USA > New York > Kings County > Flatbush > The social history of Flatbush : and manners and customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings county > Part 4
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There is "Batavische Arcadia," published by " Jo- hannes van Ravesteyn, Boekverkooper en Ordinaris, Druker defer stede 1662."
There are religious books by " Michiel de Groot, Boekverkooper, Anno 1663."
Others are published by " Cornelis Jacobsz Naenaart, Boekverkooper woonende op het Oude Kerkhof, in't jaar 1675," and others published by "Jacobus Wolffers, Boekverkooper in de Beursstraat 1724."
These were all purchased in Amsterdam ; some of them doubtless were brought over by the early settlers themselves, and others were subsequently sent for.
There are books on the knowledge or science (" wee- tenschappen ") of arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, and algebra, by Christian Wolff, published " Te Amster- dam by de Janssoons van Waesberge, 1738," and other books, from the same publishers and by the same author, on architecture (de Boukonst), on fortifications, and hydraulics.
" Drie Parabolen ofte Gelykenissen," etc., is the title of a large parchment-covered volume published in Amsterdam in 1665 which is still in possession of a lady in Flatbush, and which has descended to her through several generations. It was probably brought from Hol- land when her ancestors first settled here.
It was not until 1792 that the afternoon services in the congregations of Brooklyn, Flatbush, and New Utrecht were in English.
As late as 1830, and even 1840, when elderly people met together socially, it was quite common for them to
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USE OF THE DUTCH LANGUAGE.
drop gradually into the use of the Dutch tongue, even when the conversation had begun in English ; a little confidential talk between old ladies was sure to be in Dutch. So gradual was the change that the elderly members of a family would often consult with each other on any important matter in Dutch, and, turning to their children, address them in English. This inter- changeable use of the two languages may have been the means of prolonging a knowledge of the Dutch, and of having caused the young children to catch many a quaint word and odd expression ; for the mother tongue of so many generations could not pass away without leaving some sign, or dropping some phrases into the memory of the children who stood looking up, eager-eyed, as father and mother talked together.
For a long time, in this mingling of two languages, neither of them was grammatically spoken ; bad Eng- lish and worse Dutch were the result, until finally the Dutch was vanquished and the tongue of the Anglo- Saxon was triumphant. But there were many words which lingered and fell behind the ranks of the retreat- ing army. Some of these were caught by the children, others were imprisoned in the memory of those older, so that, long after Dutch sentences were forgotten, Dutch words and quaint expressions might be heard in the family.
A child who was querulous was said to be " krankie," from " krank," weak, sick. One who complained with- out sufficient cause was said to be " kleynzeerig." A thriftless person, one who could with difficulty earn a livelihood, was called an "arm sukkelaar." One who was sad and downhearted was spoken of as " bedroefd." The word " begryp " was often used instead of the English
.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
"comprehend," as being more forcible, and that which was comprehensive was, from the same verb " begrypen," called " begrypelyk." "In doods nood," was to be in danger of death. Easter was long known as Paasch, and Whitsuntide was Pingster. A child who was rest- lessly creeping on the floor was said to be "kriewelen." The tin dipper that hung at the well curb was a " blik- ke," from the Dutch word "blik," for tin.
We remember to have heard children call their grand- mother "Grootje." Kelder was cellar ; Opperzolder was garret ; little cakes, Koekjes (the sound of j is that of i) ; Zoetekoek was a kind of sweet cake raised with yeast, which had sometimes currants and raisins in it. The wife of the minister was always called "Jof- frouw." The word Sprookjes was used for stories which tended to the ghostly and marvelous.
Even many of the proverbs of this period are ours in their translations :
" De pot verwyt den ketel dat hy zwart is," alluding to the proverbial jealousy of pot and kettle.
"As you have brewed, so you must drink " : " Dat gy gebrouwen hebt moet gy zelf drinken," is the proverbial expression for bearing the evils we bring upon ourselves, and which has its counterpart in an English proverb, which says, "As you make the bed, so you sleep in it."
