The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-01-15
CHRISTMAS IN HOLLAND.
CONTINUED.

nlmSelI TO De Wl61 ne bFaV6tSQ 70 luS
Hague on the day of Christmas Eve
to collect a debt. He was one Of
those grasping men who overreach
themselves by believing too fondly II
their own cunning, when. they faIl
victims to cleverer Iogues than them
selves, and are left to repent at then
leisure. He listened to the tempter,
who led him to suppose that a large
quantity of diamonds, brought to Am
sterdam to be cut, but the owner Of
which could not wait, or pay If tie
waited. for their cutting, were it to be
had at the price of song. Ard
Gratland had paid the money, and
been robbed; and so cleverly had the
robbery been effected that he could
not complain to the authorities with
out duplicating himself in what APP
reared to be, at least, a very ugly
transaction. He was long-headed il
wrong hearted man, and ne bore his
loss without a word. But when be
cut down his meagre household, peo-
pie supposed that mynheer was get
ting still meaner the older be grew.
Lit was nothing of the kind; he was
simply In reduced circumstances:
And when his neighbors heard that
Mynheer Gratland was going into the
herring trade, the amount OF astonlsh-
ment expressed was more than Graf
land would have cared to hear of.
But 20 into the herring trade he
certainly did, and furthermore, he
combined with the employment rough
cooperfng. applied to the making of
barrels il which the Dutch behring's
are packed.
Katrine was nineteen; and she was
knitting one Of those interminable
stockings made by Dutch women so
perpetuaily, even while walking. that
they count mile at so many rows,
when she heard a sweet voice asking
her father for work. After few in
quiries, which drew responses from
her father less and less gruff as they
proceeded, she heard this inquiry
made:-
We'll, what is your name2"
''Klaas Steen."
Then she knew the voice In mo-
ment, and as she laid her hand upon
the bodice of her dress, it may be in
ferred that her heart was beating
This, IN fact, was the case.
Thou mayst stay, says Mynheer
Gratland."
And, as the customs of the Dutch
are very simple and homely, they met
at the first meal. She knew that he
knew her almost as soon as he him.
self made the discovery. And those
TWO young people were thereupon lost,
for they were deeply In love at view.
The burgher benefited by that meal
for neither the new workman nor his
daughter made a good dinner,
You are dull, daughter" said the
Dutch father, and he appeared to take
no more notice Of his daughters quiz
etude.
Aud now daily they saw each other.
But be said nothing. Had he been
an Englishman, he would have spoken
his mind; had he been French, he
would have sighed like furnace; but
he was simple. plain, slow Dutch
lad--so he loved, and was taciturn.
He recalled her as she stood In the
platz at the Hague, and maryeled how
beautiful she had become. Probably
his slow nature did not even suggest
to him the question, Does she think
kindly of me?
They sat down at the same table,
aud, at night, he bowed, and said
good night to her. Meanwhile,
the father was too much engrossed in
going over the days work again upon
paper to watch either the one or the
other-for il is needless to say that
he remembered nothing of what hap
pened six years previously at the
Hague. True, when they said good
night their eyes met, but they fell
again IN a moment.
throughout that summer and au-
tump he never whispered a word by
which he could learn whether or not
she remembered him. On the other
hand, she longed to know of the his
tory of these six years. But she was
a HOllandisehe maiden, and she could
make no advances.
He could have told the history OF
his life In half a dozen words. He
had steadily worked at his trade, gone
steadily home nightly to the Orphan
House, and so lived a peaceful, calm
stupid, and honest life. No word
had he heard of mother or father
and, when he left the House, he re.
ceived the little capital there was due
90 him by way of percentage upon
his earnings. But not word was said
of whittier he came, or to what sus-
picions his discovery gave BIRTH
He left, with his little stock Of
money (Which he banked very care.
iully.) Klaas Steen, as he had ever
been; and he knew nothing more OF
his birth or parentage. He. die
not yearn towards the unknown
parents. for he had never known {
home; but his heart was filed with
the eager, blank, ecstatic hope which
most young men experience, anC
which they enjoy without compre
hending,-that yearning for home o.
their own which is the natural climax
of a young life,-a home, one's castle
with a queen in it.
Often Klaas helped Katrine,-nota
bly, when Wednesday came, the
schoon making day In the week, the
day when the house is scrubbed out
side as we'll as In, and when ever,
piece of metal In the whole house i
made as bright as sunlight. At thes,
times he would help her at work-fo
the Dutch maiden, even when tn,
family IS il wealthy circumstances, i
most domesticated. In fact, she set
an example to all Europe. Upol
these occasions, he would splasl
about Ia the water, and pals
and sousings, with the hearties
Will: but he never whispers
Nay, when that remarkable Dutcl
ceremony Of painting the trunks o
the trees, In distemper, the exact col
or Of the house, was taking place
although she rendered herself NOR
beautiful than ever by bespatterin
herself with paint-calm and patton
Klaas Steen spoke not a word, thougl
a slow something In his heart TOT
him be might offer the money hand