i, '. COPYRIGHT DEPOSE A Jayhawker in Europe A Jayhawker in Europe BY W. Y. MORGAN Author of "A Journey of a Jayhawker" MONOTYPEP ANf» PRINTED BV CRANE & COMPANY TOPEKA Ki >^ Copyright 1911, By Crake & Company ©CLA303540 Preface These letters were printed in the Hutchin- son Daily News during the summer of 1911. There was no ulterior motive, no lofty pur- pose, just the reporter's idea of telling what he saw. They are now put in book form without revision or editing, because the writer would probably make them worse if he tried to make them better. W. Y. MORGAN. Hutchinson, Kansas, November 1, 1911. Co tfje fapfjatofeer* tofio *tap at Some and take t&dr (European trip* in tfictr minus anb in tfte books, tfii0 toolume is rrgpcctf ulip tir&i' cate& by one ot t&e Table of Contents Page New York in the Hot Time, 1 Breaking Away, 7 On the Potsdam, 12 The Lions of the Ship, 18 Ocean Currents, 25 The Dutch Folks, 30 In Old Dordrecht, 37 The Dutchesses, 44 The Pilgrims' Start, 50 Amsterdam, and Others 5Q Cheeses and Bulbses, 63 Historic Letden, 72 The Dutch Capital, 80 "The Dutch Company," 88 The Great River, 96 Along the Rhine, 104 In German Towns, 112 Arriving in Paris, 120 The French Character 127 The Latin Quarter, 135 The Boulevards of Paris, 144 Some French Ways, 154 In Dover Town 162 Old Canterbury Today, 169 The English Strike 178 Englishman the Great, 187 The North of Ireland, 198 Scotland and the Scotch. 211 The Land of Burns, 220 The Journey's End, 228 A Jayhawker in Europe luiinuioairaiimnQnuminioimiiiiuiiniiiimiimauuiiiauiDuiiuinuitMuiimiiauNuiinioninmiuraiiiiuiiiiiaimiiiBt New York in the Hot Time New York, July 10, 1911. The last day on American soil before start- ing on a trip to other lands should be marked with a proper spirit of seriousness, and I would certainly live up to the propriety of the oc- casion if it were not for two things, — the baggage and the weather. But how can a man heave a sigh of regret at departing from home, when he is chasing over Jersey City and Hoboken after a stray trunk, and the ther- mometer is breaking records for highness and the barometer for humidity? I have known some tolerably warm zephyrs from the south which were excitedly called "hot winds," but they were balmy and pleasant to the touch in comparison with the New York hot wave which wilts collar, shirt and backbone into one mass. The prospect of tomorrow being (i) £ A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE out on the big water with a sea breeze and a northeast course does not seem bad, even if you are leaving the Stars and Stripes and home and friends. There is nothing like hot, humid weather to destroy patriotism, love, affection, and common civility. I speak in mild terms, but I have returned from Ho- boken, the station just the other side of the place whose existence is denied by the Uni- versalists. This is the place the ship starts from, and not from New York, as it is ad- vertised to do. jimimniiamiimmtt Speaking of weather reminds me that the West is far ahead of New York in the emanci- pation of men. The custom here is for men to wear coats regardless of the temperature, whereas in the more intelligent West a man is considered dressed up in the evening if he takes off his gallusses along with his coat. Last night we went to a "roof garden" and expected that it would be a jolly Bohemian affair, but every man sat with his coat on and perspired until he couldn't tell whether the young ladies of the stage were kicking high or not, and worse than that, he did not care. NEW YORK IN THE HOT TIME 3 I have been again impressed with the fact that there are no flies in New York City. There are no screens on the windows, not even of the dining-rooms, and yet I have not seen a fly. I wish Dr. Crumbine would tell us why it is that flies swarm out in Kansas and leave without a friendly visit such a rich pasture-ground as they would find on the millions of humans on Manhattan island. If I were a fly I would leave the swatters and the hostile board of health of Kansas, and take the limited train for New York and one per- petual picnic for myself and family. imiwiwiairaiMiit This afternoon I went to the ball game, of course. Some people would have gone to the art exhibit or the beautiful public library. But New York and Chicago were to play and Matthewson was to pitch, and the call of duty prevailed over the artistic yearnings which would have taken me elsewhere. Coming home from the game I had an idea — which is a dangerous thing to do in hot weather. There has been a good deal of talk in the newspapers about the Republicans not agreeing on a can- didate, and the question as to whether Taft 4 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE can be reelected or not is being vigorously debated. Put 'em all out and nominate Christy Matthewson. This would insure the electoral vote of New York, for if the Re- publicans put "Matty" on the ticket the elec- tion returns would be so many millions for Matthewson and perhaps a few scattering. There were about as many errors and bone- heads in the game between Chicago and New York as there would be in a Kansas State League game, and more than would come to pass in the match between the barbers and the laundrymen of Hutchinson. The players did not indulge in that brilliant repartee with the umpire which is a feature of the Kansas circuit, and the audience, while expressing its opinion of the judgments, had no such wealth of phrases as pours over the boxes from the grandstand at home. The language used could have come from the ministerial alliance, and sometimes the game seemed more like a moving-picture show than a real live game of baseball. Chicago won, 3 to 2 in ten innings, and I feel that my European trip is a decided success so far. NEW YORK IN THE HOT TIME 5 This morning I took a little walk down Wall street and saw the place in which the Great Red Dragon lives. These New York bankers and brokers are not so dangerous as I have been led to believe by reading some of the speeches in Congress. There was no blood around the Standard Oil building, and the office of J. Pierpont was filled with men who looked as uncomfortable and unhappy as I felt with the heat. Sometimes I think the men of Wall street, New York, are just like the men at home, — getting all they can under the rules of the game and only missing the bases when the umpire looks the other way. The few with whom I talked were really con- cerned about the crops and the welfare of the people of Kansas, perhaps because they have some of their money invested in our State, and I got the idea that Wall street and all it represents is interested in the prosperity of the country and knows that hard times any- where mean corresponding trouble for some of them in New York. New York is a growing city. In many re- spects it is like Hutchinson. The street pav- 6 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE ing is full of holes and new buildings are going up in every direction. Every few months "the highest skyscraper" is erected, and now one is being constructed that will have fifty or sixty stories — it doesn't matter which. The buildings are faced with brick or stone, but really built of iron. I saw one today on which the bricklaying had been begun at the seventh story and was proceeding in both directions. That was the interesting feature of the build- ing to me. That and the absence of flies and the baseball game are the general results of my efforts today to see something of the great- est city in America. We sail tomorrow morning. Then it will be ten days on the ship for us. One thing about an ocean voyage is reasonably sure: If you don't like it you can't get off and walk. A really attractive feature is that there is no dust and you don't watch the clouds and wish it would rain so you will not have to water the lawn. Breaking Away Steamship Potsdam, July 11. The sailing of an ocean steamer is always a scene of delightful confusion and excitement. Thousands of people throng the pier and the ship, saying goodbyes to the hundreds who are about to leave. The journey across the ocean, though no longer a matter of danger or hard- ship, is yet enough of an event to start the emotions and make the emoters forget every- thing but the watery way and the long ab- sence. The crowd is anxious, expectant, sad, and unrestrained. Men who rarely show personal feeling look with glistening eyes on the friends to be left behind. Women, who are always seeing disaster to their loved ones, strive with pats, caresses and fond phrases to say the consoling words or to express the terror in their hearts. The timid girl, off for a year's study, wishes she had not been so venture- some. The father rubs his eyes and talks loudly about the baggage. The mother clings (7) 8 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE to her son's arm and whispers to him how she will pray for him every night, and hopes he will change his underclothes when the days are cool. Young folks hold hands and tell each other of the constant remembrance that they will have. Big bouquets of flowers are brought on by stewards, the trunks go sliding up the plank and into the ship, the officers strut up and down, conscious of the admiring glances of the curious, orders are shouted, sailors go about tying and untying ropes, the rich family parades on with servants and boxes, the whistle blows for the visitors to leave, and the final goodbyes and "write me" and "lock the back door" and "tell Aunt Mary" and such phrases fill the air while handkerchiefs alter- nately wipe and wave. Slowly the big boat backs into the stream amid a fog of cheers and sobs, then goes ahead down the harbor, past the pier still alive with fluttering handkerchiefs, the voices no longer to be heard, and the passengers feel that sinking of the heart that comes from the knowledge of the separation by time and dis- tance coming to them for weeks and months, perhaps forever. Sorrowfully they strain for BREAKING AWAY 9 a last look at the crowd, now too far away to distinguish the wanted face, and then they turn around, look at their watches, and wonder how long it will be before lunch. Of course the Dutch band played the Star- Spangled Banner as the boat trembled and started ; of course the last passenger arrived just a minute late and was prevented from making an effort to jump the twenty feet of water which then separated the ship from the pier. Of course the boys sold American flags and souvenir post cards. Of course the tour- ists wondered if they would be seasick and their friends rather hoped they would be, though they did not say so. The steamboats whistled salutes, and the band changed its tune to a Dutch version of "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and with flags flying the Pots- dam moved past the big skyscrapers, past the Battery, alongside the Statue of Liberty, and out toward the Atlantic like a swan in River- side Park. The voyage has begun. The traveler has to look after his baggage, which is miraculously on board, find his deck chairs and his dining-room seats, and between-times rush out occasionally to get one more glimpse 10 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE of the New Jersey coast, which is never very- pretty except when you are homeward bound, when even Oklahoma would look good. miu«iiunc This boat, the Potsdam, of the Holland- American line, is not one of the big and mag- nificent floating hotels which take travelers across the Atlantic so rapidly that they do not get acquainted with each other and in such style that they think they are at a summer resort. But it is a good-sized, easy-sailing, slow-going ship that will take about ten days across and has every comfort which the Dutch can think of, and they are long on having things comfortable. It has a reputation for steadiness and good meals which makes it popular with people who have traveled the Atlantic and who enjoy the ocean voyage as the best part of a trip abroad. It lands at Rotterdam, one of the best ports of Europe and right in the center of the most interesting part of the Old World. auwiioBOiiiuiin«i The pilot left us at Sandy Hook, and now the Potsdam is sailing right out into the big BREAKING AWAY 11 water. A cool breeze has taken the place of the hot air of New York. The ocean is smooth ; there is neither roll nor heave to the ship. Everybody is congratulating himself that this is to be a smooth voyage. A sub- stantial luncheon is still staying where it be- longs, and we are looking over the other pas- sengers and being looked over by them. There is no chance to get off and go back if we wanted to do so. And we don't want to — not yet. On the Potsdam Steamship Potsdam, July 14. The daily life on shipboard might be consid- ered monotonous if one were being paid for it, but under the present circumstances and surroundings the time goes rapidly. Every- body has noticed that the things he is obliged to do are dull and uninteresting. Any ordi- nary American would demand about $10 a day for fastening himself in a boat and remaining there for ten days. He would get tired of the society, sick of the meals and sore on his job. But call it "fun" and he pays $10 a day for the pleasure of the ride. The Potsdam is 560 feet long, sixty-two feet wide, and seven stories high, — four above the water-line and three below. On this trip its first-class ac- commodations are filled, about 260 people; but the second class is not crowded, and less than a hundred steerage passengers occupy that part of the ship which often carries 2,100 people. The steerage is crowded on the trip to America, filled with men and women who C12) ON THE POTSDAM 13 are leaving home and fatherland in order to do better for themselves and their children. They go back in later years, for a visit, but they do not travel in the steerage. They carry little American flags and scatter thoughts of freedom and free men in the older lands. This is a Dutch ship and the language of the officers and crew is Dutch. While a few of them speak some English and most of them know a little, the general effect is that of getting into an entirely foreign environment. The Dutch language is a peculiar blend. It seems to be partly derived from the German, partly from the English, and partly from the Choctaw. The pronunciation is difficult be- cause it is unlike the German, the English or the Latin tongues. An ordinary word spelled out looks like a freight train of box cars with several cabooses. As one of my Dutch fellow-passengers said when he was in- structing me how to pronounce the name of the capital of Holland, " Don't try to say it; sneeze it." A great deal of interest is added to the smallest bits of conversation by the doubt as to whether the Dutch speaker is telling you 14 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE that it is dinner-time or whether he has swallowed his store teeth. Which reminds me of a little story Ben Nusbaum told me of the Dutchman who came into the Oxford cafe, sat up to the counter and in proper Dutch etiquette greeted the waiter with the salutation, 'Wie gehts?" Turning toward the kitchen the waiter sang out, "wheat cakes!" "Nein! nein!" shouted the Dutchman. "Nine," said the waiter, scornfully; "you'll be dam lucky if you get three!" jiniimiinnwiiiiiLmt The principal occupation on board a Dutch ship is eating, and the next most important is drinking. The eats begin with a hearty breakfast from 8 to 10 o'clock. At 11 o'clock, beef soup, sandwiches and crackers. At 12 : 30, an elaborate luncheon. At 4 o'clock, afternoon tea, with sandwiches and fancy cakes. At 7 o'clock, a great dinner. At 9 o'clock, coffee, sandwiches, etc. Any time between these meals you can get something to eat, anything from beef to buns, and the table in the smok- ing-room is always loaded with cheese, sau- sage, ham, cakes and all the little knick-knacks ON THE POTSDAM 15 that tempt you to take one as you go by. And yet there is surprise that some people are seasick. You can get anything you want to drink except water, which is scarce, and apparently only used for scrubbing and bathing. Of course the steward will find you a little water, if you are from Kansas, but he thinks you are sick, wants to add a hot-water bag, and sug- gests that the ship doctor might help you some. I have spoken before of the Dutch band. It is a good one, and loves to play. The first concert is at 10 in the morning. There is orchestra music during luncheon and dinner, and band concerts afternoon and evening. I like a German band, or a Dutch band, so long as it sticks to its proper repertoire. But there never was a German band that could play "My Old Kentucky Home" and "Swanee River," and every German band persists in doing so in honor of the Americans. I sup- pose this desire to do something you can't do is not confined to Dutch musicians. I know a man who can whistle like a bird, but he in- 16 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE sists that he is a violinist, and plays second fiddle. I know a singer with a really great voice who persists in the theory that he can recite, which he can't. Therefore he is a great bore, and nobody thinks he can even sing. Nearly all of us are afflicted some along this line, and the Dutch band on the Potsdam is merely accenting the characteristic in brass. jiHinttraiaiiiiitnifnt Today I saw a whale. Every time I am on the ocean I see a whale. At first nobody else could see it, but soon a large number could. There was a good deal of excitement, and the passengers divided into two factions, those who saw the whale and those who didn't and who evidently thought we didn't. The argu- ment lasted nearly all the morning, and would be going on yet if a ship had not appeared in the distance, and our passengers divided promptly as to whether it was a Cunarder, a French liner, or a Norwegian tramp freighter. This discussion will take our valuable time all the afternoon. Friends will become enemies, and some of those who rallied around the whale story are almost glaring at each other over the nationality of that distant vessel. I am ON THE POTSDAM 17 trying to keep out of this debate, as I am something of a Hero because I saw the whale. I have already told of my nautical experience on Cow creek, so while I feel I would be con- sidered an authority, it is better to let some of the other ambitious travelers get a reputa- tion. The Lions of the Ship Steamship Potsdam, July 19. There are always "lions" on a ship, not the kind that roar and shake their manes, but those the other passengers point at and after- ward recall with pride. I often speak care- lessly of the time I crossed with Willie Vander- gould, although he never left his room during the voyage and was probably sleeping off the effects of a long spree. Once I was a fellow- passenger with Julia Marlowe, a fact Julia never seemed to recognize. There are always a few counts and capitalists on an ocean steamer, and a ship without a lion is un- fortunate. Our largest and finest specimen is Booth Tarkington, the head of the Indiana school of fiction, an author whose books have brought him fame and money, and a play- wright whose dramatizations have won suc- cess. He is the tamest lion I ever crossed with. He is delightfully democratic, not a bit chesty, but rather modest, and as friendly to a travel- ing Jayhawker as