Gerrit having a sister and friends, we rested
ourselves and drank some good beer, which refreshed us. We
continued along the shore to the city, where we arrived at
an early hour in the evening, very much fatigued, having
walked this day about forty miles. I must add, in passing
through this island we sometimes encountered such a sweet
smell in the air that we stood still; because we did not
know what it was we were meeting."
It is odd that the Dutch names in Greenwich have died out as much as
they have. There is something in Holland blood which has a way of
persisting. They--the old Manhattan Dutch anyway--had a certain
stubborn individuality of their own, which refused to give way or
compromise. I have always felt that the way the Dutch ladies used to
drink their tea was a most illuminating sidelight upon their racial
characteristics. They served the dish of tea and the sugar
separately--the latter in a large and awkward hunk from which they
crunched out bites as they needed them.
Pages:
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53