" The burned child dreads the fire," we say of the wisdom we gain from bitter experience, and the old Dutch people expressed it in the same figure : “Een gebrond kind schroomt het vuur."
" Die dat opstaan zyn plaats vergaat," was also a common saying.
These words and sentences have lingered in the memory of the generation that is not yet past. There
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USE OF THE DUTCH LANGUAGE.
are aged people still living in Flatbush who keep in mind the Dutch language, and a few of the old colored people remember some familiar words and expressions, but these all are only as the rustling leaves upon the dead oak, which will be swept away when the tree falls, if not loosened before that time, as the withering branch loses its power to hold them.
CHAPTER VIII.
EXTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
INTRODUCTORY to what we have to say about Dutch homes and customs, we would here state that some of the changes recorded we give from personal recollec- tion, others from memory of what was told by the old people at the fireside. The information gathered has been from varied, but, in every case, from reliable, sources. In sympathy with the antiquarian, it has been a pleasant task to search among relics of the past. We have found many a remnant from which to learn what were the colors of the garment when it was new ; we have collected the broken fragments to judge of the shape of the vessel when it was whole ; aged persons have opened to us the storehouse of their memory, from which we have gathered things forgotten by the world. We have ransacked old garrets, which have for genera- tions held their treasures fast with human penurious- ness, and we have loosened from their grasp many a babbling bit of furniture and many a garrulous old ac- count-book. Old chests and old desks have offered us their treasures, and we have taken what each had to give. But, as we survey our booty, we greatly fear that the most we have gathered will prove, like a reliquary filled with bones of a saint, only valuable for the sake of those to whom they once belonged.
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EXTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
Stiles, in his " History of Brooklyn," says : "The farmhouses on Long Island were more generally con- structed, in a rough but substantial manner, of stone, lighted by narrow windows containing two small panes of glass, and protected against the 'overloopen,' or escalading, of any savage foe, by strong, well-painted palisades. Snugness, economy, safety, were the char- acteristics of these country dwellings." This was in 1665 ; we do not propose to go so far back as that. There are no houses now remaining in Flatbush which were built before the eighteenth century. The house now owned by the heirs of the late John C. Bergen was standing during the War of the Revolution. If it was built by Dominie Freeman, as there is reason to suppose it was, then it must have been erected some time between 1714 and 1741. The house lately occupied by the fam- ily of Dr. Robinson, at the corner of Winthrop Street and Flatbush Avenue, was erected about 1740 or 1750 ; both of these are still standing and in tolerably good re- pair. About thirty years ago the old brick house of the Stryker family was pulled down ; the date marked upon that was 1696.
The style of these old houses on Long Island was different from any of those which are built in this age. The architect of to-day does not model his plans after these. The young couple just starting in life do not build after the pattern of the old homestead. And yet, at the time in which they were built, they were capa- cious and comfortable ; but they are not suited to the change in our mode of living. The low ceilings were necessary where the rooms were, only heated by open wood fires ; the great cellars were indispensable where they were required for the storage of the whole winter's
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
provisions ; the roomy garrets were a convenience when the great spinning-wheels were to be temporarily set aside. But we require different arrangements now.
The old houses were long and low, rarely more than a story and a half high. The roof was heavy ; some- times it was broken by dormer windows, but oftener it sloped from the ridge-pole in unbroken descent, and extended so as to form a front piazza, while at the rear the slope in some of these houses extended so low that it reached to six or eight feet from the ground.
We have good authority for saying that the houses with an unbroken sweep from the ridge-pole to the eaves were those of earliest construction ; the roof was not built in a straight slant downward, after the style of a heavy Gothic roof, but curved slightly in the de- scent. The houses with a double pitch in the roof, both with and without dormer windows, were erected either just before the American Revolution or about the year 1800.
Extension rather than height was the aim in the construction of these old homesteads ; they were long, low, rambling houses, to which an addition might be made in any direction at the will of the owner, adding to its picturesqueness as well as to comfort.