he is to the distinguished (18) THE LIONS OF THE SHIP 19 members of the company. In fact, he under- stands and speaks the Kansas language like a native. His ideal of life is to have a home on an island in the track of the ocean steamers so he can sit on the porch and watch the ships come and go. Not for me. It is too much like living in a Kansas town where No. 3 and No. 4 do not stop, and every day the loco- motives snort and go by without even hesitat- ing. lu.imimraiiiiiiiiui: Tarkington is an honest man, so he says, and he tells good sea stories. His favorite true story is of Toboga Bill, a big shark which followed ships up and down the South-Ameri- can coast, foraging off the scraps the cooks threw overboard. Tarkington's friend, Cap- tain Harvey, got to noticing that on every trip his boat was escorted by Toboga Bill, whose bald spot on top and a wart on the nose made him easily recognizable. Harvey got to feed- ing him regularly with the spoiled meat and vegetables, and Toboga Bill would come to the surface, flop his fin at the captain and thank him as plainly as a shark could do. After several years of this mutual acquaintance the 20 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE captain happened to be in a small-boat going out to his ship at a Central- American port. The boat upset, and the captain and sailors were immediately surrounded by a herd of man-eating sharks. The shore was a mile away and the captain swam that distance, the only one who escaped; and all the way he could see Toboga Bill with his fin standing up straight, keeping the other sharks from his old friend. Occasionally Toboga would give the captain a gentle shove, and finally pushed him onto the beach. This story Tarkington admitted sounded like a fish story, but he has a motor-boat named Toboga Bill, which verifies the tale. That reminded me of a Kansas fish story which I introduced to the audience. Every- body in Kansas knows of the herd of hornless catfish which has been bred near the Bower- sock dam at Lawrence. Some years ago Mr. Bowersock, who owns the dam that furnishes power for the mill and other factories, con- ceived the idea that big Kaw river catfish going through the mill-race and onto the water- wheel added much to the power generated. THE LIONS OF THE SHIP 21 Then he read that fish are very sensitive to music. So he hired a man with an accordion to stand over the mill-race and play. The catfish came from up and down stream to hear the music, and almost inevitably drifted through the race, onto the wheel, and in- creased the power. The fishes' horns used to get entangled in the wheel and injure the fish ; so Mr. Bowersock, who is a kind-hearted man and very persistent, had a lot of the fish caught and dehorned, and in a year or two he had a large herd of hornless catfish. These fish not only turn out to hear the music, but they have learned to enjoy the trip through the mill- race and over the wheel, so that every Sunday or oftener whole families of catfish — and they have large families — come to Bowersock's dam to shoot the chutes something as people go out to ride on the scenic railway. Whenever the water in the river gets low Mr. Bowersock has the band play : the catfish gather and go round and round over the wheel, furnishing power for the Bowersock mill when every other wheel on the river is idle from lack of water. There were some skeptical folks who heard 22 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE my simple story and affected to disbelieve. But I assured them that it could be easily proven, and if they would go to Lawrence I would show them the Bowersock dam and the catfish. It is always a good idea to have the proofs for a fish story. juimiiuioimimnji The next "lion" on board is Gov. Fook, returning from the Dutch West Indies, where he has been governing the islands and Dutch Guiana. The governor is a well-informed gentleman, and a splendid player of pinochle. The Dutch have the thrifty habit of making their colonies pay. They are not a "world power" and do not have to be experimenting with efforts to lift the white man's burden. Their idea is that the West-Indian and the East-Indian who live under the Dutch flag shall work. The American idea is to educate and convert the heathen and pension them from labor. Our theory sounds all right, but it results in unhappy Filipinos and increased expense for Americans. The Dutch colonials pay their way whether they get an education or not. THE LIONS OF THE SHIP 23 One unfamiliar with modern steamship travel would think that the captain and his first and second officers were the important officials on board. They are not. The officers rank about as follows : 1st, the cook ; 2nd, the engineer ; 3rd, the barber, and after that the rest. The cook on an ocean steamer gets more pay than the captain, and is now ranked as an officer. The managing director of a big German company was accustomed on visiting any ship of their line, to first shake hands with the cook and then with the captain. When one of the officers suggested that he was not following etiquette he answered that there was no trouble getting captains and lieuten- ants but it was a darned hard job to find a cook. The cook has to buy, plan meals, supervise the kitchen and run it economically for the company and satisfactorily for the passengers, for over 2,000 people. The barber is the man on the ship who knows everything for sure. Ask the captain when we will get to Rotterdam and he will qualify and trim his answer by referring to possible winds and tides, and he won't say exactly. Ask the barber and he will tell you 24 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE we will get there at 10 o'clock on Friday night. He knows everything going on in the boat, from the kind of freight carried in the hold to the meaning of the colors painted on the smokestack. During this voyage I have had more numerous and interesting facts than anybody, because I have not fooled with talk- ing to the captain or the purser or the steward, but gotten my information straight from the fountain of knowledge, the barber shop. How- ever, this is not peculiar to ships. The same principle applies at Hutchinson and every other town. Ocean Currents Steamship Potsdam, July 21. This is the eleventh day of the voyage from New York, and if the Potsdam does not have a puncture or bust a singletree she will ar- rive at Rotterdam late tonight. The Pots- dam is a most comfortable boat, but it is in no hurry. It keeps below the Hutchin- son speed limit of fifteen miles an hour. But a steamship never stops for water or oil, or to sidetrack or to wait for connections. This steady pounding of fourteen miles an hour makes an easy speed for the passenger, and the verdict of this ship's company is that the Potsdam is a bully ship and the captain and the cook are all right. imiitiiimcmuions Nearly all the way across the Atlantic we have been in the Gulf stream. I have read of this phenomenal current which originates in the Gulf of Mexico and comes up the east- ern coast of the United States so warm that it affects the climate wherever it touches. (25) 26 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Then nearly opposite New England it turns and crosses the Atlantic, a river of warm water many miles wide, flowing through the ocean, which is comparatively cold. This stream is a help to the boats going in its direc- tion, although it has the bad feature of fre- quent fogs caused by the condensation which comes when the warm and cold air currents meet. The Gulf stream is believed to be re- sponsible for the green of Ireland and for the winter resorts of southern England. It goes all the way across the Atlantic and into the English Channel, with a branch off to Ireland. What causes the Gulf stream? I forget the scientific terms, but this is the way it is, according to my friend Mr. Vischer, formerly of the German navy. The water in the Gulf of Mexico is naturally warm. The motion of the earth, from west to east, and other currents coming into the gulf, crowd the warm water out and send the big wide stream into the Atlantic with a whirl which starts it in a northerly and easterly direction. The same Providence that makes the grass grow makes the course of the cur- rent, and it flows for thousands of miles, OCEAN CURRENTS 27 gradually dissipating at the edges, but still a warm-water river until it breaks on the coast of the British Isles and into the North Sea. Perhaps Mr. Vischer would not recog- nize this explanation, but I have translated it into a vernacular which I can understand. iiimiiwuuiuuiiiiiiic The Gulf stream reminds me of the Medi- terranean. Not having much else to worry about, I have gone to worrying over the Medi- terranean Sea. The ocean always flows into the sea. The current through the strait of Gibraltar is always inward. Many great rivers contribute to the blue waters of the great sea. There is no known outlet. Why does not the Mediterranean run over and fill the Sahara desert, which is considerably be- low the sea-level? Scientists have tried to figure this out, and the only tangible theory is that the bottom of the Mediterranean leaks badly in some places, and that the water finds its way by subterranean channels back to the ocean. What would happen if an erup- tion of Vesuvius should stop up the drain- pipe? Now worry. 28 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Tonight we saw another phenomenon, the aurora borealis. It looked to me like a beau- tiful sunset in the north. We are sailing in the North Sea along the coast of Belgium, and the water reaches northward to the pole. The aurora borealis is another phenomenon not easily explained, but Mr. Vischer says it is probably the reflection of the sun from the ice mirror of the Arctic. And it does make you feel peculiar to see what is apparently the light of the sunset flare up toward the "Dip- per" and the North Star. luimuiiBiiuiiiiiira Some of our passengers disembarked today at Boulogne. This was the first time the Potsdam had paused since she left New York a week ago last Tuesday. This was the stop for the passengers who go direct to Paris. The Dutch who are homeward bound and those of us who think it best to fool around a little before encountering the dangers of Paris, continue to Rotterdam. We should be spending the evening with maps and guide books preparing ourselves for the art galleries, cathedrals, canals and windmills. As a mat- ter of fact, we are wondering what is going OCEAN CURRENTS 29 on at home. There is a balance-wheel in the human heart that makes the ordinary citizen who is far afield or afloat turn to the thoughts of the home which he left, seeking a change. ammiuiniiwmit A smoking-room story : An American in a European art gallery was heading an aggre- gation of family and friends for a study of art. His assurance was more pronounced than his knowledge. "See this beautiful Titian," he said. "What glorious color, and mark the beauty of the small lines. Isn't it a jim dandy? And next to it is a Rubens by the same artist!" The Dutch Folks Rotterdam, Holland, July 23. It seemed to me unnecessary, but I had to explain to some friends why I was going especially to Holland. It is the biggest little country in the world. In art it rivals Italy, in business it competes with England, his- torically it has had more thrills to the mile than France, and in appearance it is the oddest, queerest, and most different from our own country, of all the nations of central Europe. Holland gives you more for your money and your time than any other, and that's why I am back here to renew the hur- ried acquaintance with the Dutch made a few years ago. Landing in Rotterdam was an experiment. The guide books and the tourist authorities pass Rotterdam over with brief mention. Baedeker, the tripper's friend, suggests that you can see Rotterdam in a half-day. That is because Rotterdam is short on picture gal- leries and cathedrals. It is a great, busy (30) THE DUTCH FOLKS 31 city of a half-million people, and one of the most active commercially in the world. It is the port where the boats from the Rhine meet the ships of the sea. It is the greatest freight shipping and receiving port of north- ern Europe. It is the com ng city of the north, because of its natural advantages in cheap freight rates. After looking it over hurriedly it seems to me to be one of the most interesting of cities. I am not going to run away from cathedrals and galleries. I am not intending to dodge when I see a beauti- ful landscape coming. But I have done my duty in the past and have seen the great cathedrals and the exhibitions of art. No one can come to Europe and not see these things once, for if he did he would not be able to lift up his head in the presence of other travelers. But he does not have to do them a second time. If I want to see pic- tures of Dutch ladies labeled "Madonna," I will see them. If I don't want to, I do not have to. In other words, if I go to the "tour- ist delights" it will be my own fault. I would rather see the people themselves than the pictures of them. I want to observe 32 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE how they work, what they work for, what their prospects are, and wherein they differ from the great Americans. smjjfMfflDiiimujfiiT Man made most of Holland. Nearly all of the country is below the level of the sea, much of it many feet below. All that keeps the tide of the North Sea from flooding the country with from ten to a hundred feet of water every day are the dikes which man has built. Behind these huge embankments lies a country as flat as the flattest prairie in Kan- sas. A few sandhills and an occasional little rise of ground might stick out of the water if the dikes broke, but I doubt it. This "made" land has been fertilized and built up by the silt of the rivers, added to by the labor and science of man, until it is a vast market garden. The water of the rivers is diverted in every direction into canals. There is no current to the rivers ; the surface is too flat, and the fresh water is backed up twice a day by the ocean tides at the mouths. There are practically no locks and the move- ment of the water is hardly perceptible, ex- cept near the coast, where it responds to the THE DUTCH FOLKS 33 advance and retreat of the sea. These canals are an absolute necessity for drainage, other- wise the country would be a swamp. Then they are used as roads, and practically all the freight is carried to market cheaply in canal- boats. The canals also serve as fences. The drainage water is pumped by windmills, which are then used to furnish power for every imaginable manufacturing purpose, from saw- ing lumber to grinding wheat. The cheap wind-power enabled the people to clear the land of water. So you see why there are dikes, canals and windmills in Holland : be- cause they were the only available instru- ments in the hand of man to beat back the sea and build a productive soi 1 . They were not inserted in the Holland landscape for beauty or for art's sake, but because they were necessities ; and yet great artists come to Holland to paint pictures of these practical things, and when they want to add more beauty they insert Dutch cattle and wooden shoes. All of which shows that the plain everyday things around us are really pic- turesque ; and they are, whether you look at 34 A JATHAWKER IN EUROPE the sandhills along the Arkansas or the dunes along the North Sea. imuiiiimiunimDiiit In this little country, containing 12,500 square miles of land and water, smaller than the Seventh congressional district of Kansas, live almost 6,000,000 of the busiest people on earth. Their character may be drawn from their history. They first beat the ocean out of the arena and then made the soil. They met and overcame more obstacles than any other people in getting their land. And then for several centuries they had to fight all the rest of Europe to keep from being ab- sorbed by one or the other of the great powers. They drove out the Spaniards at a time when Spain was considered invincible. They licked England on the sea, and the Dutch Admiral Tromp sailed up and down the Channel with a broom at the mast of his ship. They drove Napoleon's soldiers and his king out of the country. They never willingly knuckled down to anybody, and they never stayed down long when they were hit. The Dutch have for centuries been con- sidered the best traders in Europe. They THE DUTCH FOLKS 35 have the ports for commerce and they have the money. They own 700,000 square miles of colonies, with a population six times as large as their own. From the beginning they have been ruled by merchants and business men, rather than by kings and princes, by men who knew how to buy and sell and fight. They have been saving and thrifty, and can dig up more cash than any other bunch of in- habitants on the globe. They have sunk some money in American railroads, but they have made it back, and they always take in- terest. Market-gardening and manufactur- ing and trade have been their resources, and nothing can beat that three of a kind for piling up profits and providing a way to keep the money w T orking. Of course these characteristics and this en- vironment have made the Dutch peculiar in some ways, and they are generally counted a little close or "near." They habitually use their small coin, the value of two-fifths of an American cent, and they want and give all that is coming. They have good horses, fat stomachs, and lots of children. They are pleasant but not effusive, and they are as 36 A JATHAWKER IN EUROPE proud of their country as are the inhabitants of any place on earth. They believe in every- body working, including the women and the dogs. Their struggle with the sea never ends, and they follow the same persistent course in every line of development. They are so clean it is a wonder they are comfortable, and they believe in eating and drinking and having a good time, just so it doesn't cost too much. They are a great people, and here's looking at them. In Old Dordrecht Dordrecht, July 23. This is the oldest town in Holland, and once upon a time was the great commercial city. It is about fifteen miles from Rotterdam, and remember that fifteen miles is a long distance in this country. It is built upon an island; two rivers and any number of canals run around it and through it whenever the tide ebbs or flows. Good-sized ocean steamers come to its wharves, and until other cities developed deeper harbors Dordrecht was the Hutchinson of southwest Holland. And now let me explain that the people of this country do not call it Holland, but The Netherland. Originally Holland was the western part of the present Netherland. Dordrecht is in old South Holland. About nine hundred years ago the Count of Holland, who then ruled in this precinct, decided to levy a tax or a tariff on all goods shipped on this route, the main traveled road from England to the Orient. The other counts and kings and bishops (37) 88 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE kicked, but after a fight the right of the Count of Holland was vindicated, and he built the city of Dordrecht as a sort of customs house. This was in 1008. For several hundred years Dordrecht prospered and was known as a great commercial city. Then Antwerp, Rot- terdam and Amsterdam came