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Rollo In Holland
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1856
About the author
Jacob Abbott
1,485 books92 followersAbbott was born at Hallowell, Maine to Jacob and Betsey Abbott. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820; studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821, 1822, and 1824; was tutor in 1824-1825, and from 1825 to 1829 was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College; was licensed to preach by the Hampshire Association in 1826; founded the Mount Vernon School for Young Ladies in Boston in 1829, and was principal of it in 1829-1833; was pastor of Eliot Congregational Church (which he founded), at Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1834-1835; and was, with his brothers, a founder, and in 1843-1851 a principal of Abbott's Institute, and in 1845-1848 of the Mount Vernon School for Boys, in New York City.
He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School.
His Rollo Books, such as Rollo at Work, Rollo at Play, Rollo in Europe, etc., are the best known of his writings, having as their chief characters a representative boy and his associates. In them Abbott did for one or two generations of young American readers a service not unlike that performed earlier, in England and America, by the authors of Evenings at Home, The History of Sandford and Merton, and the The Parent's Assistant.
Fewacres in 1906, Abbott's residence at Farmington, Maine
His brothers, John S.C. Abbott and Gorham Dummer Abbott, were also authors. His sons, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Austin Abbott, both eminent lawyers, Lyman Abbott, and Edward Abbott, a clergyman, were also well-known authors.
He was a prolific author, writing juvenile fiction, brief histories, biographies, religious books for the general reader, and a few works in popular science. He died in Farmington, Maine, where he had spent part of his time after 1839, and where his brother, Samuel Phillips Abbott, founded the Abbott School.
His Rollo Books, such as Rollo at Work, Rollo at Play, Rollo in Europe, etc., are the best known of his writings, having as their chief characters a representative boy and his associates. In them Abbott did for one or two generations of young American readers a service not unlike that performed earlier, in England and America, by the authors of Evenings at Home, The History of Sandford and Merton, and the The Parent's Assistant.
Fewacres in 1906, Abbott's residence at Farmington, Maine
His brothers, John S.C. Abbott and Gorham Dummer Abbott, were also authors. His sons, Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Austin Abbott, both eminent lawyers, Lyman Abbott, and Edward Abbott, a clergyman, were also well-known authors.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 18, 2021
And we're back in the game. Rollo and Uncle Mr. George take a side trip to Holland. Hell yeah. The book opens with Rollo saying that he doesn't know whether he'd like better to go to Holland in summer or in winter, because in winter you can see women skate on the canals. Mr. George says that the point is moot because very soon anyway. Mr. George and Rollo are much excited to go, but Mr. George is apprehensive because he finds that his friend Mr. Parkman, who is traveling Europe on his honeymoon, proposes to go to Holland at the same time, and that will put Mr. George in the company of his nemesis, Mrs. Parkman. An inveterate misogynist meets an obnoxious woman. Unstoppable force, meet unmovable object. Mrs. Parkman does suck. Mr. George tells a story about how she turned a brief walk to see the Tunnel of London into an overly-complicated embarrassment. Jacob Abbot says:
"It is the duty of a gentleman who has a lady under his charge, in making a journey, to consult her wishes, and to conform to them so far as it is possible, in determining where to go, and in making all the general arrangements of the journey. But when these points are decided upon, every thing in respect to the practical carrying into effect of the plans thus formed should be left to the gentleman, as the executive officer of the party; just as in respect to affairs relating to housekeeping, or any thing else relating to a lady's department, the lady should be left free to act according to her own judgment and taste in arranging details, while in the general plans she conforms to the wishes of her husband. For a lady, when travelling, to be continually making suggestions and proposals about the baggage or the conveyances, and expressing dissatisfaction, or wish for changes in this, that, or the other, is as much a violation of propriety as it would be for the gentleman to go into the kitchen, and there propose petty changes in respect to the mode of cooking the dinner—or to stand by his wife at her work table, and wish to have her thread changed from this place to that—or to have some different stitch to be used in making a seam. A lady very naturally feels disturbed if she finds that her husband does not have confidence enough in her to trust her with such details... Napoleon used to say that one bad general was better than two good ones; so important is it in war to have unity of command. It is not much less important in social life."
