The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1914-07-24
A Dutch Girls
Choice
Being a Story of New
Amsterdam
By F. A. mitchell

/ u
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 IL she could return to life
after a couple of centuries she would
see the struggling shnnties about her
home replaced by tall buildings and
the street full Of people. rushing hith-
er and thither In such hurry as was
never seen in the old Dutch town.
At the time Anne lived in Wall
street even the wall or palisade from
which 1t was named had not yet been
built But there was a cattle guard
just 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 q lover, young man owning
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, q saimaker. Nicholas Oothout,
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
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 las 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
err seemed destined to remain forever
n 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
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
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.
Their west. They not only lived lives
too short to take in these changes. but
Anne was Of manageable age and
would not remain so.
While it was known that De Here
favored Monks suit, no one knew
which Of her two lovers Anne pre-
ferred, for one evening she would be
seen sitting under the wings Of the
windmill with Oothout. the next on
the bank Of the pond with Monk. One
day she would be out in boat on the
North river with the farmer on trip
to Communipaw, on the Jersey shore
the next skimming the East river in
the direction of He'll Gate. Even her
father did not know which one Of the
two men she would accept. True, those
were days when parents did not ask
their children whom they preferred to
marry. choosing for them themselves,
but De Here knew that his daughter
could not be forced to marry against
her will. He only feared that she was
SO I'm love with both that she could
not decide upon either and that she
would remain maid.
Indeed. this was Anne's weak point.
She loved to listen to the-to any one
except Hollander-jaw breaking pas.
sages in which Oothout expressed his
tender feelings for her and to see
Monks fine blue British eyes turned
upon her for a like purpose. 1t was
not that she did not In her heart pre-
fer one of the two that she put off de
Gliding between them. but that she did
not relish giving up the lovemaking Of
either.
But what was fun for her was har-
rowing TO the rivals. In those days the
Dutch and English peoples were in no
good humor with each other. and II
was not to be expected that q Dutch
man and an Englishman could long be
rivals for the hand Of a girl without
scrap They met one day near the
fort and began to pummel each other.
There was n cry for the watch, and by
the time both the combatants had be-