forward with better harbors, and Dordrecht took a back seat. But it has always been one of the im- portant places in The Netherland. When William of Orange took hold of the revolution against Spain, the first conference of the repre- sentatives of the Dutch states was held in Dordrecht, and it was always loyal to the cause of Dutch freedom. The best hotel and restaurant in the city today is The Orange, named for the royal house which has so long been at the head of the Dutch government. My idea of a really important statesman is one for whom hotels and cigars are named centuries after he has passed away. UMiiuiunii.'iuiiiini This is Sunday, and I am forced to believe that the Dutch are not good churchgoers. We went to the evening service in the great cathe- dral. In fact, we went to the cathedral and IN OLD DORDRECHT 39 suddenly the service began without our hav- ing time to retire gracefully. So we decided to stay, and in a prominent place was a list of the prices of seats. Some cost ten cents, some five cents, and some were marked free. I handed ten cents to the lady in charge, and we took two seats in the rear, which I after- ward discovered were free. The women seem to run the church much as they do at home. The Dutch hymns were not so bad, but the Dutch sermon was not interesting to me. During the closing song, we thought we would slip out quietly, but when we reached the door we found it locked. The custom is to lock the door and allow no one to enter or leave during the service, but as a special favor to Americans, who evidently did not know what they were doing, the guardian of the door un- locked it, and out we went amid general interest of the congregation. We came from Rotterdam on a little steam- boat, which scooted along the rivers and canals like a street car. Very often the canal was built higher than the adjoining land, and it gave the peculiar feeling of boating in the air. 40 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE There is no waste ground. Every foot of it not occupied by a house or a chicken-yard, is pasture or under cultivation. Every farmer has a herd of those black-and-white cattle. Some of the herds are as many as six or seven cows. But every cow acted as if she were doing her full duty toward making Holland the wealthiest of nations. liiuiiiniiiniuiimmii The streets of Dordrecht are generally nar- row, like those of all old towns. Many of the buildings are very old, and a favorite style of architecture is to have the front project several feet forward over the street. The tops of opposite buildings often almost meet. I don't see why they do not meet and come down kerwhack, but they don't. Imagine these quaint streets with old Dutch houses, white and blue, with red tiled roofs, and green and yellow thrown in to give them color, with angles and dormers and curious corners, the tops projecting toward one another, and you can see how interesting a Dutch street can be if it tries, as it does in Dordrecht. Of course in the outer and newer parts of the town are larger streets and more modern houses, with THE SCRUBBING-BRUSH THE NATIONAL EMBLEM OF HOLLAND IN OLD DORDRECHT 41 beautiful gardens and flower-beds that would baffle a painter for color, but old Dordrecht is the most interesting. Add to the street picture a canal down the middle, and you get a frequent variation. Put odd Dutch boats in the water, fill them with freight and children, and you have another. If this were not picturesque it would be grotesque to American eyes, but it is the actual development of Dutch civilization, and it is the thing you pay money for when some artist catches the inspiration which he can get here if anywhere. simiiiuiuiiHJumirt Of course the streets are paved, and they are as clean as the floor of an ordinary Ameri- can dwelling. Everyone knows that the Dutch are clean and that their national em- blem ought to be a scrubbing-brush. They are so clean that it almost hurts. Very often there are no sidewalks, and when there are they are not level, and are generally fenced in. They belong to the abutting property, and are not to be walked on by the public. The people walk in the street, and that custom is a little hard to get used to. Before the front window of nearly every house is a mirror, so 42 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE fastened that those within the house can see up and down the street, observe who is com- ing and who is going, and where. This cus- tom, if introduced at home, would save a good deal of neck-stretching. But at first one is overly conscious of the many eyes which .are observing his walk and the many minds which are undoubtedly trying to guess just where and why and who. But this mirror custom does not bother the Dutch young folks, not much. It is also the custom for the young man and his sweetheart to parade along the street hand in hand, arm in arm, or catch-as- catch-can, if they want to, — and they want to a great deal. At first this looked like a rude demonstration of affection, but after you have observed it some, say for an hour or so, it doesn't seem half bad, — if you were only Dutch. miumniiniiuiptmui Dordrecht has about 40,000 people, and all of them are on the street or at the window on Sunday. The saloons are open, but nothing is sold stronger than gin. The Dutch in a quiet, gentlemanly and ladylike way, are evi- dently trying to consume all the beer that can IN OLD DORDRECHT 43 be made in Holland or imported. Of course they can't succeed, but, as the story goes, they can probably make the breweries work nights. There is really a need for a temperance organ- ization in this country, and I should say it would have work enough to last it several thousand years. The Dutchesses Rotterdam, July 24. The secret of the success of the Dutch is no secret at all. Everybody works, not except- ing father, grandfather and grandmother. I suppose this habit began with the unceasing fight against the sea, the building of the dikes, the pumping out of the water, and the con- struction of a soil. It has continued until there is no other people more persistently in- dustrious. They rise early and get busy. The women cook and scrub and work on the canal-boats, in the shops and in the fields. The children go to school eleven months in the year. The men are stout, quick, and work from early to late. Even the dogs work in Holland. At first it seemed rather hard to see the dogs hitched to the little carts and pulling heavy loads, sometimes a man riding on the cart. This is a serious country for the canine, and must be the place where the phrase "worked like a dog" got its start. In most places the dog is the companion and pet (44) THE DUTCHESSES 45 of man, but in Holland he has to do his part in making a living, and he soon learns to draw the load, pulling hard and conscientiously on the traces. He has little time to fight and frolic, but he has the great pleasure of the rest that comes from hard labor. However, if I were a dog and were picking out a country for a location, I would stay far away from Hol- land. It is no uncommon sight to see a woman with a strap over her shoulders drag- ging a canal-boat or pulling a little wagon. In fact, the women of The Netherland have rights which they are not even asking in the United States, and no one disputes their prerogative of hard work. There are no " Suf- fragettes" in Holland, but a woman can do nearly anything she wants to unless it is vote, which she apparently does not care for. There are many rich Hollanders ; in fact, there are few that are poor. But they do not con- stitute a leisure class. The wealthy Dutch gent merely works the harder and the wealthy Dutch "vrouw" scrubs and manages the household or runs the store just as she did in the earlier years of struggle. 46 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Speaking of the Dutch women, I think they are good-looking. They are almost invari- ably strong and well in appearance, with good complexions, clever eyes and capable expres- sion. They may weigh a little strong for some, but that is a matter of taste. The old Dutch peasant costumes are still worn in places, but as a rule their clothes come from the same models as those for the American women. The Dutchess has been reared to work, to manage, and to advise with her man. She is intelligent in appearance and quick in action. She is educated and companionable. What if her waist line disappears ? What if she has no ankles, only feet and legs? Perhaps it will be thought that I am going too far in my investigation, but the Dutch ladies ride bi- cycles so generally that even a man from America can see a few things, no matter how hard he tries to look the other way and comes near getting run over. jtiiMutmaiimnnn The Queen of Holland is a woman. This is not a startling statement, for so far as I know a man has never been a queen in any country. But there is no king. Queen Wilhelmina's THE DUTCHESSES 47 husband, Prince Henry, is not a king. If there is any ruling to do in Holland it is done by Wilhelmina. Henry can't even appoint a notary public. No one pays any attention to him, and I understand Wilhelmina has given it out that what Henry says does not go with her. I am trying to investigate the status of affairs in the royal family, because I had entertained the idea that Wilhelmina was an unfortunate young queen with a bad husband. That may have been so a few years ago, but now I understand she bats poor Henry around scandalously, pays no heed to his wishes, and pointedly calls his attention about three times a day to the fact that he is nothing but a one- horse prince while she is the boss of the family and the kingdom. This pleases the Dutch immensely, for Henry is a German and the Dutch don't like the Germans. They think the Germans are conceited and arrogant, and that Emperor W T illiam is planning to event- ually annex The Netherland to Germany. So every time Wilhelmina turns down the Ger- man prince all the Dutch people think it is fine, and her popularity is immense. Henry gets a good salary, but his job would be a hard 48 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE one for a self-respecting American. I under- stand he is much dissatisfied, but he was not raised to a trade, and if Wilhelmina should stop his pay he would go hungry and thirsty, two conditions which would make life intoler- able for a German prince. iniiniioiiimniui Wilhelmina has a daughter, two years old, named Juliana. I suppose Henry is related to Juliana, but he gets no credit for it. Every- where you go you see pictures of Wilhelmina and Juliana, but not of Henry. A princess is really what the Dutch want, for their mon- arch has actually no power, and the govern- ment is entirely managed by the representa- tives of the people. But a prince would likely be wild, and might want to mix into public affairs. A princess makes a better figurehead of the state. She will be satisfied with a new dress and a hand-decorated crown, and not be wanting an army and battleships as a prince might do. Wilhelmina represents to the Dutch people the ruling family of Orange, which brought them through many crises, and Juliana is another Orange. Henry is only a lemon which the Germans handed to them. THE DUTCHESSES 49 The royal family are off on a visit to Brussels, and I have not met any of them. This in- formation I have gleaned from the hotel porters, the boat captains, the chambermaids, and the clerks who speak English. I imagine I have come nearer getting the facts than if I had sent in my card at the royal palace. The Pilgrims' Start Delftshaven, July 25. This is the town from which the Pilgrims sailed on the trip which was to make Ply- mouth Rock famous. Nearly a hundred of the congregation of Rev. John Robinson at Leyden came to this little suburb of Rotter- dam, and embarked on the Speedwell. The night before the start was spent by the con- gregation in exhortation and prayer in a little church which still stands, and has the fact recorded on a big tablet. The Pilgrims went to Southampton, discovered the Speedwell was not seaworthy, and transferred to the Mayflower. minimum miinaire Those English Puritans who had emigrated from their own country to Holland were con- sidered "religious cranks" even in those days when fighting and killing for religion was re- garded the proper occupation of a Christian. The Puritans in England were strong in num- bers, and while Queen Elizabeth had frowned (50) THE PILGRIMS' START 51 upon them as dissenters from the church of which she was the head, she was politician enough to restrain the persecution of them, for they were useful citizens and loved to die fight- ing Spaniards. But a few extremists who per- sisted in preaching in public places were sentenced to jail, and some of these skipped to Holland. Queen Elizabeth died and James became king of England, and he was a pin- head. He hated non-conformists as much as Catholics. So, more of the Puritans who could not pretend to conform went to Holland, and in Leyden and Amsterdam they founded little settlements. Holland was a land of liberty, and the Puritans wanted the right to disagree, non-conform, argue and debate over disputed questions. There were several con- gregations of them, and they did not agree on important doctrines, such as whether John the Baptist's hair was parted on the side or in the middle. Public debates were held and great enjoyment therefrom resulted, although there is no record of anyone having his opinion changed by the arguments, and the side whose story you are reading always overcame the other. 52 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE The Puritans did not mix much with the Dutch, and naturally grew lonesome in their exile. They conceived the plan of emigrat- ing to the New World and there establishing the right to worship God in accord with their own conscience. Influential Puritans in Eng- land who had not been so cranky as to leave home, helped with the king, and finally they secured permission from James to settle in America and to own the land they should develop. James remarked at the time he would prefer that they go to Hell, where they belonged, but he was needing a loan from the English Puritans, so he gave the permit. The Puritans in old England also provided a good part of the money with which to fit out the expedition. At the time there was a general movement among the Puritans in England for a big migration to the New World. This was to be a sort of experiment station. Ah the time, James was king, and Charles, a dissolute prince, was to follow. The Puritans were sick at heart and ready to leave their native land. But soon after the Pilgrims had made their settlement in New England, the Puritans at home developed leaders who put them into THE PILGRIMS* START 53 the fight for Old England. Then along came Cromwell, and for many years English Puri- tans were running the government, and the necessity for a safe place across the sea and an asylum for religious liberty disappeared so far as they were concerned, though their interest in the Colonists was maintained. The sons of these Puritans who crossed the ocean rather than go to the established church, refused to pay a tax on tea, about 150 years later, and formed a new country with a new flag. That was part of the result of the sailing of the little company from Rev. Mr. Robinson's flock after a night spent in prayer in this town of Delfts- haven, just about this time of the year in 1620. amuumDiiuuimK The stay of the Puritans in Holland had no effect on the Dutch. They let the Puritans shoot their mouths any way they pleased, and the Puritan only prospers and proselytes on opposition. But the Dutch of the present day are getting good returns for that invest- ment of long ago. There are a dozen places in Holland, here and at Amsterdam and Ley- den, visited by Americans every year because they are historic spots in connection with the 54 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Pilgrims. At each and every place the con- tribution-box is in sight, and the Dutch church or town which owns the property gets a hand- some revenue. New England churches give liberally to the fixing up of the Dutch churches which can show a record of having been just once the place where some Puritan preached. > jumiiiintniiimraiii Wooden shoes have not gone out of style in Holland. They are still worn generally in the country, and by the poorer children and men in the cities. They are cheap, which is a big recommendation to the Dutch. They are warm, said to be much warmer than leather. It does not hurt them to be wet, a very de- sirable feature in this water-soaked country. These are all good reasons, and as soon as you get used to the clatter and the apparent awk- wardness you appreciate the fact that the "klompen," as the Dutch call them, are a reasonable style for Holland. They are not worn in the house but dropped in the entry- way, and house shoes or stocking feet go with- in. The Dutch farmer is proud of his clogs, paints them, carves them, and scrubs them. A man with idle time, like a fisherman, will often spend months decorating a pair of THE PILGRIMS' START 55 wooden shoes. They are considered a proper present from a young husband to his bride, and she will use them when scrubbing, which is a good part of the time. The shoes are generally made of poplar, and to the size of the foot. When the foot grows you can hollow out a little more shoe. Wooden shoes are as common here as overalls in America, and they will not grow less popular unless Holland goes dry — of which I see no indication. liiiiiiuriKiiimjiuiM The farm-houses are usually built in con- nection with the barns, the family living in front and the stock and feed occupying the rear. This is rather customary in cold cli- mates, and you must remember that Holland is farther north than Quebec. The winters get very cold and the canals and rivers freeze over. Skating is the great national sport. There does not seem to be much summer sport except scrubbing. All through the summer the people dig and weed and fertilize and pre- pare for market. The dikes and canals must be maintained and the best made of a short season. In the winter they can live with the pretty black-and-white cattle, the sheep and the horses, and have a good time. Amsterdam, and Others Amsterdam, July 27. This is the largest and most important city of Holland. It has about as much commerce as Rotterdam, and is longer on history, manu- factures, art, and society. It was the first large city built up on a canal system, and its 600,000 population is a proof that something can be built out of nothing. Along about 1300 and 1400 it was a small town in a swamp. When the war for independence from Spain began, in 1656, Amsterdam profited by its location on the Zuyder Zee. The Spaniards ruined most of the rival towns and put an end to the commerce of Antwerp for a while, and Amsterdam received the mechanics and mer- chants fleeing from the soldiers of Alva. The name means a "dam," or dike, on the Amstel river. The swamp was reclaimed from the water by dikes and drainage canals, but even now every house in the city must have its foundation on piles. The word dam, or its inclusion in a name, means just about what (56) AMSTERDAM, AND OTHERS 57 it does in English, provided you refer to the proper dam, not