Read Online The Epic of New York City by Edward Robb Ellis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Edward Robb Ellis
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Dutch matrons prided themselves on their recessed slaap-bancks, huge Holland beds, and massive sideboards and cupboards. Pewter mugs and copper vessels were set around racks holding a generous supply of long-stemmed pipes. China was rare. Most spoons and forks were carved from wood, although the well-to-do had silverware used only for parties. Glassware was almost completely unknown, punch being drunk in turns by guests from a huge bowl, and beerfrom a tankard of silver. The rich possessed mirrors; one wealthy man owned seventy. Pictures were plentiful but wretchedâmostly engravings of Dutch cities and naval engagements. Window curtains were made of flowered chintz.
Clocks were scarce, time being kept mainly by sundials and hourglasses. Hardworking men arose with the first crow of the cock, breakfasted at dawn, labored through the morning, dined heartily at noon, resumed work, and then quit early in the afternoon to play. Every house contained spinning wheels, and looms became common. Behind most houses flower gardens were laid out in symmetrical designs, together with a vegetable garden and an orchard. Weather permitting, the Dutch liked to eat outdoors in summerhouses.
Houses cost from $200 to $1,000 and rented for $14 a year. From 1658 through 1661 living costs and wages were as follows: Beer sold at $4 a barrel, a sailor earned $8 a month, a horse was worth $112, the city bell ringer was paid $20 a year, the first Latin teacher earned $100 annually, lots near Hanover Square sold for $50 each, an ox brought $48, herrings sold at $3.60 per keg, and one beaverskin was worth $2.40.
A seafaring people, the Dutch enjoyed the water. Along Pearl Street small shipyards produced 1-masted sloops and 2-masted ketches. A 28-foot canoe cost $11, while a North River sloop or yacht was worth $560 or more.
Yacht, by the way, is a Dutch word. So are sloop, skipper, cookie, and cruller. A Dutch dozen or bakerâs dozen, meaning thirteen cookies or cakes, originated at a Dutch bakery in Albany, the term spreading to New Amsterdam. To the English a Dutch bargain meant a one-sided deal. Dutch comfort meant that conditions could be worse. Dutch courage signified booze bravery. To talk like a Dutch uncle meant to speak the truth gently but plainly.
Slaves were brought here from the West Indies and South America, but no New Netherland ship ever sailed on a slave-trading expedition to Africa. In 1654 the price of one slave was about $280. A law of 1658 forbade the whipping of Negro slaves without permission of the city magistrates; they enjoyed fairly humane treatment and were granted certain personal rights. Some were freed after long and faithful service and allowed to buy land in their own names. Peter Stuyvesant himself kept thirty to fifty slaves, his favorite being Old Mingo, who entertained him by playing the fiddle.
Despite the relative leniency with which slaves were treated, whitelawbreakers suffered severely. They were branded, lashed, tortured on the rack, and dipped into water while strapped in a ducking stool. However, the Dutch never put witches to death, as was done in New England, and householders who erected wood chimneys, instead of the brick ones ordered by the governor, were merely fined.
Money obtained from the fines was sent to Holland to buy fire ladders and leather buckets for the townâs eight-man fire department. Local craftsmen later produced leather buckets, whose sides were decorated by Evert Duyckinck, an artist who founded a dynasty of New Netherland painters. At last the city owned 250 leather buckets, which had to be kept filled. In winter, though, the water in them froze solidly. So did well water. The first fireman arriving on the scene had to jump down into the nearest well to chop away the surface ice with an ax. At night the community was more or less protected by a rattle watch, or rotating roster of policemen who called out the hour and shook rattles to warn thieves that they were
Dutch matrons prided themselves on their recessed slaap-bancks, huge Holland beds, and massive sideboards and cupboards. Pewter mugs and copper vessels were set around racks holding a generous supply of long-stemmed pipes. China was rare. Most spoons and forks were carved from wood, although the well-to-do had silverware used only for parties. Glassware was almost completely unknown, punch being drunk in turns by guests from a huge bowl, and beerfrom a tankard of silver. The rich possessed mirrors; one wealthy man owned seventy. Pictures were plentiful but wretchedâmostly engravings of Dutch cities and naval engagements. Window curtains were made of flowered chintz.
Clocks were scarce, time being kept mainly by sundials and hourglasses. Hardworking men arose with the first crow of the cock, breakfasted at dawn, labored through the morning, dined heartily at noon, resumed work, and then quit early in the afternoon to play. Every house contained spinning wheels, and looms became common. Behind most houses flower gardens were laid out in symmetrical designs, together with a vegetable garden and an orchard. Weather permitting, the Dutch liked to eat outdoors in summerhouses.
Houses cost from $200 to $1,000 and rented for $14 a year. From 1658 through 1661 living costs and wages were as follows: Beer sold at $4 a barrel, a sailor earned $8 a month, a horse was worth $112, the city bell ringer was paid $20 a year, the first Latin teacher earned $100 annually, lots near Hanover Square sold for $50 each, an ox brought $48, herrings sold at $3.60 per keg, and one beaverskin was worth $2.40.
A seafaring people, the Dutch enjoyed the water. Along Pearl Street small shipyards produced 1-masted sloops and 2-masted ketches. A 28-foot canoe cost $11, while a North River sloop or yacht was worth $560 or more.
Yacht, by the way, is a Dutch word. So are sloop, skipper, cookie, and cruller. A Dutch dozen or bakerâs dozen, meaning thirteen cookies or cakes, originated at a Dutch bakery in Albany, the term spreading to New Amsterdam. To the English a Dutch bargain meant a one-sided deal. Dutch comfort meant that conditions could be worse. Dutch courage signified booze bravery. To talk like a Dutch uncle meant to speak the truth gently but plainly.
Slaves were brought here from the West Indies and South America, but no New Netherland ship ever sailed on a slave-trading expedition to Africa. In 1654 the price of one slave was about $280. A law of 1658 forbade the whipping of Negro slaves without permission of the city magistrates; they enjoyed fairly humane treatment and were granted certain personal rights. Some were freed after long and faithful service and allowed to buy land in their own names. Peter Stuyvesant himself kept thirty to fifty slaves, his favorite being Old Mingo, who entertained him by playing the fiddle.
Despite the relative leniency with which slaves were treated, whitelawbreakers suffered severely. They were branded, lashed, tortured on the rack, and dipped into water while strapped in a ducking stool. However, the Dutch never put witches to death, as was done in New England, and householders who erected wood chimneys, instead of the brick ones ordered by the governor, were merely fined.
Money obtained from the fines was sent to Holland to buy fire ladders and leather buckets for the townâs eight-man fire department. Local craftsmen later produced leather buckets, whose sides were decorated by Evert Duyckinck, an artist who founded a dynasty of New Netherland painters. At last the city owned 250 leather buckets, which had to be kept filled. In winter, though, the water in them froze solidly. So did well water. The first fireman arriving on the scene had to jump down into the nearest well to chop away the surface ice with an ax. At night the community was more or less protected by a rattle watch, or rotating roster of policemen who called out the hour and shook rattles to warn thieves that they were
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