Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-15

ROTTERDAM, Feb. 4~.-(Special Cor
respondence Of The Bee.)-Do you
A want to pray with the ghosts of
- your Pilgrim fathers?
49, You can do so If you go to
Delfshaven. a village on the Mas two
miles from Rotterdam. There is a church
there where Elder Brewster, Miles Standish,
John Alden, Priscilla and the rest OF the
saints wOrshiped before they left on the
S~peedwell for Southampton, where they got
the Mayfower, which landed them at
Plymouth and on its famous rock. They had
been driven from England to Holland,
where they settled at Leyden and lived for
twelve years. The Dutch treated them
we'll. but they wanted a land OF their own.
They bought a vessel at Delfshaven, and
upon 1t made their first start for America.
They remained at Delfshaven some time
before they sailed and during that time
wOrshiped In the old church which still
stands.
went there today on the top OF a car,
paying 1 cents for the round trip. We rode
out through one of the fine residence Sec
lions OF Rotterdam, past a beautiful park,
and on through tenement streets which
swarmed with Dutch babies and older chill
dren as clean as new pins. We passed many
wind mills on the farms outside the city,
and In about half an hour found ourselves
In one OF the sleepIest towns of this sleepy
Dutch country. 1t was D~elfshaven, the port
OF the city of Delft. which a few centuries
ago was one OF the important cities OF Hol-
land, but is now almost forgotten except for
its blue porcelain dishes and tiles.
Delfshaven has now but a few hundred
people. 1t is composed of two and three
story Dutch houses, old and black and
quaint In the extreme. The roofs are steep
and ridge-shaped, with little dormer win
dOws poking their heads out here and there.
The houses are flush with the sidewalks.
and the chief street has a canal running
through 1t filed with barges and fishing
boats, upon which the boat families were
cooking their suppers at the time Of my
visit.
There were many children in clogs run
ming about. some chasing each other and
others climbing the trees with their clumsy
feet. I posed three OF the smallest Of the
girls on the wall OF the canal, and had my
son snap the camera at them to get a
sample of how the Titles ones looked when
our Pilgrim Fathers were here. I say
when they we're here, for the children Of
D~elfshaven dress about the same now as
they did then. holding tight to the wooden
shoes OF their forefathers. Indeed their
mothers are quite as thrifty as were our
Pilgrim foremothers; for the stately old
dame In short skirts and lace cap, with a
golden corkscrew over each eye, whose
daughters l posed. looked on and laughed
until I gave each of them 10 Dutch cents as
n present. She then came forward, and as
/ looked back l saw that all the coins had
found their way to her itching pclm to the
evident disgust OF the babies.
A little further on l found the old church.
It stands facing the canal Just below the
drawbridge which crosses 1t. There are
old houses on each side OF 1t, and the street
looks as though II were a slice taken out
of the Middle Ages and dropped down into
the present. The church is made of we'll
burnt brown bricks, with doors and window
frames painted white. The windows are
arched and they have many panes. The
church has a clock tower and a cupola,
and in its day II must have been one of the
best OF it's kind.
The sexton lives In a little house next
door. She Is a kind old Dutch lady, who
would be good looking IL II were not that
she has lost her front teeth. She has the
whitest OF caps the rosiest OF cheeks and a
most pleasant smile. She took me through
the church and showed me it's curious fea-
lures, including the pulpit Bible, which
dates back to 1928, or. to eight years after
the Pilgrims left Holland. She pointed out
q stone in the wall which was sent to the
church by some OF the people of Chicago,
and said that the Chicagoans had also
taken away a stone from the floor. She
said that two Of the graYestones had been
taken by a Philadelphia man for the New
England Society OF Pennsylvania. and that