the improper damn. As nearly all Dutch towns are built on dam sites a great many of them are some-kind-of-a-dam. Amsterdam is built below the level of the sea, which is just beside it, and the water in the canals is pumped out by big engines and forced over the dike into the sea. If this were not done the water would come over the town site and Amsterdam would go back to swamp and not be worth a dam site. MBMOHMM Amsterdam is the chief money market of Holland, and one of the financial capitals of the world. It is the place an American pro- moter makes for when he is out after the stuff with which to make the female horse travel. A large part of its business men are Jews, and their ability and wealth have maintained the credit of Dutch interests in all parts of the globe. At a time when the Jews were being persecuted nearly everywhere they were given liberty in Holland, and much of the country's progress is due to that fact and to the religious toleration of all kinds of sects. The canals run along nearly all the streets, 58 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE and are filled with freight-boats from the coun- try and from other cities. Thousands of these canal-boats lie in the canals of Amsterdam and are the homes of the boatmen, who are the commerce carriers of Holland. Under our window is tied up a canal-boat which could carry as much freight as a dozen American box cars. The power is a sail or a pole or a man or a woman, whichever is most conven- ient. The boatman and his wife and ten or fifteen children, with a dog and a cat, live comfortably in one end, and we can watch them at their work and play. A dozen more such boats are lying in this block, some with steam engines and some with gasoline engines. The Standard Oil Company does a great busi- ness in Holland, and as usual is a great help to the people. It is introducing cheap power for canal-boats by means of proper engines, and in a short time will probably free the boatman and his wife from the pull-and-push system received from the good old days. The canals are lined with big buildings, business and residence, mostlv from four to six stories high, with the narrow, peaked and picturesque architecture made familiar to us AMSTERDAM, AND OTHERS 59 by the pictures. All kinds of color are used and ornamented fronts are common. Imagine a street such as I describe and you have this one that is under our hotel window and which is the universal street scene of Amsterdam. Some one called this the Venice of the North, but to my mind it is prettier than Venice, although it lacks some of the oriental archi- tecture and smell. ULWijiU!iua!miiu:n Last night we went to the Rembrandt theatre to see "The Mikado," in Dutch. Of course we could follow the music of the old- time friend, and the language made the play funnier than ever. The Dutch are not near so strong on music as are their German or French neighbors. They utilize compositions of other nations, and American airs are very common. The window of a large fine music store is playing up "Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly?" A few Americans were at the big garden Krasnapolsky, listening to a really fine orches- tra with an Austrian leader. We sent up a re- quest for the American national air and it came promptly: "Whistling Rufus." The Europeans think the cake-walk is something 60 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE like a national dance in our country, and when- ever they try to please us they turn loose one of our rag-time melodies. They do not mind chucking the "Georgia Campmeeting" or "Rings on My Fingers and Bells on My Toes," into a program of Wagner and Tschudi and other composers whom we are taught at home to consider sacred. inniuiiiiuiiitiiiiiiiai The most entertaining feature of the Am- sterdam landscape that I have seen is a Dutch lady in a hobble skirt. The fashion is here all right, and it would make an American hobble appear tame and common. In the first place, the Dutch lady is not of the proper architecture, and in the second place, she still wears a lot more underskirts, or whatever they are, than are considered necessary in Paris or Hutchinson. But she does not ex- pand the hobble. The shopping street of Amsterdam is filled with fashionably dressed Dutch ladies who look like tops, and who are worth coming a long ways to see. Far be it from me to criticize the freaks of female fashion. I never know what they are until after they are past due. But if the Dutch AMSTERDAM, AND OTHERS 61 hobble ever reaches the American side of the Atlantic it will be time for the mere men to organize. inii!ii:iiii::imiiuiiui The greatest art gallery in Europe is here, The Rijks Museum. I went to see it — once. I do not get the proper thrills from seeing a thousand pictures in thirty minutes. They make me tired. But Rembrandt's Night Watch, or nearly anything a good Dutch artist has painted, is a real pleasure. The Dutch are recognizing their own modern art, and in that way they are going to distance the Italians. The Dutch artists are good at pro- traying people and common things, such as cats and dogs and ships. They are not strong in allegory or imaginative work, and you do not have to be educated up to enjoy them. And they run a little fun into their work oc- casionally, which would shock a Dago artist out of his temperament. UIIIIWNIOtlUlltlnK Wages are higher in Holland than elsewhere in Europe. A street car conductor gets a dollar a day. Ordinary labor is paid sixty to eighty cents a day. Farm laborer about $15 62 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE per month, but boards himself. A good all- around hired girl is a dollar a week. Me- chanics receive from one dollar to two dollars a day. The necessaries of life are not so high as with us. Vegetables are cheaper. To- bacco is much less. Meats are about as high. Clothing is cheaper, but our people wouldn't wear it. Beer is two cents a glass and lemon- ade is five cents. The ordinary workingman lives on soup, vegetables, and very little meat ; gets a new suit of clothes about once in five years, and takes his family to a garden for amusement, where they get all they want for ten cents. The Dutch citizen on foot is plain, honest, a little rude, but of good heart and very accommodating. I have not met the citizens in carriages and on horseback, who make up a very small part of the procession in Holland. Cheeses and Bulbses Alkmaar, July 28. Of course Holland is the greatest cheese country on earth, and Alkmaar is the biggest cheese market in Holland. Every Friday the cheesemakers of the district bring their prod- uct to the public market, and buyers, local and foreign, bargain for and purchase the cheeses. That is why we came to Alkmaar on Friday. The cheese market is certainly an interesting and novel sight. All over the big public square are piled little mounds of cheeses, shaped like large grape-fruit and col- ored in various shades of red and yellow. Each wholesaler has his carriers in uniform of white, and a straw hat and ribbons col- ored as a livery. When a sale is made, two carriers take a barrow which they carry sus- pended from their shoulders and with a sort of two-step and many cries to get out of the way they bring their load to the public weigh- house, where it is officially weighed. Then off the cheeses go to the store-rooms or to (63) 64 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE the canal-boats which line one side of the square, waiting to take their freight to the cities or to the sea. The farmers look over each other's cheeses as they do hogs at the Kansas State Fair, with comments of praise or criticism. There is much chaffing and chaf- fering between them and the buyers. In about two hours the cheeses are gone, the square is empty and the beer-houses are full. The women-folks do not take an active part in the market, but they are present and look- ing things over, and I suspect they had been permitted to milk the cows and make the cheese. About $3,000,000 worth of cheese is sold annually in the Alkmaar market. The coun- try round about, North Holland, is all small farms, with gardens and pastures and little herds of the black-and-white cattle. The cheese wholesales at about 60 cents a cheese, and in America we pay about twice that much for the same, or for the Edam, which is like it. The farmers look prosperous, drive good horses and very substantial gaily painted wagons. CHEESES AND BULBSES 65 Alkmaar has 18,000 population, and is there- fore about the size of Hutchinson. But it is a good deal older. Back in 1573 it success- fully defended itself against the Spaniards. The name means "all sea," because the coun- try was originally covered with water. The land is kept above the water now by pump- ing and pouring into canals which are higher than the farms through which they flow. This is done very systematically and by wind- mills. A district thus maintained is called a "polder," something like our irrigation dis- trict, and on one of them near Alkmaar, about the size of a Kansas township, six miles square, there are 51 windmills working all the time, pumping the water. These are not little windmills like those in a Kansas pasture, but great fellows with big arms fifty feet long, and they stand out over the polder like so many giants. The picture of these mills in a most fertile garden-spot, with canal streaks here and there and boats on the canals looming up above the land, is certainly a striking one. And it shows clearly what energy can do when properly applied. 66 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE The soil is as sandy as in South Hutchin- son. But dirt and fertilizer are brought from the back country and the soil is kept con- stantly renewed. It seems to me that with comparatively little work the sandy soil of the Arkansas valley can be made into a mar- ket garden, producing many times its pres- ent value, whenever our people take it into their heads to manufacture their own soil and apply water when needed and not just when it rains. That time will come, but probably not until a dense population forces a great increase in production. iimiiimiiaiiiiiiiintit I have another idea. Along the coast of Holland are the "sand dunes," which are exactly like our sand hills. What we should do is to change the name from sand hills to "dunes," brag about them and charge people for visiting them. The city of Am- sterdam gets its supply of drinking-water from the dunes. This was important news to me, for it confirmed my theory as to the simi- larity of the dunes and the sand hills, and also suggested that somebody in Amsterdam CHEESES AND BULBSES 67 used water for drinking purposes, a fact I had not noticed while there. ] ra.MiniunU We spent part of a day in Haarlem, where the tulips come from. The soil conditions are like those at Alkmaar, but the country is a mass of nurseries, flower gardens, and beautiful growing plants. We are out of season for tulips, but this is the time when the bulbs are being collected and dried to be shipped in all directions. Not only tulips but crocuses, hyacinths, lilies, anemones, etc., are raised for the market, — cut flowers to the cities, bulbs to all parts of the world. Just now the gardens are filled with phlox, dahlias, larkspurs, nasturtiums, — by the acre. The flowers are about the same as at home. Out of this thin, scraggly, sandy soil the gardeners of North Holland are taking money for flowers and bulbs faster than miners in gold- fields. With flowers and cheeses these Dutch catch about all kinds of people. lllllimilllC'liriiillillc Haarlem is the capital of the province of North Holland, and is full of quaint houses 68 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE of ancient architecture. It was one of the hot towns for independence when the war with Spain began. The Spaniards besieged it, and after a seven-months gallant de- fense, in which even the women fought as soldiers, the town surrendered under prom- ise of clemency. The Spaniards broke their promise and put to death the entire garrison and nearly all the townspeople. This out- rage so incensed the Dutch in other places that the war was fought more bitterly than before, and the crime — for such it was — really aided in the final expulsion of the Spaniards. jiimtmmoimiinnnt Along in the seventeenth century was the big boom in Haarlem. The tulip mania de- veloped and bulbs sold for thousands of dol- lars. Capitalists engaged in the speculation and the trade went into big figures. Millions of dollars were spent for the bulbs, and so long as the demand and the market continued every tulip-raiser was rich. Finally the re- action came, as it always does to a boom, and everybody went broke. A bulb which sold for $5,000 one year was not worth 50 cents the next. The government added to the con- CHEESES AND BULBSES 69 fusion by decreeing that all contracts for fu- ture deliveries were illegal. The usual phe- nomenon of a panic followed, everybody los- ing and nobody gaining. A hundred years later there was about the same kind of a boom in hyacinths, and the same result. It will be observed that the Dutch are not so much unlike Americans when it comes to booms, only it takes longer for them to for- get and calls for more experience. Frans Hals, a great Dutch painter, almost next to Rembrandt, was born in Haarlem, and a number of his pictures are in the city building. It was customary in those days for the mayor and city council to have a group picture painted and hung in the town hall. This was the way most of the Dutch artists got their start, for the officials were always wealthy citizens who were willing to pay more for their own pictures than for studies of na- ture or allegory. I wonder if the officials paid their own money or did they voucher it through the city treasury and charge it to sprinkling or street work? 70 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Both Alkmaar and Haarlem are interest- ing because they are intensely Dutch. Their principal occupations, cheesemaking and flow- er-raising, have been their principal occu- pations for centuries. They had nothing to start with, and had to fight for that. Now they are loaning money to the world. If the people of Kansas worked as hard as do the Dutch and were as economical and saving, in one generation they would have all the money in the world. But they wouldn't have much fun. The American way of economizing may be illustrated by a story. Once upon a time in a certain town — which I want to say was not in Kansas, for I have no desire to be sum- moned before the attorney-general to tell all about it — a man and his wife were in the habit of sending out every night and getting a quart of beer for 10 cents. They drank this before retiring, and were reasonably comfort- able. Prosperity came to them, and the man bought a keg of beer. That night he drew off a quart, and as he sat in his stocking-feet he philosophized to his wife and said : "See how we are saving money. By buying a keg of CHEESES AND BULBSES 71 beer at a time this quart we are drinking costs only 6 cents. So we are saving 4 cents." She looked at him with admiration, and re- plied : "How fine! Let's have another quart and save 4 cents more." Historic Ley den Leyden, July 31. We came to Leyden to spend the night, and have stayed three days. This was partly because it is necessary to sometimes rest your neck and feet, and partly because the Hotel Levedag is one of those delightful places where the beds are soft, the eats good and the help around the hotel does its best to make you comfortable. Leyden itself is worth while, but ordinarily it would be disposed of in two walks and a carriage-ride. It is a college town, and this is vacation ; so everybody in the place has had the time to wait on wander- ing Americans and make the process of ex- tracting their money as sweet and as long drawn out as possible. MiuiioiiDiuniinnii Leyden is a good deal like Lawrence, Kan- sas. It is full of historic spots, and is very quiet in the summer-time. In Leyden they refer to the siege by the Spaniards in 1573 just as the Lawrence people speak of the (72) HISTORIC LEYDEN 73 Quantrill raid. The Dutch were in their war for independence, and the Duke of Alva's army besieged Leyden. They began in Oc- tober, and as the town was well fortified it resisted bravely. Early in the year the neigh- boring town of Haarlem had surrendered and the Spaniards had tied the citizens back to back and chucked them into the river. The Leydenites preferred to die fighting rather than surrender and die. They had just about come to starvation in March of the next year, when thev decided to break down the dikes and let the sea take the country. The sea brought in a relief fleet sent by William the Silent, Prince of Orange, and the Spaniards retreated before the water. Then the wind changed, drove back the waves, and William fixed the dikes. This siege of Leyden was really one of the great events in history, and the story goes that out of gratitude to the people of the town William offered to exempt them from taxes for a term of years or to es- tablish a University in their city. Leyden took the University, which is hard to believe of the Dutch, unless they were farseeing enough to know that the students would be 74 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE a never-ending source of income and that the taxes would come back. The university thus established by William of Orange in 1575 has been one of the best of the educational in- stitutions in Europe, and has produced many great scholars. It now has 1700 students and a strong faculty. Some of the boys must be making up flunks by attending summer school, for last night at an hour when all good Dutch- men should be in bed, the sweet strains came through the odor of the canal, same old tune but Dutch words: "I don't care what be- comes of me, while I am singing this sweet melody, yip de yaddy aye yea, aye yea, yip- de yaddy, aye yea." ramiimmmnmiii The river Rhine filters through Leyden and to the sea. It never would get there, for Leyden is several feet below the sea-level, but by the use of big locks the Dutch raise the river to the proper height and pour it in. These are the dikes the Dutch opened to drive out the Spaniards. It is so easy I wonder they did not do it earlier. At any rate, the Spaniards never got much of a hold in this part of Holland again. The sand- NO PLACE FOR A MAN FROM KANSAS HISTORIC LEYDEN 75 hills along the beach make an ideal bathing- place. I took a canal-boat and in three hours' time covered the six miles from Leyden to Katryk. The Dutch ladies and gentlemen were playing in the water and on the sand, and it was no place for a man from Kansas. I have no criticism of these big bathing- beaches and we have some in our own fair land where the scenery is just as startling. But the Dutch ladies consider a skirt which does not touch the ground the same as im- modest. And no Dutch gentleman will ap- pear in public without his vest as well as his coat. On the beach the reaction is great, so great that I don't blame the Spaniards for running away. Iiiiiimmoiiiiiiiiiiic It was in Leyden that the congregation of Puritans resided which sent the delegation of Pilgrim Fathers across the Atlantic in 1620. In St. Peter's church John Robinson, the pastor, lies