Norwich bulletin., 1911-09-15
IN THE NETHERLANDS
House. Boating on Holland Canals-The Hague-The
House in the Wcods-Shopping and Money Values
Days Visit the Island Of Marker.


about a pint of coins, for the cent
Dutch is not cent as we know it,
nor a centime, the fifth of our cent.
/ One high-broW in our party worked
out nerye-saving expedient. Null
t1ply the number of cents Dutch by
four-tenths and the product viii be
the equivalent in our money. Thus
their twenty-five cents equal ten of
ours. Here, as in Belgium. you
make your purchase, receive a slip,
take it to the nearest cashiers desk,
get your change and the slip. which
latter YOU. take to wrapping coun-
ter and receive your package. In
Paris, you proceed with the clerk
to desk, where your purchase is
noted in a ledger, and you wait till
every is crossed and j dotted before
you get your package. Imagine this
method in use during the opening of
five and ten cent store at home! One
of two shops we visited IN Paris,
however, had system similar to the
shopping card plan usee by our large
stores. Shops do not open till a.
m. and the larger ones close at ) p. IN.
Styles are quite extreme-the win
ter hats being very ugly. monstrous
high concoctions after the grenadier
style, or with immense wings put on
at the most absurd angle, or yards of
silk or velvet, plated and puffed over
them Shoes have the square toe that
prevails abroad and look clumsy
enough.
The women of the working class
wear close white cap with a long
plated piece covering the back of
the neck. Perched on top of this
is a small peaked black bonnet often
with bunch of stiff flowers orna
menting the front. One sees few per-
sons wearing wooden shoes in the city.
Amsterdam, with its canals and
arched bridges, is very picturesque.
We saw the cars drawn by the dogs,
girls carrying milk pals suspended
from each side of a pole borne across
their shoulders, and the market wo-
men in their parti-colored aprons and
stiff white caps. One gees delicious
fruit, but you pay ten cents American
or more for a peach and five to eight
for a, banana
The trains are most comfortable and
run without jolting. Here they run a
close car with an open trailer. They
do not allow passengers to stand in
the cars, but you may wait on the
platform and take the first seat vacat-
ed. When you pay your fare, the con-
ductor gives you a printed slip receipt
from a set of such which he carries on
a board suspended from his neck.
Here as everywhere there is not sus-
picion of the step lively attitude.
The railroad trains have compart-
ments for six or eight persons. The
second class coaches are comforta bly,
side. After the train starts the doors
are locked, and you are forbidden to
lean out of the window.
From Amsterdam we made a days
trip to the island of Marken. passing
through Brock and Monni- kendam.
across the Zuyder Zee to Marken, then
to Volundam and Edam
In the latter place we saw the en-
tire process of cheese making. First,
the large scrupulously clean vat, into
which the fresh milk is poured and to
which rennet is added then moulded
into rough shapes with salt added,
then into other drying places. The
Edam cheese as we know it is painted
deep crimson. The pineapple cheese
is identical with the Edam. When
soft it is put into a coarsely melted
bag and hung up. The bag is tight
ened and the weight of the cheese
presses it into the pineapple shape.
The cheese making takes place in
rooms in the rear of the stable itself.
The stable was as clean as the Cyr
readers tell us. There was the scrub
bed and sanded pebbled or tiled floor,
the windows with their lace curtains
in each immaculate STALL the flower
pots on the window ledge
I In the wall the bed for the cow
! tender. visible upon the opening OF
a wooden door The COWS quarters
looked by far the more comfortable.
not to say airy.
But Marker. wonderful Marken!
Here for the first time was every
thing absolutely unique absolutely for
eign and strange. Rows of small
houses, unspeakably stuffy. some on
piles to avoid the winter floods, paint
ed in bright colors, are open to in
spection. The beds are in the walls
with thick curtains falling before
them. The rooms are often so small
that one could not swing the proven
bal cat in most OF them. Everywhere
is something to sell. A crowd of pic
turesque children met US on one land
ing. The girls wore the bright little
skullcap with white under cap, hay
ing a band of lace or embroidery across
the forehead. Two long curls hang on
each side of the face. short fringe
| of hair is seen below the forehead
| band, and the rest hangs straight be-
| hind When the girls are sixteen
| they shave the back of the head
| leaving the front curls. They wear
| tight little waists of colored stuff with
! square bibs in front and full wooden
| skirts, and big dark apron which
| light plaid goods extending three inch
/, es below the belt. The women wear 9
| sort of all around hustle arrangement
+ which gives the great rotundity. Ev-
I erywhere wooden shoes.
The boys wear tight vests witt
small sleeves, and Immense baggl
/ boomer trousers. generally no hat
sometimes q little cap perches on {
| shock of heavy tow colored hair Tht
/ children besieged us with demands tt
4 buy showing scraps of picturesque
English. You buy plenty time,
thus taking the bull by the horns ant
| combating our easiest excuse. If We
| say No. they shake their little head:
/ funnily, continue running beside us
/ thrusting their wares in our faces
! and saying, inquiringly and pleadingly
Nothing doing?' 1t is so clever an6