Page:Pen And Pencil Sketches - Volume I.djvu/78

Rh hyacinths ; and Amsterdam, where we stayed a Sunday. As the reverend gentlemen had no ob- jection, we went to the Zoo, where I admired the fine collection of flamingoes and the way they were housed. It was here we saw a very fat Dutch- man of very excitable nature, who kept shouting, “Paauw! paauw!” at sight of the peacock. Our holiday ended with a trip on the Rhine between Cologne and Mayence. And a most enjoyable holi- day it was, and all were sorry when it came to an end. I find this record of it in my diary : “ This journey confirmed me in love of the art, and the determination, if possible, to quit the monotonous drudgery of drawing for glass.”

Three years later, in company with Yeames and Hodgson, I revisited Belgium. We had letters of introduction from Yeames’s merchant brother to a Monsieur David Verbist, one of the "great ones of the city” of Antwerp. It struck us as somewhat odd, on entering the outer office, to find the clerks writing letters or adding up the columns of their ledgers with the soothing accompaniment of a cigar. Ushered into the presence of the principal, we found him also smoking. He received us very kindly, and at once offered us cigars. The walls of his office were literally lined with drawers and lockers containing thousands of cigars of all the best varieties of brand. We dined with Mr.