Maths Diary--Part Seven--May 29th to June 7th, 1914

Now they're leaving Europe behind.....

(This is part of a notebook diary kept by Math Hesch during a trip he took with his brother Ted in the spring of 1914. Click DIARY on the sidebar to see only the diary entries. Enjoy!)

May 29--Friday--We are in Hanover now, 200 miles from Berlin.
It aint much of a town, but we never had so many brag up their land as right here- we are getting mad.
Jee, if we had them in the states, we would show 'em a thing or two.

This was the end of May, and WWI was definitely brewing. Math and Ted left Europe only 20 days before Archduke Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo on June 28th, and war broke out only a month after that.

" Strong feelings of nationalism fed the fires of hatred in pre-war Europe. It turned Frenchman against German and Russian against Austrian. Nationalistic speeches and writings (especially in countries like Germany) hastened the war by painting it as the best test for proof of national superiority"... from THIS ARTICLE. about the causes of WWI.

We are on our way to Rheine now.
This is May 30--Saturday--Rye is all headed out.
Still, they won't and can't cut it till August 1.
The crops are ahead of O — sh.
Here read about a ship going down, don't like it a bit.

The Empress of Ireland was a Canadian Pacific Railway steamship in active service from 1906 until its collision with another ship in the early hours of May 29, 1914.
SHIPWRECK

Hannover is a good for nothing town. Rye is all laying flat around here.
Had rain for the last 7 or 8 days.

Are in MINDEN now, 9:50 A.M. Just left Lohne.

East of Hannover, heading to Amsterdam... I seen some wooden shoes, first ones we seen in this land.
Well, we are in RHEINE now.
Just heard a tune. It sure is a nice one.

Zum Lot means crap en can.
I sold my shoes for one mark. Hard times. Bought a pair for 12.50.
Was to confession today in Rheine.

There it goes again. Some one else is playing the machine, same tune.
Bought a pill holder for 50 pfennig, a razor for 2.50.

May 31--Sunday--Some finofftner--are still in Rhiene.

Were to communion this morning & nothing to do but lay around.
The big day is over.

We seen the Ems River, a nice falls and some locks and such junk.
My feet sure hurt some from the new shoes.
I have never seen so many drunk as in this town. All drink cognac--no account junk. Rina.

June 1--Monday--1:30 P.M. We are now in H-O-L-A-N-D.

Holland & lost--can't speak it.
Seen some turf piled as big as Kinzer's barn.

Just left Amersfoort.
Seen some Holland Deserts--sand for miles and miles, and not a house.
This land around here is poor.

Only a few houses, same as in the states, but there are more cattle here than can be seen back in the states.
We are in Amsterdam in the Union Hotel. Two gulden sleep and breakfast.
Nice town, as much as I have seen so far. We get along good in talking mostly English.

June 2--Tuesday--Just had a shave for 10 cents. Best I ever had in my life.
4 cents of our money for a shave, 5 cents street car ride. 2 cents of our money & they go as smooth as joint oil.

Broodge mit Kaas 10 cents here, two and a half cents at home. Great town.

Broodge with Ham and a glass of milk 2 cents, our money.

Trying to translate "broodge"doesn't work. I think he meant bread with cheese or bread with ham. Otherwise, they were selling 'bridges'...

Meet "Van Belle" Worr, Belle Browers relation.

He is a real nice man. Has a small dump and pays 160 gulden rent per month. Got some good wine from him so far. We will leave Thursday again. Seen Mrs. Browers' sister, has a good looking daughter.

I sold my shoes for 4 gulden and got new ones for 7 and a half. The other ones were too small.
There are no trains running in the night in Holland, only till 12 & 12:30, not later.

June 3--Wednesday--We seen the museum, the thing where one can see all the old things of 1500. Some Junk.
Probably The Ryks Museum, or state museum, the first in Holland. It is a large, handsome and finely situated building designed by Dr P. J. H. Cuyper in the Dutch Renaissance style, and erected in 1876-1885. The exterior is decorated with sculptures and tile-work, and internally it is divided, broadly speaking, into a museum of general antiquities below, and the large gallery of pictures of the Dutch and Flemish schools above...lol

Were down to Lamberman for dinner. Nice folks.
Seen where they are building a ship. Some noise. (See the film, below, to see the shipyards in Amsterdam). Things are nice here so far.

Sat up till one last night, drank beer & had Holland cheese.

3 Juni 1914 ________(GERMAN)_____ We were to the show.
It was a good act, but we could not understand a word.
A man gave us free tickets to it and the best seats at that.

Just had our picture taken 10 for one gulden.

June 4--Thursday--nothing doing yet.

Seen more push carts here in Amsterdam then I have seen in all my born days.
And holler, you can hear em all over the town.

THIS FILM FROM 1914 , especially the first few minutes, will show you what he meant.

Here in Holland, a man can piss right on the street.

Funny thing, life in Holland. There are 6 hundert & 50 thousand living in Amsterdam. All the houses here stand on posts cause the ground is so soft. There are 13 thousand & 659 under the kings house.

Here we seen the 'first painter' of Holland in a park.
All nice to see here- am now using Van Belle's pen.

The name of this painter is Rembrandt.

The REMBRANDTPLEIN, with a monument (1852) to the painter by Lodswyk Royer.

June 5th--Friday--We were in a house & drank wine. The house is old.
Since 1671 all the kings go there when they come here so we had to go in too.

The 'house' is still standing, called the "De Veer Heemskinderen" (The Four Brothers).

Seen the Jewtown and the place were they used to hang the men.

Was out with some girls. Great fun to talk Holland to em. Still we got along good.

June 7--Sunday--Theo's birthday. Was to church. It is raining all the time for the past 3 weeks & cold. The houses are narrow & rather high.

As I am writing this we are bound for the Hook of Holland.

The Hook of Holland, a district of Rotterdam, located on the North Sea, is less than 80 km / 50 miles from Amsterdam.

It is 10 in the night, first night riding since we left home. We are in a town now, but can't get the name cause it is dark.

In Amsterdam we had the best farewell we have ever had. It was great the way they did treat us to the last. Sure good.

We are now in Haarlem, Haarlem Holland.

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NEXT PART--THE BOYS TOUR LONDON!