[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

Thrice blessed St. Nicholas! may thy memory
and thine honours endure for ever and a day! It
is true that certain arch calumniators, such as
Romish priests, and the like, have claimed thee as
a Catholic saint, affirming, with unparalleled insolence,
that ever since the pestilent heresy of the illustrious
John Calvin, there hath not been so much
as a single saint in the Reformed Dutch Church.
But beshrew these keepers of fasts, and other
abominations, the truth is not, never was, nor ever
will be in their mouths, or their hearts! Doth
not everybody know that the blessed St. Nicholas
was of the Reformed Dutch Church, and that the
cunning Romanists did incontinently filch him
from us to keep their own calendar in countenance?
The splutterkins! But I will restrain the outpourings
of my wrath, and contenting myself with having
proved that the good saint was of the true faith,
proceed with my story, which is of undoubted authority,
since I had it from a descendant of Claas
Schlaschenschlinger himself, who lives in great
honour and glory at the Waalboght on Long Island,

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

and is moreover a justice of the peace and deacon
of the church.

Nicholas, or, according to the true orthography,
Claas Schlaschenschlinger, was of a respectable
parentage, being born at Saardam, in our good
faderland, where his ancestors had been proprietors
of the greatest windmill in all the coiuntry round,
ever since the period when that bloody tyrant,
Philip of Spain, was driven from the Low Countries
by the invincible valour of the Dutch, under the
good Prince of Orange. It is said in a certain
credible tradition, that one of the family had done
a good turn to the worshipful St. Nicholas, in secreting
him from the persecutions of the Romanists,
who now, forsooth, claim him to themselves! and
that ever afterwards the saint took special interest
and cognizance in their affairs.

While at Saardam, little Claas, who was the
youngest of a goodly family of seventeen children,
was observed to be a great favourite of St. Nicholas,
whose namesake he was, who always brought
him a cake or two extra at his Christmas visits, and
otherwise distinguished him above his brothers and
sisters; whereat they were not a little jealous, and
did sometimes slyly abstract some of the little
rogue's benefactions, converting them to their own
comfort and recreation.

In the process of time, Claas grew to be a stout
lad, and withal a little wild, as he did sometimes
neglect the great windmill, the which he had charge
of in turn with the rest of his brothers, whereby

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

it more than once came to serious damage. Upon
these occasions, the worthy father, who had a reverend
care of the morals of his children, was accustomed
to give him the bastinado; but as Claas
wore a competent outfit of breeches, he did not
much mind it, not he; only it made him a little angry,
for he was a boy of great spirit. About the
time, I say, that Claas had arrived at the years of
two or three and twenty, and was considered a stout
boy for his age, there was great talk of settling a
colony at the Manhadoes, which the famous Heinrick
Hudson had discovered long years before.
Many people of good name and substance were
preparing to emigrate there, seeing it was described
as a land flowing with milk and honey—that is to
say, abounding in shad and herrings—and affording
mighty bargains of beaver and other skins.

Now Claas began to cherish an earnest longing
to visit these parts, for he was tired of tending the
windmill, and besides he had a natural love for
marshes and creeks, and being a shrewd lad, concluded
that there must be plenty of these where
beavers and such like abounded. But his father
and the Vrouw Schlaschenschlinger did eschew and
anathematize this notion of Claas's, and placed him
apprentice to an eminent shoemaker, to learn that
useful art and mystery. Claas considered it derogatory
to the son of the proprietor of the greatest
windmill in all Saardam to carry the lapstone, and
wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, or some such
thing. But his father told him in so many words,

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

that there were more lawyers than clients in the
town already, and that a good cobbler saved more
people from being sick, than all the doctors cured.
So Claas became apprentice to the shoemaking
business, and served out his time, after which he
got to be his own master, and determined to put
in practice his design of visiting the Manhadoes, of
which he had never lost sight.

