Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-09-17
DITCH CHEESE MART
ouAlN1 ALKMAAR AND ITS ANCIENT
WEIGH HOUSE SCALES.

. Town In Northern Holland Which
For over Two Hundred Years HAS
Had the "Rights to weigh" Every
Cheese Made In the Realm
Though Eidam, on the Zuyder Zee
gives its name to those rose red spheres
we know as "Dutch cheeses' which
are instinctively associated with III
digestion, yet it is Alkmaar' III nor'n-
ern Holland. that conduces to the week
" importance Of this edible OF com
merce. as any one who has ever stoou
in the quaint old market place upon d
Friday, and about the hour OF hoon'
will have speedily come to understand
For the Dutch cheese producer III
deed "all roads" may be said 10 ieau
to Alkmaar, likewise all Waterways
and there are many of them. Thlther
come the cheeses by rail, by cart ana
by boat; you stumble over them lnslue
the station as you alght from the
train; they dispute the right OF way De
tween the rows Of narrow, many COL
ored and curiously gabled houses; they
stand in solid stacks upon the landing
staces-heaped up like cannon balls III
readiness for an immediate bomoaru-
ment and, if 'twere not libelous 10
breathe aught savoring of disrespect 10
a friendly country's national comesu-
BILE. as deadly, possibly, also TO an I'M
accustomed stomach as their leadeh
prototypes.
Rut be that as it may, the cheese
market is a 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 hosiery does its own brisk
trade with both parties. Across those
rounded bridges peculiar to Holland
come shoals of peasant folk III pic
turesoue attire. Who does not know
nv now the dress with its glorious cap
and golden "corkScrew" ornaments, the
pride of many generation, making
pretty faces doubly bewitching ana
lending some subtle attraction 10 even
the hardest featured dame well up III
years? On they cOme-clatter, clatter'
clatter. voluble - their cultural nu-
eney we somehow feel we ought TO I'M
derstand because of its confuslngly
familiar sound, but its very kinship 10
German sends us astray, and we listen
and listen till the jargOn about the
weigh hoouse becomes more nope
less tumble Of sounds than ever to our
ears. and we content ourselves WIN
turning our attention to the building
,tself. II stands where its richly pant
ed facade can be seen clearly reflected
in the cool, smooth waters or the neign-
boring canal, q dignified 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 nav
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 1872, We're
made In Amsterdam at cost or Soo
guilders and. having conscientiously
nerformed their duties without hitch
ever since, certainly speak volumes tor
the workmanship Of 200 and odd years
ago.
Though the little town Is throngeo
from earliest morn with orderly
crowds of heavy Hollanders, it is moi
until the musical chimes within the
all important weigh hoouse turret have
signified the hour Of noon by breaking
forth in melody, generally from some
well known comic opera. that the &C
tual business Of the day begins, al
though, "unoficially," both parties Il
the coming transactions have probably
already taken time by the foreloci
over a glass of hollands in some inI
on the maarkt. Now, however, thu
cumbersome ware is carried wlthll
doors. the time honored ceremony i
gone through and the ticket stating
the correct weight of each given, a1te
which act the money changes hands
It is q study in temperament, tn
weigh hoouse scene in the little Dutcl
town. No hurry skurry' mars tn
calm Of the place or disturbs the phleg
matte, pipe sucking individuals pr
marily interested in the transaction
here going forward. The cheese alon
seems riotous and inclined to wholeSal
INSTRUMENTATION, with a mind to ro
hither and thither, possibly resultn
from some "subconscious' memory o
COWS. green meadows and buttercup
and a Discrimination to coming bondag
upon the prosaic shelves Of some pro
vision dealer.
If so, we honor the "last kicks II
tile though they be, for accustome
hands soon pounce upon and gathe
I'D the stock, Of which each sinGl
cheese weighs from two to six kllo'
and they are swiftly carried out
make way for the next lot. And so OF
all through the day, does the trade pre-
coed until the last "Eidamer" has bee
disposed Of, but the extent of the bus
ness done in so quiet and orderly
fashion on cheese market days ma
to some extent be gagged from II
fact that no less than 100000 pound
weight of Eidam cheeses are compute
to pass through the Alkmaar weig
hoouse annually before proceeding
Amsterdam and Rotterdam, whel
each is duly invested with it familis
red coat, prior to more extended ira
els, by land and by sea, often into IL
heart Of the unknown, travels, how
ever, which almost invariably ell
within the interior of man.-Pan Ma
Gazette.
Hard Luck.