This manner of building suggested the idea that land in those days was not very expensive ; the extension of the homestead was not skyward ; there was plenty of room upon the solid earth. These old Dutchmen be- lieved in going about upon a plain without the tiresome climbing of long stairs, just as in the fatherland they were not accustomed to climb hills, but moved about on an unvarying level.
It is not probable that the houses of the early set-
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EXTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
tlers had window-shutters ; at a later date all the houses, whether brick or wood, had wooden shutters opening outward and turning upon heavy iron hinges. These hinges, extending nearly across the shutter, were made the more conspicuous by being painted black.
For holding back these heavy shutters against the house when open, there was an awkward iron, some- what in the shape of an elongated letter S, projecting some two inches beyond the house.
Some of the old houses had openings cut in the up- per portion of the shutters, in the shape of a crescent, to admit the light in the early dawn.
Tin spouts to the gutters extended some two feet beyond the house at each corner. The water fell from these upon a flat stone below. At the rear of the house there were large casks frequently placed so as to catch the flow from these spouts ; especially was this the case after a drought, when the cisterns were nearly empty.
Previous to and about the year 1800, many houses had a projecting beam above, to which tackle might be fastened to hoist up any heavy article into the roomy garret. The grist from the mill was thus raised from the wagon, to be stored away. We have this informa- tion from elderly people in whose memory the custom still existed, and we can the more readily give credence to it as being very general, because this manner of rais- ing heavy articles into the house is common at the pres- ent day in Holland.
The first houses of the old settlers which were built of brick usually had the date of their erection upon the front ; sometimes the figures were made of iron and fas- tened across the front, or they were built in with darker- colored brick. The modern fashion of two or four large
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
panes of glass was then unknown, and six or nine panes filled each upper and lower half in the windows. The frames were broader and heavier that held these sashes, and the glass was by no means clear. It had seams and inequalities which tended to produce irregular outlines in objects seen through it.
The back of the fireplace was indicated by brick or stone-work on the exterior wall of the house, and the chimneys rose, broad, huge, and firm, from each gable- end.
The front door in these houses was always divided into an upper and lower half. The upper half was usu- ally lighted by two round glasses, called bulls'-eyes. These served to light the halls in place of the sidelights introduced afterward. Round lights in the upper doors, such as these, are still used in Holland. The knockers on these were of brass or iron. Sometimes they were ponderous, and wrought with quaint device. The de- sign most frequently seen was that of a lion's head holding a ring in its mouth. When the knocker was of iron, the door knob was of the same material, and so, also, when it was brass, the door knob was of brass.
The oldest fastening was a latch raised by the exte- rior knob ; but, even when the usual style of lock and key was used, it was not inserted in the door as it now is, but fastened against it on the inner side.
When brass was the material used for the lock and the knocker, it was kept polished brightly with the as- siduous care that the Dutch matron lavished upon every object in her domain which required manual labor.
The old houses in this village were built almost di- rectly upon the street. Some of them, in order to have any inclosure in front, were fenced upon the sidewalk.
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EXTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
Being built when there was but little travel, and when settlers were few, they were naturally so placed as to bring them as near to their neighbors as the extent of their farms would allow.
The only old house which forms an exception to this rule is the one until recently occupied by Dr. Robin- son, corner of Flatbush Avenue and Winthrop Street, and this was not built by the Dutch.
Probably at the early settlement of the town there were in the old houses built at that time two front doors, each opening from the "stoop" into the separate front rooms ; in such cases there was no hall. There have been, until a recent date, very old houses, almost going to decay, so arranged.
A southern exposure was almost a necessity in this peculiar style of Dutch architecture, because the unu- sual length of the house in proportion to its breadth made it desirable that it should be so placed as to re- ceive the sunshine upon this long side. It was, there- fore, quite customary to place the gable-end of the house to the street where that ran north and south, as is the case with the main street in Flatbush.
The long "front stoop" was an important feature in these Dutch houses. It was here the family gathered at the close of the day ; here the neighbors met to- gether, and the men smoked their pipes and talked of colonial politics or, later, discussed the question as to who should be appointed to the Continental Congress. When the pipe needed replenishing, the little negro boy brought the brass chafing-dish filled with hickory coals.
