Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 209, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1912 — QUAINT CUSTOM OF DUTCH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

QUAINT CUSTOM OF DUTCH

Originated in 1662, When a Boy Discovered a Plot to Blow Up the Stock Exchange. Amsterdam, Holland.—Of the many quaint and curious customs, traditions and privileges prevailing in Holland none is more extraordinary than a certain privilege that has been enjoyed by the hoys of Amsterdam for nearly three hundred yeara. At a fixed time each summer these boys gather by the hundreds in the great square called the Dam, situated in the center of the city. Each boy has a drum slung over his shoulder. Facing this square is the Stock Exchange, and, on the occasion in ques-

tion, just as soon as the day’s business is over, as many of the boys as can crowd into the building. They proceed to the floor of the exchange, where pursuant to this odd custom they are permitted to march about, singing and beating upon their drums. The origin: of this "custom. It is said, is as follows: One afternoon In the year 1622 a crowd of boys blaying In the Dam lost a ball in the canal that in those days skirted one Bide of the square. One of the lads, while climbing in among the piles on which the building stood, found Instead of his ball a boat moored in a dark corner and loaded with boxes of gunpowder. This showed clearly enough what was afterward ascertained with certainly? the intention of the Spanish conspirators to blow up the Stock Exchange while it was crowded, as it was every day, with the leading citizens of the city. The boy who stumbled upon the gunpowder at once hurried to the town authorities with his news. The boatload of explosives was quietly sunk in the canal and the Spanish plot thus frustrated. When the burgesses asked the boy whfct reward he desired for the service he had rendered the town he replied that so long as there was a Stock Exchange in Amsterdam the boys of the town would like to be permitted to make the floor of the exchange their playground during a certain part of the year. The request was granted and so the custom survives.

The Typical Holland Costume.