The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-10-07
FIVE WEEKS ABROAD.

ance. In England the porter performs
about the same duties he does in Amer
lea, looks after your trunks and valises
and serves as boot black. but on the
continent he is quite a different person
age. He is far above shining your
shoes or carrying your grips. He is It;
runs the hotel, playing the part of gen
eral manager, assigns the rooms when
you arrive and sees that your bill is
prepared when you depart, although he
has a clerk for the bookkeeping. On his
| cap, in gold letters. is the word 'Por-
/ ter and he sometimes wears a uniform
! with red braid. He cuts so much figure
| about the hotel that for our first few
days in these foreign countries did not
! dare give him fee for fear of giving
| offense at the same time. He was
| important to our comfort that I was
anxious to keep on good terms with
him, whether securing this relation by
mere politeness or buying it with tip
Later experiences demonstrated, how
ever, that The Porter was above every
one and everything in and about the
hotel except the tip.
The walters in the breakfast room at
the Weimar were neat, bright, Young
Dutch boys. My first fee was to one
of these, twenty-five Dutch cents, ten
ceived not only good service, but a
smile and a gracious word, which pre-
sumably was thank you.'
The porter, the only one about the
hotel who could talk English, arranged
! for an hours drive through the parks,
around the city and to the station. This
cost two gilders. that is, eighty cents,
with a fee of twenty-five cents, that is a
dime. added.
The word glider is also spelled
guilder and gulden. Although the word
means golden, the coin itself is silver,
somewhat larger than our quarter and
stands for forty cents in American
value. The piece is sometimes called a
form. a term which means fifty cents
/ in England, forty cents in Holland and
something else in Italy.
From Rotterdam to The Hague was
half an hours ride. The name at the
railroad station, in big, black letters.
was "Haag." The name which ap-
pears on the hotel stationery is
's'Gravenhage" and means The Counts
Meadow. hedge or enclosure The town
is beautiful, streets clean. Those de-
voted to business are narrow, except
where a canal and driveways on either
side serve as a thoroughfare. The ave-
nues, with the residences. are boule-
wards. with beautiful modern homes
and, except in the suburbs. are built
on the fine of the lot without front
yards. The population is about the
same as that of Kansas City, Missouri.
Our hotel was the Bellevue.
In the Afternoon we drove three miles
out to Seheveningen, over a beautiful
avenue. bordered with handsome su-
burban homes. rows of linden trees.
like our elms. the drive following the
canal which extended along the mid
die of the street.
The canal boats were propelled by
men. in two different methods. Some
times two men pushed the boat along
by long poles, walking forward and
back along q narrow plank on either
side of the boat. Once we saw man
pulling a huge boat by means of a
broad band around his forehead: to the
band was attached a wire running per-
haps p hundred feet back to the prov
of the boat. In the stern was a boy
steering to keep the vessel from pull
ing into the bank. A woman was get
ting supper, and thus the family and
cargo were moving smoothly along by
a natural division of labor.
Scheveningen is a resort and also a
fishing port. Here are to be seen beau
ty and fashion in gay dress and bath
ing costume and not far away the
Dutch fsherwomen with their wooden
shoes and quaint garb. The beach was
alive with children, digging in the
sand and presented the scenes usual at
| the seaside, but with many differences
from such places in America. There
were hundreds of straw hoods. or can
opies, used as sunshades and just large
enough to entirely surround, except
toward the water, a single chair with
its occupant
The bathing houses were not back
from the sea and the bather was not
obliged tc run any gauntlet before get
ting the feet wet. for the little bath
houses were on wheels at the edge of
the water and were pushed out in the
surf and later, at a given signal, pull
ed by horses through the surf to the
sandy beach.
In the evening we went out there
again, by car, from The Hague, to a
beautiful auditorium to hear what was
said to be the finest orchestra in Eur
ope, about one hundred pieces. Schu-
bert's Serenade was given as we had
never heard it. The audience was well
dressed and interesting and in the main
evidently native to Holland. The hall
was a combined audience room and
cafe, admittance a glider. We quickly
felt quite at home in The Hague. meet
ing a number of Americans, several of
whom we knew. We again found Min
lister Bowen, with his wife, who had
come over on our steamer. the Kron
prinz Wilhelm, and who was here to
take part in the Venezuela arbitration
proceedings. We met Wayne McVeagh,
who, this week, has been presenting the
argument for Venezuela and the United
States before the court.
At our hotel were also S. P. Taft, pro-
prietor of the Cincinnati Times-Star
an acnraintance of many wears. and