Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-09-11
DER SCHWENNINGER
Summer Scenes on the Beach at
Soheveningen.
QUAINT PEOPLE QUEERLY DRESSED
Simple in Their Life and Hostile
to Outsiders.
TRICKS ON ARTS

From the New York Times.
The fishing boats are coming in. Dark
their sails are against the western sky.
On the shore stand groups of people watch
ing ard waiting. With baskets on their
arms of the fishwomen. with close white
caps and Scheveningen fish hats over them.
short wool skirts little shawls pinned
round their shoulders, and newly chalksd
V OGDEN shoes. They stand like chiseled
granite. these hardy creatures Of this north
west shore. The boats arrive, their huge
red and brown sails Tapping in the wind.
They elIGe in on wave and are beached
a man comes ashore through the water
with a load of fish on his back. and dumps
il on the sand. He is followed by another
and anO; her. In turn they unload the boat.
The fish are dumped in squads. There are
tong sole. tarbot 0urboo, and schol
tplaice, this season of the year. A man
on the shore receives them and lays them
Oat for sale. Then the clatter begins. Any
one VINO has watched the newsboys in New
y DIRK city dive for their newspapers when
the wagons run along the line can get an
idea of the method with which the 'visch-
VrouVen'' secure their stock in trade.
Courtesy of gesture or tone is not in
state of high cultivation by the worthy
wOmeEfolk of Schevenil.ge The men who
are no longer fishers sit upon the sandhills
BdCk OF tHt SHplt 10 WdtGH lIe
fight. They have their bets and jokes as
TO the winner
She, in her turn. so soon as her bargain
i made her basket filed. starts off with
il on her head as If nothing had ever hap
pened to prevent her getting it there. She
carries il with the ease that Newport
beauty carries her parasol. getting over the
ground with that inmitable walk of the
SCheVeninger, with magnificent poiSe and
pose that many beauty might envy. Eter-
nal youth seems to be theirs. and they ac-
Cept il a matter of course-as they do
the light and air. and the magnificent
health they enjoy.
Dude Marie.
Living in the village is an old soul called
"Oude Marie" (Old Nary. 1t is said she
is ninety-four. Every day she walks to The
Hague with a fiat herring basket on her
head 10 sell her fish at the market. She
is not poor but lifelong habit of taking
her herring to town and the fixed one of a
daily gossip with the market folk cannot
yet be given up. She is wee little thing.
straight arrow, with swapping yell
low-gray eyes. beautifully formed small
hands. which are plump and fine. with a
lacework of brown wrinkles running all
over them. She is proud of her hands. for
they have been often modelled.
on bleak November day. when the wind
drove the clouds which hang almost on the
hOusetops at this bleak season-drove them
down like swooping brooms. to gather up
all that laid in their way. when a thunder
clap shot cut a volley of hail that cut
through the wiz dows, and sent the dogs
IL the street yelping home-on such day
made TIE acquaintance of Dude Marie
She took refuge from the storm in the
N"Stibule of my house, which she daily
passed. Seeing the aged creature. has
tened 10 bring her in. Pools had to he
wiped up from where she stood; a chair she
declined. saying she was not tired. only a
beetle nat Ia little wep. My surprise
was great when / learned her age, and that
she still sold fish in the market; that abe
had lost tao husbands at sea, and a third
after laying five years in his bedi" Dude
Marie. still happy, sells her little herring
in content, and counts her change as she
stops for rest at the old storm gate (within
few years a 'tolhuis'D on the Scheven-
inRensche-weg troad). / have watched her
often doing her lively bargaining when the
boats 2ome IN. and she holds her own with
the rest of the wild creatures gathering for
their fish.
Rugged, Savage Race.
OF all the peoples of this small part of
The universe. there is. 1 fancy. no land of
it size that can give as many distinct
types. under one fatherland. as Holland.
TIL Srhwenninger is one of the most orig
iHIl of her people. A rugged, hardy race
equal iii strength and fighting fame to the
S"rJceuS. with this difference, that the
Sehwenuinger does his fighting a de-
Il :ider OF the soil and of what he considers
his OWL The Saracens would have found it
difficult 10 overrun the Schwenningers as
they did those wild and beautiful shores of
Italy. There seems no power, either per-
asive or threatening, that las any per-
ctDtibie influence upon this race either
their he i IS minds. They have their own
W. il the skies fall, and the skies might
fail second time before they would al
low Il newcomer TO do Otherwise than their
way also. They are hard, impudent bru-
tally independent. almost savage set in
their dislike Of strangers. If they can serve
"Ee trick they will 90 il &c the most in
rCcrnt- They marry largely among them
selves. and have little respect for persons
outside Of themselves. Artists who come
10 make sketches are tcTmented by such
things as having sand thrown over their
work. easels knocked over their stools
jerkcd by insolent lads. or an army assem-
bles to stand in front to annoy them by
j. rs and gibes till the beautiful is made
hiaeouS- Those Dutch artists who have
made Schwenninsen known to the world
that has not had the good fortune to pass
this way are Obliged to have studios on the
NillaSe end. where they paint from the
windows. which is always dreary work
The picture creator likes to receive inspra-
ti"n from out of the fair bosom of nature
herself.
Sky and Shore Theirs.
These very inhospitable fisher folk as
sumo that the sea. the sky and the shore
are theirs. and II they feel inclined to
assert OHHeISHIp tnoSe are the thew
do IL. On the other hand they are thrifty
care-taking of their homes and children.
excellent and hard workers, thoroughly
honest and seif-respecting in their way
They are not hard drinkers: the DAYS on
hich they do forget themselves are Nav
day and the queens birthday when il is
thought manly 10 be drunk and lads par
take Of gin till they are bundled into
wagons and taken home by friends or au-
thorities. AT other times they are not
drinkers. and the children and women all
look healthy and happy. and are always
well clothed. They have a rare shrewd
cleVerness. and are not dull in those WAYS
that small communities often are They
are and have been for centuries a distinct
people bearing always the qualities 1 have
tried 10 describe. IL is a wonder that they
have remained always so individual a peo-
pie. for they have for hundreds of wears
sailed the seas: content. however to fish
only for its live treasures coming home
L" spend their earnings In their own town
ana with their own people.
They clothe and feed themselves well
but never with any approach TO LUXURY
generosity. or change. wearing now the
mode OF three hundred years back The
men wear black flannel suits. silk cans
large neckerchiefs. no coats and a sort of
Well-eut shirt The hair is wooden In fts