Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-06-15

| Anne de deere was u iaooic Va -'~
Amsterdam. now the great city Of New
York. and lived on Wall street Anne
whose father was an FISHERMAN and
| owned the lot ON which he lived. never
dreamed that II she could return to life
after a couple of centuries she would
see the struggling shanties about her
home replaced by tall buildings and
the street full of people. rushing hfth-
er and thither In such a hurry as was
never seen in the old Dutch town.
At the time Anne lived in WAN
street even the wall or palisade from
! which it was named had not yet been
built But there was cattle guard
lust north of her humble abode COM
posed of the branches of trees for the
purpose of keeping the cows and the
pigs and other animals within bounds
1t was no great walk for her to go
down to the river on the east or the
river on the west
Anne was drawn in both directions,
having a lover, a young man owning
a small farm at the foot OF King
since the revolution of the colonies
called Liberty-street. while near the
foot of Wall street dwelt another
wooer, a sailmaker. Nicholas Oothout,
the farmer, was a Dutchman, while
Samuel Monk, the sailmaker, was an
Englishman. Each man possessed GER
tain advantages over the other. Monk
owned a plot of ground near the foot
of Wall street, or, to speak more cor
rectly, what was afterward called Wall
street, and the town was growing In
that direction. But his sweetheart
spoke or understood very little English,
and Oothout, being a Dutchman, could
pour love into her ear, while his rival
must be content to look what he felt
Both men were young, Of good habits
and equally attractive or unattractive,
according TO taste.
In those days stood windmill to the
westward OF where Anne lived, near
the present corner Of Broadway and
Wall street, and on summer evenings
Anne used to meet her Dutch lover
there and, sitting under its great
wings, listen to his tale of love. North
eastward of her home was the Collect,
a pond, and on other evenings she and
the Englishman would sit ON the bank
holding hands, while Monk looked at
her wistfully. The windmill and the
pond have both long since disappear
ed (as have the three persons to whom
this story relates), but old prints OF |
them remain among the New York |
Historical society's records.
Anne's father favored Monks suit |
because the plot Of ground he own
ed was increasing In value, while |
Oothout's little farm on the North riv
er seemed destined to remain forever
a farm. There was then no use for
an avenue extending northward, and
Broadway did not reach as far as
Wall street The bank of the Hudson
no buildings, while the
street on the East river was being
built upon. and the slips or docks con-
tanning the shipping were located
there. Had these people lived CEN |
turtles instead of scores of years Dot 7
bouts farm would have won old De
Here's appreciation to the owners
suit for the hand of his daughter, for
today the east side in New York is OF
little value compared with that far
her west. They not only lived lives
90 short to take in these changes, but
Anne was of a manageable age and
would not remain so.
While it was known that De Here
avored Monks suit, no one knew
which of her two lovers Anne pre-
erred, for one evening she would be
zen sitting under the wings of the
windmill with Oothout, the next on
he bank of the pond with Monk. One
lay she would be out in a boat on the
North river with the farmer on a trip
o Communipaw. on the Jersey shore,
he next sktmming the East river In
he direction of He'll Gate. Even her
ather did not know which one of the
wo men she would accept. True, those
Fere days when parents did not ask
heir children whom they preferred to
Harry, choosing for them themselves,
ut De Here knew that his daughter
ould not be forced to marry against
er Will He only feared that she was
o in love with both that she could
OF decide upon either and that she
yould remain q maid.
Indeed. this was Anne's weak point.
he loved to listen to the-to any one
rcept Hollander--Jaw breaking pas
Iges in which Oothout expressed his s
.nder feelings for her and to see I
onk's fine blue British eyes turned q
pom her for like purpose. 1t was
1t that she did not in her heart pre- c
r one of the two that she put of de-
ding between them. but that she did Q
It relish giving up the lovemaking of I,
Their.
But what was fun for her was har- fl
wing to the rivals. In those days the u
utch and English peoples were in no ii
cd humor with each other. and 1t u
as not TO be expected that a Dutch t,
an and an Englishman could long be s.
rails for the hand of girl without n
rap. They met one day near the II
IT and began to pummel each other. 8,
lere waa cry for the watch. and by s,
e time both the combatants had be- 81
me exhausted a fat man came run
1G dowc Broadway with number -