He's not wrong. Nowadays, we wouldn't gender it, but traveling with someone who's saying, "Oh no, the subway smells funny. Let's take a cab," when you've bought your tickets and are halfway down the elevator will make your trip terrible. Rollo and Mr. George resolve to leave quickly and avoid Mr. and Mrs. Parkman, and they're alarmed when they get to Dover and see the Parkmans there, and Mrs. Parkman fussing about boats to France. The steward tells them that there is a tidal boat tomorrow and a mail boat this evening and Mrs. Parkman insists they take the evening boat. The Parkmans leave and Mr. George asks the steward what is meant by the mail boat. The steward explains that the tidal boat will come in to France on the tide and dock at the dock, but the mail boat goes by the clock and will park out in the harbor, and one needs to disembark into a rowboat to get to shore. Mr. George and Rollo agree that Mrs. Parkman does not realize this because she didn't ask. When the evening mail boat arrives in France and Mrs. Parkman realizes that she is meant to climb a rope ladder down the side of a ship and have sailor heave her into a small boat floating on a stormy sea, she refuses to get off the boat, and Rollo and Mr. George scramble down the sides of the ship to avoid the rest of that scene. They do spend an hour floating in the cold, spraying wind and waves for an hour before the boats can dock, and Rollo thinks it's the best thing ever because he's thirteen. From here on, our heroes mostly avoid the Parkmans and are free to roam about Holland and see the canals, dikes, sluices, locks, boats, boat, boats, boats, boats, boats, and curious gold ornaments that the women of Northern Holland where on their heads. There's so much description here, but the way that Holland is arranged is so interesting that the whole book is just a fascinating ethnography of the prosperous, distinct people of Holland. They visit plenty of things and there's exposition about Peter the Great and dairies and misogynist ideas, but the whole panorama of Dutch people living on boats and boating their grain out of the fields, and boating in the goods from their West Indies and the husbands towing boats along the tow paths while the wives steer is so quite interesting that this may be the best Rollo book since the first two.
Jenny and Thanny don't exist anymore.
"It is the duty of a gentleman who has a lady under his charge, in making a journey, to consult her wishes, and to conform to them so far as it is possible, in determining where to go, and in making all the general arrangements of the journey. But when these points are decided upon, every thing in respect to the practical carrying into effect of the plans thus formed should be left to the gentleman, as the executive officer of the party; just as in respect to affairs relating to housekeeping, or any thing else relating to a lady's department, the lady should be left free to act according to her own judgment and taste in arranging details, while in the general plans she conforms to the wishes of her husband. For a lady, when travelling, to be continually making suggestions and proposals about the baggage or the conveyances, and expressing dissatisfaction, or wish for changes in this, that, or the other, is as much a violation of propriety as it would be for the gentleman to go into the kitchen, and there propose petty changes in respect to the mode of cooking the dinner—or to stand by his wife at her work table, and wish to have her thread changed from this place to that—or to have some different stitch to be used in making a seam. A lady very naturally feels disturbed if she finds that her husband does not have confidence enough in her to trust her with such details... Napoleon used to say that one bad general was better than two good ones; so important is it in war to have unity of command. It is not much less important in social life."
He's not wrong. Nowadays, we wouldn't gender it, but traveling with someone who's saying, "Oh no, the subway smells funny. Let's take a cab," when you've bought your tickets and are halfway down the elevator will make your trip terrible. Rollo and Mr. George resolve to leave quickly and avoid Mr. and Mrs. Parkman, and they're alarmed when they get to Dover and see the Parkmans there, and Mrs. Parkman fussing about boats to France. The steward tells them that there is a tidal boat tomorrow and a mail boat this evening and Mrs. Parkman insists they take the evening boat. The Parkmans leave and Mr. George asks the steward what is meant by the mail boat. The steward explains that the tidal boat will come in to France on the tide and dock at the dock, but the mail boat goes by the clock and will park out in the harbor, and one needs to disembark into a rowboat to get to shore. Mr. George and Rollo agree that Mrs. Parkman does not realize this because she didn't ask. When the evening mail boat arrives in France and Mrs. Parkman realizes that she is meant to climb a rope ladder down the side of a ship and have sailor heave her into a small boat floating on a stormy sea, she refuses to get off the boat, and Rollo and Mr. George scramble down the sides of the ship to avoid the rest of that scene. They do spend an hour floating in the cold, spraying wind and waves for an hour before the boats can dock, and Rollo thinks it's the best thing ever because he's thirteen. From here on, our heroes mostly avoid the Parkmans and are free to roam about Holland and see the canals, dikes, sluices, locks, boats, boat, boats, boats, boats, boats, and curious gold ornaments that the women of Northern Holland where on their heads. There's so much description here, but the way that Holland is arranged is so interesting that the whole book is just a fascinating ethnography of the prosperous, distinct people of Holland. They visit plenty of things and there's exposition about Peter the Great and dairies and misogynist ideas, but the whole panorama of Dutch people living on boats and boating their grain out of the fields, and boating in the goods from their West Indies and the husbands towing boats along the tow paths while the wives steer is so quite interesting that this may be the best Rollo book since the first two.
Jenny and Thanny don't exist anymore.
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February 7, 2021dnfed at 40%
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews