Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-12-10

all the older ones terminate in a sharp py-
ramidal, or double ogee gable. From the
gable top, both of warehouses and often of
private dwellings, cranes project, by means
of which merchandise, furniture and sup
plies are hoisted to any part Of the building.
The commerce of Amsterdam, once greater
than that of London, is still thriving. We
stroll along the docks and find vessels un-
loading American petroleum, sewing'ma-
chimes (the Singer is on sale in every con-
siderable town in Europe), Chicago hams,
lard, corned beef, etc. Early in the morn
ing the fish market is interesting. The
building at little distance much resembles
an old engine house of one of our Ameri-
can railways. Within, each space of twelve
feet square is occupied by circle OF bask-
cts and tubs, and in the center by middle
aged Dutch woman. She is neatly dressed
in white muslin cap brown waist, short
petticoats and wooden or hob-nail shoes.
The tubs and baskets have each separate
kind of fish and mostly alive. Eels are
plentiest just now, and every few minutes a
man brings in scoop-net of fresh-caught |
ones wriggling and squirming like so many |
angle-worms. After the sales of the morn |
ing are done, about ten o'clock, the fish |
women take their coffee together, and such |
chattering 1t chances to be Saturday, |
the Dutch scrubbing day, and in picking
our way on the narrow streets, or possibly
in some cases, sidewalks of foot or two in
breadth, we must look sharply for that serv-
ants elbow, or her window-brush handle, or
lest we should get douche of rinsing water
not over-cean.
| The palace in which the king resides
every April-probably while his usual resi-
dence at the Hague is being whitewashed,
for the Dutch whtewash almost everything
once years. Of dark plain stone without,
, but is within one of the finest and costliest
edifces on the continent. The entrance
halls are embellished with sculptures, many
Of the apartments are lined with Carrara
marble and richly adorned with sculptures
and bas-reliefs of the same material.
The gallery of art contains two of Rem
brandts finest pictures, The Night Watch
and The Stampmasters, The Banquet of
Arquebusiers, by Van der Helst, fowl pieces
by Hondekoeter, and, among others, fine
scenes from Dutch life by Gerard Dow,
Mieris and Jan Steen.
But the Dude Kerk, the old Reformed
Dutch church, is one of thequaintest things
in this curious old city. 1t is three hundred
feet by two hundred and was erected about
1900; its exterior is of brick trimmed with
gray stone, and it is completely environed
by a circle of houses one and two stories
high, which are built in very close proximity
to it. Four windows and part Of fifth
have stained glass; forty others are of plain
lights. The walls and stone columns within
feet, which are painted. The floor, save
very small elevated space for the choir, is
covered with burial slabs of sandstone,
each six and a half long by two and a half
feet wide. Underneath have been buried
some thousands of people, five cofins often
being placed one above another. There are
inscriptions on very few of the stones, but
all are marked with letters and numbers,
and of these corresponding register of in
terments has been made. The high-backed
pews are built in sections of six or eight SO
that they can be raised on rollers and moved
about the floor. This was formerly the
magisterial church of the city, i. e. the mag
istrates attended service here in body and,
probably, clad in their official robes. One
pew was expressly for the mayor and is
marked Regenten. Others bear the names,
Hooge Ooerhed Gustices), Wytmeesters (al-
dermen), Krygsraad (miitary chiefs). There
are also separate seats for the elders, deacons,
trustees, collectors, and visitors of the sick
of the church. But at present large part
of the pews are labeled vacant, whether be-
cause the church has in FIVE hundred years
grown questionable or because of the un-
attractive quality of the music we did not
learn. The city has many other churches,
both Protestant and Catholic. One called
the New Kerk is yet nearly four hundred
years old. Old and new are relative terms.
In Italy, where clouds and fog and damp
ness are not the rule, nothing is or looks
old-men excepted-till it has lasted thou
sand years. H.T. F.