Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1898: Volume 54, November 1898Various
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1898: Volume 54, November 1898
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
A word might be said about the travel club. Early in each autumn a
proposition is made that during the following summer a trip will be
taken to such and such places, usually naming one near by, within the
kingdom, and another farther away, as Brussels or the upper Rhine.
Persons desiring to visit either of the places named unite in forming
a club. They meet at stated times to listen to accounts of the place
selected, its historical associations, and the points of interest _en
route_, and also to pay into the treasury an amount agreed upon. For
example, last summer one club, upon the saving of a cent a week by each
member, was able to go to Haarlem and spend the day in seeing the city
and the many places of interest in the neighborhood. In another, each
member contributed ten cents a week, and the club was able to make a two
days' trip to Brussels. By this simple means persons otherwise unable to
go beyond the confines of their native city have the opportunity to get
at least a glimpse of the outside world, and under such conditions and
with such special preparations as to obtain from the trip the maximum
interest and profit.
The only thing that is free in Our House is legal advice and the writing
of legal documents. In Amsterdam, as elsewhere, the poorer people have
too frequently an exaggerated idea as to their rights, and rush into
"law" for fatuous protection. Such persons are liable to fall into the
hands of unprincipled lawyers who help to nurse the fancied wrong and
encourage a suit for damages, or put up an idle defense for the sole
purpose of winning a fee. To protect this class by giving them the most
unselfish advice possible, a number of the best lawyers of the city
have cheerfully offered their services, and every Thursday evening from
eight to twelve o'clock one or two stand ready to give gratuitously the
best advice they can upon such legal points as may be presented. That
this service is appreciated may be seen in the fact that from ten to
twenty persons profit by this privilege every evening. On this evening
persons are present for the purpose of writing letters for those unable
to write, and also to draw up legal documents for such as need them.
Mr. Adma van Scheltema--a name closely identified with every good work
in Amsterdam--has organized in Our House art loan exhibits. For one half
of the days during which the exhibit is open there is no charge for
admission, while a slight fee is exacted on the other days. From these
exhibitions much pleasure as well as instruction has been derived, and,
located in a section which sends but few visitors to the art museums,
one can realize that they perform a good work, as missionaries in
cultivating the people's taste.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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