In some houses a long seat ran the length of the " stoop"; in others, there were seats at both ends.
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
The flat stone next to the stoop on the walk that led from the gate to the door was often a millstone, no longer required for its legitimate use. Upon this lay the mat, made of corn husks, crisp and bushy when new, and when flattened down by use consigned to some less conspicuous place.
It is probable that the addition of wings was the im- provement of a comparatively modern era ; the oldest houses were without these, and only when enlargement was necessary were wings added. A back kitchen at the rear formed the quarters for the colored people at the time when the slave population was large; this stood close to the house, but was detached from it. The material of which the Dutch houses were built was brick or wood ; they were rarely built of stone ; the most ancient were undoubtedly of brick. For some of these, the brick was brought from Holland, but there was at an early period a brick-kiln in Flatbush. The large pond on the southern side of what was once Mr. John Lefferts's farm, called the Steenbakkery, was formed by the digging out of the clay for bricks and pottery, as its name indicates.
Sometimes the lower portion of the house at the gable-end was of rough unhewn stone; or the lower story as far as the projection of the piazza was of stone and the remainder shingled, and at other times the front of the house was covered with a smooth stucco ; but the majority of the earliest homesteads were built of brick, and these were in turn superseded by the frame houses of a succeeding generation. many of which still remain. The roofs were of shingles, and the sides the same. The "clapboards " in use at present were not then made. Although we can not definitely specify the
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EXTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
exact year, we are safe in saying that it is only within the second quarter of this century that houses were boarded in Flatbush ; up to that time they were covered with shingles.
Thus stood those old Dutch houses, unpretentious, unostentatious, yet comfortable and roomy, just the picture that comes to mind when one thinks of an old- fashioned pleasant home ; just what is expressed by that phrase " the old homestead."
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CHAPTER IX.
INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
THE furniture which we are about to describe was not peculiar to Dutch houses. The articles in house- hold use were probably the same as those in the homes of the Puritans, or in the houses of the English people of the same class in society. A certain degree of con- formity to a particular style marks the household ef- fects of each succeeding age ; this is varied and modi- fied to suit the manner of living of the people by whom it is adopted.
There were in the dwellings built in Flatbush during the last century certain characteristics common to them all. The ceilings were low, even when the rooms were large, and the rooms for this reason seem out of propor- tion. This may be accounted for in the fact that the only method of heating the apartments was by means of the large open fireplace ; the only mode of lighting them was by the dim yellow flame of tallow candles.
Our climate in winter is not mild and genial, so that draughts through the loose, rattling sashes and from the cracks and crannies in the heavy doors would have made it almost impossible to warm the rooms, had the ceilings been high in proportion to their size.
In many of the old houses the heavy hewn beams
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INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
which supported the upper story were projected across the ceiling of the rooms upon the first floor ; these were left the natural color of the wood. There are houses still standing in Flatbush in which these cross beams may be seen ; all such were built previous to the War of the Revolution.
Wainscoting was the finish of the lower half of the walls in many of the houses, but it was not general ; a wooden molding, called a " chair board," often supplied its place ; this extended around the room, about three feet from the surbase.
In the old house, alluded to in Dr. Strong's history, which stood at the southern extremity of the farm of Mr. John Lefferts, and which was burned down by the British in the battle of Flatbush, the surbase was made of tiles, the same as those around the jambs of the chim- ney. We state this to show that the use of tiling as an ornamental finish to the best apartments was more com- mon than is generally supposed.
The old lady, in whose memory this room was most tenderly held, thus described the method of cleansing these tiles : they were first whitewashed ; this coating of lime was allowed to become perfectly dry, and was then rubbed off with a woolen cloth. Through this means, not only did the tiles remain clean, but the interstices were kept white.
The fireplace in houses of an early date occupied nearly the entire side of the room, and was, as to im- portance as well as size, more conspicuous than the sham chimney-piece which at present takes its place.
