Mary Mapes Dodge

“ Soon afterward, while passing a cobbler's shop, Ben exclaimed, "Halloo! Lambert, here is the name of one of your greatest men over a cobbler's stall! Boerhaave. If it were only Herman Boerhaave instead of Hendrick, it would be complete."
Lambert knit his brows reflectively, as he replied, "Boerhaave, Boerhaave! The name is perfectly familiar; I remember, too, that he was born in 1668, but the rest is all gone, as usual. There have been so many famous Hollanders, you see, that it is impossible for a fellow to know them all. ”

“ Decide quickly, boys--Blue Stairs or Leyden?"
"Leyden," they answered, and were out of Haarlem in a twinkling, admiring the lofty, towerlike windmills and pretty country seats as they left the city behind them.
"If you really wish to see Haarlem," said Lambert to Ben, after they had skated awhile in silence, "you should visit it in summer. It is the greatest place in the world for beautiful flowers. The walks around the city are superb; and the 'wood' with its miles of noble elms, all in full feather, is something to remember. ”

“ By that time Boerhaave was professor of medicine and chemistry and botany in the University at Leyden. He had grown to be very wealthy as a practicing physician, but he used to say that the poor were his best patients because God would be their paymaster. All Europe learned to love and honor him. In short, he became so famous that a certain mandarin of China addressed a letter to 'the illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe,' and the letter found its way to him without any difficulty. ”