Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-05-19
WAYS OF THE DUTCH
How the Good People of Amsterdam
Do Things.
THEIR CANALS AND STREETS
How the Land is Drained and
Water Reaches the Ocean.
PROTECTING THE DYKES

| Written for The Evening Star
The hundreds of canals in Amsterdam
| furnish cheap and commodious avenues
| Tor the transport of every conceivable ar
| ticle of commerce and from all parts of
Holland. 1t would be extremely interesting
| to know ths cargoes and starting places of
| the vessels which are pushed along these
enthusiastically pushed-for tug service
| Is expensive and the restricted pos
| sibilities for lacking renders the sails
| Useless. The boatman walks to the
| bow of his boat. thrusts a long pole
In the water. then facing the stern and
with his shoulder against the free end of
the pole he literally kicks the boat from
under himself as he apparently walks
toward the stern. When he risks walking
overheard he withdraws the pole and re-
peats the process. going first on one side of
the boat then on the other for the purpose
| OF steering. 1t Is a slow and tedious pro-
cess. Here everything. nearly. is pushed
| and the number of push carts is far in ex-
cess OF the number Of vehicles for horses
Inc delivery carts are pushed small peri
| pateuc shops seem impelled by a magic
! powerful there is man behind, or
| woman; vegetables enough to stock a mar
ket are bowled along from street to street
and then the fish. smoked and picked
| fresh or dried, all sorts, sizes and condi-
| tons. alive and dead.
| To the credit of Holland, II must be said
that a man is not allowed to use dogs to
| aid him In propulsion, but there is no law
against his requiring his wife to do all of
| the propelling.
1t is also astonishing 30 note the variety
! OF goods which are offered for sale from
these carts. hardware and tinware. even in
| GLIDING stoves, books, day books and
| ledgers, stationery of all sorts, glassware
| lamp ch:mneys. cups and saucers shoes
| hats. clothes, old and new and in fact the
only thing omitted is collins. Then the
| dealers in rags bones and old iron" pick
! up every imaginable bit Of rubbish and
after decipherirg its use and brushing il
/ up little. offer 1t for sale on the market
| square lr IN trade with some brother ned
| der.
| Amsterdam Shop Keepers.
There must be some demand for the
| goods offered by these itinerant sellers
! and, in fact. the shop keepers bewail their
| Injurious effect upon the legitimate trade
| The shop keepers are never supplied with
| small change. The tender of a piece of
J money in excess of the amount of purchase
! throws the household in confusion, for the
! WinkeI Is but one room of the house.
! One child is sent to ask gran 1mother for
some assistance, another given a key 10
some bureau drawer, then you are asked
! II you have such piece. If so, the change
Is handed over, and as you walk homeward
| you add and subtract, until you assure
| yourself that you We're not cheated, or else
! give ii up. The margin of profit IS so small
| in Amsterdam that shopkeeping can be
| only Incidental and hence but a small part
| OF the house is given up for The store
| SO small, in fact. that when the merchant
| desires to measure off a piece of oil cloth
| II is necessary for him to use the sidewalk
| for his counter. This does not discommode
| the passersby; they walk in the street
| There are two cities in which people pre-
| fer to walk in the street, Amsterdam AMI
| Washington: the former because the side
| walks are so bad and in the latter because
| the streets are SO good.
! But then to return to the canals There
| are canals everywhere, canals large enough
I to float an ocean steamer and canals so
| small that they barely admit the boat in
which the mikmaid goes out to milk but
L nave never seen a canal too large or
| too small for the fisherman's line. Along
| the banks of every small boys and
large boys may be seen waiting for a
bite. l have watched hundreds of persons
thus engaged and / have seen as many
fish in duly authenticated baskets, but /
have never yet seen fish caught. / have
sat on the bank beside the patient waiter
and the cork trembed just a little he
would say, with wise look. That's cat
or That's nat and as he lifted the
baitless hook from the water his face wore
the look Of Il told you So" Surely, the
lone fisherman was Dutchman.
For Draining Purposes Principally.
First and foremost, the canals are drains
except in rare insts noes; the traffic carry
irg is incidental. In the country, since the
land Is all below the level of the sea in or
der to cultivate the SOL il must De drained
bitches are dug, into which the water runs.
then as these bitches become full the
water is pumped into others having higher
tanks. then from the latter into others still
higher. until finally sea level is reached,
and the outfiowing tide carries the water
oceanwards. In the early steps the water
is lifted by wind power, but soon he vol
ume becomes SO great and such a large
area of land is interested in its prompt
handling that the state erects a pumping
staten, and trusted official sees to il
that the water in his canal does not remain
above it's assigned level.
How the Dykes Are Protected.
| Thus it is that these drains become water
ways. Their banks, made of sandy earth.
require reinforcement: they must be faced
with stone or fortified by plies, large or
| small. In the case of the larger streams
these banks become dykes, and both stone
| and piles are needed in order to Keep the
| water within it's bounds There is not n
stone quarry in Holland, yet it has more
| stone work to the square mile than any
other country in the world. Its forests are
| not sufficient to furnish the Inhabitants
| stiH it has millions of trees wholly under
| ground. driven in to serve as building foun-
! OF nOlQ III cHScR tne washing
waters Tie great dykes along the North
| sea, on both sides of the river Mas skirt
! ing the Rhine ard the Zuider sea- are
| faced with piles close together as they
| can be driven, each one of which cost 81
| to put in place. and backed up by dressed
| German basalt or Norwegian granite. Ii
| Napoleon claimed Holland because i: was
| formed of detritus carried down by the
| Mouse and the Rhine, Norway and Ger
| many might demand a reward for anchor
| ing 1t.
Pile Driver Mt Work.
| 1t is always fascinating to watch a pile
| driver. t. see it swing a great log erect and
| into place, then, stroke after stroke drive
| 1t home. 1 have inspected some building
| operations here. have seen the men,, pro-
vided with high-top boots, cleaning away
| the foundations; steam pump Industrious
| ly striving to keep the water out and the
| pile driver humping away. One morning
| the entire foundation was full of water,
| and a second pump was called into action.
At last rows of piles We're in place, rows
| like the teeth Of comb. but the pump
| could not stop. The tops of the piles were
cut of at the same height, tenons cut on