After much ado, Mynheer Schlaschenschlinger,
and the good vrouw, consented unwillingly to let
him follow the bent of his inclinations, and accordingly
all things were got ready for his departure
for the New World, in company with a party which
was going out under that renowned Lord Michael
Paauw, who was proceeding to settle his domain
of Pavonia, which lieth directly opposite to New-Amsterdam.
Mynheer Schlaschenschlinger fitted
out his son nobly, and becoming the owner of the
largest windmill in all Saardam, equipping him
with awls, and knives, and wax, and thread, together
with a bench, and a goodly lapstone, considering
in his own mind that the great scarcity of
stones in Holland might, peradventure, extend to
the Manhadoes. Now all being prepared, it was
settled that Claas should depart on the next day
but one, the next being St. Nicholas his day, and
a great festival among the people of Holland.

According to custom, ever since the days of the
blessed saint, they had a plentiful supper of waffles
and chocolate—that pestilent beverage tea not
having yet come into fashion—and sat up talking

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

of Claas, his adventures, and what he would see
and hear in the Manhadoes, till it was almost nine
o'clock. Upon this, mynheer ordered them all to
bed, being scandalized at such unseasonable hours.
In the morning when Claas got up, and went to
put on his stocking, he felt something hard at the
toe, and turning it inside out, there fell on the floor
the bowl of a pipe of the genuine Meershaum,
which seemed to have been used beyond memory,
since its polish was a thousand times more soft
and delightsome than ivory or tortoise shell, and
its lustre past all price. Would that the blessed
saint would bestow such a one on me!

Claas was delighted; he kissed it as if he had
been an idolatrous Romanist—which, by the blessing
of St. Nicholas, he was not—and bestowing it
in the bottom of his strong oaken chest, resolved,
like unto a prudent Dutchman, never to use it,
for fear of accidents. In a few hours afterwards,
he parted from his parents, his family, and his
home; his father gave him a history of the bloody
wars and persecutions of Philip of Spain; a small
purse of guilders, and abundance of advice for the
government of his future life; but his mother gave
him what was more precious than all these—her
tears, her blessing, and a little Dutch Bible with
silver clasps. Bibles were not so plenty then as
they are now, and were considered as the greatest
treasures of the household. His brothers and sisters
took an affectionate farewell of him, and asked
his pardon for stealing his Newyear cookies. So

[figure description] Page 110.[end figure description]

Claas kissed his mother, promising, if it pleased
Heaven, to send her stores of herrings and beaver
skins, whereat she was marvellously comforted;
and he went on his way, as it were sorrowfully
rejoicing.

I shall pass over the journey, and the voyage to
the Manhadoes, saving the relation of a curious
matter that occurred after the ship had been about
ninety days at sea, and they were supposed to be
well on their way to the port of New-Amsterdam.
It came into the heads of the passengers to while
away the time as they were lying to one day with
the sails all furled, except one or two, which I name
not, for a special reason, contrary to the practice
of most writers—namely, because I am ignorant
thereof—having the sails thus furled, I say, on
account of certain suspicious-looking clouds, the
which the captain, who kept a bright lookout day
and night, had seen hovering overhead, with no
good intentions, it came into the noddles of divers
of the passengers to pass the time by opening their
chests, and comparing their respective outfits, for
they were an honest set of people, and not afraid
of being robbed.

When Claas showed his lapstone, most of the
company, on being told the reasons for bringing it
such a long distance, held up their hands, and admired
the foresight of his father, considering him an
exceeding prudent and wise man to think of such
matters. Some of them wanted to buy it on speculation,
but Claas was too well acquainted with its

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

value to set a price on it. While they were thus
chaffering, an old sailor, who had accompanied the
renowned Heinrick Hudson as cabin boy, in his
first voyage to the Manhadoes, happening to come
by and hear them, swore a great Dutch oath, and
called Claas a splutterkin for bringing stones all
the way from Holland, saying that there were
enough at the Manhadoes to furnish lapstones for
the whole universe. Whereupon Claas thought to
himself, “What a fine country it must be, where
stones are so plenty.”

In process of time, as all things, and especially
voyagings by sea, have an end, the vessel came in
sight of the highlands of Neversink—vulgarly called
by would-be learned writers, Navesink—and Claas
and the rest, who had never seen such vast mountains
before, did think that it was a wall, built up
from the earth to the sky, and that there was no
world beyond.