buried, and there he is said to have preached. A tablet tells of the house across the way which occupies the site of the little church in which Robinson held forth for years. The present house was not built un- 76 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE til 1683, but that is close enough to make it interesting. The Puritans had several con- gregations in Leyden, but the Robinson church is the only one that made history. When the civil war broke out in England and Cromwell was leading the cause of liberty, all of the Puritans in Leyden who had not gone to America and who could raise the fare, returned to England and disappeared from the Dutch records. They were fine people in many ways, but the Dutch did not try to get them to stay. They dearly loved to argue, and when it was necessary to promote religious freedom by punching the heads of those who did not believe as they did, the Puritans were there with the punch. aaamiuiamimnur Rembrandt, the great Dutch painter, was born in Leyden, in 1606. A stable now marks the spot where he first saw the 1 ght. It is a little difficult to get up a thrill in a livery stable, but we did our best. Rembrandt's father was a miller, and operated one of these big Dutch windmills. When Rembrandt was about 25 years old he married and moved to Amsterdam, but he did not settle down. HISTORIC LEYDEN 77 While he became popular and made a good deal of money, he was no manager and he spent like a true sport. When his wife died he went broke, and lived the last years of his life in a modest way. About 550 paintings are now known and attributed to him, to- gether with about 250 etchings and more than a thousand drawings. His portrayals of expression and of lights and shadows are the great points of excellence in his work, but he was a master of every detail of the art. His pictures command more money than those of any other artist, and to my notion he is the greatest of all the great painters. Most of the other old fellows have left but few masterpieces, while Rembrandt never did any- thing but great work. The Dutch worship God, Rembrandt and William of Orange, and I never can tell which comes first with them. There is a hill in Leyden, eighty feet high and several hundred yards around the base. It is well covered with trees, and was topped with a fort in the good old days. Unfortu- nately, the buildings around it — for it is in the middle of town — keep it from being seen 78 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE at a distance. People come from far and near to see the hill. It is as much of a nov- elty in this part of Holland as a Niagara would be in Kansas. iimiHiiniiniiiiiiui The public market is a feature in every Dutch town, as it is in most European coun- tries. A large square is devoted to the pur- pose, and here the fish, the vegetables and everything from livestock to second-hand books is offered for sale. The square and the sidewalks are covered with the market displays, the farmers, the fishermen, the buy- ers, and the curious. There is only one small newspaper in this city of 60,000 inhabitants, but I suppose everybody hears the news at the market. It is better than a show, or an art gallery, or a cathedral, to see the dicker- ing, hear the talk and watch the people. The housewives or their representatives are there with baskets and comments, and the men of the town have some excuse to be around. Peasant costumes, peculiar head- dresses, large fat ladies, wooden shoes, and all the odd and picturesque things that you can put into a landscape surrounded by quaint HISTORIC LEYDEN 79 buildings and a canal, are mixed in confusion and yet in order. The colors which the painters put into their Holland pictures are present, and the sturdy, thrifty, trafficking Dutch people are there with the petticoats or the tobacco-smoke, which their sex calls for under such circumstances. Here in Ley- den, where a house less than a hundred years old is a curiosity and where Dutch traditions are held as sacred, we have enjoyed the won- derful nature-picture of this moving market. And I might add that we have contributed greatly to the hilarity of the occasion by our own peculiar appearance and ways — pecu- liar from the view-point of the other fellow. The Dutch Capital The Hague, Aug. 2. This is the capital of Holland and soon will be, in a way, of the civilized world. The first international peace conference was held here, followed by the establishment of an inter- national tribunal to decide disputes between nations, and now, thanks to President Taft's statesmanship, the nations are agreeing to arbitrate all differences, and this Hague tribu- nal will doubtless be the court of last resort for the world. The propriety of the selection of The Hague is not questioned. Holland is a small nation, with practically no forts or standing army or navy. It is not a factor in international politics, and its own independ- ence and integrity are guaranteed by the various treaties between the nations. Its im- portance is commercial and not political, it has no alliances, and occupies a unique po- sition among the countries of Europe. Paris or London or Berlin would not do for the location of an international tribunal, because (80) THE DUTCH CAPITAL 81 each would be subject to local influence and force, but all nations can come to The Hague, the capital of the country whose territory they have promised to protect. As the arbi- tration treaties increase in number the practice of referring disputes to The Hague will be- come almost universal, and it seems to me that this will make the beautiful Dutch city the capital of the world. Other cities will strive for commercial supremacy, but The Hague will be the center for statesmanship and government. jmiiraniiniimiiraii The Dutch have abbreviated the old name S'Gravenhage to Den Haag, and they pro- nounce the name of the capital just as we do the word hog. The old word meant "The Count's Hedge" or wood, because there was a small forest here belonging to the Counts of Holland. The forest is still here, a beautiful piece of natural woods about a mile and a half long and half as wide. At the farther end of this forest is "The House in the Wood," which is in fact a beautiful little palace built in 1645 by Princess Amalia, the widow of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange. Amalia A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE had a new idea in memorials, for the principal room of the palace, the orange room, is deco- rated by pictures from the brushes of pupils of Rubens, and while they portray scenes in the life of the Prince they are full of fat cherubs, scantily dressed ladies and very racy sug- gestion. I am told Amalia was that way, but I have no personal knowledge. All this hap- pened nearly 300 years ago, and in any event she had a most charming palace. Several rooms are filled with gifts from the Emperors of China and Japan to Wilhelmina, and they add to the general hilarity of the memorial. iiiiniiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiir Although The Hague was the center of the Dutch government practically all the time from 1584, when the representatives of the Dutch provinces met here to form a League against Spain, it had no representation in the government until the last century. The orig- inal cities in the federation refused to admit The Hague, and it was a sort of District of Columbia until Napoleon took possession of Holland on the theory that it was formed from the deposits of dirt made by French rivers. Napoleon gave The Hague a local government, THE DUTCH CAPITAL 83 which it has since retained. It has grown much in late years, and is a beautiful city with good architecture, many wide streets, fine public buildings, handsome private homes, pretty canals, and shaded avenues. It is a custom in Holland and the Dutch colonies for men of wealth to come to The Hague, put up fine houses and spend some of their money, just as the "town farmers" do in Hutchinson. ]imiiHimtjiimii'ii:a We went to see the Gevangenpoort, an ancient tower in which prisoners were con- fined, tortured and executed. They still keep some of the interesting machines with which justice was dealt out in the good old days. A prisoner whom the authorities desired to con- vict would be allowed to prove his innocence by the ordeal of fire. He was permitted to walk with bare feet on a red hot gridiron. If he was innocent the heat would not affect his naked soles, if guilty it would. But that is nothing. Our own dear old Pilgrim fathers used to take a woman charged with witchcraft and toss her into a pond. If she were a witch, the evil spirit would keep her from drowning and the Puritans would put her to death. If 84 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE she drowned, her innocence of the charge was proven — and they buried her in the church- yard. The Dutch got their early ideas of prison reform from the Spaniards. There is a ma- chine in the Gevangenpoort which dropped water onto a man's head for hours. If he lived he was crazy. Then they had a 1611 model of a rack which would break the bones in the arms and legs and not kill the prisoner, and he could be tortured later. Pincers to pull out finger-nails, branding-irons, and stocks that kept a man or a woman standing on the toes for hours, were light punishments for petty thievery. A very popular form of pun- ishment was to hang the prisoner by his feet, head down, and let the populace come in and enjoy the sight. Of course these old instru- ments are mere relics now, but just remember they were the real thing only 300 years ago, and 300 years is not long in the history of the world. We never think that it was just as long between 1311 and 1611 as it has been from 1611 to now. We confusedly jumble all the events of about 500 years into "Middle Ages," and can't remember which was in THE DUTCH CAPITAL 85 which century. The last 300 years seem long and full of events, while the three centuries before are remembered as all of one time. I wonder if the people on earth in 22 11 will look over some Gevangenpoort of ours and shudder at the savagery of 1911? Incidentally I want to report that the people of Europe are looking on President Taft as the great man of the age — I mean the great common people are. His successful advocacy of international arbitration is hailed as the coming of an era of peace. You don't know what that means to Europe, where nearly every man has to give years of his life to army service, where heavy taxes for forts and ships bear down on the people, and where there is always a possibility of war with a neighboring nation, which would mean great loss of life. Nearly all of this war sacrifice falls upon the people, and while they patriotically sustain their governments they hail Taft's policy of peace as the greatest help that has come to them in countless years, the advance step that will relieve the burden that bends the back of what Mr. Bryan calls "the plain common 86 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE people." No wonder these people are for Taft — but of course they can't vote for him in 1912. jiiuiiiiiiioiuiiiiiiiir The government of Holland is a sort of aristocratic republic with a monarch for orna- ment. There is a lower house of congress elected by popular vote, with some restrictions as to property on the right of suffrage. There is an upper house selected with still more re- strictions. The upper house only can intro- duce bills. The lower house only can enact them into laws. The queen signs when the Dutch congress, or states-general, tells her to sign. She gets a salary of about $400,000 a year and is rich in her own right. The busi- ness men complain that she is stingy and the women say she is slouchy. Taxes are high, and in all the forms imaginable. They tax theatre tickets, bank checks, receipts, all docu- ments, incomes and lands, and in some places the number of windows in a house. Taxes are "high" everywhere I go. I thought per- haps when I got where I could not understand the language I would no longer be bored by the man who complains about taxes. But I THE DUTCH CAPITAL 87 haven't yet found that place. I suppose when I quit traveling on this earthly sphere the first thing I will hear will be a kick on the cost of paving the golden streets, or a com- plaint that the tax on sulphur is going to kill the prosperity of the country. "The Dutch Company." Arnhem, August 5. This is the "last chance" station in Holland. About ten miles more and we cross the line into Germany. This is also the only hilly part of Holland, and it really is a surprise to find that somewhere in this little country there are neither canals nor dikes. The river Rhine flows here with some current, and the official documents say that at Arnhem it is 35 feet above the level of the sea. Right sharp little hills, as big as those about Strong City, rise from the river bank, and are covered with woods and handsome homes. Queen Wil- helmina has her summer residence near here, and Dutch colonials, who have made their fortunes and returned to the native land, are fond of this small and elevated piece of Nether- land. The Dutch make a great deal of money out of their East India colonies, one of which is Java. They are not so much interested in preparing the Javanese or the Mochans for the work of self-government as our folks are (88) THE DUTCH COMPANY*' 89 the Filipinos. The Dutch theory is to treat the natives kindly but make them work as the dogs do in Holland. And the Javanese or the Javans, or whatever you call them, are too busy to get dissatisfied and plan revolu- tions. This question of what to do with the white man's burden is a hard one to settle offhand. The brown people do not understand the American motives, and the Americans are probably the most detested people in the Orient. And yet the Americans are the only conquering nation which does not regard col- onies as personal property and which tries to elevate the citizenship it finds. The English hold India by fear, but some day the English are going to be chased out of that part of Asia by the Indians they try to keep down. The other European nations make no bones of the fact that they own and operate their foreign possessions for what they can get out of them. JKMIIIIOmllllUilt A Hollander makes a very strong American when he is caught young. On shipboard I made the acquaintance of a young man about 25 years old who had been in America nine years, and was now going to his birthplace, 90 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE ___________________________________________ _____ ________ The Hague, on business for the Chicago firm with which he is connected. I met him in The Hague this week. He wore a western cowboy- hat, had a small American flag in his button- hole, and wore no vest. The stories he was telling about the United States to his Dutch friends showed that he would have made a success as a real-estate man if he had settled in western Kansas. And the manner in which he did not take off his hat when he met a doctor or a lawyer or a duke or a notary public was shocking to his family, but was sweet American patriotism to him. He was still loyal to Holland, but he would not trade his new home with its opportunities for all the comforts of canals and clean streets. 'You see," he said, "in Holland every man has to take off his hat to those above him — and there are always those above him." Of course we have classes, in a way, in our country, but a man never has to take off his hat or pay homage to another man, and the real Amer- ican, home-grown or imported, can't get that feeling of equality out of his system. I think the Europeans must grow very tired of us Americans, our blustering ways and bragging "the dutch company" 91 talk, but they are kind enough not to mention it so long as our money holds out. iiui nntiiou mums Passenger fares on trains are cheaper in Holland than with us. But of course their railroad business is really like an interurban street-car system. Freight rates are higher than with us. The wages paid railway em- ployes run from 60 cents a day to section hands up to $2 a day for an engineer — just about one-third to one-half our schedule. The service is good, the stations and tracks are better, every little country road-crossing is protected by a flagman or a flagwoman. Of course the canals and rivers do so much of the carrying business, and distances are so small, that comparisons are hard to make. There is no such thing in Holland as a sandwich or a piece of pie, and yet there are very successful and excellent lunch-rooms in every station. The first- and second-class passengers usually have a lunch-room with upholstered furniture, while the third-class travelers are compelled to use wooden benches or stand up, a la Amer- icaner. The first-class railroad cars are fitted out with plush, and there are sometimes toilet 92 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE accommodations on the cars. The second- class cars are comfortably upholstered ; the third-class have plain seats like our street cars. But remember you can go clear across Holland in a couple of hours, and do not need some of the comforts which are considered necessities in America. jmuamionmrami The Dutch are great on fixing things com- fortably and neatly. If the beautiful Cow Creek which winds its way through Hutchin- son were transferred to a Dutch town it would be diked, the banks graded and covered with grass and flowers and trees. The govern- ment would do this, and would put seats along the little park, and a band-stand from which music would be heard, and swings for the children, and almost every block there would be a "garden" with tables and all the beer you could drink — if you were Dutch — for two cents. And the Government would make a nice profit out of the restaurant business and go ahead and dike another stream. jiumiumaimiiiiMic The Dutchman is a great business man. He works and saves and then he is not afraid "the dutch company" 93 to spend — if he has a sure thing. I have seen a business man smoking a cigarette, take out of his vest pocket a pair of scissors, snip off the burning end and put the unconsumed half of a cigarette back in his case. No Dutchman is afraid to demand cheap prices while trav- eling at home. The average American who goes through Europe with the theory of spend- ing his money like a sport must fill the Dutch- man with disgust. You don't impress the Hollanders that way. On the other hand, these Dutchmen will investigate and spend barrels of money on dikes, drains, railroads, buildings and large investments in all parts of the world. I suppose the almost penurious saving comes from the fight with the sea, in which everything had to be watched and worked for, while the ability to handle big affairs results from the consciousness of having wrested a lot of land from the ocean and hav- ing made good with it. The Dutch are proverbially honest. Of course I have been over-charged some, but I have never been anywhere on either side of the Atlantic where the rule was not observed, 94 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE "he was a stranger and I took him in." They hold a visitor up much more in Kansas City than in Amsterdam, and a man from Kansas who goes to New York is not even given the protection