The record-union., 1898-12-06


and no clatter of noisy voices from an
excursion party. The sea has deep un-
dertones or its own when one is close
to the water to hear them, and under
the intense light of the midday sun it
is an ever changing opalescent green
to steel gray. Tranquil is the delight
of listening to the measured dip and re-
bound of the boat and to delicate effects
of light and shade on the face of the
waters The pleasure is transitory, for
the boat is speeding toward the fishing
port under a fresh breeze, but the
memory of it will brighten many a
coming London day of fog and smudge.
Volendam is now close at hand, with
an opening in the breakwater barely
large enough to let in a fishing boat
The port is formed by a circuit of
piles, with tips painted white and be-
hind Is the dixie, lined with quaint
houses, with tiled roofs for the distance
of half mile, with dark red and green
as the dominating colors. On one side
is an unpretentious church, and a res
taurant is conspicuous object in the
center. The port is filed with fishing
craft, and back of it there are meadow
lands, with black and white Ho,stein
cattle grazing; and a canal with one
or two bargeS in motion leads through
the grassy levels toward farmhouse
shaded by elms and surrounded by
haystaeks. Still further back there is
a huge, weather beaten windmill The
skipper and his mate shake hands
warmly with their two passengers, as
though there is need of sympathy in
being landed at a port so inferior to
Marken. There is little need of COM
passion, for Volendam is one of the
most picturesque spots in Holland. with
lovely setting of color and With an
air of simplicity and absorption in its
own affairs which the island lacks.
The hshermen's families here are not
on exhibition for the benefit of excur-
sion parties. They are leading their
plain, everyday, toilsome lives, and are
not posing for strangers snapshots.
The doors are open, and there are
glimpses of small rooms, with pockets
in the side walls, where the occupants
are tucked away under blankets at
night. There is little furniture. and
all the family possessions are hung
upon the walls. On the doorsteps the
women are securing frying-pans or
plying their knitting needles, and the
children are playing about the bitches.
Behind the waterfront, with it's strag-
gllng line of cottages, there is a laby
rinth Of narrow passages. with houses
clustered together on a lower level
Pigsties are found at every turn; fish
smells in the air, and there are bitches
and slums. Volendam does not affect
to be anything but a plain, old-fash-
ioned fishing village If artists choose
to spend the summer there they are
welcomed, but close inspection from
strangers is not invited
The Volendam women have a cos
tune of their own, which is not unlike
that of the islanders Their white caps
have flaps which fall over the ears, and
the bodices whether plain or embroid-
cred, are covered with white handker-
chiefs. The skirts are either black or
brown, and over them are worn long
blue or red aprons. The men wear
baggy trousers and ose-fitting jack
cts, like those seen at Marken. There
are fine contrasts of color in the cos
tunes, and the faces are strongly
marked and the figures sinewy 1t is
not strange that artists linger week
after week in this quaint village, for
it is full of local color and simple nat
uralism. The port with it's fishing
fleet the canal with it's barges. the
houses with their quaint interiors the
blind alleys with their fantastic ef-
fectS of light and shade, and the mead
ows with their haycocks and farm
houses offer a great variety of sub
jectS for characteristic sketches. The
colors are soft and harmonious, and
the effects of light and atmosphere are
always strong and clear. 1t is an
ideal place for a school of realism.
The nearest town is Edam, less than
two miles away. 1t is fine walk,
with characteristic Dutch scenes at
every turn. Gfctesque passenger barges
are in the canal, with towine around
the waist of a boy on the path and
a man helping with a pole to increase
the momentum. Peasants with flap
ping trousers and bright-colored shirts
are working in the fields. Women with
wooden yokes, from which pals of
milk are suspended, pass slowly by.
Every one on the road wears wooden
S0OeS ana SeeIQS 10 nave Slepp6O out
of the frames of Jacob Van Ruysdael
or Peter de Hoock. AS Edam is ap-
preached the costumes change and
the visitor re-enters everyday Holland,
with it's conventional, unpicturesque
dress. Although the town itself has
a beautiful medieval church and
many old-fashioned gabled houses, it
has lost it's Old World air of distinc
ton With it's shaded avenues, it's
trade, it's signs Of wealth
and prosperity and it's steam tram
line to Amsterdam, 1t belongs to the
new order of progress. whereas humble
Volendam is a survival of primitive
Volendam, like other Dutch villages
and towns, has Joined in the celebra-
tion of Queen Wilhelminas fetes. It
has set UP in the center of the dixie
overlooking the harbor an anomalous,
gaudi1y painted monument, capped
with a huge cone of red, white and
blue 1t is a hideous object, out OF
touch with the environments fam