Favoured by a fine south wind, whose balmy
freshness had awakened the young spring into
early life and beauty, they shot like an arrow from
a bow through the Narrows, and sailing along the
heights of Staaten Island, came in sight of the illustrious
city of New-Amsterdam, which, though at
that period containing but a few hundred people, I
shall venture to predict, in some future time, may
actually number its tens of thousands.

Truly it was a beautiful city, and a beautiful
sight as might be seen of a spring morning. As
they came through Buttermilk Channel, they

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

beheld with delighted astonishment the fort, the
church, the governor's house, the great dock jutting
out into the salt river, the Stadt Huys, the rondeel,
and a goodly assemblage of houses, with the gable
ends to the street, as before the villanous introduction
of new fashions, and at the extremity of the
city, the gate and wall, from whence Wall-street
deriveth its name. But what above all gloriously
delighted Claas, was a great windmill, towering in
the air, and spreading its vast wings on the rising
ground along the Broadway, between Liberty and
Courtlandt streets, the which reminded him of home
and his parents. The prospect rejoiced them all
mightily, for they thought to themselves, “We have
come to a little Holland far over the sea.”

So far as I know, it was somewhere about the
year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and
sixty, or threabout, and in the month of May,
that Claas landed in the New World; but of the
precise day of the month I cannot be certain, seeing
what confusion of dates hath been caused by
that idolatrous device of Pope Gregory, called the
New Style, whereby events that really happened in
one year are falsely put down to another, by which
means history becomes naught. The first thing
he thought of, was to provide himself a home, for
be it known it was not then the fashion to live in
taverns and boarding houses, and the man who thus
demeaned himself was considered no better than
he should be; nobody would trust or employ him,
and he might consider it a special bounty of the

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

good St. Nicholas, if he escaped a ride on the
wooden horse provided for the punishment of delinquents.
So Claas looked out for a pleasant
place whereon to pitch his tent. As he walked
forth for this end, his bowels yearned exceedingly
for a lot on the Broad-street, through which ran a
delightful creek, crooked like unto a ram's horn,
the sides of which were low, and, as it were, juicy
with the salt water which did sometimes overflow
them at spring tides, and the full of the moon.
More especially the ferry house, with its never to
be forgotten weathercock, did incite him sorely to
come and set himself down thereabout. But he
was deterred by the high price of lots in that favoured
region, seeing they asked him as much as
five guilders for the one at the corner of the Broad
and Wall streets, a most unheard-of price, and not
to be thought of by a prudent man like Claas
Schlaschenschlinger.

So he sought about elsewhere, though he often
looked wistfully at the fair meads of the Broadstreet,
and nothing deterred him from ruining himself
by gratifying his longings, but the truly excellent
expedient of counting his money, which I recommend
to all honest people, before they make a
bargain. But though he could not settle in Broadstreet,
he resolved in his mind to get as nigh as
possible, and finding a lot with a little puddle of
brackish water in it large enough for a goose pond,
nigh unto the wall and gate of the city, and just at
the head of what hath lately been called

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

Newstreet—then the region of unsettled lands—he procured
a grant thereof from the schout, scheepens,
and burgomasters, who then ruled the city, for five
stivers, being the amount of fees for writing and
recording the deed by the Geheim Schryver.

Having built himself a comfortable house, with
a little stoop to it, he purchased a pair of geese, or,
to be correct and particular, as becometh a conscientious
historian, a goose and gander, that he might
recreate himself with their gambols in the salt puddle,
and quietly sat himself down to the making and
mending of shoes. In this he prospered at first
indifferently well, and thereafter mightily, when
the people found that he made shoes, some of
which were reported never to wear out; but this
was, as it were, but a sort of figure of speech to express
their excellent qualities.

