Miscellaneous.
A few more instances of the manner in which our staid and quiet Dutch progenitors managed their affairs will suffice for this paper, already long enough.
The Ferry.—In an ordinance regulating the ferry at the Manhattans, passed 1 July, 1654, it was among other things enacted:
"Item. The Lessee shall be bound to accommodate the passengers on summer days only from 5 O'clock in the morning till 8 O'clock in the evening, provided the windmill [Footnote 167] hath not taken in its sail.
[Footnote 167: The windmill here spoken of stood on the old Battery, and seemed to serve as a barometer or indicator of bad weather to all the people.]
"Item. The Lessee shall receive ordinary Ferriage during the Winter from 7 O'clock in the morning to 5 O'clock in the evening; but he shall not be bound, except he please, to convey any one over in a tempest, or when the windmill hath lowered its sail in consequence of storm or otherwise."
Wages.—In 1653, the director and council of New Netherland passed an ordinance fixing the rate of wages to be paid to carpenters, masons, etc. But the directors at Amsterdam disapproved of it "as impracticable."
Fast Driving.—Here, now, is a law which would illy enough suit our times, and which shows us how queer were the times when such a regulation could exist.
"Ordinance