Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-08

"WKW gou al " Z NhC 40 llf
are. you must go to the backwoods
- of Holland. You will find there
districts where the people dress the same
from generation to generation and where
their customs are unchanged by the ages.
This ic so on some of the islands of Zee
land, lying in the mouth Of the Scheldt and
also in north Holland on the edge Of the
German ocean.
Take, for instance, the island Of Marker,
in the Zuyder Zee, not far from this great
city of Amsterdam. 1t seems to be an
other world. The people look down upon
modern clothing and dress as the Dutch did
nifty years ago. The men wear boomers so
full at the hips that you could make a
dress skirt out of one pair of trousers. They
have roundabouts or shirtwaists of black
wool, with big silver buttons running In two
rows down to the waist, where the trousers
are fastened by buttons as large as an after
dinned coffee cup saucer. The trousers stop
at the root OF the calf and below are wooden
stockings and clogs.
The women wear gorgeous red and white
caps, red bodices and white skirts, which
fall to the knees and below have blue or
black stockings and clogs. Their caps come
down almost to the eyes, ending in a fringe
Of banged hair, which covers the ears, a
curl of hair hanging Town each cheek TO
the shoulder.
l went out to Marker one day and spent
he day phOtographing the people and
houses. l had no trouble in getting good
pictures, for every man, woman and child
vas ready to lose for a certain number of
,ennies, and the little ones trotted along az
ny heels in their clogs begging me to take
heir pictures and then asking for money.
even the men demanded money when photo
graphed, and | think the burgomaster him
self would have posed for less than a gull
der. I usually paid 4 cents a person. and a
little more when l photographed in the
houses.
The houses OF Marker are low, one and a
half-story buildings. with ridge roofs
painted black, built along narrow streets IN
little villages here and there over the
island. l entered one at the invitation of
the owner. an old Dutchman, who wore a
pair of trousers each leg Of which was as
big as a two-bushel lag. His whole house
was not more than twenty -four feet square,
but 1t was so clean that y1u could see your
face in everything in IL. The floors were
scrubbed like a kitchen table on Saturday
night, and the plates on the walls fairly
shOne. About the room were cupboards,
each containing a bed, with the whitest Of
pillows and quilts beautifully embroidered.
The kitchen utensils were copper, and two
brass candlesticks, which shone like gold,
stood on a shelf under the plates.
On my way 20 Marken / stopped at
Brock, a little farming town in the midst
OF the meadows, to see a cheese factory.
The factory was house, stable and cheese
making establishment combined. This is so
throughout the dairy regions of Holland.
The hay is slowed away i'm the garrett, and
One-half of the house il given up 10 the
mus uhfch p hro.,aAt. In do,., a,.i,u
the winter and kept there.
The stable part of the house had accom-
mediation for thirty cows, two for each
stall, and Il was cleaner than the average
American kitchen. The cows were cut dur
ing my visit, but walked with clean feet
frOm stall to stall, making notes Of the ar
judgements. The walls of the stalls are
painted black to the height OF the cows and
white above that. In front of each stall
there Is a window with lace curtains over
II, and at the back a drain six inches deep,
which is flooded daily with water and kept
so clean that there is little perceptible
odOr. But as for that. the Dutch say that
COW smells are healthful. and the farmers
do not mind them at all.
I was interested In the arrangements %
keep the cows clean. Every COW Is we'll
bedded. and II has, In addition. a rope the
size OF a clothes line with a strap loop at
it's end TO hold up its tail. One end of the
rope is fastened to the rafters just over the
COW, SO raising the tail that there is no