New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-10
DUTCH LIFE.
SOME CONSEQUENCES OF FREE TRADE.

| oOnE CONSEQCENCES VI
HOW THE DUTCH NORWEGIAN LIvES-HIS POOR
FooD-soME CUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY.
Amsterdam, May 3.
A workngmsns home consists, as a rule, OF two
. rooms, used living room and bed
room, the other q dining room and kitchen. They
about sixteen feet long by fourteen feet Broad
and tho living room is furnished with table, few
chairs, family bed, and very large chIfonier. On
tho top OF the latter the housewife has placed few
dinner plates end, made Of common Holland clay
| and colored In imitation Of the well-known
delft ware crockery No carpet the floor, and
In winter the hearth may DO filed with turf fire,
but that only in the evening and when the husband
u at homo. Adjoining the whitewashed walls are
few highly colored pictures, generally portraying
| the life Of Joseph Moses
| At one side of this Is seen what looks TO
stranger like closet doors which, when opened, dis
Hoses the Hoanders bedstcad The bedstead rather
sleeping apartment Of the middle and lower classes
Of Holland is built In the wall Of the living room 1t
is closet SIX feet long, reaching from the floor
| to the ceiling, and about four feet broad IL Is
| In two divisions lengthwisc-the upper one
| beginning about three and half feet from the
| bottom This division is the sleeping apartment, and
looks something like tho upper berth of a Pullman
| car without Its elegance The division Is made OF
| panks placed crosswise. A plank about eighteen
Inches high nailed the front Of this shelf to prevent
the mattress pillows and bedclothes from falling out
curtain Of large fowery picturesqueness made OF
| glszed-loohng material hangs before the bedstead.
The doors OF this contrivance are generally closed
during tho day and the lower division OF the is,
| in all workingmen's families. used for storing the
winters supply Of potatoes, cabbages, ETC. ought
to say that only when the season has kept
the husband in work is this kind of supply possible,
otherwise the Is used for the purpose of CIV
ing the housewife receptacle for cast-of garments
| or other odds and ends
In another corner Of this room stands an immense
| " kast' chfoner; sldeboard and clothes press
| would be more appropriate name. This kast' Is
six feet high by about four feet broad The lower
part is Of the depth Of ordinary bureau and has
| three drawers, used for slowing away the family's
Sunday apparel The upper part of the kast' is OF
less DEPTH and is provided with doors and shelving in
which are set the family silver and china consist
Ing Of crockry ware Of the poorest description and iron
or pewter forks and spoons. The front OF
this article of furnlt ire Is oval in shape,
carved in exquisite designs the representing
vases flied with flowers, dragons and creatures Of
NEUROLOGICAL lore playing hide and seek on front and
sides, with lions claws supporting the whole. Some
| Of these sdeboarls would bring fabulous price In
| America. Many have been in one family for gener-
atoms, and embellished with those beautiful and
truly artistic woodcarvngs much admired by lovers
| of antiquity. No cash inducement would induce
| family to part with such heirloom. At the re-
| quest OF English gentleman once offered to pay
fifty pounds or GOO guldens for kast, beautifully
| carved and certainly 300 years old. The family TO
whom this article belonged consisted of man. wife
and children, but the wife would have intro
duced TO the broomsck II the subject of CONVEX
sation had not been changed forthwith. She believed
that procession of forefathers and foremothers
would disturb her nocturnal slumbers II the kast was
sold, and she had sufficient number of the present
generation around her did not wonder that she OBJ
jected to crowdng further the rooms she occupied
The room used kitchen and dining room is in
many respects like the first described. In one
corner is large open fireplace, the chimney of which
protrudes about three feet into the
The latter has broad mantel Of wood, upon which
is deposited all kinds Of grotesque crockery of the
poorest manufacturer The hearth Is inv ariably EN-
bellished with picturesque tiles giving the details
of some striking incident in Hollands hstory-the life
and tragic death Of william. Prince of Orange, the
battles Of the seadogs Admrals DeRuyter and Thromp,
the defence Of HARLEM by the women Of that city,
led by Kenan semans Hasselaar similar Instances
OF Dutch valor, which constantly stimulate the heart
of the young Dutchmen gathered around the family
fresde in the long winter evenings. In the centre
| of the fireplace large round iron frepot stands
upon a tripod about eighteen inches high in which
turf or peat fire is burning, and above which an
other large iron pot hangs suspended by chain
fastened to bar high up in the chimney. This Is
the family range and In which all provisions are
prepared. No stoves ranges of any description
can be found in the homes Of workingmen here.
They adhere strictly TO the old usages Of past gener
ations and the poor mans kitchen Of to-day is a
perfect picture of that of the sturdy lowander who.
centuries ago, successfully resisted the iron rule Of
Philip the second In every kitchen next to the fire
place IS doof pot'-a yellow copper kettle, about
eighteen inches high, somewhat In the shape of
sugarloaf with the top cut of. 1t stands on three
legs and is about twelve inches in diameter at the
bottom. red copper fits IL closely The
turf used for burning purposes is yet aire when the
meal is properly cooked the glowing Goals are put
into this doof pot, to be used again when fire is
needed 10 prepare the next meal
The food of the Holland workingman has not been
varied In any striking particular for many generations
Breakfast Is very simple meal, consisting OF
couple Of sandwiches called boer hammen' Of slices
of unbolted rye bread and cup Of coffee. Supper Is
of the same material and quantity. Dinner consists
of potatoes, cabbage some other vegetable. Beef
IS seldom a workingman's table except on
Sunday, and then only small piece from the vicinity
of the hoofs or horns Of the departed steer cut
from more centrally located part of the beef is be-
yond the resources of laborers purse and not to
be thought OF. Oleomargarne figures prominently
in the commissary department of Holland, and has
driven the native butter entirely from the table OF all
but the upper classes. All the necessarcs OF lie,
such beef, -four. coffee, sugar, ETC., are more ex-
pensive there than In America. VIII give lew
samples
Beefsteak, IS cents. (Americanl Veal, 40 cents.
Pork % cents Beef for soup, is cents.
White sugar ii cents Brown sugar, cents.
Coffee, 3S to so cents.
The average wages of an ordinary workngman for
six days labor, at twelve hours per day, are never
over seven guIdens 3d. Skilled labor Of very
high class is paid from "a 30 to S. but there are at
the present day only three manufacturing establish
ments In the city of Amsterdam who pay their fore
man SO per week This does not include diamond
cutters, who receive very high wages If proficient
Standing in Of the anerooms leading to the
office of the Mayor Of the city Of Amsterdam on
January morning three years ago spectacle was
presented which to American citizen proof
that the millennium has not as yet arrived. The
previous afternoon meeting of the unemployed labor
ing men had held In yondePs Park and the crowd