Every Sunday, after church, in pleasant weather,
Claas, instead of putting off his Sunday suit, as
was the wont of the times, used to go and take a
walk in the Ladies' Valley, since called Maiden
Lane, for everything has changed under those arch
intruders, the English, who, I believe, in their
hearts, are half Papists. This valley was an exceeding
cool, retired, and pleasant place, being bordered
by a wood, in the which was plenty of pinkster
blossoms in the season. Being a likely young fellow,
and dressed in a goodly array of breeches and
what not, he was much noticed, and many a little
damsel cast a sheep's eye upon him as he sat smoking
his pipe of a summer afternoon under the shade

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

of the trees which grew plentifully in that quarter.
I don't know how it was, but so it happened, that in
process of time he made acquaintance with one of
these, a buxom creature of rare and unmatchable
lineaments and dimensions, insomuch that she was
considered the beauty of New-Amsterdam, and had
refused even the burgomaster, Barendt Roeloffsen,
who was taxed three guilders, being the richest man
of the city. But Aintjie was not to be bought with
gold; she loved Claas because he was a solid young
fellow, who plucked for her the most beautiful pinkster
blossoms, and was the most pleasant companion
in the world, for a ramble in the Ladies'
Valley.

Report says, but I believe there was no great
truth in the story, that they sometimes QUEESTED[1]
together, but of that I profess myself doubtful.
Certain it is, however, that in good time they were
married, to the great content of both, and the great
discontent of the burgomaster, Barendt Roeloffsen.

In those days young people did not marry to set
up a coach, live in fine houses filled with rich furniture,
for which they had no use, and become
bankrupt in a few years. They began in a small
way, and increased their comforts with their means.
It was thus with Claas and his wife, who were
always employed in some useful business, and
never ran into extravagance, except it may be on
holydays. In particular Claas always feasted

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

lustily on St. Nicholas his day, because, he was his
patron saint, and he remembered his kindness in
faderland.

Thus they went on prospering as folks always do
that are industrious and prudent, every year laying
up money, and every year increasing their family;
for be it known, those who are of the true Dutch
blood, always apportion the number of children to
the means of providing for them. They never are
caught having children for other people to take
care of. But be this as it may, about this time began
the mischievous and oppressive practice of improving
the city, draining the marshes, cutting
down hills, and straightening streets, which hath
since grown to great enormity in this city, insomuch
that a man may be said to be actually impoverished
by his property.

Barendt Roeloffsen, who was at the head of the
reformers, having a great estate in vacant lands,
which he wanted to make productive at the expense
of his neighbours—Barendt Roeloffsen, I
say, bestirred himself lustily to bring about what
he called, in outlandish English, the era of improvement,
and forthwith looked around to see
where he should begin. I have always believed,
and so did the people at that time, that Barendt
singled out Claas his goose pond for the first experiment,
being thereunto impelled by an old grudge
against Claas, on account of his having cut him out
with the damsel he wished to marry, as before related.

[figure description] Page 117.[end figure description]

But, however, Barendt Roeloffsen, who bore a
great sway among the burgomasters, on account of
his riches, got a law passed, by hook or by crook,
for draining Claas his pond, at his own expense,
making him pay at the same time for the rise in
the value of his property, of which they did not permit
him to be the judge, but took upon themselves
to say what it was. The ancestors of Claas had
fought valiantly against Philip of Spain, in defence
of their religion and liberty, and he had kept up his
detestation of oppression by frequently reading the
account of the cruelties committed in the Low Countries
by the Spaniard, in the book which his father
had given him on his departure from home. Besides,
he had a great admiration, I might almost say
affection, for his goose pond, as is becoming in every
true Dutchman. In it he was accustomed to
see, with singular delight, his geese, now increased
to a goodly flock, sailing about majestically, flapping
their wings, dipping their necks into the water,
and making a noise exceedingly tuneful and
melodious. Here, too, his little children were wont
to paddle in the summer days, up to their knees in
the water, to their great contentment as well as recreation,
thereby strengthening themselves exceedingly.
Such being the case, Claas resisted the
behest of the burgomasters, declaring that he would
appeal to the laws for redress if they persisted in
trespassing on his premises. But what can a man
get by the law at any time, much less when the
defendant, as in this case, was judge as well as a

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

party in the business? After losing a vast deal of
time, which was as money to him, and spending a
good portion of what he had saved for his children,
Claas was at length cast in his suit, and the downfall
of his goose pond irrevocably decreed.