of the game laws. In fact, a stranger who does not know the language is treated much better in Europe than in Amer- ica. I have often had a man walk half a block to show me the way when I could not under- stand his words. I say "walk a block," but there is no such phrase in Dutch. There are no regular sized blocks, so a direction is given as "five minutes" or "two mnutes, then to the right three minutes." That is supposed to mean an average walk ; but as legs differ in size and rapidity it is often confusing. I am told in the rural districts a distance is given as so many smokes, meaning the number of pipefuls of tobacco that a Dutchman would consume in going that far. But I have dis- covered that in Holland a pipe is a rarity. The men smoke cigars and smoke them incessantly. They are cheap. I get a good cigar, equiva- lent to a Tom Moore, for two cents American money. When I buy cigars I want to stay in Holland. But practically everything ex- "the dutch company" 95 cept cigars, beer and wooden shoes costs as much here as in the United States. Yes, there is one thing that costs less, and that is labor. Therefore hand-carved wood, hand-crocheted lace, hand-made shoes, tailored clothes, and houses are less expensive than with us. The more I see of a country where everything labor produces is cheap, the more I am in favor of high prices and good wages. Holland is probably the best country in Europe for a laboring man, but I don't see how one can get ahead, unless he does without meat and wears the same suit for years, and his family econo- mize the same way. Here in the land of cheese and butter, both articles are out of reach and the workingman uses "margarine." But now it is goodby to the land of the dikes, the canals, the windmills and the wooden shoes. They are all here as advertised, and they color the lives of the people as they do the landscape of the country. To the eye they are artistic and beautiful, but in practice they are common, plain necessities, and in these signs the Dutch have conquered. The Great River KoENIGSWINTER, GERMANY, August 7. The river Rhine is in many respects the greatest river in the world. It is greatest in commercial importance, historical interest and artistic development. It has been the line of battle in Europe for centuries, since Caesar first crossed the stream and met the original Germans. After that time it was the frontier of the Roman empire until Rome fell, and then it became the object for which Europe fought. The Germans and the French met on the Rhine, the other "civilized countries" got in the game, and the valley was filled with feudal counts and princes who sometimes took one side and sometimes the other, whichever seemed to offer them the best pickings. The broad and deep stream was a highway of commerce, and the old champions of chivalry, with whom robbery and murder were the principal business, built castles on the hills, and whenever they saw a merchant with a rich caravan of goods, down they would swoop on (96) THE GREAT RIVER 97 him, grab his valuables and kill the defenders. These adventures and wars were what the world called history, and during the Middle Ages the place where hell was continually breaking out was along this beautiful valley. The use of gunpowder finally put an end to knights in armor, and the Germans and the French struggled for the Rhine. Napoleon conquered the valley, organized it into a re- public, and finally annexed it to France. The Allies conquered Napoleon and restored the Prussian king and the petty princes to their possessions. The war of 1870 between Ger- many and France pushed the boundary a con- siderable distance west, and made the Rhine valley all German, under the newly organized empire. Jiiiuiuiuoiimimiit Most rivers begin in a small way, from springs, creeks and little streams. The Rhine is the outlet of Lake Constance, and rushes out of that inland sea a great river ready-made, and begins with a magnificent waterfall second only to Niagara. It is a wide, deep river, and as soon as it emerges from the Swiss mountains becomes the great highway through 98 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Germany and Holland to the ocean. Along its banks are timber, coal and iron, great cities with factories, and fertile lands tilled to the utmost point. The freight rate is the lowest possible, and the productive value of the country is increased by the ease and cheap- ness with which the markets of the world are reached. Steamboats and barges go up and down in much greater numbers than do the freight trains of America's greatest railroad. For much of its length the banks are walled, and the cities, towns and villages are almost continuous. In width the river is from 500 to 1500 feet, and it is about 550 miles long. The last 360 miles, from Manheim to the German ocean, has a channel of not less than thirty feet in depth, and in that 360 miles the fall is only 280 feet, the last hundred miles only 33 feet. So much for the Rhine from a business viewpoint. This little town of Koenigswinter is on "the picturesque Rhine," at the foot of the Drachenfels, the last of the big hills or mountains by which the Rhine flows in its course from Manheim to Cologne. We stopped THE GREAT RIVER 99 at the little city of Bonn, seat of a good uni- versity, and an old town. Beethoven was born in Bonn, and we visited the little house he selected for that event in his life. It was most interesting to see the things used by the great composer, among them the original drafts of many of his great works. Beethoven's folks were poor, and when only a boy he played the pipe organ at the church and was in the Bonn string band. When 22 years of age he went to Vienna, where he was taken care of financially by the Austrian emperor. He never married. He and a countess fell in love with each other, but her folks did not approve of her marrying a musician. Beethoven's father sang tenor and his grandfather had led the Bonn brass band, and Beethoven himself was giving lessons. So they could not marry, though I don't see why the countess did not arrange it later when Beethoven became famous. But he was very deaf and probably very cranky, for he was a great musician, and perhaps the Lady Amelia backed out herself. This is what is called the picturesque Rhine, for here the river runs through some German 100 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE mountains, which rise almost abruptly from the banks. The mountain-sides are cultivated as we do first-bottom land. The principal prod- uct is the grape, which gets just the proper sunlight on these mountain-sides to make its juice command more money than the wine from the back country. There are also many truck farms, small pastures, patches of al- falfa and wheat, all tilted up from the river at an angle of 45 to 90 degrees. The roads are good and white, the fields just now are green, the sky is a blue like the sky in Italy and Kansas. The little towns with their white- washed houses and red-tiled roofs cluster every mile or so along the river, and the view from the mountains or from the river is one that makes the tickle come around the heart. In this beautiful spot where nature and man have both been busy for so many hundred years we are spending a few days for rest. xnniiiiiiioiuinnniic Of course I climbed the Drachenfels, the mountain which looms up like a sentinel and has on its top a ruined castle with a view and a legend. Byron told of the great view, and every tourist who stops has to climb the THE POET BYRON BUILDING CASTLES THE GREAT RIVER 101 mountain. So we climbed. Mr. Byron was right this time, for the view is grand. Ordi- narily I take little stock in Byron's fits over scenery. He traveled through Europe and had thrills over some very ordinary things. Byron could take a few drinks and then reel off some verses which gave an old ruin or a tumble- down castle a reputation which it will use forever as a bait for tourists. But this time Byron was right, for the panorama of the Rhine valley, made up of the river, the hills, the sky, the shades of growing green, the white- and-red towns, and the boats as noiseless as birds, is one worth more than the twenty-five American cents it takes to make the climb on a cog-wheel railroad. iraimnitutinuuirtB The ruined castle, which stands about 1,000 feet above the Rhine and yet so near it seems that one could throw a stone from the parapet into the river, was occupied by a line of the fiercest gentlemen that ever robbed an inno- cent traveler. For several hundred years no one was safe to go this way unless he paid the robber barons, who had a sort of con- federacy or union, in which the Count of 102 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE Drachenfels was one of the main guys. The name means the dragon's rock, and comes from the fact that a Dragon once resided in a cave near the top. The legend says that it was customary among the old heathen to feed prisoners to the Dragon, so he would look pleasant and not roar at night. Returning from a trip into the west they brought a number of captives, among them a beautiful Christian maiden. The heathen young men all wanted the girl, so the wise chief decided that she should be given to the Dragon, thus preventing a scrap among the brethren and paying special tribute to the Drag. They formed a procession and marched to the big rock where they were accustomed to lay out provisions for his nibs. The beautiful girl was bound hand and foot, covered with flowers, and then the crowd got back to see the Dragon do the rest. The Dragon came out roaring like a stuck pig, but when the girl held out a crucifix toward him he bolted, ran and jumped from the rock into the river. The best-looking young man among the heathen then rushed forward and released the lady, married her, and they lived happily ever afterward, — so THE GREAT RIVER 103 the legend says. And there is no reason to doubt the legend, for there is the rock, there is the river into which the Dragon leaped, and he never did come back. Along the Rhine KOENIGSWXNTER, August 8. Next to riding on a Dutch canal comes a trip on the Rhine. The passenger steamers and motor-boats go up and down this part of the Rhine like street cars. Every boat is comfort- ably equipped with refreshment parlors and restaurants, and the waiters keep trying to please the thirsty traveler by offering him wine and beer. It is hard on a Kansan. What these Germans need is a governor and an at- torney-general and a row over the joint question. Poor Germans! they do not know it, and they keep right on drinking beer and growing fat and looking happy. Aside from this unfortunate habit, which does not seem to hurt them as it ought to, the Germans are a fine lot of folks. They are immensely proud of their country, which is a trifle hard on us modest Americans. They really believe Ger- many can lick the world, and they have a notion that there is no nation so progressive as theirs. In some respects they are right, (104) ALONG THE RHINE 105 and in many phases of business and scientific advancement the Germans lead the world. I am inclined to attribute this to their public-school system, which is superior to ours in some respects. Without going into an ex- tended argument on the subject, I will ex- plain my reason for this opinion. The German system of education is very rigid for the boys and girls. The discipline in the common schools is military. The children go to school more months in the year and they are com- pelled to learn. There is no foolishness, no excuses from fond parents, no late parties, no indifference, no any -thing -to -get -through. The German teachers are not content with getting the children to pass, but they insist they shall know their studies. This severe training is kept up until the boy or girl goes to the university, and then discipline is re- laxed and he or she can do about as they please so far as personal conduct is concerned. In America the parents and the government let the little folks do as they please outside of short school hours, and then tighten up the disc'pline in high school and university. Our scheme doesn't work well. Our grade schools 106 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE turn out indifferent scholars and boys and girls who have not been trained to study. Our course of study is fixed to make it easy, when every one knows that hard work is needed to develop character. If the Germans go ahead of the Americans in the next genera- tion it will be because their school system is better than ours, because it trains the children better for the work to come. The Germans think just as much of their children as do the Americans of theirs, but they do not spoil them, — which is a great American fault and which counts against the children ever after- ward. We rode on the boat to Godesberg, and Rolandseck and Heisterbach, and Johannis- berg, and Niersteiner, and all the other places which are recorded on the wine-card at a Kansas City hotel. The very names are enough to make a Kansas man file an informa- tion with the county attorney. Each town has its brand of wine, its old castles, its flourishing business, its comfortable hotels, and its legends of olden times. Most of the legends tell of the ALONG THE RHINE 107 triumph of True Love, but here is an excep- tion: An old knight whose castle at Schoenberg was an important place in the feudal system of tax collection, had seven beautiful daugh- ters. He died ; these seven girls ruled in the castle, and all they cared for was a good time. They went hunting, gave late supper parties, and were much talked about ; but their beauty and the castle of their inheritance kept them popular with the men. Many knights asked them to marry, but each and every suitor was given the merry ha-ha by the maiden he sought. Knights even fought and killed each other, disputing as to the merits of the sisters, and the ladies made such funerals the scenes of great enjoyment. Finally the knights had a mass meeting, and resolved that the seven sisters be required to select husbands. When th's news was conveyed to the sisters they said this was just what they wanted. They proposed that they would give a picnic, to which all the would-be husbands should be in- vited, and after lunch they would announce 108 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE the knights of their choice. The picnic day came, and it rained in the morning as it always does on picnic days. The knights came with their swords and their lunch-baskets and stood around throwing balls for the cigars and shak- ing for the lemonade, until the skies cleared and it was announced that the seven sisters would be in at once or as soon as they had finished dressing. Then came another hour's wait. Suddenly a boat appeared around the bend, and in it were the Seven, all decked out with big hats and rhinestone buckles. The eldest sister stood up in the boat, screaming as it rocked, and said: "We don't care to marry any of you country jakes. We are go- ing to Cologne to visit a cousin, and there we propose to have a good time without being obliged to throw down some knight who wants a bride and a meal ticket every so often." The other sisters joined in singing the old-time version of "Goodby, my lover, goodby," and the boat sailed for Cologne. The knights cussed, and laid the blame onto each other ; but suddenly a storm arose, and the boat began to bob around in the waves. The seven sisters screamed, but it did them no good. ALONG THE RHINE 109 i ^— — The boat upset, and all on board were drowned. This legend teaches flirtatious young ladies not to trifle with the home boys. On the spot where the boat went under, seven pointed rocks appear above the surface of the water even up to today. I saw them, and I guess that proves the legend. mmiiiruinniwimac I have always believed that Kansas people make a mistake in neglecting the legend crop. For example, a good legend about Elmdale Park in Hutchinson would cause thousands of people to visit it and pay 10 cents apiece, be- sides buying post-cards and printed copies of the beautiful story, which might go some- thing like this : Once upon a time there lived in the First Ward a man and his wife who had an only daughter. They were the only father and mother she had, so honors were about even on that point. They loved this Daughter so much that when she grew up she was not taught to sew or to cook, but to play the piano and to sing "Love Me and the World is Mine." She was very beautiful as she sat on the front 110 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE porch reading the latest novel, "The Soul of My Soul," while her mother fried the beef- steak for supper. Suitors came from far and near, one of them a brakeman on the Missouri Pacific, and another an assistant chief clerk in a hash foundry. But her choice fell upon a handsome young knight she met at Elmdale Park, who wore an open-faced vest and a Brazilian diamond on his shirt front, but who had quit school in order to go to work and then forgot about it. He saw the clean home and he smelled the fried steak and thought the young lady did it all, when in fact the young lady could not boil an egg. They were married, and he at once came to live with his wife's folks. The old Father developed an unex- pected trait, and insisted that the Bridegroom should pay board, which he proudly refused to do, took his bride and went to Wxhita. There he was offered a position as chamber- maid in a livery stable and the Girl found it necessary at odd times to do the laundry work for a small boarding-house. Thus they lived for near y two years, when she borrowed a postage stamp and wrote home: "I have a Divorce and two children." The father and THE HANDSOME KNIGHT SHE MET IN ELMDALE PARK ALONG THE RHINE 111 mother promptly sent her enough money to pay her fare, and she returned to the castle of her childhood. But she had learned a lesson. The next time she got married she did not pick up a friend in Elmdale Park, but made him show her his bank book and his re- ceipt for dues in the Modern Woodmen. At the place in Elmdale Park where she met her first soul-mate she planted a cottonwood tree, which is there yet, and under its shade lovers now meet, remember this legend and buy post- cards which tell the story. In German Towns Cologne, Germany, August 9. This is the big town of the lower Rhine country in Germany, though it has rivals which may sometime take the title away. It is also the old town, and there have been many hot times in its history. It was started in the first century of the Christian era as a colony by Aggripina, the mother of Nero, and a lot of Roman soMiers were given extra rights for settling in the new town. A couple of hundred years later a bridge was built across the Rhine, and Cologne became of commerical importance. When Christianity was extended to this sect 'on it was made the seat of a bishop and then of an archbishop. It grew rapidly and was independent in its tendencies, so when the break-up came of the old Roman empire it became a free city, and with some bossing by the archbishop the people ruled, that is, the wealthier and more important, a sort of aristocracy. Napoleon annexed Co- logne to France, but when he was overthrown (112) IN GERMAN TOWNS 113 the city was handed over to the king of Prussia, and it has