Little Wooden Clogs

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

Little Wooden Clogs

Rosemary's father had just returned from a holiday in Holland and had brought her' a pair of painted wooden Dutch clogs of klompen, as they are called.

Rosemary was delighted, but she couldn't understand how children could wear such clumsy shoes.

"Yeu see, dear," her father explained, "the fishing villages in Holland, where these klompen are worn, are rather primitive, and the roads are rather muddy.

"But don't they make a dreadful meed on the carpet When the children go into the house?" asked Rosemary. "No, dear," said her father. "You see, before entering the house thejr kick off their clogs and go inside only in their stockings, for mothers in Holland are even more particular than oUT mothers in England.

"If you visit these villages during the evening," her father continued, "when the children are in bed, you Would see several pairs of klompen in front of each door. This custom, strange 86 it may seem, once played 'an important part in tracing a little boy who had failed to return home one night. will tell you the story. "Many years ago there was * Dutch fisherman who lived with his wife And children in One of these Villages, and olje day, after a week's fishing in the opeft sea, the fisherman returned home to hte wife and children and brought with him a foreign sailor who had lost his boat at sea and had been rescued by the fisherman.

"He Was not It good man, and. the fisherman's wife, although she wu kind to him and made him very comfortable, was very anxious that he should leave as soon as possible. But the sea was rough and he had to continue living there,

"One night, however, he was missing, and also the eldest boy of the fisherman, a rosy-cheeked, fair-haired .boy of nine. The loss was quickly discovered, and all the village went in search of the missing boy. Every house was searched without finding him, and his mother was terribly upset.

"Then somebpdv thought of the boats lying in the tiny harbour, and there, behold, just in front of the place where the fisherman's boat usually stood at anchor, was a pair of little red klompen, which the fisherman knew were his son's. The lad fi'om sheer force of habit had kicked off his clogs before entering the boat.

"Reaching the boat, which had been cut adrift, they fo:md the little chap fast asleep in a corner, his eyes red from crying." "And what became of the wicked sailor?" asked Rosemary. "He was never heard of again," said her father. "It was thought, however, that hearing the people approaching the boat he dived into the water from the Other side.

"When the little fellow was at home safely in bed, he told his father of the foreign sailor asking him to show him his father's boat. This he had done, and oftce they were on the boat the foreign sailor said they would sail that night to hfc country. The boy had tried to get away, but the sailor had pushed the boat away from the side, so that it was Impossible. "So you see, my dear," said her father, "how a pair of little klompen helped to rescue the little Dutch boy."

"But I should never go anywhere with a foreign sailor," said Rosemary.