Evening star., 1901-08-24

houses and all the old buildings. 1t is not
unlike a city of Holland A wide canal
runs through the principal street and the
houses along this have white walls and
sharp overhanging roofs of red tile. They
are just like the buildings in parts of Rot
terdam and The Hague, and with their
Dutch signs and Dutch merchants would
not be out of place If lifted up bodily and
dropped down in the Netherlands.
The town has many natives and many
Chinese 1t is surrounded by small houses
and it is very unhealthy.
In Beautiful WeItevreden.
From Batavia wide road runs fer four
miles along the canal, the canal aud road
being lined with houses on both sides, Until
1t reaches the city of Weltevreden, which
is the great residence city of the Dutch in
the East Indies. This is one of the most
beautiful cities in the world. 1t is a gi-
gantic park in which not only the homes
| of the people but even the stores and the
business houses, have gardens and trop-
| ical trees about them. There are pubic
| squares containing hundreds of acres,
there are great avenues of palms and vast
| collections of orchids and beautiful f1ow-
| ers and all the surroundings Of fairyland.
Take the Kings Plain, for instance. This
| Is a park a mile square almost in the CEN
| ter of the city. 1t contains more than 500
acres and 1t is one vast stretch of velvety
| lawn. There are roads running around it
which are as smooth as those of Central
| Park, and back Of these looking out
| through the trees are the villas of the
| nabobs of this Dutch capital. Each of
| them has grounds about 1t with so many
| curious plants within them that 1t would be
a very botanical garden anywhere else
| Here the driveway up to the house is be-
| tween two rows of royal palms, and there
| it is between an arbor of shade trees SO
| gigantic that you will not see their like
, outside Java.
The houses are all of classic Greek archi-
| lecture married to the red tiles of the
| Dutch roofs. They are painted white to
/ represent marble, and each of them has a
/ great veranda upheld by Ionic, Doric or
/ Corinthian columns. The people sit on
the verandas, but the rooms within are SO
| large and airy that they seem quite as
| cool. The most of the houses are floored
| with stone Many have tables of Italian
/ marble or mosaic. Very few of the resi-
| dences are of more than one story, but
| they cover a great space. Some houses
! have smaller houses away from the main
| building reached by covered ways. These
| are guest houses, and are SO made that the
| guests may have little house to them
| selves and be independent of their hosts
If they wish excepting at meals.
Luxurious Homes of the Dutch.
| l wish I could show you how some Of
these Dutch live away down here among
/ the so-called savages on the edge of the
| equator. / venture If you could see their
/ homes many of you would go to the Philip
| pines and build others like them. Their
] gardens are better than those of any mil
| lionaire in the United States, and Presi-
! dent Mckinley with his White House con-
| servatories has flowers for his recep-
| tions like those l see here.
There is no lack of furniture. The stores
| of Weltevreden are supplied by the best
| establishments of Holland, and you can
buy every luxury in the way of books,
paintings, notions and furniture. All sorts
| of foods made in Europe are sold, and the
! country raises vegetables and fruits OF
!! every description. The place is one where
you get lots for your money, but where
| nevertheless it costs lots to live. Every
| one lives up to his income and little be-
| yond it. The Dutch gentlemen dress bet
ter on the average than our people at
| home. They are sticklers for etiquette
| and one dare not accept an invitation to
dinner unless he has evening clothes.
A Night at the ConcOrdia Club.
I put on my store clothes the other night
and went to concert at the Concordia
Club. Batavia has two swell clubs, each
| OF which has several hundred members.
Both have club houses which would be
considered fine in New York or Washing
ton, and the Concordia has great garden
about 1t where every Saturday night its
| members give concert to their families
| and friends. The music is furnished by
one of the military bands and 1t is as good
as any you will hear in the great gardens
| or Europe.
Last Saturday night the band sat in a
stand in the open air, while the audience
| were seated on chairs about the tables In
| the tropical garden in front OF the club
house. The light was furnished by hun
dreds of white-globed lamps, which hung
from the trees. and also by the rays Of tho
full moon. filtered through the green palms.
There were, judge, at least Thousand
ladies and gentlemen present, and as we
sat there chatting and drinking, stately
native walters in turbanS and livery trot-
ted about in their bars feet and waited
upon US. The people at the table were az
well dressed as any European crowd and