The Davenport daily gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1869, 1857-08-13


route to India by the Cape of Good Hope,
Spain and Portugal equipped in all haste
nnmerou. ships 10 explore new countries,
and for several ages advcnturers from these
two nations brought back into their respec-
tive. countries gold from America and pre-
cious stones from India. And then the
Dutch, in their turn. embarked in their
heavy boats, set oil 10 search through all
the seas on the globe, whcrcwithal a. fur
niSh their COUNTER But, instead IL oniy
seeking precious stones and metals, like the
Spanish and Portuguese. they applied them
selves To make profit of exotic vegetables,
and coffee, sugar, vanilla, etc, became the
base Of their Commercial operations, and
instead Of becoming gold merchants they
became grocers. In short time, the i'm
mense riches the, amassed by this com
merce proved the solidity IL their spccnla-
tions. But, at the same time tina, these
millionaire grocers songht for useful plants,
they did not overlook those which might
also tlattcr the sight. Flowers from Japan,
India, and the Cape, very shortl, embellish-
I'd the gardens oi Harlem, and, Whenever
a new specimen arrived AL the population
was in a state Of emotion. Nevertheless,
none Of these plants produced the same ex
citement as the tulip; and, in truth, AZ
sight of thi, flowers elegant calyx graceful
~ balanced N slight stem, and painted
with the most glowing colors, II was wild
delirium 1T ,,Stacy; and one saw rare bulbs
sell for hundred thousand francs apiece.
Tulips were q ted on the exchange At Am
s;erdaIn, and = thing Became 81 exagg-r'
atcd that the Dutsh Government was obi
gel to step in and put stop Ia the ruino,i,
folly u the florist monomania. Notwith-
standing. the Japanese flower for long
time Mas kept up IT most exorbitant price,
aud new specimen, produced by study,
care, and cultivation ot the seeds, excited
all the enthusiasm Ut which Dutch natures
were capable
In the middle Of the frcsh-looking land
>capes of Holland, in the centre Of those
green meadows, scattered over with popu-
lous villages, sunny villas of thousand
colols. wilsd-milis, and cut through by
meanderng canals where boats Of all sorts
were sailing about with sails set as II ON the
ocean, one Icrceivcs the town If Harlem,
seated on the borders of lake, which. has
been pompouSly styled the lIaarlem Sea-
The capital Of the north III Hollansl---the
country u the most eccentric OF eccentric
iioramaniacs in the worid--has the physi-
ognomy OF all Dutch towns ; narrow streets
very dull, but Of most exquisite cleanliness
brick Or wooden houses, with their notchcd
,ablc ends ON the first floor, like ell Dutch
houses but in the suburbs there is an al
iectation Of cvesy thing foreign from the hat
Ealing on the canals, which resembles the
chinese junk, TO the form Of the houses.
which j. always selected from Eastern ar
chitecturc.
il was in one Of those villas there lived
At the end Of The last century, Monsiur
Deckers, an cx-tirhmonger, and, without
QUESTION, the richest man in tue country,
where all are, more or less, millionaire
While in business, lac had emhetli-hcd this
villa, which was like FAIRY palace, and,
when lac retired, il was 20 reside there,
leaving his son, William Dcckcrs, at the
lead Of the business, whilst he lived AZ hia
own villa, which rcsemblcd Chinese page
Ia. There il was that from morning to
evening Monsieur Dcckers amused himself
aided by his servants, in arranging and wa
tering the various beds in his garden, which
had been designed and laid out By ma Eng
iish artist, and where nairished IN abun-
dance quantity &c * ,tic plants. Had il
not been for hi, rufiied shirt aud shoes with
Tor ono Of his old servants from his manner
q expressing himself and hi style; but,
beneath this rough exterior, this Fictitious
sooincss, one easily discovered tile vanity
and upStart pride Of l,ase,aa---a pride the
more unbeatable, that il was only based ON
money, and everything like personal merit,
or talent, was unplcasing in the eyes Of him
who was completely destitute of all cduca-
ton. This same Deckers was the sou II q
porter ia the Amsterdam market, and com
,ncnced life rs simple fisherman but, in
stead III liking the ss,aiaring life, a, soon ~
he had amassed few horins. lac stepped on
land, and became hawkcr 81 fish in III.
streets u llaarlcm. In this lac succeeded
we'll, and shortly afterwards established
himself in stall near the market. Some
Years later, he quilted this worm eaten shop
tor onc on much larger scale; and, later
AGAIN the house of Dcckcrs, having been
very prosperous, became one one Of the first
~ a fish-mcrchsut's in Holland they sent
tac'r own vessels, at the fishing season. Ia
Newfoundland, and IL the Northern seas
and il was they who n,aic the stocks rise or
TALL ON the Amsterdam Change ~ that,
when the portcr's son placed the affair of
the house in his sons name, he posscs>ed
somewhere about ten or twelve millions II
capital. Then il was that he spent money
protissely, 20 give himself Importance; ard,
not knowing how 10 employ hi- time, be
became an amateur ef tulips. But he soon
became passionately fund ii that which, in
the commencement, was fancy, and hrs
caprice became transformed into mono.nan-
Ia With much care, and, above all, much
money, the nsw hortlculturist collected to-
e.ther in his garden beds all the varieties IL
the tulip species 10 be met with in Europe.
And then lac commenced seeking Tor un-
KNOWN ones and, n he hcgrudscd no mon
~ to possess anything uncommon, every
traveller coming from japan with new
bulb was certain Of selling il dearcr to him
than 70 any one else and thus he became
master Of about dozen varieties perfectly
unknown, which, u real amateur, were
worth five hundred thousand forms. Aud
lac valued these treasures more than all else
that he was worth.
On a warm afternoon in the month Of
June, 1855, Monsieur Dcckcrs stood in the
middle of his dressing room-which was
hung with maroon velvet. and richly furnish
el in the sty IL of the day--and half dozen
Wallets were running hither and thithcr, &C.
cupied In dressing him for seine great occa-
sion and there really was much analogy
between the heavy furniture and the corpu-
lent individual, frixxlcd, ovcrladcn with I'm
cry, and rich chains in massive gold, who
stood there Now, seeing the foramaniac at
that hour quitting his daily occupations, put
ting on his powdered wig AID his gala dress,
II was easy 10 guess that some affair u great
Importance Was in hand
The fact was that the ex-iishmonser had
a son, - We have said before and this son,
whose education had been well cared Cor,
was Of IN age 10 marry; and the ambitious
iathre was just going TO ask the hand III Ma
dcmoisellc Van Sclkirk, the daughter Of .
HARLEM Banker.
Monsieur Van Sclkirk was one Of the most
important pcrsonagcs Of the country for,
besides the Van which he placed BY right
before his name, in proof ~ his aristocrscy,
llc was magistrate, the Stockholders han
ker, and director of the East India Company;
in short, he was extremely rich, which In
nothing spoiled the affair. Consequently, a
marriage with this family had, for q long
time, been the keen desire Of the vain Deck
e,s. who, despite his millions, blushed in se-
crct at the memory Of what he had been,
who had married fisherwoman of the