been Prussian ever since. In the last hundred years Cologne has developed as the great jobbing and commercial city of this section. It is full of quaint old houses, narrow streets, medieval architecture, and has the best cathedral in Europe. Dutch and German cathedrals are generally Protestant, but the Cologne cathedral is Catholic. When the Reformation came the Lutherans especially enjoyed capturing a cathedral, tearing down the images and statues, destroying all the artistic beauty they could, and making the house of God as plain and uncomfortable as possible. On the other hand, the Catholics believed in beautifying and adorning their churches. The present-day Protestants doubt- less wish their predecessors had been less zealous and that the beautiful decorations and paintings had not been defaced by whitewash. The Cologne cathedral is the finest specimen of Gothic architecture in the world. Of course it is in the shape of a cross, and is 157 yards long, 94 yards wide, 201 feet to the roof, 357 feet to the tower over the center, and the towers are 515 feet high. These figures give 114 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE no idea of the impressive and imposing in- terior ; and the exterior, which is a profusion of turrets, gargoyles, cornices, galleries and other decorations, makes the visitor catch his breath as he looks at this great structure. The foundation of this cathedral was laid in 1248 and the work was completed thirty years ago ; so there was no rush about the job. inunwiicumiiuwie Twenty-five miles below Cologne is Dussel- dorf , also on the Rhine, and the place where the iron and coal development of Germany seeks its market. You know what iron and coal did for Pittsburg, and it is the same with Diisseldorf. It is the growing city of the sec- tion, and threatens to pass Cologne. As Diisseldorf is largely modern, having de- veloped since the days of railroads and steel bridges, it has wide streets, beautiful build- ings, and its architecture is of the present generation. Diisseldorf is noted for its mu- nicipal ownership, and is often called a model city. The town owns the street cars, the light system, the docks on the river, the water plant, a pawn-shop and a lot of other things, including a couple of breweries. Municipal IN GERMAN TOWNS 115 ownership comes easier in the Old World than in the New. It was formerly the custom of the government to own everything, and to lay out parks and provide utilities for the people, who were then too poor to do much them- selves. So the modern European government, which is largely popular, succeeds to the power of the ancient monarchical rule, and provides the big things for the people. A strong-handed ruler who can condemn private property, and wisely put the good of the entire community above the property and welfare of individuals, does these public works much better than our own municipal governments, which have re- stricted powers and which have to do what the people want rather than tell the people what they ought to do. Generally speaking the public ownership of utilities is a good thing, provided the government has the power and the integrity to do the business right. Dussel- dorf has a mayor and twelve salaried alder- men, a common council of 56 members, and over 5,000 city employes. One great difference between Germans and Americans is the regard in which they hold the 116 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE law. Unfortunately, our new civilization has brought about a general feeling that the law is meant for the other fellows and we obey it if we have to. For that reason it is easier for a German municipality to manage business than it is for an American — and especially for a Kansan. Imagine what would happen in Hutchinson if the city owned a couple of breweries like the city of Diisseldorf. The next spring election the candidates would be run- ning on the beer issue, and there would be all kinds of opinions. In Diisseldorf they hire expert brewers, sell the product, and the city takes a good profit. In Hutchinson the First Ward would be kicking because they didn't like the head brewer, the Sixth Ward would demand a reduction in the price of beer, and the Third Ward would make the candidates pledge themselves to another beer garden in the south part of town, where it would be poor business. The final result would be that Mayor Vincent and Dr. Winans and the rest of the commission would be charged with favoritism and defeated for reelection, and their successors would make beer at a loss and nobody would be satisfied. The curse of IN GERMAN TOWNS 117 American municipal affairs is this playing of politics with every petty question. The Ger- mans take the wiser method of cutting out politics, selecting their best men for public office, giving great respect to them personally, and accepting the laws they enact. When the mayor of Dusseldorf conies out for a walk everybody he meets takes off his hat and salutes. In our country everybody the mayor meets has a kick about something, and as for taking off his hat to the mayor— the Amer- ican citizen would see him in Halifax first. iwuiiuinuiuuiiiuic A Kansas man, Clarence Price, of Pitts- burg, stirred up all kinds of trouble in the German empire recently. Price has a moving- picture show, travel scenes and such, and is in Europe to get some of the best and see the local color. He thought it would be a fine thing to compliment the German army with a picture ; so he had his machine at one of the forts of Berlin taking views of the drill of an artillery squad. The police saw him, and he nearly spent the night in the Hotel de Jail. It was all the American Consul and the Asso- ciated Press could do to save him, for the 118 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE police believed he was a French spy, and as they could not understand the Pittsburg language and Price could not talk their Ger- man, it was only with difficulty that he got word to his friends and was finally released. A German jail is not fitted up for pleasure and comfort, but to make people sorry they get there, and as the picture machine had been confiscated there was not even the consola- tion for the Kansas showman of being able to present to the American public the sight of German justice administered on the spot. itmujnramuijwn Everywhere in Germany the load the people are carrying is militarism. The young men of the country lose several of the best years of their life in their army service, and heavy taxes burden business and industry. The people are patriotic, and this army is neces- sary, for there is always the prospect of a war, and of course they want to lick the other fellow. But the newspapers are praising Taft and urging that arbitration and disarmament are practicable if the course marked out by the United States is followed. It makes an American really proud of his country and his IN GERMAN TOWNS 119 President when he hears the praise that is everywhere bestowed on both for taking the lead in the most important movement of the times. There has been a marked change in sentiment toward Americans among the edu- cated and upper classes the last few years. The poor people always were strong for us. But the business men and the newspapers, as well as the brass collars, sneered at Ameri- cans as mere money - makers. McKinley brought the change when the United States jumped into a war with Spain to help Cuba. Dewey at Manila pounded it into their heads with language the Europeans could under- stand. Roosevelt's dashing policies and his stand for peace between Japan and Russia impressed them wonderfully. And now Taft's policy of arbitration instead of war is receiv- ing the commendation of uppers and lowers, and they recognize the statesmanship in the treaties. To use one of Roosevelt's favorite words, it is bully to be an American and travel in Europe, just to see how much better it is at home and to feel the respect paid to our great nation and its leaders. Arriving in Paris Paris, August 11. Paris is a good deal like a circus, a three- ringed one which strains the rubber in your neck trying to see all you can before the acts change. Even the arrival is theatrical. As the train pulled into the Gare du Nord, after making the last forty-five miles in fifty-five minutes, I passed our hand baggage out through the open car window to a porter, and, going out the door myself, told him in a con- fident tone "voiture," which is the foolish French word for cab. He understood, piloted us through the big station and called a little victoria with a seat for two. The driver wears a white celluloid plug hat and a red face. He drives a horse which probably fought with Napoleon. He nods assent to the name of the hotel as I mispronounce it, takes our three grips on his seat, and away we go down the street, the Lord and the cabby only knowing where. On the sidewalks are busy people talking French, walking French, and gesturing (120) ARRIVING IN PARIS 121 French. The stores and shops are attractive, for the French shopkeeper puts his best stuff in the front window, whether he is selling hats or sausages. Big busses, with people on top as well as inside, motor cars and motor busses with horns and honks, loaded wagons drawn by heavy Norman horses, street sweepers with brooms, policemen in red-and-blue uni- forms, maids in cap and gown, porters with their work shirts outside their trousers, restau- rants and little cafes with tables and chairs on the sidewalk and French men slipping ab- sinthe or cold coffee, buildings almost uni- formly six stories high, built with courts in the center which are often seen through open doors, and everybody talking, gesticulating and screaming in a language you cannot under- stand, — that is the confusion through which we drive for two miles and for which journey the cabman takes off his hat when I pay him 35 cents, which includes a 4-cent tip for him- self. The hotel porter, or chief clerk, the head waiter, the pages, the manager and several assistants meet us at the hotel door, and in response to inquiries assure us that there is a bath-room in the hotel and that they have a 122 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE "very nice" room. As an additional and de- cisive argument why we should stop there the chief clerk asserts that they have ice-water, and the entire company falls back in an ecstatic gesture which evidently means "What do you think of that?" We examine the room, agree upon a price, and then and not till then do we dismiss the cabman and proceed to get settled. We are in Paris, the dirtiest and prettiest city in the world. Of course the first thing to do is to get out and see the sights, but of course it is not. The first thing is to get the mail and the next is to clean up. After traveling eight hours on a fast train through a country which has had no rain for two months, one really does not care for the wonderful things which the world talks about. Then comes the French dinner, which is something of an affair. A dinner in France goes like this : Soup, fish or eggs, veal, beef or mutton, and a vegetable and salad, cakes or tarts, fruit or ice. No coffee is served with the meal, but it is usually taken later and is an additional charge. Any attempt to vary this bill of fare is regarded as insane. I tried my ARRIVING IN PARIS 123 best to get string beans served with my veal course, but I couldn't. The waiter said " Oui," then went and called the other waiters, and I could see them looking at the crazy American. That made me persistent, and I sent for the head waiter and told him I wanted beans — and I knew they had them ready. The head waiter said "Oui" and disappeared, and soon the clerks from the office strolled by and looked in. By this time the veal was cold, and I realized that any further attempt might result in calling the police, so I gave it up. No one refused to get my beans, but each time I was told "oui," which means "yes" and is pronounced "we," and each time nothing further happened except the sympathizing and curious mob. Once I traveled in Europe with a friend named McGregor, who wanted his coffee served with his meal, as it is in Illinois. He was willing to pay any price and he would put in his order hours ahead of meal- time. Did he get it? Certainly not. Coffee is not served with the dinner in France, and that is all there is to it. American travelers have won on one point — ice. Every hotel and restaurant which caters 124 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE to American trade advertises ice-water. No Frenchman will drink it, but in some way the managers found that ice could be procured in the summer-time, and as a special favor to Americans, at a small increase in rates, the hotels give us ice-water. No real French hotel has a bath-room, to say nothing of a room with bath. I suppose the French, who look clean, either go to the creek or swim in the washbowl. Again the American influence is felt. First-class hotels now have bath-rooms, or a bath-room, and when it is used the charge appears on the bill, so much for a "grand bath." jitiiNiiiitiaiuiimimc After dinner we went for a walk on the boulevards, just as every Frenchman who can, does every evening. The boulevards are the wide streets which run through the city in different directions, and were constructed at first for military purposes. In the little narrow streets of old Paris it was easy to start a revolution by merely throwing a barricade across a "rue," prying up cobblestones for weapons and stationing a few old women on the housetops with pots of scalding water, ARRIVING IN PARIS 125 which are harder on soldiers than leaden bullets. The revolution habit got so strong in Paris that the boulevards were constructed so the soldiers could march through the city without being stopped by barricades and mobs. They are likely to be used for that purpose again sometime, but just now the boulevards are largely for parades in which French millinery and hosiery are placed on exhibition every afternoon and evening. The sidewalks are occupied by cafes, miles of them it seems to me, and for the price of a drink, from one cent up, and in substance from coffee down, a Frenchman can occupy a comfortable seat and observe the wonders of art and glimpses of nature which pass by. An Amer- ican can do the same, only a real American can never put in a whole evening consuming one small cup of coffee or whatever other beverage he can call for in the French language. So when I say we "went for a stroll," we did so in the Parisian sense. We went for a sit, and let the promenaders do the strolling. Here and there an orchestra was playing some frivolous air, the street lights flashed from the lamp-posts, old ladies sold newspapers and 126 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE post-cards, and the chattering but musical French language filled the air with a suggestive touch of the bohemian accent. The later the hour the larger the crowd, until midnight came, and then the Parisians went to the dances and parties and the American visitors to the hotels. The French Character Paris, August 13. It is a little hard to take Paris seriously, because Paris refuses to take herself that way. There is a cheerfulness and a playful- ness about the French folks that is hard to appreciate from the calm viewpoint of an Englishman or American. Our standards are different along so many lines that compari- sons are unfair without explanations; and who cares for long-winded explanations? Ac- cording to all the rules that are laid down in the books of American etiquette, the people of this city should be behind the rest of the world in all the serious and necessary works of life. And yet French generals have fought and defeated larger armies with their French soldiers, French engineers have performed marvelous feats, French scientists are author- ity, French musicians command the highest prices, French business men do great things, the French people are wealthy, and when it comes to literature and art we in America are (127) 128 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE really small potatoes. The fact seems to be that the Frenchman who promenades the boulevard and the French lady who startles the Puritan in us, are accomplishing just as much with somewhat limited resources, as we do, and we are the greatest people on earth as we admit ourselves. juiiii.imoiiiiiiiiira: The show place in Paris is the parallelo- gram along the Seine, consisting of the Champs-Elysees, the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries gardens, and the Louvre art gallery. This district is about three miles long and averages a quarter of a mile wide. It contains the Champs with beautiful gar- dens and woods intersected by wide avenues, then the Place de la Concorde, one of the most beautiful squares in the world, the Tuileries' commodious public playgrounds, with ponds and fountains ; palaces with pic- tures, statues and monuments historical and allegorical; and the end is in the Louvre, which is said to be the greatest collection of art in existence. There is not a chord in the human mind and heart which is not touched beautifully and effectively by some part of THE FRENCH CHARACTER 129 this magnificent public place, which belongs to the people and is used by them. The more one thinks over this feature, the more he must realize that although the French do not con- form to our methods they are certainly able to reach many of our best ideals, and whether they go around or cross-lots to get there de- pends upon the viewpoint of the critic. tmanxmam The old Bourbon kings of France under- stood their people. While they made it hard for the common people to get a living they made it easy for them to have a good time. Whenever the public kicked on taxes, the king laid out a new park and gave a fete with free drinks and fireworks. The Bourbons would probably be reigning yet if Louis the Sixteenth and his wife, Marie Antoinette, had had any sense. Antoinette was German and did not understand the French ways, Louis was a poor politician, and when a storm came they lost their heads figuratively and then lost them actually. The republic lasted a few years and then Napoleon, who was as great a player to the grandstand as he was a general, became emperor, and only his foolish desire 130 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE to conquer everybody lost him his job. The Bourbons came back as kings, but they had no sense. The French people want to be fooled, and these kings couldn't fool anybody. So there was another republic, and then Na- poleon the Third came to the front on the reputation of his uncle, the great Napoleon. He worked the French people to a finish, built palaces, boulevards and playgrounds until he had everybody for him, and then got captured by the Germans, lost his reputation and throne, and France became a republic for the third time. This was in 1871, and the republic has lasted forty years, much longer than expected, but in fact the govern- ment has been wisely conducted and has un- derstood the French character well. There is another Napoleon, by the name of Victor, who is likely to come back, and sometime when the government does an imprudent thing the people will remember the good old times of Napoleon and return to a monarchy. Vic- tor