It was a long time before he recovered this blow,
and when he did, Fortune, as if determined to persevere
in her ill offices, sent a blacksmith from Holland,
who brought over with him the new and diabolical
invention of hobnails, the which he so strenuously
recommended to the foolish people, who are
prone to run after novelties, that they, one and all,
had their shoes stuck full of nails, whereby they
did clatter about the streets like unto a horse newly
shod. As might be expected, the business of shoemaking
decreased mightily upon this, insomuch
that the shoes might be said to last for ever; and I
myself have seen a pair that have descended
through three generations, the nails of which shone
like unto silver sixpences. Some people supposed
this was a plot of Barendt Roeloffsen, to complete the
ruin of poor Claas; but whether it was or not, it is
certain that such was the falling off in his trade, on
account of the pestilent introduction of hobnails,
that, at the end of the year, Claas found that he
had gone down hill at a great rate. The next year
it was still worse, and thus, in the course of a few
more, from bad to worse, he at last found himself
without the means of support for himself, his wife,
and his little children. But what shows the goodness
of Providence, it is worthy of record, that

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

from this time his family, miraculously as it were,
ceased to increase.

Neither begging nor running in debt without the
prospect of paying was in fashion in those days,
nor were there any societies to invite people to
idleness and improvidence by the certainty of being
relieved from their consequences without the trouble
of asking. Claas tried what labouring day and
night would do, but there was no use in making
shoes when there was nobody to buy them. His
good wife tried the magic of saving; but where
there is nothing left to save, economy is to little
purpose. He tried to get into some other business,
but the wrath of Barendt Roeloffsen was upon
him, and the whole influence of the burgomasters
stood in his way on account of the opposition he
had made to the march of improvement. He then
offered his house and lot for sale; but here again
his old enemy Barendt put a spoke in his wheel,
going about among the people and insinuating that
as Claas had paid nothing for his lot, the title was
good for nothing. So one by one he tried all ways
to keep want from his door; but it came at last,
and one Newyear's eve, in the year of our Lord—
I don't know what, the family was hovering round
a miserable fire, not only without the customary
means of enjoying the festivity of the season, but
destitute of the very necessaries of life.

The evening was cold and raw, and the heavy
moanings of a keen northeast wind announced the
approach of a snow storm. The little children

[figure description] Page 120.[end figure description]

cowered over the almost expiring embers, shivering
with cold and hunger; the old cat lay half buried
in the ashes to keep herself warm; and the poor
father and mother now looked at the little flock of
ragged—no, not ragged—the mother took care of
that; and industry can always ward off rags and
dirt. But though not ragged or dirty, they were
miserably clad and worse fed; and as the parents
looked first at them and then at each other, the
tears gathered in their eyes until they ran over.

“We must sell the silver clasps of the Bible my
mother gave me, wife,” said Claas, at last.

“The Goodness forbid,” said she; “we should
never prosper after it.”

“We can't prosper worse than we do now,
Aintjie.”

“You had better sell the little book about the
murders of the Spaniards, that you sometimes read
to me.”

“It has no silver clasps, and will bring nothing,”
replied Claas, despondingly, covering his face with
his hand, and seeming to think for a few moments.
All at once he withdrew his hand, and cried,

“The pipe! the meershaum pipe! it is worth a
hundred guilders!” and he ran to the place where
he had kept it so carefully that he never used it
once in the whole time he had it in his possession.

He looked at it wistfully, and it brought to his
mind the time he found it in his stocking. He
thought of his parents, his brothers, his sisters, and
old faderland, and wished he had never parted from

[figure description] Page 121.[end figure description]

them to visit the New World. His wife saw what
was passing in his heart, and said,

“Never mind, dear Claas, with these hundred
guilders we shall get on again by the blessing of
the good St. Nicholas, whose namesake you are.”

Claas shook his head, and looked at the meershaum,
which he could not bear to part with, because,
somehow or other, he could not help thinking
it was the gift of St. Nicholas. The wind now
freshened, and moaned more loudly than ever, and
the snow began to come in through the crevices of
the door and windows. The cold increased apace,
and the last spark of fire was expiring in the chimney.
There was darkness without and within, for
the candle, the last they had, was just going out.

Claas, without knowing what he was doing,
rubbed the pipe against his sleeve, as it were mechanically.

