The daily Alaskan., 1914-01-28
A New Amsterdam
 New Year
By F. A. MITCHELL

New ear uay .naS CnanSeu Ill d gen.
 eration from what it was for 300 or
 more years. Till some thirty years ago
 it was devoted to making calls. The Dutchmen who settled New York, then
 called New Amsterdam, early in the seventeenth century, brought the GUS tom with them from Holland On the first New Years day in the little town
 nestling about the fort on the point of Manhattan Island probably not hun
 dred. possibly not fifty, men made calls.
 From where the New York GUS tom house now stands east, west and north. for a distance perhaps of 800 yards. which embraced the town, on Jan. i, the good housewives having 1 spent the previous week in scrubbing, sweeping. dusting and polishing their l homes. put on all the petticoats they 1 possessed and in cap and collar sat l themselves down in their parIOrs to re- 1 ceiye callers.
 Now. the day before one of the ear | Hest of these New Years days a bar gain was struck between Katrina Van l Gaasheck and her mother. Frau Van ] Gaasbeck wished her daughter to mar ry D:pdriCh Van Dusen, a rich ship owner. while Katrina preferred An 1 thouy Van Horn. a young fur trader. l ! have called the former of these men l rich saipOwurr. and he certainly was, ! for he u.aS the DOSSeSSOr of slOop fully thirty feet long, on which he car ri.I supplies to the settlers along the l East river as f2s as Hell Gate and along the North river as far as Spuyten Duy- ] vii.
 i The bickeriOgs between mother and 1 daughter has for months past been l cm5iueriug the life of the husband and father. Peter Van Gaasbeck. No
 sooner did ue come home from his
 work in tue evening, pour out q cup of schGapps and light his pipe than the | c,ltter commenced, and he was driven 1 distracted. On this day before New l Years that has been mentioned when ! the turmoil commenced he cried out:
 Settle this matter between you, or, ! by St Nicholas. l will go back to Hol- land on the next ship that sails, leav- ! ing you two here to fight it out" 1 How settle it?" asked mother and . daughter at once.
 Tomorrow will be New Years day. ! Some time between morning and even 1 ing Dietrich Van Dusen and Anthony l Van Horn viii each make a call here ! Let it be agreed between you that the one who calls nearest to the stroke of l the town clock at noon shall be the 1 favored suitor.'
 Frau Van Guasbeck was loath to ac-
 gcp- this arrangement, for she did not trust her daughter, and Katrina was loath to accept it because she did not trust her mother. but each consented. thinking herself sufficiently sharp to outwit the other.
 Then Peter settled himself to his bottle of schuapps and his pipe with great contcntmcut.
 Before 9 o'clock that night, when all ! New AmsterIamerS were in bed. the Srirors had each been informed by the
 one who favored him of the arrange meut and instructed to make his call at the moment the clock struck l2. DfedrIch Van Duscn arose at cockcrow and spent the time between then and neon watching the hands of the town clock. At s he put on a second pair of
 brooches. and every half hour after l that be put on another pair, so that ! by Ii o'clock he was SD iucaSed that
 he resambleI hogshcad of gin set
 upon end on couple of bricks.
 At five minutes of P he cast q last
 glance at the clock and proceeded to the house Of Frau Van DuScn. He was
 received with smiles by both mother and daughtcr. which made him feel l very comfortable, for his rival was not 1 there. it being a minute or two of 12 i o'clock, and he had certainly won. He did not hear the clock strike. for Ka- 1 trfra talked SO loudly that he could not 1 have heard gun fired on tine Battery, ] but a hundred yards distant. When he
 had been in thc house half an hour he
 withdrew. giving place to other callers.
 Diedrich Van Dusen went home and
 was taking off some of his brooches, laughing glecfuIly at having got ahead
 of his rival, when he heard the town clock strike I.
 Tt is of the clock" he said. { He had searce,y spoken when there came another stroke. He stopped, with
 a pair of brooches half off. and listen ed. There was another and another l stroke. When he had counted eleven 1 he paled. and when the twelfth came | he was beside himself with anxiety. | Pulling on inc brooches that he had i half removed. he went outside and
 looked at the clock. The hands stood i at I2. Running to Frau Van Dusen's i he looked in through a window and saw his rival with a sausage in one ! hand and a cup of schnapps in the oth-
 er. As he looked Anthony swallowed ! the schnappS,
 Diedrich declared that something had | gone wrong with the clock. but every ! body said: