Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-05-14
THE BAKERS DOZEN,
Two Different Accounts of the
Origin OF the Phrase.
ONE. PRosAlc, ONE ROMANTIC.

euresque and Carries Rather Good
Moral With u. II
Everybody knows that thirteen is a
Bakers Dozen" but everybody does
bot know why. The origin Of the
phrase bakers dozen" is commonly
attributed to a custom that prevailed
among British bakers In the days when
severe penalties were inflicted upon
tradesmen who cheated their custom.
srs with short weight or short meas
ure. A dozen cakes or rolls or loaves
might #eastly fail short Of the stand
ard weight, SO in order to guard them
selves against the risk Of Inadvertently
mourning the penalties Of the short
weight statutes without going to the
trouble Of weighing everything they
sold the bakers added an extra loaf or
roll as make weight to every doz-
en- cakes or rolls or loayes delivered to
4 customer. This explanation is un
satisfactory. It is disappointingly pro-
sale, and It utterly fails to account
for the fact that the bakers DOZEN is
also commonly known as the devils
DOZEN
A better explanation Is to be found
In q legend that gives the phrase an
American origin. 1t Is not wholly de-
void Of picturesqueness. It suggests
the reason why bakers DOZEN and
devils dezen" are synonyms, and 1t
carries rather good moral with it.. s5
f The story is somewhat as follows: In
the middle Of the seventeenth century
the most famous baker IN the New
Netherlands was Jan Petersen, who
had come to Fort Orange from Amster-
dam and was the first man in the new;
world to make those fiat, oblong, orna-
mentally stamped, with caraway seed.
literally besprinkled, crisp, toothsome
cookies familiar In the days before all
the old Dutch customs sank into dis
use under the name Of New Years
cakes" Petersen was just man, but
his justice was never tempered with
nberality. With him dozen was n
dozen, neither more nor less; also
pennyworth was worth penny, and
he parted with no pennyworth Of his
save In consideration Of a penny had
and received In exchange.
On the night Of Dec. 81, 1868, Jan
Petersen sat in his shop, well stocked
with New Years cakes provided for
the expected demand Of the morrow,
when q little old woman bearing all
the marks Of age and poverty that in
those days marked women out as
witches, entered, demanding dozen
New Years cookies. Petersen care
fully counted out twelve cakes. Here
are but twelve. want q dozen" re-
monstrated his customer. Twelve is a
Dozen" said Jan. "On New Years eve,
tween rich and poor, thirteen is a
Dozen" shrilly insisted his queer Gus
TONER. Give me thirteen" But Pie
tersen would not. He argued that no
body ever: heard the like; that at all
times and on all occasions dozen was
q dozen. Finally, finding argument OF
no avail against the beldame's persist.
ence, he told her to go to der tuyfer'
for the extra cooky. Probably the old
woman took his advice, for she left the
shop, and from that instant Petersen
found himself pursued by some super
natural and malevolent power. All his
New Years cakes turned stale and
moldy before morning, he lost his skill
as a baker, all his dough was SO light
that It few up the chimney or SO
heavy that 1t fell through the oven,
Il faau 4oYY,sr<.rrr,x,,, ,s,1,y,~s% hs,,, Ii. - ~
developed critical disposition and a
tongue hung In the middle, his chill
/ dren went Wild and his trade went
elsewhere. Few men could have fought
4 against such a combination Of misfor,
tunes, but Petersen had money laid
by, and Petersen was the most OBJ.
sunate and phlegmatic Of Dutchmen
So he kept his shop open though no.
body came to buy, and the scant, iii
made and iii baked stock he was able
1 TO provide for 1t nodded on his hands.
During three years on each success
sive New Years eve the old woman
reappeared In Jan Pietersen's melan,
choly shop, demanding the thirteenth
cooky. Each time abe was sent anew
| to the devil. Jan Petersen was ne
food. He could see as far into mill
stone as any man in the New Neither
lands. Almost from the first he had
been convinced Of the connection be
tween his refusal to count thirteen IL
the dozen and his misfortunes. But III
would not violate his life creed: "a
dozen II a dozen. a man has don,
4 his whole duty toward God and toward
his neighbor when he has kept strictly
to the letter Of the law" But at last
when his savings were all gone, b,
broke down and appealed to st. Mich
0las to help him. Instantly the yener
able guardian Of all good Hollander!
/ appeared. The saint sternly rebuket
i the trembling baker for the hard mar
rownsss and self righteousness tina
had given the foul fend power owe
| him, admonished him to be more care
ful In the future and concluded b,
i promising him ONE more chance to re
dean himself. The saint departed. Ii
i walked the old woman with her de
mand for the extra cooky to make u,