He had scarcely commenced rubbing, when the
door suddenly opened, and without more ado, a little
man, with a right ruddy good-humoured face, as
round as an apple, and a cocked beaver, white with
snow, walked in, without so much as saying, “By
your leave,” and sitting himself by the side of the
yffrouw, began to blow at the fire, and make as if
he was warming his fingers, though there was no
fire there, for that matter.

Now Claas was a good-natured fellow, and
though he had nothing to give, except a welcome,
which is always in the power of everybody, yet he
wished to himself he had more fire to warm

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

people's fingers. After a few moments, the little man
rubbed his hands together, and looking around him,
with a good-humoured smile, said,

“Mynheer Schlaschenschlinger, methinks it
might not be amiss to replenish this fire a little;
'tis a bitter cold night, and my fingers are almost
frostbitten.”

“Alack, mynheer,” quoth Claas, “I would, with
all my heart, but I have nothing wherewith to
warm myself and my children, unless I set fire to
my own house. I am sorry I cannot entertain thee
better.”

Upon this the little man broke the cane with
which he walked into two pieces, which he threw
in the chimney, and thereupon the fire began to
blaze so cheerfully that they could see their shadows
on the wall, and the old cat jumped out of the
ashes, with her coat well singed, which made the
little jolly fellow laugh heartily.

The sticks burnt and burnt, without going out,
and they were soon all as warm and comfortable
as could be. Then the little man said,

“Friend Claas, methinks it would not be much
amiss if the good vrouw here would bestir herself
to get something to eat. I have had no dinner today,
and come hither on purpose to make merry
with thee. Knowest thou not that this is Newyear's
eve?”

“Alack!” replied Claas, “I know it full well;
but we have not wherewithal to keep away hunger,

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

much less to make merry with. Thou art welcome
to all we have, and that is nothing.”

“Come, come, Friend Claas, thou art a prudent
man, I know, but I never thought thou wert stingy
before. Bestir thyself, good Aintjie, and see what
thou canst find in that cupboard. I warrant there
is plenty of good fare in it.”

The worthy yffrouw looked rather foolish at this
proposal, for she knew she would find nothing
there if she went; but the little man threatened her,
in a good-humoured way, to break the long pipe he
carried stuck in his cocked hat, over her nightcap,
if she didn't do as he bid her. So she went to the
cupboard, resolved to bring him out the empty pewter
dishes, to show they had nothing to give him.
But when she opened the cupboard, she started
back, and cried out aloud, so that Claas ran to see
what was the matter; and what was his astonishment
to find the cupboard full of all sorts of good
things for a notable jollification.

“Aha!” cried the merry little man, “you're
caught at last. I knew thou hadst plenty to entertain
a stranger withal; but I suppose thou
wantedst to keep it all to thyself. Come, come!
bestir thyself, Aintjie, for I am as hungry as a
schoolboy.”

Aintjie did as she was bid, wondering all the
time who this familiar little man could be; for the
city was not so big, but that she knew by sight
everybody that lived in it, and she was sure she
had never seen him before.

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

In a short time there was a glorious array of
good things set out before them, and they proceeded
to enjoy themselves right lustily in keeping of
the merry Newyear's eve. The little man cracked
his jokes, patted little Nicholas—Claas, his youngest
son, who was called after his father—on the
head; chucked Aintjie under the chin; said he was
glad she did not wed the splutterkin Barendt Roeloffsen,
and set them so good an example, that they
all got as merry as crickets.

By-and-by the little man inquired of Claas concerning
his affairs, and he gave him an account of
his early prosperity, and how he had declined, in
spite of all he could do, into poverty and want; so
that he had nothing left but his wife, his children,
his Dutch Bible, his history of the Low Country
wars, and his meershaum pipe.

“Aha!” quoth the little man, “you've kept that,
hey! Let me see it.”

Claas gave it to him, while the tears came into
his eyes, although he was so merry, to think that
he must part with it on the morrow. It was the
pride of his heart, and he set too great a value on
it to make any use of it whatever.

The little man took the pipe, and looking at it,
said, as if to himself,

“Yes; here it is! the very identical meershaum
out of which the great Calvin used to smoke. Thou
hast done well, Friend Claas, to preserve it; and
thou must keep it as the apple of thine eye all thy
life, and give it as an inheritance to thy children.”

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]