I stayed with some young Dutch friends in Nijmegen (central to Operation Market Garden) in 1986. At one of their mothers' home, she produced a box of cookies, which she carried around the room allowing each of us to select one small cookie, then she retired back to the pantry to put them away. Afterward my friends felt compelled to explain that such frugality, while not needed in Holland today, was innate and born of the hardships suffered under various occupations. Americans especially tend to be taken aback and feel awkward in the moment.
My father's family was very poor, when he was very young his mother would send him to the butcher with 10 cents to buy a horse heart. They had a few chickens, he would poke a hole in the shell and suck the raw egg out, of course he was punished. As a young teen he got a job traveling around Europe with a 'sharp shooter' that shot off a horse running on a tread mill. He served a short time in the Dutch army then came to America working in the galley of a ship. The cargo was Russian Jews, my father "jumped ship" in New York. I don't know the year he came to the U.S. but maybe 1909 or 1910. There are no records of him entering the country. He was a very generous person, if I was cheap or stingy he would be greatly disappointed. He had a very interesting and full life, I wish I knew more about it. I was to young to know the questions to ask.
