PREFACE

Let us understand the difiEerenee between Ger¬
many and Holland, the Dutch and the Germans,
separate history from fairy tales, and distinguish
jokes from facts.

Despite official documents, book-titles, and me¬
morial tablets, there was never any such place or
state as New Netherlands, nor any admiral named
"van " Tromp, nor any Dutch clergyman with the
title of'' Dominie." The word " schnapps " was not
in the Dutchman's vocabulary, nor did Hollanders
ever talk Pennsylvania German, — as is repre¬
sented in the stage dialect of Rip van Winkle. The
earliest settlers of New Netherland did not smoke
tobacco. The Dutch folks of New Amsterdam did
not associate Santa Claus with Christmas, but on
the 6th of December they celebrated St. Nicholas's
Day, and on the 25th of the same month the birth¬
day of the Christ. The hardy, active men who made
New Netherland were not fat, or old, or stupid
fellows. They were young men, lithe, alert, and
venturesome. The first comers knew little or no¬
thing about tobacco, though they quickly learned
its use from the Indians, and even smoked the home¬
grown article, presented to them by the Pilgrims
of Massachusetts. Not one of them pronounced