married the daughter of the old Emperor of Belgium, and has a big campaign fund. jlimiwiunHunt Of course everybody knows these facts, and I have recited them to illustrate the THE FRENCH CHARACTER 131 French national character. The French are not false, but they are fickle. They like a change, a novelty, an excitement. A revo- lution, or a new government, appeals to their sense of enjoyment just as does a new pic- ture, a new hat, or a new coiffure. In spite of this trait they have done great things in all the great lines of advancement and prog- ress. Theoretically they should be failures, but in fact they are successful. They con- sider Paris the greatest city of the world, and the way the people of other countries come here and add to the circulating medium seems to prove they are right. They practically refuse to learn any other language, but all other countries study French. Thousands of English and American Puritans come to Paris every year, but the Frenchman who travels for pleasure is unknown. Why is it? I give it up, unless we have some French tastes along with our English standards. jimi:iiimt]iniiin.:m The French people are the most temperate, most economical and most saving of any of the peoples of Europe — or America. With all their fun they love money, and never for- 13£ A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE get the necessity of having some in their old age. Get off the Parisian boulevards, which are spoiled by visitors, and you see the French, pure and simple, though not so very pure and not at all simple. They will bargain and figure down to the "sou," the popular coin, worth two American cents. Every French family figures on spending less than it makes, and does it. There are practically no sav- ings banks and no one much has a bank ac- count, but as soon as a little money is saved it is invested in government bonds or munic- ipal or railroad bonds, which bear four per cent interest. Every family has government bonds, and this habit of investing in securi- ties is the reason which makes France so great and strong financially. The people pile their savings into the government treasury, the only bank they know. The family, which is always small in France, must save for the daughter's dot, or she will never be married, and for the last years of the parents' lives. There are practically no abjectly poor people in France. It is not fashionable to be poor, and French men and French women must be fashionable. THE FRENCH CHARACTER 133 The Place de la Concorde is a wonderful square, larger than a couple of our city blocks. In the center is an obelisk, presented by Mohammed Ali when he was viceroy of Egypt and before the bargain sale of obelisks took place. It is a block of red granite, 75 feet high and covered with hieroglyphics which tell the deeds of an Egyptian gentle- man named Rameses. The obelisk is sur- rounded by large fountains with mermaids and Tritons and dolphins spouting water into lower basins. Around the square are statues representing the eight principal cities of France. Since the monuments were erected one of these cities, Strassburg, has been taken by the Germans. This was forty years ago, but the monument still stands, and it is draped in mourning. In any other country the statue would have been quietly removed, but the French are not built that way. They hang their wreaths around Strassburg, swear vengeance on the Germans, and have a good time. aumiuatjniumijD! This mourning habit is very popular in Paris. The ladies who are called upon to 134 A JAYHAWTCER IN EUROPE mourn do so with proper regard for appear- ances. As near as I can figure it out the death of a second cousin puts all the female members of a family into deep black. A mourning -gown with a very hobble skirt, with the hoisery and millinery to match and with plumes and decollete neck to strengthen the effect, — well, it does not detract from the human interest one naturally takes at such a time. The Latin Quarter Paris, August 15. As everyone knows, the city of Paris is cut into two parts by the river Seine, which runs through it from east to west and with its curves is about seven miles in length within the town. The river is crossed by many bridges, all stone and substantial, many orna- mented by statues. Little steamboats run up and down like street cars, and the banks are covered with massive stone walls. About half-way through the city are two islands, one called the Cite and the other the Isle of St. Louis. The Cite is the most ancient part of Paris, and was a town in the time of Csesar. The coming of Christianity was marked by the erection of a church, and about the 12th century by the present cathedral Notre- Dame, one of the famous buildings in Europe, but not one of the finest cathedrals. By this time the city had spread out on the banks, and the organization of France into a king- dom with Paris as the capital was followed by (135) 136 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE a removal of the royal residence and of most of the activities to the sides of the stream. On the south side developed the university, the artists' studios, and eventually the mili- tary establishments. Big business, the large residences and industrial enterprises went to the north bank. The Latin Quarter, as the educational and artistic section is known, on the south, while equipped with large stores, palaces and public buildings, is a most in- teresting and quaint place, and though still Bohemian is very respectable, from a Parisian viewpoint. nimiimiinitimiinin The University of Paris, the original part of which was the Sorbonne, now an immense structure, has about 15,000 students. It dif- fers from American universities in many re- spects. There are no recitations. The in- struction is given by lectures, and a famous authority on law, or philosophy or science, can lecture to hundreds as easily as to a small class. There are no dormitories, no frater- nities, no football clubs, no spring parties, no classes, no sports, no colors, no badges, none of the essential parts of American higher THE LATIN QUARTER 137 ii i . . education. Students of any age or previous training may enroll and become members of the University, go to the lectures they desire, or not go at all if they prefer. The public can attend the lectures and the University is open to women, though the proportion of women students is not large. The most effi- cient instruction and the greatest sources of information are open to the students — if they desire. The Sorbonne was erected in 1629 by Cardinal Richelieu, and named for Robert de Sorbonne, who started a school for the education of poor boys in theology about 1250. It has been rebuilt and enlarged until it is a vast pile 800 feet long and 300 feet wide. This building houses the schools in literature and science, the schools of law and medicine occupying buildings near by. jiiniiiiuurii'ii'ujQC Although the students at the University of Paris do not have the fun in athletics and society that the students do in the Univer- sity of Kansas, they have a good time in the French way. The quarter is filled with cafes, large and small, where students and artists congregate and eat, drink and make merry. 1S8 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE The back room of the cafe is something of a club, and discussions on art and science mingle with the perfume of tobacco and fer- mented grape- juice. While there is a lack of co-eds there is no scarcity of ladies, who constitute a part of the course taken by many of the students, not leading to a degree, not even to matrimony. All of this, which would be regarded with horror in Lawrence, is quite the thing in Paris and seems to work out most satisfactorily to the University authorities, for even the professors do not hesitate to mingle with their students at the evening sessions in the joints of the Latin Quarter. The men take examinations and degrees and go their way to promote the advancement of learning, while the ladies stay and aid in the instruction of the next generation of students. The original of the old college story took place in the Sorbonne. A father who had graduated many years before came for a visit with his son, who had matriculated as a stu- dent. The son had gone to the same lodging- place which his father had occupied in the years gone by. The old man was recalling his student days, looking over the familiar THE LATIN QUARTER 139 place, noticing the changes and the old scenes. "The same old beamed ceiling, where I carved my name, and here it is," he ex- claimed with delight. "The same old view from the window. The same old furniture — " and just then the back door opened and a dashing lady appeared. "Same old girl," he cried with rapture. The boy tried to ex- plain that she was a friend of a friend. " Same old story," was the happy comment, "Same old game." liliiiiininci'iNii ic Near the Sorbonne is the Pantheon, origi- nally built for a church, in the shape of a Greek cross, located on a hill which is the highest place on the south side of the river, and with a noble dome that can be seen for many miles. This is a new building, having been constructed in the eighteenth century. It was dedicated to Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris. The revolution con- verted it into a memorial temple and named it the Pantheon. It has been a church a couple of times since then, but is now not used for religious purposes. It is the bury- ing-place of great Frenchmen. Here are 140 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE buried Victor Hugo, Mirabeau, Rousseau, Carnot, and others distinguished in literature and statecraft. You can see the last rest- ing-place of these great men by securing an order from the Government or by tipping the custodian : the latter way I always find the easiest and best. The Pantheon is beau- tifully decorated, and the interior with Corin- thian columns and mural paintings is most effective. If it makes any difference to these men where they are buried they should be glad, for it is the finest memorial building in Europe. That leads me to a rather grave subject. As a matter of fact, funerals are very im- portant events in France. Three or four di- rectors in black clothes and three-cornered hats march ahead, and the hearse is heavily draped. If the departed was a man of prom- inence there are a number of orations deliv- ered, the crowd goes away excited over the condition of the republic, and is likely to break windows and show its feeling toward the political opponents of the deceased. When Zola was buried a hundred thousand people THE LATIN QUARTER 141 marched in the procession, and there were a number of street fights and duels as a climax. iiniiniinininiunimc But the biggest thing in the Latin Quarter so far as American tourists are concerned is the Bon Marche, I suppose the largest retail general store in the world. In most ways it is like our department stores, and announces that it has made its success by reason of faith- ful dealings with the public and by adver- tising. It has been running about fifty years ; the original proprietor is dead, but the busi- ness moves on smoothly. The corporation has a method of division of profits among employes who have been with the store more than ten years. It also pensions its old em- ployes, provides lectures and amusements for its workers, and has a paternal and cooper- ative side that is interesting, although the corporation is in fact controlled by a few heavy stockholders. Somehow I had the idea that our own coun- try was the leader in the big department store business. But the Bon Marche and others in Paris took the idea out of me. It has many clerks who speak foreign langauges, and it 142 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE is said that a native of Timbuctoo or Arkan- sas could slip into the store and find some one who could speak his language. The clerks in the Bon Marche get from $3 to $6 a week, with the exception of a few who have special qualifications. So I guess the old-age pension business is necessary. That is the ordinary wage paid store clerks in Paris. It was at the Bon Marche that the ancient joke happened to me. I was looking at a price-mark, and, not understanding the figure, inquired in my pigeon French, "Est sees [6] auter set? [7]." The clerk answered "It is six." My French is a joke. From necessity I have learned enough French words to order a meal, buy a ticket and ask how much. I have found that a good bluff, plenty of signs and the throwing in of French and German words on the subject generally get about what I want. But often I fall down. The word for potatoes in French is "pommes." I told a waiter I wanted "fried pommes," and as the word for cold is "froid," I got cold potatoes. THE LATIN QUARTER 143 I went for a ride in the underground tube. Bought my tickets and got onto a train I knew was in the right direction. It stopped, everybody got out, and the porter insisted that I go too. I knew something was wrong, and I tackled the platform boss with good English. He couldn't understand a word, so he waved his hands and clawed the air and talked French for a couple of minutes. Then he tried to walk off, but I hung on. I was away down below the surface of the ground and didn't even know straight up. "Corre- spond" he kept saying, and I assured him I would be glad to do so if he would give me his address, but first I wanted to know where I was "at." I knew he was swearing, but it was French swear and I didn't mind. Fi- nally he took me by the arm and walked me through a couple of passages and pointed to another platform. A light broke in on me, and I took the train which soon came. I learned afterward that "correspond" is French for "transfer." The Boulevards of Paris Paris, August 18. The boulevards of Paris are one of the wonders of the world. Strictly speaking there are a number of broad avenues which are called boulevards, but usually "the boule- vards" is a phrase which means the one long wide boulevard extending for several miles, from near the Place de la Concorde to the Place de la Bastille, built in a semi-circle on the north of the old city and on the fortifica- tions which defended the city in the Middle Ages. Of course later walls and fortifications were built farther out, and the "grand boule- vards" are through the heart of the present Paris. The boulevard — for it is one continuous highway — changes its name every few blocks, a fact that is characteristically French and somewhat confusing to the stranger. The be- ginning is a short distance from the Place de la Concorde at the church of the Madeleine, the fashionable church of Paris. The building is in the style of a Roman temple, and has an (144) THE BOULEVARDS OF PARIS 145 imposing colonnade of Corinthian columns. The interior decorations are very good, and include a large fresco above the altar in which Christ, Napoleon and Pope Pius the Seventh are classified more or less together. The boule- vard is called The Madeleine for about 200 yards, when the name changes to the Capu- cines and sticks for a couple of blocks until the grand opera house is reached. Along this short stretch are some of the wildest music halls and the greatest cafes of the world. The greatest is the Cafe de la Paix, where every- body who visits Paris goes for at least one drink of ginger ale or cold coffee. The Opera is the largest theatre in the world, covering about three acres. The site alone cost $2,000,000 and the building over $7,000,000. The materials are marble and costly stone, and there are statues of Poetry, Music, Drama, Dance, with other figures, me- dallions and allegorical statuary until your head swims. The front of the roof is sculp- tured with gilded masks and with collossal groups representing Music and Poetry at- tended by the Muses and Goddesses of Fame. Apollo with a golden lyre and two Pegasuses 146 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE occupy the dome. The interior has a grand staircase of marble with a rail of onyx, and the rest of the interior is be-columned and be- frescoed to match. It is the most beautiful building in Paris, and could hardly be sur- passed if the attempt were made regardless of expense. I would not try a detailed de- scription, for it would not convey the real effect, best described by the word gorgeous. From the Opera a street runs southerly called the Avenue de FOpera, the great shop- ping street of Paris, and at another angle goes the Street de la Paix, where the most expensive jewelry stores and millinery establishments are located. The name of this street is properly pronounced de la Pay. But the Boulevard continues, no longer the Capucines, but the Italiens. Some years ago this was the great shopping-place, and it is not bad now. As the ladies promenade past the Opera and into the Italiens, the skirts unconsciously go a little higher. The boule- vard proceeds, the next section being called the Montmartre. This part interested me a great deal. On the rue Montmartre, a side street to the right, is the Y. M. C. A., and on THE BOULEVARDS OF PARIS 147 Mt. Montmartre, a little to the left, is the Moulin Rouge. The Y. M. C. A. in Paris is one of the best things in the city, but it does not get much newspaper notoriety. It is an English-speak- ing organization, with convenient quarters, parlor, reception, billiard, smoking- and din- ing-rooms. It is one place in Paris where there is no cafe or bar, and it is a great help to young men from America who are in this city by reason of their business or to study or to visit the historic places. A great many use the Y. M. C. A. facilities, and a membership card from Hutchinson or any other associa- tion in the world is good for these privileges in the heart of Paris. I would recommend to every American that when he goes to Paris he make his headquarters at the Y. M. C. A., but I am not going to count on many of them doing it. The Paris atmosphere has the same effect on a Y. M. C. A. that a nice, warm August sun has on a cake of ice left on the sidewalk in Hutchinson. I am not telling what I would like to, but I setting down the facts as they appear to me. The man who goes to Paris and sticks to the Y. M. C. A. as his 148 A JAYHAWKER IN EUROPE loafing-place should have his halo ordered at once. He has a cinch. In the other direction, on Mt. Montmartre, is the Moulin Rouge. I do not recommend it to nervous men, but it is one of the sights of this city. When I was a boy I read somewhere about a "gilded palace of sin,"and now I know what that means. The cowboys out west used to have what they called " f ree-and-easies," but the Moulin Rouge is not free. I shut my eyes as the dancers loped by until a friend said the next dance would be a quadrille. I once danced quadrilles myself, and I thought there would be a breathing-place. The young people arranged themselves as if they were going to dance a Virginia Reel, and I could feel consciousness returning. The music struck up and the quadrille began. At first it went as smooth as if it were at the Country Club. Then each young lady passed the toe of her right foot over the head of her partner. Then she turned and pointed the toe of her left foot at the chandelier which hung from the ceiling. And then came the most wonder- ful display of things that are put in the store