A History of the City of Brooklyn. Stephen M. Ostrander

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the people saw that the new Director had but one leg, the other, which he had lost in the wars, having been replaced by a wooden affair, laced with silver bands. His manner was soldierly, and excited from those who looked askance at him the remark that his stride was "like a peacock's, with great pomp and state." Moreover he was accused of keeping the burghers bareheaded for several hours, though he was covered, "as if he were the Czar of Muscovy."

       Peter Stuyvesant17 was the son of a clergyman of the Reformed Church. He was a "self-made" man, having had a hard struggle from his boyhood. He had fought in the service of the West India Company against the Spaniards and Portuguese in South America. For a time he was Governor of the Island of Curaçoa, and it was while making an attack, during this command, on the Island of St. Thomas that he lost his leg. He had married, at Amsterdam, Judith, the daughter of Balthazzar Bayard, a French Protestant who, like so many others who came to America, had fled to Holland to escape persecution.

      When Stuyvesant declared in his first speech at the Fort that he would govern the colony "as a father does his children," he gave some hint of the view of the situation which he was inclined to take. However fatherly and generous were his feelings toward the people whom he was to preside over, he intended to be master of the situation.

      The people who greeted the new Director with much cordiality, and who in this demonstration were influenced as greatly by the feeling that any change must be for the better as by any definite expectation that Stuyvesant would be better than Kieft, had suffered from so many influences that tended to disorganize and disconcert them that the new Director found them in no very promising state. Indeed, he found New Netherland in a "low condition."

      Breuckelen and her sister settlements were as yet merely farming communities. New Amsterdam itself had begun to present some of the characteristics of a town. Extending as far as the present line of Wall Street (from which fact the street gets its name), it was thickly settled within a narrow area toward the point. The houses were rough, the streets unkempt. "Pig-pens and out-houses were set directly on the street, diffusing unpleasant odors. The hogs ran at will, kept out of the vegetable gardens only by rough stockades."18

      If the physical condition of the town offended Stuyvesant, so, also, did the moral condition. The new Director called for a "thorough reformation." There must be an end of drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, and the selling of liquors to the Indians. Stuyvesant saw the necessity of conciliating the Indians, and the efforts which he made to this end were gratifying to the Long Island settlers.

      To protect the outlying settlements from the incursions of the savages, and to provide means for the payment of the annual presents and perquisites to the Indians, Stuyvesant consented to give the various towns representation in the government. The grand old democratic principle of taxation and representation going hand in hand was thus recognized. It was these sentiments, which early took root in Breuckelen, that resulted in the Revolutionary War, and established the fact that taxation without representation was unjustifiable. As a result of this consent, an election was held in Breuckelen and the other towns, and eighteen of the most respectable and honored men in the community were chosen, from whom nine were selected by the Director and Council as an advisory board. They were to confer with the Director and Council and to promote the welfare of the people. They were also to consult upon all measures proposed by the Director and Council, and to give their advice. The Director was empowered to preside at all meetings of this board. The members held seats in the Council, taking turns weekly, three sitting at a time; on court days acting in a judicial capacity to try cases and render judgment.

      The administration, at least in its earlier years, saw an increase in the rate of immigration. During Stuyvesant's administration many stone houses appeared in New Amsterdam, and on Long Island came an improved class of habitations.

      The houses of the Dutch period, and of the later period that imitated the primitive architecture of that time, are among the most interesting objects of study that remain on Long Island. The first Long Island houses had resembled those of the Indians. Very soon afterward the character of the dwellings became more solid and permanent, and after the Indian war came comfortable one-story houses, thatched with straw, and with big stone chimneys. Most of the Dutch houses on Long Island, even in later times, were of wood. A brickyard was established at New Amsterdam in 1660; but in those days it was thought that the baking of brick of greater thickness than two inches could not be effectual, and building with such small brick as then came from the maker was very expensive.

       The one-story Dutch houses generally had an "overshoot" roof, which formed now one and now two piazzas. Very often a seat was placed at each end of the porch; and when the weather permitted, this sheltered place was generally occupied by the family and visitors of an evening. There are a number of these fine old Dutch houses still standing within the limits of the county and city.

      The interior of the Dutch houses was generally as solid and simple as the exterior. The big fireplace was one of the most important features of the house. Those who could afford it often had the mantel front set about with glazed Holland tiles. These tiles had pictures moulded on them, and very often the whole series of pictures around the fireplace opening would tell stories from the Bible. "The children grew to know these pictures, and the stories they told, by heart; and when they gathered about the hearth of an evening, and the tile pictures glimmered faintly in the light of the big wood fire, grandfather would open the great family Bible on his knees and read some of the stories over again for the hundredth time."

      In the best room of the house stood the mountainous bedstead, as grand as the owner could afford to make it. Underneath was the trundle-bed, which was pulled out at night for the children to sleep on.

      "The pillow-cases were generally of check patterns; and the curtains and valance were of as expensive materials as their owner could afford; while in front of the bed a rug was laid, for carpets were not then in common use. Among the Dutch the only article of that sort, even up to the time of the Revolution, was a drugget of cloth, which was spread under the table during meal-time when, upon 'extra occasions,' the table was set in the parlor. But even these were unknown among the inhabitants of Breuckelen and the neighboring towns. The uniform practice, after scrubbing the floor well on certain days, was to place upon the damp boards the fine white beach sand (of which every family kept a supply on hand, renewing it by trips to the seashore twice a year), arranged in small heaps, which the members of the family were careful not to disturb by treading upon; and on the following day, when it had become dry, it was swept, by the light and skillful touch of the housewife's broom, into waves or other more fanciful figures. Rag carpets did not make their appearance in this country until about the beginning of the present century."19

      The Dutch did not use tables save for the kitchen or for the service of meals. The table dishes were of wood and pewter, though a few people kept some china on the sideboard for "company." As tea was a luxury which very few had much of, the tea cups were very small. For display, silver tankards, beakers, porringers, spoons, snuffers, and candlesticks were in favor. Clocks were extremely rare, the primitive hour-glass doing service in most houses. "Of books," says Stiles, "our ancestors had but few, and these were mostly Bibles, Testaments, and Psalm-Books. The former, many of which still exist among the old families, were quaint specimens of early Dutch printing, with thick covers, and massive brass, and sometimes silver, corner-pieces and clasps. The Psalm-Books were also adorned with silver edgings and clasps, and, when hung by chains of the same material to the girdle of matrons and maidens fair, were undoubtedly valued by their owners quite as much for the display which they made as for their intrinsic value."

      In every family was a spinning-wheel—sometimes four or five. The dress of the people, like so many other Dutch things, closely resembled that of Hollanders at home. The ordinary dress for men was a blouse or jacket, and wide, baggy trousers. Justices and other officials wore black gowns. The Sunday clothes of men as well as women were often gorgeous in color and effect. The ladies frizzed and powdered their hair, wore silk hoods in place of hats, and squeezed their feet into very high-heeled shoes. The dandies of СКАЧАТЬ