Democratic Sentinel, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1897 — HAD NEVER SEEN A BICYCLE. [ARTICLE]

HAD NEVER SEEN A BICYCLE.

Dutch Fishing Village Surprised by the Sight. Yollendam, Holland, is one of the few places in the world that have never known a bicycle, or, at least, it never had until lately. Volleudam is a IRtle fishing village. The people who live there are the oddest, most old-fashion-ed folks imaginable. The men wear magenta waistcoats and remarkable trousers, buttoned with huge silver buttons that are heirlooms. In Yollendam a man never loses his trouser button, but if he happens to do so a search is ordered all through the village, and no one rests until the button has been found and returned. Yollendam is the quaintest village, visitors say, they ever saw. There are funny little peak-roofed houses, with the walls painted bright yellow and covered with old Delft ware that the people will not sell. The women wear aprons of bright blue, with a piece at the top of the brightest possible plaid. The bodices are of flowered chintz of bright yellow, embroidered in different colors, and even the sabots are grass green or yellow. The little girls dress exactly like their mothers, and so do the little boys, in skirts and all, until they are 7, when they are put in bloomers; and the only way they can be told is by a little disc the size of a dollar embroidered on the back of their tight little baby caps. The people of Yollendam never take up new things. But a few days ago there wqs a sensation in Yollendam, and it was caused by the arrival of two American girls. They were bloomer girls, who came over from Paris to see Holland. One of them was from Chicago and the other from a Southern city. They had heard that there were strange places in Holland, and they set out to find one of them.

When these girls arrived in Yollendam they went to the hotel, and there prepared to go forth; but when they came out they found a crowd of Vollenders around the door. Asking some one what was the matter, they received the reply: “It is your bicycles.” Yollendam never saw a bicycle before. When they learned that Vollendam had never before seen a wheel, they were astonished. After a little persuasion they kindly consented to give exhibitions of some simple feats. Their small tricks, that are known to every American girl who rides a wheel, filled the Vol Lenders With wonder, and one of them, more venturesome than the rest, asked to be allowed to sit on the saddle. Of course, she had to be held there, and this only increased her wonder at the performance of the American girls. When asked if they would like to have bicycles introduced ln Vollendam, they looked wistful, but shook their heads and glanced furtively at the men, as much as to say, “They would never allow it.” One of the little boys of Vollendam cried when the American girls started away, so the Chicago girl good-natur-edly brought back her wheel and put the little fellow on it, allowing him to rest his big wooden shoes on the pedals. This so delighted him that he stood up aud lost his balance and fell ovei the handle bars. He pointed to his wooden shoes and laughed, as much as to say that they were the reason why wheels were not known in Vollendam. —New York Press.