Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-04-13
Market-Day in AIkmaar.


The very air seemed teeminy with
.heeses. They looked ike great golden
apples, or rather between q yery Iaro,
spple and small pumpkin. They ar.
very elastic and slippery too, when new,
and these were all very new, and evi
IDENTIFY suffering from nervous excite
ment, Judging from the state of "quiver''
they all seemed to be in. The market
place was filled with great high wagon
loads OF them, and frantic peasants
tossing them down to the porters, who
were ''shying" them madly about here
and there, to and fro, until it looked like
some insane jugglery practice. 1t was
no joke to walk calmly about during
these man9uvres; there was a tolerable
chance OF stray shot with one of these
balls of concentrated Indigestion. Fatal
error to try and dodge them. Sure 10 be
hit Keep your course, and the pitchers
and tossers allow for YOU and a rational
amount of headway.S But of course they
can not allow for eccentric dodping.
There is much demented shouting. and
a seemingly absurd amount of hand.
shaking. This is apt to mislsad the
stranger. 1t is no merely sentimental.
meeting orparting, but the usual cement.
ing grasp of a final bargain. The
cheeses 60 merrily by. piled high on
hand-barrows, to the great weigh-house
to be scaled. The porters are a race
apart. 1t is no small job to carry about
three or four hundred-weight of dodgy
and shiftless balls, piled up on a hand
barrow, without splitting them. The
porters have a curious scuffiing, sham
bling way of gliding over tbs ground.
The arms are outspread, partly for
balance, partly to ward off colliders.
Every scale in the weigh house is painted
some distinguishing color, or arrange.
ment of colors. and each set of porters
have painted hats and badges of the
corresponding tint; and as there are
many scales. so does it come to pass tina,
the whole scene looks like wild revel
of all the most positive and crude colors
out of the rainbow. The barrow is sluno
across the shoulders by straps, and as
they'do not touch their hands to it to
steady it, the slightest conclusion is
enough to bring down the slippery
pyramid with run.
We saw a small and needless boy
manage to run full tilt against pair OF
these carriers, and every golden sphere
of bounding cheese went flying to the
four winds. The unhappy urchin wa:
not euffed nor even vilified, nor did they
speak unkindly of his parents; the crowd
simply paused in mad career. and set tc
work to pursue and bring back the fugi
tives, and no one seemed to think him
self or herself too busy or too grand tc
lend an obliging hand to restore them
or even the obliging apron or coat sleeve
to polish off the dust from the grimmed
surface before they helped to pile them
back on the barrow. The unlucky boy
seemed to be rather sympathized with
and even a mild sort of martyr. | wa;
surprised that nobody kissed him. We
noticed that children are invariabl,
made much Of in the way Of kindnes:
and indulgent treatment ALI over Hol
land. When we found the cheese carni
val rather pail upon us we sought Other
scenes, but it was difficult to get e'1tsreil
away from it; something would turn up
to show how deep and wide its interests
were in Alkmaar. Along the quays
were numbers of vessels loading with al
sorts of it to all parts of the globe, wher.
ever the least scrap of digestion remain,
intact. The quaint old warehouses along
the docks had nearly all stone tablets
showing that for two hundred years Oh
so they had identified themselves with
this one industry. From the upper sto
ries of these cheeseries were long wooden
cutters leading to the ships in dock, anC
along these troughs trickled never
ceasing rill of the ripened and matureC
article, now brilliant crimson-the fina
tint it comes to when ready for the far
off dyspeptic. George II. BouJhtOn, i,
Harper'S MdqG:ine.