dikes, _high banks of earth_.
con'tra ry, _quite different from what is usual_.
dis as'trous, _causing great loss or suffering_.
keels, _strong timbers extending along the bottom of boats_.
stork, _a kind of bird_.
bus'tle, _quick and excited motion_.
mire, _soft and wet earth_.
scorn'ing, _turning from any thing as if of no value_.
sat'u rat ed, _wet through and through_.
moored, _tied fast, as a ship to land_.
slouched, _hung down_.
mim'ic, _copied in a smaller form_.
* * * * *
HOLLAND.
PART I.
Holland is one of the queerest countries under the sun. It should be
called Odd-land, or Contrary-land; for, in nearly every thing, it is
different from other parts of the world.
In the first place, a large portion of the country is lower than the
level of the sea. Great dikes have been built at a heavy cost of money
and labor, to keep the ocean where it belongs.
On certain parts of the coast it sometimes leans with all its weight
against the land, and it is as much as the poor country can do to stand
the pressure.
Sometimes the dikes give way, or spring a leak, and the most disastrous
results follow.
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