Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1880-07-15

Strange ar1d Interesting Land OF
Holland-A glimpse of Il Wind
MiiI-A Kaleidoscope View OF
Dutch Art-A shopping Tour
Queer Head Harness-A Land
without Linen but Plenty OF Big
Feet and Big Hands-A Night Ride
to II erlin.
Special Correspondence Of State journal
BERLIN, Prussia, June 81, 1880 If I
were to write you daily instead of a
weekly letter, it might be possible to give
you come real idea of whore we go, what
we do and what We see, but an il il, the
days and the very hours are made to cover
so much ground that when the date is
written at the top ot the sheet, | am in
despair where to teein! The latest i'm
pressiOns are the freshest, Of course, and
Berlin people, Berlin streets and Berlin
sights are providing themselves to the tip
of my pen, all the while that know left
you in London last Monday morning wait
ing for the train to take us to Hsrwioh
Well, can scarcely whiz you over the
road on paper faster than that mica
minute train carried Us and if can take
you over the enamel 10 Rotterdam with q
breath instead OF compelling you 10 spend
the night on the horrid !it,le pitching
steamer HI we did, GU iuay be thankful
and spare both yourselves and me the de-
tails, Although fortunately tbs inhabi
tants nj our particular stntero0m were not
seasiuk, wa we're still cursed with ears aid
noses which Were difefully sssaile3 ali
that long, miserable, WIDE awake nj * ht
We were not cheerful crowd GU our
arrival at Rotte, dam, nor IN Rotterdam
in drizzlinR rain, a cheerful place, nor
yet is the il tlueDz, cheerful sort of in
disposition, and unhappily We all had it,
in some of ITS stages Owe ara all over it
now, thank heaven y But even viewed
through those disagreeabIe mediums,
Holland is the strangesl, most inter, sting
place, verify believe, that we shall strike
IN our whole tour l only wish we could
have had more time there. We did Rot
terdam on Monday and went to The
Hague, where Monday night and Tuesday
we're spent. Wednesday night and
thursday being devoted TO Amsterdam
with stop on The road at Haarlem to
hear special concert on the jns,ly famous
organ, which Mr.. j, Bastiaa, was kind
enough to give in compliment to Dr..
Tourjee. To tell the truth / didn't think
much about that CONCERT in advance, and
would rather have spent the time in
strolling about the queer streets, but |
was delightfully."- disappointed, / can
assure you. We have no such organs in
America, and perhaps no such orgsnist.
Holland proved a treasure-trove for
those of our party who are art,mad, for
we were taken to 20 many museums aud
galleries, where the Dutch school reigns
supreme, that my brain whirls when try
to think OF the Kaleidoscope canvass at
which we glimpsed. My private advice
to those who follow in our footsteps is,
that they decide upon some one picture.
gallery in Holland, as the best, and reso-
lutely refuse to be dragged to any other
but insist upon plenty of time in thai
one.
The visit which we made to the Kings
palace in Amsterdam was exceedingly In
teresting The host, being at his country
seat was unfortunately unable to entertain
US, but our party amused themselves very
well, by seating themselves 10 the rec
velvet throne chair which poor Hortenst
once pressed, and by leaving their cards il
the form of autographs scrubbed upon til,
wood and glass of the belfrey into which
we assembled over many weary stairs, t.
gain the fine view of the town ant
country.
by looking sharp" said one of th,
party, while thus elevated, ''you may ss,
u windmill !" That was the only witt,
remark have known that individual /,
maxi, but then he needs not to speal
often, for he has wife who speaks 70
both 30 often and SO emphaticslly that b
is saved n deal of exertion.
Those of us to whom the sire cts are th
best galleries and the people the most In
terestiog studies, found such wonderful
held fer the indulgence Of our tastes, tina
we could scarcely spare time to eat o
sleep. The strange streets with thei
staRnant canals of Shiny water; the man
bridges; the mixture of masts and chin
neys; the indescribably odd HOUSES tn
open'air markets in which every sort q
food and merchandise is displayed o
rough, uncovered booths or spread upo
the ground itself the funny little shop
where, with the few words of EHplis
which some clerk pretends to speak, an
the fewer words of German which vo
fondly think you know, you get into th
most ludicrous and irretrievable tanges.
! By the way, did you not suppose tn,
Holland was the place for linen? Wei
on the Channel boat there was not sig
: of sheet except the flannel blankets
and in the three Dutch cities in which "
stopped, | shopped In vain for line
handkerchiefs. The only ones they coul
show were in 'the piece" and entirel
unhemmed, and the largest of gentlemen
slzes. The hemmed and hemstitche
ones were all cotton; were extremel
large, and cost more than linen ones do
home. And, then, such a search f,
glovss They know no size smaller tina
/: 6, and the quality of kid was somethiu
frightful.
Bat it was fun to go shopping and tai
with the natives nevertheless. v
searched for one thing that we found, III
! bought, and that is, set of the horn
: which the Dutch peasant aud farmer w
men wear with their caps. never befo
saw anything 80 supremely ridiculou
And the streets thronged with these W
men, especially in Rotterdam where "
were on market-day." Though saw
J really elegantly dressed lady of abo
y sixty years, at the Geological gardens
:, Amsterdam with the same harness on b
= head, over the cap being handson
y straw bonnet The arrangement conss
u of a pair of spirals about four il ches Ion
u made of gold or brass wire, and protru
u ing from each temple. They are unit
by an elastic metal band which pass
round the head and secures the immen
u flowing cap of lace or muslin.
some cases this metal band is qui
% narrow, but in others it is SO wide us
= cover the entire back of the head al
y some Nnw which completely conceal
" the hair. DUST fancy doing your head
In "a tight, hot, metal box Besides i
- horns, pair of very large hashy gold
" brass pins are worn TO pin the cap close
:, the face just below the horns, makii
20 altogether the most wonderful display
,1 yellow metal on each eide of the face th
=, can well be imagined. Some of the pi
y, ~ are three inches wide and have ma
" dangling peudints attached The DIRE
which these women generally wear is
" black stuff, with very full, plain, sht
>, skirt, and straw bonnet is usua
y perched on top of the head gear, with I
II strings left to blow about loosely.
VI OF course we saw women and dc
harnessed tpgether in heavily-laden car
aud driven by men who treated the t,
animals with entire Partially. Womt
too, with heavy wooden yokes upon tn
shoulders, from which were suspend
n, great pals of milk or buckets of fish
live, squirming fish and eels-weni abe
the town crying their wares in such hars
Y grating, mapculine-or rather inhumsr
ny voices, that it seemed impossible I'll
w. they proceeded from feminine throa
of On +! 1t Is all 80 very strange, so foreil
H.