The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-05-12

are ten thousand in the kingdom, busy IN
lifting the water and throwing it back into
ifs nroper channels The landscape has
peculiar appearance, as we would often be
on a level with the tips of the roofs, and
could just see the ends OF the arms Oh inc
windmills just peering over the horizon hne'
like mammoth fingers. Even at Aaanuam the
relic vender buttonholes you as soon as tne
steamer touches the wharf, and insists upon
your calling at his hut to see some ola Dutch
tiles. a few bits of old Delft ware, BLDG
clasp or snuff boxes. Here we visited a mouse
in which Peter the Great lived some years.
In his time the Dutch were masters OF the
seas. and far ahead of the Russians III snip
carpentry. Peter was determined to nnd OUT
how their ships were made-of course the
Dutcb would not willingly instruct foreign
nrince-so Peter came to Zaandam, entered
a ship ward as an apprentice, worked his
time. and returned home to impart the art to
his countrymen. The little houseis of heavy
oaken timbers, well worm-eaten and stained,
and inscribed with the names of many dis
tinguished guests His bed was built into
the wall like closet, being shut in with
double doors, to keep the sleeper from drafts
of air. A few years since an inundation
threatened the destruction of this relic, when
the Queen of Holland bought the house and
enclosed it with an outer building The
whole would make a decent COW shed down
east Here we visited regular Dutch farm.
We hardly know how to picture its house
hold arrangements. You must imagine
long roof covering three habitations, the CEN
tire being the home for the human family,
on either side of which is a gallery. one
separating it from the COW pen and the other
from the stable In the cows apartment
there was brick or tile platform built about
two and a half feet from the ground; this
was covered with fine sea sand nearly to the
edge, where was painted broad strip OF red
and yellow We thought the Dutch cows
must be uncommonly agile and tractable to
walk the steep inclined plane, by which they
mounted to their stanchions, where the do
cile beasts stand with their tails tied by
strings reaching to the staples driven into
the ceiling, in order to keep them tidy; for
even the COWS have to submit to the rigid
riglme of the Dutch mendge.
In summer the cows stay in the field day
and night, and their apartments are used as
a summer kitchen. The trench where the
manure falls was covered with mating, and
the rest of the floor with home made rugs.
The cook stove was in one corner, and a
Dutch maid sat in another corner peeling po-
tatoes for dinners You will wonder if these
people have any organs of smell, and hardly
credit that there was not the faintest barn
yard odor in the place. What would our far
mers' wives and daughters think of the labor
of keeping things sweet and in apple order
initheir homes, when the cows were on one
side and the horses on the other of their din
ing rooms. One indispensable article of fur
niture in Dutch household is ''doof-pot."
We think its use and construction must be
new to most New England housekeepers. The
need of it shows the extreme economy that
is practised in all their housekeeping ar
rangements. At this season as soon as the
neal is cooked and the necessity of hot fire
is done away, the housewife takes the
charred cakes of peat from the stove, thrusts
them into the 'doof-pot," small round brass
or copper basin, and covers it closely to
smother the flame. When these are cool,
they are packed away to kindle new fires, to
be used in foot stoves, or to keep the dinner
simmering. There is fuel enough wasted in
any lady's kitchen in Portland to warm and
cook for Dutch family fortnight We fol-
lowed our host to his farm, which consisted
of twenty-five acres in one enclosure behind
his house, as level as floor, and covered
with grass which looked more like green
plush than a pasture Here roamed dozen
noble Dutch cows, several horses, a Hook OF
sheep, and donkey, and yet the sward did
not seem to have been nibbled, SO abundant
is the feed, the last of September. A peep
into the dairy and glass of milk all round
ended our visit. We suppose nothing would
tempt these farmers girls to come to Ameri-
ca, and it might be a pity to make them dis
contented with their homely and humble
ways of life but they would be great bless
| ing in our homes. We could think of no
better compliment to bestow upon the Dutch
danes than the fayorite expression of an old
auntie familiar to us in childhood who al
ways used this phrase when she wished to
praise her good neighbor, ''She will kill her
| self with her Neatly" M. G. T. Is.