The delightful associations of the family gathering have been felt even through less attractive surroundings, so that the fireside has come to stand for the very home
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
itself. How strong, then, must have been the association of home and kindred with this broad, blazing chimney, around which all the family gathered through the long winter evening, the circle enlarged at times by neigh- bors and friends !
There were no libraries within their reach at that time from which they could procure a variety of books ; nor, had they such, were there good lights to attract the children to the reading-table ; the dark and un- paved roads did not tempt them to walk out, neither were there public amusements to divert them from the social gathering around the blazing fire. No wonder, then, that the prominent picture associated with the thought of home was the fireside.
The natural economy of the Dutchmen was not ex- ercised in a direction that would curtail the comfort of their families, and the woodland, which formed a part of all the large farms, rendered the supply of fuel such as to be only limited by the wants of the household or the leisure to pile up the wood-yard.
We are not surprised that travelers visiting them should make allusion to their " fires of oak and hickory half way up the chimney."
Whittier, in "Snow-Bound," has given a descrip- tion of the way in which the wood-fires were laid. The arrangement of the logs in the Long Island homestead was exactly the same as in his New England home :
" The oaken log, green, huge, and thick, And on its top the stout back-stick : The knotty fore-stick laid apart, And filled between with curious art The ragged brush ; then, hovering near, We watched the first red blaze appear."
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INTERIOR OF DUTCH HOUSES.
The hearth was brushed clean of ashes with a wing. Wings of ducks and geese, carefully prepared, served this purpose, and the ashes were never, in a neat house- hold, allowed to be scattered over the hearth-stones.
The same use was made of wings in New England. Whittier alludes to this when he says :
"Shut in from all the world without, We sat the clean-winged hearth about."
These old fireplaces were tiled in the best rooms ; the tiles were of chocolate-color, a reddish pink or pale blue, and generally represented Scripture scenes. At a later period cast-iron jambs were inserted, the fireplaces being smaller.
The kitchen andirons were large and of cast iron ; in the best rooms the shovel and tongs, fender, and andirons were of brass and kept brightly polished.
During the summer the bricks within the fireplace were painted with red-lead, to look fresh and tidy, and then a jar holding asparagus and other ornamental green branches took the place of the winter's log.
The mantel-pieces which were built in the beginning of this century were also of wood. They were some- times over six feet high, and the shelf was very narrow. They were ornamented more or less with fluting and some fancy designs, but there was no fine wood-carving upon them. Marble mantel-pieces were in use in New York as early as 1772, for we find an advertisement in the "New York Gazette," as follows :
" TO BE SOLD.
" A negro man, an organ, two marble chimney-pieces and a marble slab for a hearth, and some sheets of gilt leather."
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THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF FLATBUSH.
There were no " marble chimney-pieces" so early as that in Flatbush.
Anthracite coal was brought into use in Flatbush about 1830. The grates in which it was burned differed somewhat in construction from those subsequently used. The iron grate was hung between two brass columns, which were surmounted with large brass knobs. These columns were connected and stayed by a broad, curved band of brass below the grate. The grate-pan, which held the ashes, extended upon the hearth like a fender, and its outer curve was also of brass.
The huge, old-fashioned chimneys were not cleaned after the manner of the narrow flues which are now in use for the fires of hard coal, that, by means of fur- nace or grate, heat our modern rooms.
In earlier years little colored boys used to ascend the chimney from the open fireplace with scraper and brush. Poor little fellows ! theirs was a hard life. It had, however, this alleviation, in the fact that they soon outgrew the possibility of its continuance, for only small children could creep up the chimney. When they reached the top, they were expected to thrust out their heads, like chimney swallows, and to sing their melan- choly song from that height. This was the announce- ment that they had really reached the top before they began their descent. The song which they sang was the same by which they called the attention of house- wives to their passing in the street ; it was a mournful song, and resembled the " yodeling " of the Swiss moun- taineers if the sweep had a good voice. A man gener- ally accompanied these little sweeps ; he it was who hired them and to whom the money for their work was to be paid ; but they were often very cruelly treated by
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