46 A Book of Precious Stones
of
the world, its diamond trade, is environed in an unpretentious street
about one city block in length, called Tulp Straat; many of the
buildings were dwellings now converted into office buildings. The many
incongruities here include the existence of a dominant spirit, a
species of the genus boss, an untitled ruler of the diamond trade, who
is a character worthy a description by Dickens.
A
New York diamond merchant at Amsterdam was strolling through the
city's streets with this gentleman when he stopped before the bulletin
board of a Dutch newspaper and read with great interest some very
startling headlines. The New Yorker waited patiently to hear what the
evening edition of an Amsterdam daily newspaper was purveying to its
phlegmatic patrons, but the untitled ruler of the diamond trade only
said musingly, " Well, you Americans certainly are a great people."
" Why, what have we done now? " asked the American.
" A great people; certainly a great people," reiterated the Hollander.
" Say, what is it? " impatiently demanded the man from Maiden Lane.
" Why, the whole city of Baltimore is burned
