Excerpt from Through the Gates of the Netherlands

Moveover, there is an extra seat at our table for the man, woman, or child who may need or wish to occupy it. It is our memorial to our only boy, and by means of it we have entertained many an angel unawares. Little by little during the years, we have gathered some eight hundred pleasant acquaintances about us who, although they turn their backs upon us from the bookshelves, Open out most freely, if we approach them in the right mood, and yield their multitude of thoughts, sustain ing, instructive, helpful, uplifting, nor ever refuse Of their largess acquaintances worth having, or so it has seemed to me. If I show you above the Shelves a few choice etchings and old engravings, of which both James and I are justly proud, I think I have given a fair state ment of our entire wealth, real and common.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.