Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-09

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RH-h- graphic description
| OF the low countries and their people, said
the pleasure OF walking along the streets
| of Netherland city is marred by the
danger one continually runs of being
| sprinkled by the pumps with which the
servant girls wash the windows. But that
| was In the good old times of long ago. Now
the servant girls do not wash windows at
| least not in Amsterdam. Here the win
dows are attended to by company and
| In fact, there are SO many window-washing
companies that they now add to their
signs and business cards the date of or
| ganization.
Perpetual Window washing.
When 1 first saw these carts loaded with
ladders of various lengths and pushed by
men dressed in white, / thought they were
mouse painters who had forgotten their
brushes. But in a few days l saw one Ct
these ladders deftly hoisted in front of my
window and before the thought of fire and
rescue formed itself In my mind, a white
! coated man was washing my window. He
ala II well and quickly. Quickly, of course
Tor the company received only two DUTCH
cents for that wash, and of that amount
the workman has only share. For this
reason and because of the lively competi-
| ton, the carts of the "Glasenwaschery
companies fit rapidly from place to place.
householder subscribes for the services
OF these window washers, securing visit
once month, or more frequently, If he
desires, and pays two cents a window,
large or small, first story or fifth.
MY window Is not only clean, but it is
PROVIDED with spies" as the outside mir
HIT np
| ables me to see at glance what is trans
| plring up the street and down the street
| as Well as who is a the door, by merely sit
| ting IN front of the window.
Front Window Views.
The second house on the right side is a
public school building, one part OF which
is the district police station, and now and
| then an image is caught in the mirror
of some malefactor brought to judgment,
| attended. by the usual crowd of curious
| idlers. 1t is a veritable Judgment The
| inspector at once has a preliminary hear
| ing, sort of grand jury trial. and dis
| misses the prisoner, imposes the fine or, if
the charge be serious and well founded, re-
| mands him for trial If dismissed the
! would-be offender marches proudly out a
/ hero in fact, one whose innocence is fully
established by an inability to prove guilt.
| This established innocence has a practical
value, for man once when seeking en-
| ploymen gave as a proof of his honesty
| the boz ed statement that he had been
| thrice arrested for stealing and was ac-
| quilted every time
| However, should the culprit be found
guilty of some minor misdemeanor a slight
Imprisonment is imposed. While great
| rlgor Is observed in seeing that the full
| time is spent in prison the days of serving
| the sentence are optional, provided the
offender Is man of property or can fur
nish security. He may spend his Sundays
| in prison, holidays or rainy days, and re-
| ceives credit therefor on his time" A
| friend of mine declares that his father
| who is a business man, keeps an open ac-
| count with the prison and carries a pass
| book IN which entries are made. And
| still he is not wicked man. His drivers,
In delivering purchases. do not always
| observe the signs which posted at the
| beginning of some of the streets: at is
| forbidden to drive In here" and hence IL
| caught violating this order they are ar
rested and the fine placed to the debit of
| the employer.
| In passing, it might be said that this
| forbidding notice does not signify, some
| writers on Holland have asserted, that the
| leaning houses threatening to fail make
| the street dangerous, it simply means that
| the traffic Is great that vehicles cannot
| easily PASS, and hence to avoid blockades
all teams must go in the same direction.
Postal Idiosyncrasies.
Opposite my window is a letter box-a
| two-storied one-the lower being for par
GELS, while the upper part is the receptacle
| for letters. 1t is just around the corner.
| All letter boxes seem to be in hooks and
corners, affording convenient blind, be-
| hind which the servant girls read In safety
| the postal cards they We're given to mail.
| Postal cards are in great demand in Hol-
| land A mistake in addressing one Is not
| expensive, for an uncanceled postal card
| Is redeemed for the value of the paper,
| while spoiled envelope is hopelessly lost.
| There is nothing which so strikes terror
| into a Hollander's heart as loss-axcept
| lost time, and with the hope Of gain he
| will venture much. He, sometimes a she,
| will secure the permit and peddle postage
| stamps, call at business houses at regular
intervals and supply their demands for a
| commission of .one-half of l per cent he
will stand at street corners and transfer
| stations and sell Street-car tickets at the
| usual rates, receiving as his profits the
| difference between wholesale and retail
prices. The car lines rather encourage this
| business. The haWker frequently suggests
a ride and travel has been greatly in
| creased through their efforts.
| Steady Dutch Smokers.
1t would be difficult to enumerate the
things which Dutchman will do for
money. All of the recognized vocations and
trades, every possible variety of trade and
| every imaginable differentiation thereof
| 1t would be far easier to specify what he
| would not do. They are: Change his re-
| ligion, cheat and give up smoking. To stop
| smoking would be to cease being a Dutch
| man. He smokes at all times and in all
| places-ro, not quite all, never in church.
| although one writer at least has said SO;
| not in the marriage hall Of the municipal
| building.
I have been trying to find out at what age
| boys begin to smoke. 1t is one of the
| things which has attracted attention here
since the genial Thackeray sketched the
three small, plump Dutch boys smoking
| their big cigar on the little Dutch steaner
They all smoke cigars The artists in the
future, in depicting Dutch life, must omit
| the traditional pipe and substitute in its
| place the more prosaio cigar. But when do
| the boys begin? Nothing but death stops
| them. I have seen a father and his fam
| ilv of hnys enjoy their smoke tncother q