Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1902)
v -h ' f , ' < * f "J L' ' Che Conscrvatiw , 11 Ward's Horn of Plenty Our famous no'tniddtemen-system of providing alt the luxuries and necessities of life has been * adopted by two million people who appreciate our ability to help them make four dollars do the work of five. THE HORN OF PLENTY IS OPEW TO YOU WILL YOU TRY IT ? ANNOUNCEMENT The spring and summer edition of our catalogue No. 7O will be ready March 15th. It will be the finest"and most complete book of its kind ever pub * * > tished , containing over IOOO pages and I7OOO illustra tions. It costs us almost a dollar to publish and distribute this catalogue , but we will send it to you for ISc , by mailer or express prepaidt&JHmost any family can save $ IOO.OO a year by having 'our catalogue. Send.for.it today and enclose IS cents to partially pay postage or expressage. If you already have our No. 7O catalogue don't send for another as we intend to mail you the supplement mentioned below. IF IfOU HAVE-ORDERED goods front us In the past year , we will send , you a lOO'paga supplement containing all additions to our stock since No. 7O catalogue was Issued. It will not be necessary for you to asle for this supplement as we want you to have It and will send It anyway. IF YOU HAVE NEVER ORDERED goods from us or had our big cata * logue , send ISc today andget our latest , It's the key to the door of prosperity. Montgomery Ward C/O. , Chicago The House thmt tells the truth. produce to the market or to the seaport of jHarliugen , or in disporting himself on' the broad meres which dot his pro vince in the southwest , and which provide - vide him with such toothsome eels for his table. The cows are in the barns , and the canals are frozen a foot thick. It is time to put on skates and live the merry winter life. The average Dutchman of the South , although he can skate very well , looks a little absurd on the ice. His short legs and wide pantaloons are admirable adjuncts to his nose , his thin beard , and his , to us , curious expression.His breadth , it is true , makes him look im portant ; but if ho were less muscular , it would be a considerable hindrance to him in battling with the wind , which in winter is apt to make skating in one di rection something of a trial. ' The Frieslander , however , is taller , better proportioned , and is quite a good- looking man. The yellow beard which \ he not infrequently wears seems to put ( him on a footing of affinity with the \ ' members of the Anglo-Saxon family ; ta his blue eyes "make assurance doubly j ] sure. " He is a most wonderful creature when once he has put on those quaint , old-fashioned skates of his , and he thinks nothing of making a score of ; / : miles from one village to another before you and I are out of bed. As for the t- cold , what cares he for that ? He knows that he must rely on his circulation to keep him from being benumbed , how ever well he may be clothed , aud he ap pears more careful of his head which is covered by a sealskin cap than of his I'- ' ' body. A Frieslaud canal in winter is as live ly as anything can bo. The ice may not be very good or of unquestionable strength ; ' but no sooner are the boats penned in and the broken pieces of ice sufficiently welded to allow him to skate between them , than his sport begins. It is a feat of honor to be the first in the district to cross the canal when the wintry season is in its youth. The name of the bold boy is remembered for a few weeks ; and I have no doubt that his pluck is rewarded by the esteem of the cherry-cheeked girls of his province , whose eyes dance past one so brightly when the ice festival is in full swing , and journeying is all done upon skates. But to recur to some more general features of life in this flat little corner territory of Europe. I was astonished at being told by several intelligent Dutchmen that there is a great amount of religious scepticism in the Nether- lauds. I should as soon have expected to hear a like accusation brought against Scotland. Afterwards , how ever , when I had had more time to visit the churches and to watch the worthy Dutchmen at their devotions , my sur prise was greatly lessened. ' Almost all over Holland one sees a succession of wrecked churches ; and a dilapidated place of worship is about as mournful a picture as I know of. I dis tinctly remember wandering into one large church while service Was in pro gress. The drowsy voice oftho pastor could bo heard eveu in the. beautiful , forlorn choir , which bad been boarded away from the rest of the edifice. Once upon a time it had been a magnificent building. Now it was whitewashed , its chiselled work had been beaten to pieces with hammers , the brasses from the or nate gravestones which paved it had long-been torn away , and the very ex crescences of the scrolls and flourishings which adorned the epitaphs had been scratched aud levelled by vandals. Texts from the Commandments , the Creed , and the Lord's Prayer wore painted in dark colors upon the glowing white columns of the choir. Where the high altar had been , there was a com mon table piled with boards and a cou ple of ladders. The windows were of ordinary glass , and through a broken pane the cold winter's wind blow upon this unedifying scene. And all the Vfhile on the other side of the wooden screen , in the cosy body of the church , there were three or four hundred re spectable burghers and their wives in their best clothes , worshipping in sober , brown pews , and keeping themselves comfortable with cushions , aided by stoves. The men wore their hats. In this respect , but in no other , they re sembled the orthodox Jews. A visit to one of these neglected churches has a most depressing influence even upon an agnostic. I was struck rather by the simplicity of the people than by anything in them which was at all likely to make them aggressively irreligious. They have a natural love for their unlovely land ; and they have very little desire to see the rest of the world , and to compare it with their own country. This charac teristic seems to mark them as a good divergent in nature from the main stock from which we also have come. When they are rich , they build pretty , little villas , to which they give names in much the same way as a child uamca its dolls. Sometimes the name is a whole text , which must bo troublesome to the correspondents of the inmates of the villa. They deck the small gardens of their residences with miniature lakes
