Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-11-13

is true, as far as housekeeping is con-
cerned- If they weren't, among these
be anybody left. But the Dutch can
not be said to have a national genius
for ventilation. We do not wish to
be harsh, but say this after being in
close touch with a number of them.
After paying toll to the mistress of
the farmhouse, behold us steaming
down the canal beside a bristling row
ol H1tle elm trees. AS we approach
a horde of small boys appear, shout
Ing a gutteral national song and
calling the national watchword
INCOME. They get a little of if from
the boat and swarm over us when we
arrlVe-one of the MANY public nui-
sances created by the European trav-
eelr. The stop is at Monnikendam.
an old seaport on the Zuder zee
First, IN little wood, you see the old
brick church, with tower built in the
18th century; one part is tumbling
down and on the front the hooded
inches are gaping still for the images
OF saints, destroyed in the reforma-
ton. A street Of leaning old Dutch
houses leads down to the end of the
canal in the Zee; at either side small
elm trees flank the roadways. shaved
| drumshape to prevent the blocking OF
the little road, and in the midst an old
tower, full of shrill bells, overtops the
town. Once, when ships were not so
deep and the Zee was not so filled with
silt, this was famous shipping port;
now crumblins pile of brick sagging
with age. half-deserted, it yields slow
~ to the neglect caused by the newt
able trend Of modern commerce.
Amsterdam is everything now; the
chief product of Monnikendam. aD-
parently, is children, and these. like
all the rest in Holland, Englad. Ger
many or France, are raised for de-
Vourlng by the great city
From here, when the steamboat was
raised into the Zee, we passed straight
out to the Isle of Masken. Across the
dull green, shallow sea We saw the
black-sailed island fishing boats steer
homeward to the harbor. 1t was Fri
day, fortunately, when the male mem
bers of the population were coming
back from their week of fishing. We
saw half of the fleet-1S0 sail in all
lying at anchor inside the harbor
Wall-a strange, weird, rocking wood
of black masts and cordage with the
pennants flying in a fresh north
! breeze. They stand in rows, the fish
: ing boats-with plank walks set be-
! tween-Queer awkward sloops, with
heavy jibs and narrow mainsails, and
a hull, with the egg-shaped lee boards
Oh either side, shaped for all the
| world like some monstrous, uncouth
wooden shoe. We landed in a driz-
Fling rain. We saw the pantaloOned
men, smoking philosophically along
| the dock, the children with the thatch
OF yellow hair protruding from be-
meath their gaudy caps, the women
with their varied bodices and skirts
and their three-ply caps, and long
StraW-colored curls about their taIlow-
colored faces; we saw the church with
|
ing boats of other centuries, floating
| in mid-air from the chacked ceiling,
we saw the wooden houses, scarcely
better than a large fish-house on the
Massachusetts cOast-With their col
lections Of fine old delft upon the wall
Ga collection Of generations, to which
each contributed something in it's
turn, the indoor cistern, where the
drinking water was collected from
the roof; the cupboard beds-still
more economical than in Brock
here the gOOdsized children slep
in a second hole directly underneath
their elders-strange little caves with
wooden doors. A young man was
given his matched shed a haircut, a
group of women motioned to us to
come and see their house for
'moonie'; in the church, when we
entered a bearded man was playing
! at the organ some minor hymns
j playing very well indeed, with much
effect and even pathos, due no doubt
partly to his dreary surroundings.
Many will tell you that this place
is kept up as a spectacle by the tour
lists; and naturally you might expect
this to be true Of ia place so abso-
lutely grotesque. It is not so, how
ever They are living here because
they must. These men are slow and
dull, fit for little else than fishing;
no resident from elsewhere would be
attracted to the women. "Who would
marry dem?" asked the philosophic
linguist who served as guide for the