I prescribed for dogs, 
would be highly beneficial for the same proportion 
of cats. As for educating them, it appears* from 
the article under review, that it has about the same 
effect upon them that a modern fashionable educa¬ 
tion has upon some of our farmers’ daughters. It 
sq changes their natures as totally to unfit them for 
all the Useful avocations of life. One will catch no 
mice, while both incline to loll upon the sofa, 
“ adorned in silks and jewels rare,” and who, to 
dispel ennui, not only resort to the playfulness of 
the educated pussy, but endure the company of 
some bewhiskered fop, whose most interesting 
speech would be, if puss was of the Russian breed, 
« La! what a long tail our cat has got.” 
To make Kitchen Vegetables tender—From the 
French. —Now my wife, who is a plain old Penn¬ 
sylvanian, and no Frenchman, says she can improve 
this recipe; and every body knows she is a good 
cook ; hear her : “ To a gallon of peas or beans, 
either green or dry, add a teaspoonful of salaeratus, 
while cooking, and they will boil tender, much 
quicker, and be of a brighter color. Now every¬ 
body can practice this, while not one in ten have 
the soda, or know what it is, or how to use it; for 
the “ small quantity ” to be thrown in the pot, among 
an untold quantity of vegetables, is about as definite 
as the “ size of that famous piece of chalk.” 
Potatoes and Flour will prevent the Incrustation of 
Boilers, fyc. —That is true. It is a valuable recipe. 
But mind, old lady, you must never boil any more 
“ hard water” in your tea kettle, if you do, the po¬ 
tatoes and flour won’t do any good. 
Rumination, fyc., in the Boys' Department, is an 
article that may be read with profit, by a great many 
old boys, and ought to be read in every school. It 
is a capital article. Somehow, it seems as though 
this department of the paper always contained the 
best of the articles. I hope the boys always read 
them. Peter Parley and I have a great love for 
these little chaps. I wish our editor would give 
more pictures in the boys’ part of the paper. But 
then he has no boys of his own, but he ought not 
to forget that his father had. 
Vestiges of Creation. —I am not about to review 
this work, although I contend that all may profit by 
its reading. I have one word to say to the closing 
paragraph of the Editor’s notice, in his October 
table. You ask for proof from the “ nameless au¬ 
thor,” that “ new species are still appearing upon 
the earth.” This is not fair. It cannot be proved. 
New species are discovered, but who knows that 
they never existed before. But it can be proved, 
and is proved in the Vestiges of Creation, that many 
species did once exist, that exist now no more. Is 
that not proof enough to entitle the author to a fair 
show of respect for his new theory ? Who knows 
but the “ potatoe disease,” is indicative that that 
species, too, is “ passing aw ay ?” Reviewer. 
A New Critical Dictionary. —We wish somebody 
would get up a reformed dictionary, with all the 
words spelled as they are rightly pronounced. 
Mv. Norton’s letters.—No. 4. 
I have lately been much interested, in reading 
and hearing accounts of the Waterstaat, a corps of 
engineers, who have the direction of everything 
connected with the canals, rivers, and lakes of Hol¬ 
land. If we consider the situation of the country, 
we see how necessary must be such a body of men. 
A great portion of the coast must be protected 
against the inroads of the sea, by dykes. In some 
places, at high water, the sea is many feet above 
the level of the land, and the works necessary for 
its protection are of a most gigantic nature. When 
a long succession of southwesterly winds drive the 
waters of the Atlantic up into the German ocean, 
and are followed by strong northerly gales, an im¬ 
mense body of water flows down between Great 
Britain and the Continent, and is not able to pass all 
at once, through the Straits of Dover; it then flows 
back upon the Dutch coast, and tests to the utmost 
the solidity of its works of defence. At such a 
time, the advancing tide is watched with the most 
intense eagerness, and the result, whether it stops at 
a certain point, or rises a single inch above it, de¬ 
termines the safety or destruction of lives and prop¬ 
erty to an immense extent. While the sea is with¬ 
out, another enemy, almost equally formidable, ex¬ 
ists within the country itself; this is the Rhine. 
The bottom of this river, is in many places, above 
the adjacent land; and embankments of vast size 
and great strength are required, to keep within 
bounds its winter and spring floods. The ice is a 
source of great difficulty, and much apprehension. 
If a stoppage take place, the back water rises so as 
to overflow the highest dykes. The greatest time 
of danger is when the ice on the German Rhine 
breaks up before that on the Dutch Rhine. In 
1799, an ice dam formed, and the water at Nymegen 
rose seven feet in one hour; the dykes were broken, 
and the icebergs swept across the folders, destroying 
men, houses, and cattle. 
In a country thus threatened, within and without, 
the engineers of the Waterstaat are a most impor¬ 
tant body, since upon their skill, depends not only 
the enjoyment of property, but of life itself, to a very 
large portion of the population. Such is the per¬ 
fection of the system pursued at present, and so 
great the improvements in the construction of the 
dykes, that inundations are much less frequent than 
formerly. 
These engineers are of course educated with es¬ 
pecial reference to their business; but there are no 
published books, which give plans or details of the 
works under their control. When one of them dies, 
his papers are given up to the government. The 
strength of Holland, in a military point of view, 
consists in its capability of being flooded with 
water, and thus rendering impossible the advance of 
a foe. Nothing, therefore, is allowed to be pub¬ 
lished, which might give an enemy such a know¬ 
ledge of the sluices, and different communications, 
as would enable him to thwart the defensive mea¬ 
sures of the Dutch. 
The stations of the Waterstaat are numerous, and 
are always placed at some point where special care 
and watchfulness are required. During the winter, 
they are placed along the whole course of the 
Rhine, and the officers are required to watch every 
