Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1904-09-21
BUTCH CHEESE MART
QUAINT ALkMAAR AND ITS ANCIENT
WEIGH HOUSE SCALES.

Though Eidam, on the Xuyder Zee
gives It's name to those rose red spheres
We, know as Dutch cheeses," which
are instinctively associated with III
digestion, yet 1t Is Alkmaar, In north
crn Holland, that conduces to the week
1y Importance of this edible of COM
merce, as any one who has ever stood
in the quaint old market place upon a
Friday, and about the hour of noon,
will have speedily come to understand.
For the Dutch cheese producer, in
deed, "all roads" may be said to lead
to Alkmaar likewise oil waterways,
and there are many Of them. Thther
come the cheeses by rail. by cart and
by boat; you stumble over them inside
the station as you alight from the
train; they dispute the right Of way be-
tween the rows Of narrow, many col
ored and curiously gabled houses; they
stand In solid stacks upon the landing
stages-heaped up like cannon balls In
readiness for an immediate lombard
ment and. II 'twere not libelous to
breathe aught savoring Of disrespect to
friendly countrys national comesti-
BILE, as deadly, possibly, also to an un-
accustomed stomach as their leaden
prototypes.
But. be that as 1t may. the cheese
market Is rare good sight In quaint
Alkmaar when the peasant proprietor
and his vrouw come In to drive their
bargain at the weigh hoouse with the
wholesale agents from far and near,
and every hostelry does its own brisk |
trade with both parties. Across those
rounded bridges peculiar to Holland
come shoals OF peasant folk in pic
turesQue attire. Who does not know
by now the dress with its glorious cap
and golden "corkscrew" ornaments, the
pride of many generation. making
pretty faces doubly bewitching and
lending some subtle attraction TO even
the hardest featured dame well up In
years? On they come-clatter, clatter,
clatter, vOluble with their cultural flu
ency we somehow feel we ought to I'M
derstand because OF its confuslngly
familiar sound, but Its very kinship to
German sends us astray, and we listen
weigh hOouse becomes a more hope
less tumble of sounds than ever To our
ears, and we content ourselves with
turning our attention to the building
itself. 1t stands where its richly paint
ed facade can be seen clearly reflected
in the cool, smooth waters of the neigh
boring canal. dignifed old pile, built
In 1861, with an especial eye to the
growing Importance of Dutch cheeses.
Alkmaar having in that year received
its right to weigh from William Of
Orange, and thus every cheese chang
ing hands from that date onward hay
ing passed from the producer to the
dealer across the Alkmaar scales. The
present ones, by the way, which have
hung IN their place since 1852. were
made In Amsterdam at cost of 500
guilders and, having conscientlously I
performed their duties without hitch J
ever since, certainly speak volumes for I
the work manship of 200 and odd years (
ago. I
Though the little town Is thronged i
from earliest morn with orderly I
,rowds Of heavy Hollanders. it is not b
until the musical chimes within the 0
III important weigh hoouse turret have J,
'ignifled the hour Of noon by breaking S
orth In melody, generally from some {
veil known comic opera, that the ac-
ual business of the day begins, al c.
hough, "unofficlally." both parties to "
he coming transactions have probably n
lready taken time by the forelock a
yer q glass Of hollands in some inn
n the maarkt. Now. however. the
ware Is carried within
oors, the time bonored ceremony Is U
one through and the ticket stating
he correct weight Of each given. after e
rhich act the money changes hands. II
is study In temperament, this
'elgh hoouse scene in the little Dutch u
own. No hurry skurry" mars the is
aim Of the place or dlsturbs the phleg-
latlc, pipe sucking individuals prl- OF
lariy interested in the transactions 1e
ere going forward. The cheese alone W
GEMS rlotous and inclined to Wholesale NJ
with a mind to roll ca
lther and thither. possibly resulting 81
'Om some "subconscious" memory of
,ws. green meadows and buttercups re
nd q Discrimination to coming bondage W
pom the prOsaic shelves Of some pro- cl
sion dealer.
If so. we honor the "last kicks" fu- I'd
lie though they be, for accustomed De
lnds soon pOunce upon and gather VI
D the stock. of which each single III
reese weighs from two to six kilos.
I'd they are swiftly carried out to
axe way for the next lot. And 50 on, u.,
| through the day, does the trade pro ~.
ed until the last "Eidamer" has been ~
sposed Of, but the extent Of the busl- T.,
,ss done in SO quiet and orderly H.
shion on cheese market days" may ~ ~.
some extent be gagged from the =
ct that no less than 100000 pounds I 80,
eight of Eidam cheeses are computed -.
pass through the Alkmaar weigh
ouse annually before proceeding to
and Rotterdam. where
ch is duly invested with it familiar =
d coat. prior to more extended tray p pa'
J. by land and by sea, often into the Dol
art Of the unknown, travels, how -
err which almost invariably end
thin the interior Of man.-Pall Mall
lzette. c.,