aat, dates from 1300. The visitor to the
New Church is handed a brief historical leaflet in exchange for his
twenty-five cents, and is left to his own devices; but the Old Church
has a koster who takes a pride in showing his lions and who deprecates
gifts of money. An elderly, clean-shaved man with a humorous mouth,
he might be taken for Holland's leading comedian. Instead, he displays
ecclesiastical treasures, of which in 1904 there were fewer than usual,
two of the three fine old windows representing the life of the Virgin
being under repair behind a screen. The tombs and monuments are not
interesting--admirals of the second rank and such small fry.

It is in the Old Church that most of the weddings of Amsterdam are
celebrated. Thursday is the day, for then the fees are practically
nothing; on other days to be married is an expense. The koster
deplores the modern materialism which leads so many young men to be
satisfied with the civil function; but the little enclosure, like a
small arena, in which the church blesses unions, had to me a hardly
less business-like appearance than a registry office. The comedian
overflows with details. For the covering of the floor, he explains,
there are five distinct carpets, ranging in price from five guelders
to twenty-five for the hire, according to the means or ostentation
of the party. Thursdays are no holiday for the church officials, one
couple being hardly united before the horses of the next are pawing
the paving stones at the door.

I saw on one Thursday three bridal parties in as many minutes. The
happy bride sat on the back seat of the brougham, immediately before
her being two mirrors in the shape of a heart supporting a bouquet of
white flowers. Contemplating this simple imagery she rattles to the
ecclesiastical arena and the sanctities of the five, ten, fifteen,
twenty or twenty-five guelder carpet. After, a banquet and jokes.

This is the second banquet, for when the precise preliminaries of a
Dutch engagement are settled a betrothal feast is held. Friends are
bidden to the wedding by the receipt of a box of sweets and a bottle
of wine known as "Bride's tears". For the wedding day itself there is
a particular brand of wine which contains little grains of gold. The
Dutch also have special cake and wine for the celebration of births.

The position of the Dutch wife is now very much that of the wife
in England; but in Holland's great days she ruled. Something of
her qu